Unstoppable Grace
April 2nd 7:30pm & April 3rd 2:00pm
An evening of classical and contemporary ballet
A World Premiere by Resident Choreographer Runqiao Du to the music of Bach’s Italian Piano Concerto played live by renowned pianist Glenn Sales
Dialogue – A neo classical pas de deux choreographed by the Artistic Director of National Ballet of Armenia, Rudolf Kharatian. Danced by Sona Kharatian and Jonathan Jordan of The Washington Ballet
Syncopated Soul – An electrically charged contemporary piece by Runqiao Du with an original score by beatboxer Shodekeh and drummer Jason Baker
Le Corsaire Pas de Deux – A masterpiece among classical ballet’s most beloved pas de deux performed by Jade Payette and Jonathan Jordan of The Washington Ballet. Music played live by renowned pianist Glenn Sales
Guest Artists
JONATHAN JORDAN, of Phoenix, Arizona, is in his 11th season with The Washington Ballet. Mr. Jordan began his ballet training at the Tucson School of Ballet and the Phoenix School of Ballet. He continued to train at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC. After graduation, he furthered his training with Rudolf Kharatian at The Washington School of Ballet and has pursued training in the martial arts. He danced with Le Jeune Ballet de France, Ballet Metropolitan de Monterey and ARKA Ballet before joining TWB. He has also performed with The Trey McIntyre Project and The Copenhagen International Ballet for the SommerBallet Project under the artistic direction of Alexander Kolpin. Most recently, Mr. Jordan performed with Christopher Wheeldon’s Morphoses for its Australia season. Mr. Jordan was a finalist at the 2000 Varna International Ballet Competition and the 2000 Paris International Ballet Competition. He was awarded the bronze medal at the 2003 New York International Ballet Competition. He is a recipient of the 2008 Dance/MetroDC Award for Outstanding Individual Performance. Mr. Jordan also frequently teaches at The Washington School of Ballet as a guest artist and coach. He was named associate artistic director of ARKA Ballet in 2007.
SONA KHARATIAN, of Yerevan, Armenia, is in her 12th season with The Washington Ballet. She has danced with Southern Ballet Theater of Florida, the Trey McIntyre Project, Copenhagen International Ballet under direction of Alexander Kolpin and is a guest artist with ARKA Ballet under direction of Roudolf Kharatian. Ms. Kharatian began her ballet training at Choreographic Institute in Yerevan, and later studied at The Kirov Academy of Ballet and The Washington School of Ballet. She has performed works by George Balanchine, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Choo-San Goh, Antony Tudor, Septime Webre, Nacho Duato, Christopher Wheeldon, Trey McIntyre, Nicolo Fonte, Alexei Ratmansky, Roudolf Kharatian, William Forsythe, Karole Armitage and Alejandro Cerrudo. Ms. Kharatian is a two-time recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award.
COREY LANDOLT, of New Jersey, is in his third season with The Washington Ballet after dancing for three seasons with the Studio Company. He began classical ballet training at the Academy of Ballet in Berlin, New Jersey, under David Gallagher. During his training, he performed with Ballet New Jersey in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and the full-length production of La Bayadre. He later attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts to study under Warren Conover, Melissa Hayden, and Kee Juan Han. In 2004, he was selected for the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company Associate Program (now the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at ABT) where he danced in Jessica Lang’s World Premiere at ABT’s Studio Company 10th Anniversary Gala.
JADE PAYETTE, of Huntington Beach, California, is in her fifth season with The Washington Ballet, after dancing one season in its Studio Company. She first began training at Southland Ballet Academy under the direction of Salwa Rizkalla and later attended and graduated from The Royal Ballet School in London. From 2001 through 2004, Ms. Payette received the National Training Scholarship from American Ballet Theatre, and in 2003 and 2004 was awarded the silver medal at the Youth America Grand Prix.
KARA GENEVIEVE COOPER was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She received her training from Alla Sizova, Nikolai Morozov, and Vladimir Djouloukhadze at the Kirov Academy of Ballet where she was a resident student for four years as well as the Washington School of Ballet, both in Washington, D.C. In 2000, Kara was awarded the Silver Medal at the Youth America Grand Prix Nationals in NYC. She joined the Washington Ballet three years later at age 17 and has since danced with Cincinnati Ballet and Suzanne Farrell Ballet.