Koresh Dance Company program for March 21 & 22, 2025 by Wortham Center for the Performing Arts

KORESH DANCE COMPANY

presents MASQUERADE

Friday & Saturday, March 21 & 22, 2025 at 8 p.m.

presents MASQUERADE

Dedicated to amazing friend and long-standing board member, Toni Alperin-Goldberg.

Chorography by Ronen Koresh

All music composed, produced and performed by Sage DeAgro-Ruopp Music has been sponsored through the generosity of Richard Glassman. Costumes by Ronen Koresh (with the help of Alicia Tom)

Lighting Design by Peter Jakubowski

DANCERS

Mia Davis

Paige Devitt

Callie Hocter

Devon Larcher

Savanna Mitchell

Kevin Ocampo

Melissa Rector

Sarah Shaulis

Robert Tyler

Owen Whetstone

MASQUERADE PROGRAM

Lift those eyelids

Poem by Heinrich Heine

Dancers: Full Company

Together apart

Dancers: Melissa Rector, Sarah Shaulis, Devon Larcher, Owen Whetstone, Callie Hocter, Paige Devitt, Mia Davis, Savanna Mitchell

Too Close to the Sun

Dancers: [duet] Robert Tyler, Kevin Ocampo; joined by Full Company

The Mask behind the Ask Dancers: Sarah Shaulis, Devon Larcher

Mirror of a Passing Smile

Music: included excerpt from La Sonnambula Dancers: Full Company

Pleas

Text: Anonymous

Dancers: Melissa Rector, Kevin Ocampo, Paige Devitt, Robert Tyler, Savanna Mitchell

Apart Together

Dancers: Devon Larcher, Callie Hocter

Imagine me to be Dancers: Paige Devitt, Savanna Mitchell

Nowhere

Music: Whimsical Bells by John Levis

Dancers: Robert Tyler

Mirrors

Text: excerpts from poems by Paul Verlaine Dancers: Full Company

—Intermission—

Caro

Text: Nursery rhymes

Dancers: Full Company

Blades

Text: Ronen Koresh

Dancers: Full Company

The Masquerade is over

Song reimagined by Sage DeAgro-Ruopp

Text: Herb Magidson

Dancers: Full Company

La Bohème

Text: Charles Aznavour

Dancers: Full Company

Pawns

Original music by Elizabeth Cotton

Arranged by Sage DeAgro-Ruopp

Dancers: Full Company

ABOUT MASQUERADE

“Masquerade” is an intra-active contemporary operatic dance performance performed by the Koresh Dance Company and choreographed by Roni Koresh, with original music composed and sung live by American soprano and composer, Sage DeAgro-Ruopp.

“Masquerade” is a collaborative and theatrical work incorporating multiple artistic mediums and elevated by the element of live singing and dance. Audience members will be immersed in an unpredictable environment of new, electronic symphonic music, and movement, encapsulating the liminal space of reality folding in on itself. The line between reality and fiction no longer exists. Truth belongs to the imagination of the beholder.

ABOUT KORESH DANCE COMPANY

MISSION STATEMENT

Koresh Dance Company is fully dedicated to the enrichment of the cultural landscape and artistic reputation of Philadelphia. It is important to us to sustain a group of dancers and an administrative staff on salary, so that we can fully dedicate ourselves to our mission. We serve our mission in three ways: performance, instruction and community outreach.

HISTORY

Koresh Dance Company was founded in 1991 by Israeli-born choreographer and artistic director Ronen (Roni) Koresh. Known for its engaging performance and technically superb dancers, the company performs critically acclaimed works at its biannual Philadelphia seasons, as well as in touring performances around the country. Koresh has been hailed internationally, touring to destinations including Spain, Turkey, Israel, South Korea, Mexico, and Guatemala.

WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS 2024/2025

SEASON

Over the years, Roni has developed a vast repertoire of work that ranges from explosive and passionate to intimate and restrained. The company also presents work by guest choreographers including Ohad Naharin, Robert Battle, Donald Byrd, Itzik Galili, and Paul Selwyn Norton.

THE COMMUNITY

In addition to performance and instruction, Koresh Dance Company is committed to community building and outreach. While on tour, the company provides diverse outreach offerings that connect with dancers and non-dancers alike. Activities including post-performance discussions, residencies, lecture demonstrations and master classes bring dance off the stage and into the lives of audiences across the country. At home, the Koresh Kids Dance program brings arts education to underserved children by creating partnerships with Philadelphia public schools and providing free weekly dance classes for their 4th and 5th grade students, promoting creativity as a conduit for non-violence and achieving life goals.

Koresh extends dance education and performance resources to its community by presenting emerging artists in quarterly Koresh Artist Showcases. The showcases present work by local choreographers and artists, providing individuals and companies in the community an opportunity to perform their work at no cost and to connect with a wider audience. In 2013, Koresh expanded the showcase model to present over two dozen companies in the Come Together Dance Festival, which is now an annual opportunity for Philadelphia dancers, choreographers, and audiences to create and experience a wide array of dance forms and styles.

Roni Koresh, Artistic Director & Choreographer

Ronen (Roni) Koresh was born and raised in Israel. He received early dance training from his mother, a folk dancer in the Yemenite tradition, and from teachers Alida Gera, Micha Deri, Nira Paz and Moshe Romano. Koresh joined Martha Graham’s Batsheva 2 Dance Company before enlisting for 3 years in the Israeli army. In 1983, he moved to New York to study with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He began performing with Shimon Braun’s Waves Jazz Dance Company in Philadelphia, and in 1991, founded Koresh Dance Company in Philadelphia, followed by the Koresh School of Dance in 1993.

Koresh has established a repertoire of over 60 works and develops 2 to 3 new works each year. These have included commissions for the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Giordano Dane Chicago, GroundWorks Dance Theatre, Las Vegas Contemporary, Odyssey Dance Theatre, Spectrum Dance Theater, the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Dance Celebration, the dancers of MADCO (commissioned for St. Louis’ New Dance Horizons series), Point Park University, Jacksonville University, East Carolina University, and Giordano Dance Chicago, as well as mentoring students at performing arts high schools across the country. Koresh had been on the faculty at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts for 30 years since 1986, teaches master classes across the country, and participates in festivals including Jacob’s Pillow and the Northwest National Dance Project. Recipient of a Philadelphia dance community Rocky Award from FringeArts and Dance/USA Philadelphia, Koresh is an avid collaborator and supporter of emerging artists. His interdisciplinary works have been supported by multi-year fellowships and grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

WORTHAM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS 2024/2025 SEASON

Sage DeAgro-Ruopp, American Soprano & Composer

American soprano Sage DeAgro- Ruopp has been praised for transfixing her audiences with her “combination of subtlety and burgeoning eroticism” (DC Theater Arts), as well as bringing to her roles “strong credentials and splendid vocal flexibility” (Cleveland Classical). Sage holds a Diploma from the Oberlin Conservatory along with a Bachelors and Master’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music where she held the Gianna Rolandi fellowship. During her time at Curtis, Sage debuted roles such as Mellisande (Impressions of Pelleas), Monica (The Medium), and Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia). In addition to mainstage performances, she has performed in concerts across the country with Curtis on Tour and was featured in a Curtis Symphony Orchestra concert of Mozart opera ensembles under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. At both Oberlin and Curtis, Sage has performed as a soloist with the contemporary and early music ensembles. Sage has appeared in concert with the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, the Water Island Music Festival, and has an upcoming performance with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Alongside traditional operatic practices Sage composes and produces music electronically as well as for live performance. Her compositions defy one genre and integrate different rhythms, harmonies, and cultural influences to create imaginative and contrasting worlds of sound, intended to be brought to life by dance. Sage is a 2022 Astral Artist competition winner and based in Philadelphia where she continues her work as a singer, a composer, and collaborative artist.

Koresh Dance Company Dancer Bios

Anigiduwagi Land Acknowledgement

The Wortham Center acknowledges that we are on the ancestral land of the Anigiduwagi, more commonly known as the Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩᎠᏰᎵ).

GASPARD&DANCERS

Friday & Saturday, May 2 & 3, 2025 at 8 p.m.

“The depth and breadth of Gaspard Louis’ choreography, the number of accomplished dancers and collaborations with artists in other fields reaches a new level”

– The Herald-Sun

by Studio Misha Photography

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