Aspen Santa Fe Ballet boasts busy summer

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is heating up the summer season with a balance of cutting-edge contemporary choreography and culturally rich dance traditions. Splitting time between its two homes in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Aspen, Colorado, the company has already presented the first of three performances in each location, premiering a newly commissioned work by Spanish choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo beside 1st Flash by Finnish superstar Jorma Elo and fan favorite Beautiful Mistake by the Spanish dancemaker Cayetano Soto.

In addition to it’s own program—which will return to Aspen July 28 and August 22 and to Santa Fe July 31 and September 4—ASFB has also presented the pulsing, rhythmic athleticism of DanceBrazil in Aspen. Fresh off performances at New York’s Joyce Theater, DanceBrazil presented Aspen with a spirited program showcasing the company’s trademark fusion of contemporary dance, Afro-Brazilian movement, and capoeira, the traditional martial arts form rooted in the streets of Brazil.

Aspen and Santa Fe audiences will also be treated to the return of the passionate Juan Siddi Flamenco Santa Fe, recipient of the Santa Fe Mayor’s Award and rave reviews from international press. The ensemble of 14 dancers and musicians deliver a no-holds-barred theatrical experience in Aspen on July 23 and in Santa Fe on July 21 and 26, August 1 and 29, and September 5.

Swooping into Aspen at the end of summer is the intensely magnetic and fierce dancers of Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (BJM), fresh off a Mediterranean tour. As part of Dance for Kids!, the company will present ZAP on August 8 at 4 p.m. The night before and that evening (August 7 and 8 at 8 p.m.), BJM will present Harry by Israeli-American choreographer Barak Marshall, the duet Closer by Benjamin Millepied and Rouge, a full throttle, high-intensity piece by the legendary Brazilian choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras.

For nearly two decades, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet has created forward-thinking global choreography from its base in the American West under the direction of Jean-Philippe Malaty and Tom Mossbrucker. The company’s winning stable of dancers once again presents a top-notch program, as well as many guest companies this summer. For more information, visit www.aspensantafeballet.com.

Photo: ASFB dancer in Heartspace. Photo courtesy of ASFB.