Six of the ballet world’s brightest talents will shine on the Koger Center stage March 19th, as the University of South Carolina Dept. of Theatre and Dance presents the 12th Annual Ballet Stars of New York Gala Performance.

The concert will feature world-renowned New York City Ballet dancers Sara Mearns (a Columbia native), Jared Angle, Joaquin De Luz, Megan Fairchild, Brittany Pollack, and Emilie Gerrity, performing alongside students from the USC Dance Company and the USC Symphony.  University ballet instructor Stacey Calvert, a former soloist with the New York City Ballet, is directing the concert.  Maestro Donald Portnoy will lead the USC Symphony.  

Scheduled for the performance are three iconic ballets from the New York City Ballet repertoire, including:  

Raymonda Variations by George Balanchine, legendary founder of the New York City Ballet. Balanchine’s take on the classic Russian ballet Raymonda, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa, is a joyful, playful work set to the music of Alexander Glazunov.

Barber Violin Concerto Pas de Deux by current NYCB Artistic Director Peter Martins, a dance which fuses classical and modern styles, demonstrating what The New York Times called “Mr. Martin’s best attributes as a choreographer: a gift for ingenious partnering; an unpredictable responsiveness to the music; a craftsmanship in moving dancers around the stage.” 

The full-length ballet Who Cares?, George Balanchine’s whimsical dance tribute to the music of George Gershwin, described by The New York Times as “Balanchine’s juxtaposition of ballet and Broadway flair.”  Sixteen Gershwin tunes, all composed between 1924 and 1931, are featured. 

Mearns, described in The New York Times as “very possibly the most talked of ballerina in America,” first gained major recognition with the New York City Ballet in 2006 performing the lead role of Odette/Odile in Peter Martin’s Swan Lake.  She was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2008, and has since earned high praise for her roles in, among many other ballets, The Nutcracker, Serenade, Symphony in C, Mozartiana and Walpurgisnacht.  In recent years, Mearns  has expanded her celebrity through performances in the Tony-nominated Broadway show On the Town, a Bessie Award-winning performance in Paul McCartney’s Ocean’s Kingdom, and participation in fashion campaigns for such brands as Cole Haan, Danskin and Guerlain.  Mearns began her ballet training at Columbia’s Calvert-Brodie School of Dance, under the tutelage of Ann Brodie.  

An elegant gala fundraiser, with a “Dancing at the Starlight Ballroom” theme, will follow the performance.  A special ticket, available only through the USC Dance Program office, will admit guests to the party, to be held backstage at the Koger Center.  The party will include fine cuisine by Loosh Culinaire, and dancing to the music of Mark Rapp and his band.  The ticket also provides guests orchestra seating during the concert and free valet parking.