Arts & Entertainment
Festival to Honor Top Choreographers at McCallum
The McCallum's Choreography Festival will honor top directors and feature a competition in November.
The artistic directors of the Los Angeles Ballet will be honored by the McCallum Theatre Institute at its 15th annual Choreography Festival, which will also include a choreography competition in two divisions, a theater spokeswoman said.
The Nov. 10-11 festival will be held at the McCallum Theatre.
The institute's Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented the first day to Colleen Neary and Thordal Christensen of the Los Angeles Ballet by Los Angeles Times dance critic Lewis Segal and past festival finalist Kitty McNamee , theater spokeswoman Cate Ervin said.
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The Division I competition, which is also Nov. 10, will feature 10 finalists chosen from among more than 100 applicants from around the country.
The Division II competition on Nov. 11 will feature the work of 12 choreographers and two festival outreach projects, the East Valley Dance Project and the Studio Project. Choreographers will compete for $26,000 in cash awards and a paid engagement, Ervin said.
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Christensen, a former dancer and and artistic director with the Royal Danish Ballet, was knighted in 2002 by the queen of Denmark. Neary danced as a soloist in the New York City Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine.
They met in Denmark in 1985 and married in Seattle in 1987, where they danced together in the Pacific Northwest Ballet. In 2004, they co-founded the Los Angeles Ballet, where they have choreographed and staged productions for the company and headed the Los Angeles Ballet School.
Tickets for the Nov. 10 show, which begins at 7 p.m., are $30, 25, $20 and $15. Tickets for Nov. 11 show at 4 p.m. are $25, $20, $15 and $10.
Tickets are available by calling (760) 340-2787 or going to www.mccallumtheatre.com.
