Inland Pacific Ballet comes to Redlands Bowl on Friday, August 2

In the highest style, classical ballet comes to the Redlands Bowl
with a performance by the Inland Pacific Ballet Company on Friday, August 2. Dancing to music by Tchaikovsky, Bach, and Sousa, the company, headquartered in Montclair, California, will present three staged pieces, and a few surprises, according to Artistic Director Victoria Koenig. By popular demand, the company will encore the "Star Spangled Salute" which they presented to the Redlands Bowl audience at their 1999 performance. To John Philip Sousa's rousing and patriotic march music, a full corps of 16 high-stepping dancers will stir red, white, and blue enthusiasm.
The company will premiere their performance of George Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco" to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto in D minor for Two Violins. Premiered in New York in 1940, this neo-classical style dance is considered one of the great works of 20th century dance. To Tchaikovsky's "Serenade in C Major for String Orchestra", the company also will present Balanchine's contemporary classic masterpiece, "Serenade", a work that has not been performed in the Los Angeles area for nearly 20 years.
Since its founding in 1994, the young company has developed the
largest classical repertoire of any ballet company in the region. Under the leadership of Koenig and Associate Director Kevin Myers, the company maintains 22 dancers and support staff full time, fulfilling their mission to "introduce new audiences to the magic of the ballet and live theater, and to make the experience more available and accessible to all." Before co-founding Inland Pacific Ballet, Riverside native Myers danced solo roles with the Houston Ballet, and later soloed with the Los Angeles Ballet.
The ballet company grew out of the Inland Pacific Ballet Academy
which now has more than 300 students coming from within 50 miles of the Claremont Colleges where the Inland Pacific Ballet is
Company-in-Residence, with many students coming from the inland area and Los Angeles. Graduating students have been accepted in professional companies and their training programs around the country including Houston Ballet, Cleveland Ballet,
Alvin Ailey, Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and School of American Ballet.
"All of the dancers in the company are professional," explained
Koenig, "although we will bring several apprentices who will dance in the troop."
Kelly Lamoureux of Riverside will dance a principal role in "Serenade", and fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Lapena--a true child prodigy who has studied with the Academy since she was nine, said Koenig--will dance a principal role in the pas de deux of "Star Spangled Salute". At the free Summer Music Festival Children's Workshop on Saturday, August 3, at 10:00 a.m. at the Community Century, 111 W. Lugonia in Redlands, the dancers will present "The Shoe must go on!". All children ages five through twelve are welcomed and are encouraged to wear dance shoes or sneakers.
The program, co-sponsored by the Rotary Club of Redlands, will
begin at 8:15 p.m. The intermission ushers will be representatives of the Kimberly Juniors; the Board of Trustees of Kimberly/Shirk Association; and the Kimberly Crest Docent Auxiliary. Mary Frances Miller will be the intermission speaker.
Continuing the tradition begun in 1924, this and all concerts are
free of 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.redlandsbowl.org. The Redlands Bowl is located between Grant and Eureka Streets in Redlands, off of Brookside Avenue.

To press agencies: For more information about the program or the dancers, contact Tyron Baker, Marketing Director for the Inland Pacific Ballet Company, 909/482-1589.