Redlands Bowl 2001 Season
August 3rd 
Programs start at 8:15 p.m. 

State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara - "Giselle" with Orchestra. The most celebrated and elegant ballet of the Romantic Era, this classic dance performance with live orchestra is a Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival premiere. Rodney Gustafson, artistic director. Frank Fetta, conductor.

A Redlands Bowl Premiere: A full-length ballet with orchestra.

Classical ballet is no stranger at Redlands Bowl, but a
full-length, staged ballet with live orchestra is, and this treat will grace the stage on Friday, August 3, at 8:15 p.m. as the State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara presents Giselle, considered the most celebrated and elegant ballet of the Romantic Era.

"This ballet will endure as long as there is beauty," wrote
Théophile Gautier, one of the author's of the ballet, after Giselle debuted in Paris in 1841. One hundred and sixty years later, the ballet flourishes under the toes of the acclaimed State Street Ballet, which, in the seven years since its own debut, has performed to a sell-out crowd of
6,000 and it completed its first international tour in 2000.

The company, besides performing at its home in Santa Barbara, tours to such venues as the Ford Amphitheatre, Norris Theatre and Luckman Fine Arts Complex in Southern California, Palm Springs Desert Museum, and the Redlands Bowl, where it has appeared twice before.

Rodney Gustafson, the company's founder and artistic director, spent the majority of his performing career as a principal dancer with the world renowned American Ballet Theatre during its heyday under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov. During this period, Gustafson trained and worked with ballet greats Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerome Robbins, and Anthony Tudor, and he appeared in the films Turning Point and Baryshnikov's Nutcracker. For State Street Ballet, with
Sophie Monat, Gustafson has staged and choreographed Giselle after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, and Marius Petipa.

The music, score by Adolphe Adam, works synergistically with the dancers to present the whole magnificent effect, and will be performed by the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Frank Fetta, artistic director of the Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival. The leads will be danced by Olga Tchekachova and Sayat Asatryan. Tchekachova, born in St. Petersburg, Russia, has toured internationally as a principal dancer with the Kirov and St. Petersburg Classical Ballet companies. Asatryan, from Armenia, trained in Russia at the Voronezh Ballet School and the St. Petersburg Ballet School. As a principal dancer, he toured with Moscow Kremlin, Moscow State, Moscow Festival, Bolshoi, and Ohio Ballets.

Put on your own dancing shoes, children, because State Street Ballet will present a master class, designed to provide dance instruction and practice, to dancers ages twelve and over. The class will be held on Thursday, August 2, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. at the Redlands Community Center, 111 W. Lugonia Avenue in Redlands.

The intermission speaker will be Steve Spiller, Executive Director, Kimberly Crest House and Gardens, and the intermission ushers will be members of the Board of Trustees of Kimberly Shirk Association and the Kimberly Crest Docents Auxiliary.

State Street Ballet will present the Children's Festival Workshop on Saturday, August 4, at 10:00 a.m. at the Redlands Community Center, 111 W. Lugonia Avenue.

Continuing the tradition begun in 1924, this and all Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival events are open to the public at no charge, and a free-will offering will be collected at intermission. For more information about this concert, call the Redlands Bowl office at 909/793-7316 or visit the web site at www.redlandsweb.com.

To reach the Redlands Bowl between Eureka and Grant Streets in Redlands, enter the Redlands area on I-10; from the west, exit at Orange Street, turn right at the end of the ramp onto Eureka Street, proceed across Redlands Blvd. and Brookside Ave. to the Bowl area; from the east,
exit at Sixth Street, turn left at the end of the ramp onto Sixth Street, proceed to Pearl Ave. and turn right to Orange Street, turn left on Orange to Brookside Ave., turn right on Brookside to Eureka Street, and turn left on Eureka to the Bowl area. Parking is on streets in the area, or in the church and public parking lots.