Jorma Elo Celebrated In Next Boston Ballet Program

Jorma Elo Celebrated in Next Boston Ballet Program

Boston Ballet’s virtual season continues later this month with BB@yourhome: Celebrating Jorma Elo.

“Jorma has been a major part of the development and versatility of our company dancers, through his unique, individual movement vocabulary that bridges classical and contemporary ballet. Over 15 years of working closely with Boston Ballet, and with each new work for the Company, the relationship and process with our dancers grows deeper and deeper, enabling his work and artists to be personal, poignant, and vulnerable. Jorma has also been open to pivoting his style and in recent years he has incorporated more neo-classical elements, which serves the Company and repertoire really well.”

Mikko Nissinen

Artistic Director, Boston Ballet

Works Featured in Celebrating of Jorma Elo

Principal Dancers Viktorina Kapitonova and Tigran Mkrtchyan will perform the world premiere of Story of a Memory.

The program will also feature new live capture footage of Elo’s hit Plan to B, a six-dancer work set to music by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber originally created to reflect Elo’s career change from dancer to choreographer. The company first performed it in 2004 and has also taken it on tour to London, Helsinki, and New York (at the David H. Koch Theatre).

The pas de deux from Bach Cello Suites, which Boston Ballet premiered in 2015, is also being filmed for this presentation and will feature Principal Dancers Lia Cirio and Paulo Arrais. It is set to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suites Nos. 1 & 2; Boston Ballet Orchestra cellist Ron Lowry is the soloist who will acompany the couple onstage.

In addition to this new footage, Celebrating Jorma Elo will explore many of his other works with archival footage, including C. to C. (Close to Chuck), Sharper Side of Dark, Creatures of Egmont, and Fifth Symphony of Jean Sibelius.

About Jorma Elo

Finnish-born Jorma Elo was appointed Resident Choreographer of Boston Ballet in 2005.

He has created more than 60 works for over 30 companies worldwide, including New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and National Ballet of Canada.

Elo danced professionally with Finnish National Ballet and Cullberg Ballet, and joined Netherlands Dance Theater in 1990, where he enjoyed a 15-year career.

Elo was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland, one of Finland’s highest honors, in 2015.

He was awarded Moscow’s prestigious Benois de la Danse prize for best choreography in 2011 for his production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Slice to Sharp.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase my work in this BB@yourhome program,” said Elo. “Working with the talented Boston Ballet artists who bring my choreographic visions to life is a great honor, and I am proud of the work we have accomplished over the past 15 years.”

BB@yourhome

Boston Ballet’s virtual season features new creations, signature works, and classical ballet favorites captured live in-studio. Dancers have been back in the studios rehearsing under a new health and safety plan, which was developed in partnership with a team of medical professionals and infectious disease specialists.

Featured Photo for Boston Ballet Celebrates Jorma Elo of the Company in Boston Ballet in Jorma Elo’s Creatures of Egmont © Liza Voll; courtesy of Boston Ballet