Tahoe Youth Ballet will celebrate the company’s fifth anniversary in the Frank Sinatra Showroom at the Cal Neva Resort March 15 and 16. The program will feature guest artists Risa Larsen of Margaret Jenkins Dance Company and Max Van Der Sterre of Alabama Ballet, with Tahoe Youth Ballet’s nine company members and 12 apprentices. Works presented will include new pieces by Artistic Director Christin Hanna in addition to Stephen Straub, Deborah Lohse, and Shannon Barter, as well as a company premiere by Constantine Baecher, accompanied live by pianist Melody Fader.

Friday’s Gala will include a post-performance reception in the Showroom. Deborah Lohse will premiere a film created with the company, along with a showing of Danielle Hankinson’s photographs. The Gala Celebration’s proceeds and raffle ticket sales benefit Tahoe Youth Ballet’s ongoing performances, programs and workshops that benefit the young dancers and the community at large.

Tahoe Youth Ballet premiered in 2009 to rave reviews. In five years the company has presented new works, company premieres and classical revivals with aspiring young dancers and guest artists from a wide variety of esteemed companies, including Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Ballet Black of London, Los Angeles Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.

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Tahoe Youth Ballet’s dancers have attended some of the country’s finest schools and company workshops, including Alvin Ailey, American Ballet Theatre; Suzanne Farrell, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, and Paul Taylor — to name a few.

The program opens with a new work for the company, “Con Spirito,” by Stephen Straub, formerly of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and TYB guest artist in 2010 and 2011. Commissioned with support from the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, Straub choreographed his “Con Spirito” to Tchaikovsky’s String Sextet in D, Op. 70.

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“The chance to dance with Tahoe Youth Ballet has been more than lovely each and every time I have guested. The TYB artists are a delight to work with, so positive and hardworking. Not to mention so strong and so very beautiful!” said Straub.

Guest artist Max Van Der Sterre, currently working with Alabama Ballet and former dancer with New York City Ballet, will appear with TYB’s Sierra Walsh in a pas de deux from “Le Corsaire.” Risa Larsen, who worked with the company last summer with Kunst-Stoff Arts, will present a new solo creation as well.

The program also includes frequent collaborator Deborah Lohse’s “Vivants,” which Tahoe Youth Ballet premiered at San Francisco’s Central Market Arts Festival in October 2012, to the music of Arvo Pärt. Constantine Baecher’s “Terzetto” will also be on the program, which was created on New York’s New Chamber Ballet and has been staged for Tahoe Youth Ballet by Artistic Director Christin Hanna. Alexander Scriabin’s Etudes for Piano will be played by pianist Melody Fader, who accompanied Hanna in the premiere of the piece at New Chamber Ballet in New York.

Artistic Director Christin Hanna and Executive Director Shannon Barter both have premieres on the program: Hanna’s to Marc Mellits’ String Quartet #2 and Barter to Mogwai’s “May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door.”

For additional information contact Christin Hanna at Tahoe Youth Ballet, 530-613-4363 or christin@tahoeyouthballet.com.