From: "Katia M. Peltekian" <kpeltekian@yahoo.com>
Subject: Media City Ballet Pays Tribute to Aram Khachaturian

LA Weekly (California)
August 14, 2008 Thursday

Media City Ballet Pays Tribute to Aram Khachaturian;
Terpsichorean titan

by Ann Haskins

A contemporary of Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram
Khachaturian was the third of what has been dubbed 20th-century
Russian music’s "trio of titans." Best known for his orchestral
scores, Khachaturian also made an indelible mark on the world of
ballet. Artistic director Natasha Middleton and Media City Ballet pay
tribute to this often-overlooked aspect of Khachaturian’s oeuvre with
a program re-creating sections from two of his ballets and an
orchestral work that Middleton believes demands to be danced. The
centerpiece is a section from Spartacus, which the Bolshoi Ballet
staged in 1956 as a spectacle befitting Cecil B. DeMille. The
Spartacus excerpt will feature Arsen Serobian, Jenkyns Peláez and
Gabrielle Palmatier. Composed in 1942 during World War II for the
Kirov Ballet, Gayane references Armenian folk tunes but is best known
for its rousing "Saber Dance." Dancers Amara Baptist and Edgar
Nikolyan are featured. Khachaturian’s lush and mysterious waltz
Masquerade was written to celebrate the Russian Revolution’s 25th
anniversary, but Middleton employs it to evoke an elaborate ball
featuring dancers Ellen Rosa and Stephen Nelson. Sadly, this ambitious
program is one night only. To see video clips of Media City Ballet on
Dance Channel TV, go to and click on the Dance
pick.

Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale; Sat., Aug. 16, 7:30 p.m