Orlando Ballet School Dancers and Alumni Present Special Summer Performance 7/18

Even though the Orlando Ballet's official season has come to a close, the award-winning Orlando Ballet School (OBS) will present a special performance to showcase its top current and former students. The Summer Fantasy V performance is the culminating production for the most advanced students participating in the school's five-week Summer Intensive program.

This year's program will feature excerpts from Paquita, Raymonda, Swan Lake and a new work from OBS instructor Olivier Munoz, a former principal dancer with English National Ballet. The performance will also feature former OBS students who are making impressive strides in their ballet careers. Jeffrey Cirio, a soloist with Boston Ballet, who has won nearly every major ballet competition including international ballet competitions in Jackson, New York, Seoul and Helsinki, in addition to the Princess Grace Award, will perform with his sister Lia Cirio, a principal dancer with Boston Ballet. Skyler Martin, who won a full tuition scholarship to study at the Royal Ballet School in England, will dance a solo. Erin Pritchard, who joined the Tulsa Ballet company after previously dancing with Houston Ballet, will also perform.

Three OBS alumni will also return as instructors for the summer intensive, including Cirio who will teach ballet; Eran Bugge, from the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York and McClaine Timmerman, with Voci Dance in Orlando, will both teach modern dance.

The public performance allows pre-professional dancers to learn classic standards and new choreography from international dance creators. The show gives the Central Florida community a special opportunity to see the next generation of young dancers perform.

WHO: Top students and returning students perform for Orlando Ballet's summer intensive program

WHAT: Summer Fantasy V

WHEN: Sunday, July 18, 2009 at 5PM

WHERE: Garden Theatre
160 W. Plant St.
Winter Garden, FL 34787

TICKETS: $18 - $22 per person
Available at the Garden Theatre box office
Call 407-877-4736, ext. 10

Established in 1974, Orlando Ballet is the professional resident ballet company in the Greater Orlando area and Daytona Beach. The Orlando-based organization employs a full-time company of national and international dancers, performing both full-length classical ballets and contemporary repertoire programs. Via its mission, Orlando Ballet seeks to entertain, educate, and enrich the cultural growth of Florida through the highest quality of dance.

Orlando Ballet School is the official school of Orlando Ballet. There are four Orlando Ballet School locations that provide classes to over 1,500 students. Schools are located in central and south Orlando, Longwood in Seminole County and at the Patel Conservatory in Tampa.