Nationally Acclaimed Carolina Ballet Relocates to Wilmington for Summer Residency June 6th, 2007 UNCW Office of Cultural Arts Wilmington, NC— On July 1st the Raleigh-based Carolina Ballet, along with nearly 100 young dancers from both the U.S. and abroad, will descend upon the University of North Carolina Wilmington campus for a month-long summer residency. The Carolina Ballet Summer Intensive and Residency at UNCW has drawn national attention for its unique combination of intensive dance training for students and emerging professionals in conjunction with the residency program, which offers Carolina Ballet’s company dancers and artistic staff an opportunity to focus on the creation and development of new works throughout the summer. Carolina Ballet, in partnership with the UNCW Office of Cultural Arts, initiated a 12-city nationwide tour in early January to audition students for the inaugural session of the dance intensive. Accepted applicants will travel from as far as California, New York, Puerto Rico, and Israel to work with the professional dancers and choreographers of Carolina Ballet and a renowned faculty of instructors and guest artists. In addition to the 63 on-campus students, the program has also accepted and enrolled 39 local students from the surrounding area who will commute to campus for daily classes. Classes include six hours of instruction and rehearsal, focusing on ballet technique and pointe, modern, jazz, yoga and body conditioning. In addition, the program offers a dance film series and lecture series exploring dance in the cinema, music in dance, and physical conditioning. Films and lectures are free and open to the public. Students in the program will also have the unique opportunity to witness Carolina Ballet in action. Through open rehearsals and roundtable discussions with company dancers, students will be able to observe the development and rehearsal process of one of the nation’s top dance companies. In addition to Robert Weiss, the company’s Artistic Director, 21 company dancers and 20 artistic and production personnel from Carolina Ballet will relocate to UNCW for the summer residency. Weiss, a former Principal Dancer with the New York City Ballet and recently hailed by The Washington Post as a “world-class choreographer”, will focus his attention on expanding and strengthening the company’s repertoire. Wilmington audiences will have the unique opportunity to witness the premiere of the new works developed in residency at a special Gala Performance in Kenan Auditorium, Saturday, July 28. Presented by the UNCW Office of Cultural Arts, the evening will include an 8 p.m. performance, followed by a Meet-the-Artists Dessert Reception. Tickets for the evening are $32-$28 (reserved seating) and are available through the Kenan Auditorium Box Office (910) 962-3500. For more information about The Carolina Ballet Summer Intensive & Residency at UNCW please visit www.uncw.edu/arts or www.carolinaballet.com. ABOUT THE COMPANY Carolina Ballet was launched in 1997 under the direction of Artistic Director Robert Weiss, former principal dancer for the New York City Ballet and former Artistic Director of Pennsylvania Ballet in Philadelphia. Internationally recognized for his creative and energetic choreography, Weiss, in a few short years, turned Carolina Ballet into one of the top-ten ballet companies in the country. The Washington Post praises Weiss as a “world-class choreographer” and describes his recent work with Carolina Ballet as “the best full-evening story ballets of the past quarter-century”. Carolina Ballet consists of an internationally diverse company of 31 dancers and two apprentices, representing nine countries from around the globe. The New York Times recently hailed the ensemble as “characterful, well-disciplined and exciting”. Carolina Ballet has toured throughout the state and recently completed a tour of the Peoples’ Republic of China.