World Premiere of Château

Join NYC's Arch Contemporary Ballet (ACB) for an exciting evening of dance and music on Saturday, Nov 7th at 7:00 pm.

“Château” was inspired by the architecture of the Château de Fontainebleau in Northern France. Long corridors and seemingly endless chambers play a prominent role in the conception of this new work. Arch Sound Ensemble's string quartet shares the stage with the dancers, and is essential to the setting of the ballet. They are mobile, forming the metaphorical walls of the Château. As they move, the quartet establishes different rooms for the dancers to portray their story. ACB dancers move throughout this space, creating powerful symmetry and visual lines. The work's underlying expression of how we keep and extract secrets is displayed through each dancer as a spirit of past generations living in the Château.

Arch Contemporary Ballet
New York City's Arch Contemporary Ballet was founded with a bold spirit and innovative vision to create an artistic process that enhances the connection between ballet and music. All of ACB’s works are choreographed and completed in silence. Commissioned artists then create original music scores specifically for each repertoire program. In addition to her innovative way of joining movement and music, Artistic Director and choreographer, Sheena Annalise, challenges classicism with a cutting-edge approach to partnering, pairing women on pointe together as partners. ACB has performed across the country including Paramount Theatre in Boston, Marlene Boll Theatre in Detroit, Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe, AZ, New York City's Sheen Center, and more. Learn more at www.ArchBallet.com.

Artistic Director, Sheena Annalise
Artistic Director and choreographer, Sheena Annalise, began choreographing at age 14 under the direction of Kellye Dodd, Cristina McClelland, and Gary Masters. At the early age of 15 she was honored to work with Wayne McGregor | Random Dance in “Equator Project”, nurturing her choreographic talent. She quickly found her voice by creating innovative lines for the body and exploring her fascination with the connection between movement and music. She began to play with creating her own tempos, accents, and pauses in her ballets without the limitations of existing music. Looking to accentuate her silent yet rhythmic choreography, she developed her artistic process of commissioning artists to create music specifically to each repertoire program. Annalise spent 2012 mentoring with the Mark Morris Dance Group, when she then founded Arch Contemporary Ballet the following year. Through ACB she has received residencies and space grants throughout NYC and has been named a &l dquo;Prodigy” by The Women’s Project.

Composer, Concetta Abbate
The talented Concetta Abbate is a NYC based composer, violinist, violist, and vocalist. She began studying classical violin and ear training at age 4, with Irene Lawton. After a childhood dedicated to classical training, Concetta became interested in folk tales, natural science, poetry in Spanish, and everyday objects and sounds. She has been described as a "badass violinist" by Garret Bryant (HINGED) and “Eerie, haunting ‘Chamber Pop” by the German music blog Kulterwelt. Her diverse performance venues include The East Indian Music Academy, the Rubin Art Museum, The Eastman School of Music, The Tilles Center, Cornelia Street Cafe, Columbia University, the Jazz Gallery and The Stone. She was recently a visiting composer in residence at TAKT gallery in Berlin in 2014 and will be returning to teach a workshop on music composition in 2016. This is Concetta’s second commission by ACB.

Musicians, Arch Sound Ensemble
Arch Sound Ensemble is dedicated to carrying out ACB's mission to enhance the connection between ballet and music. Our upcoming performance of Château will showcase our string quartet by bringing the vision of composer, Concetta Abbate, and Sheena Annalise to the stage.