Feb. 24, 2012

HARRISBURG — Live at Rose Lehrman presents Ballet Hispanico with its fiery blend of salsa, rumba, classical ballet, flamenco and modern dance at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, in the Rose Lehrman Arts Center on the Harrisburg Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College.

Since its start more than 40 years ago, the Manhattan-based dance company has performed for more than two million people across the United States, Europe and South America. The company's momentum has changed stereotypes while exposing the beauty of the fusion of modern dance and ballet with Latin dances.

Self-described as the premiere dance representative of Hispanic culture in America, Ballet Hispanico was started by Venezuelan American founding artistic director Tina Ramirez in 1970 as a vehicle to give voice to the Latin experience through dance.
           Last August, Ramirez passed the reins to former Ballet Hispanico principal dancer Eduardo Vilaro of Cuba, founder and artistic director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago.

The performance includes “Espiritu Vivo,” Ballet Hispanico’s newest work, which explores the intersection of the African and Latino areas in the Caribbean and Latin America;  “Locked Up Laura,” which explores the human struggle to maintain authenticity in the face of routine through the lens of an artist; and “Nací” which investigates the Sephardic culture of Spain with its Moorish influence and profound sense of community. To conclude the evening, Ballet Hispanico will feature Latin dancing at its best with intoxicating rhythms of the conga, rumba, mambo, and cha cha in “Club Havana.”

Support for this Live at Rose Lehrman event comes from HACC Alumni Association and the HACC Foundation. Grant funding is provided by Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the McCormick Family Foundation, and the Cultural Enrichment Fund. Media sponsor for the event is WHTM-TV abc27.

Live at Rose Lehrman will present Ballet Hispanico at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, in the Rose Lehrman Arts Center on HACC’s Harrisburg Campus. A post-show talkback with the company will take place immediately following the show. Tickets for this performance are $35 for adults, $33 senior citizens, $15 students.  Live at Rose Lehrman Box Office phone is 717-231-ROSE (7673). Tickets are available online at www.LiveatRoseLehrman.org.