Neglia Ballet Artists celebrate 10 years with gala performance

For a decade, Buffalo audiences have thrilled to the drama and finesse of Neglia Ballet Artists. In celebration, the local company will present their 10th Anniversary Gala Performance on Saturday, May 9, 7:30pm, at the Flickinger Performing Arts Center.

This will not be a typical retrospective celebration, however. This is an anniversary performance focused on the future of the company.

Principal dancers, artistic director Sergio Neglia and Sherri Campagni, will not disappoint the audience that has been with them all these years. They will present the pas de deux from Swan Lake, which they first performed before the company was officially founded, as well as their crowd-pleasing final pas de deux from Spartacus. Between these familiar favorites are six pieces new or revamped for Neglia Ballet Artists, most by contemporary, up-and-coming choreographers.

One in particular came to Neglia almost by accident. A couple who were originally going to travel to Buffalo for the Gala ultimately couldn’t make it. The piece they were to perform was by Viktor Plotnikov. A former principal dancer with Boston Ballet, Plotnikov lately has been choreographing for companies across the US, and he sent Neglia a video of his work. Sergio Neglia and Heidi Halt, Neglia’s wife and the executive director of the company, were quite taken with what they saw. Negotiations ended with Plotnikov bringing his pas de deux set to Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in A, danced by Lithuanian-born dancers Vilia Putrius and Mindaugas Bauzys. Halt hopes this will be but the first of collaborations with Plotnikov. “I think he’s going to be an important choreographer for ballet companies,” she says.

The other pieces are equally impressive. Colorado Ballet veteran Andrew Skeels brings his meditation on family relationships, set to Brahms’ Sonata for Cello and Piano in E Minor. Metropolitan Opera’s James Garber will show his Chimera, an earlier version of which premiered at New York City’s Joyce Theatre to much acclaim. Mario Galizzi of Argentina’s Teatro Colon Ballet Institute is the choreographer of a contemporary pas de deux to the Mahler Adagietto, and will be performed by the aforementioned Skeels with Dana Benton, also of the Colorado Ballet. Halt’s choreographic skill will be on display for Vivaldi 9. Putrius and Bauzys return for a pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty.

From old favorites to new choreographers, the performance shows a new concentration on taking the company to the next level of professional status. Indicative of this is their upcoming Nutcracker, which will be performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic at Shea’s Performing Art Center.

For tickets, visit www.negliaballet.org or call 447-0401.