PBT to perform at Chautauqua

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Before Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre marks the unofficial start of its season at Hartwood Acres in late August, it will head to southwestern New York for a one-night performance at the Chautauqua Institution. The engagement at 8:15 p.m. Aug. 12 will be the first time PBT performs with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and its first appearance there in four years.

“I am thrilled to have Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre joining Ailey II, Charlotte Ballet and Irene Rodríguez Compañía on Chautauqua’s 2017 dance season,” Deborah Sunya Moore, Chautauqua’s vice president and director of programming, said in a statement.

The institution holds more than 2,200 summer events and attracts more than 100,000 guests annually.

The program is a blend of classics and modern masterworks.Dancers will stage excerpts from Arthur Saint-Leon’s vivacious “Coppelia” and the swashbuckling pirate saga “Le Corsaire” with choreography after Marius Petipa and Konstantin Sergeyev staged by AnnaMarie Holmes. PBT will dance Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian’s “Petite Mort,” a sensual ballet set to two Mozart concertos. The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Rossen Milanov, will accompany dancers.

For “Coppelia,” students from the Chautauqua School of Dance will join PBT on stage for some of the character dances, to be taught by artistic director Terrence Orr.

The institution’s new open-air amphitheater, nestled on the banks of Chautauqua Lake, is a roughly two-hour drive from Pittsburgh. Tickets are $43 at ciweb.org or 1716-357-6250. The Athenaeum Hotel (http://ciweb. is offering a Symphonic Saturday package, which includes dinner, breakfast and Sunday brunch for two for $299.