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PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, March 18, 2010

AGBU Antranig Dance Ensemble Debuts "Reflections" in New York

The AGBU Antranig Dance Ensemble commemorated its 40th anniversary in
2009, crowned by a glorious performance at New York’s Lincoln Center for
the Performing Arts on Saturday, November 28. The ensemble’s rich
reputation precedes it whenever and wherever they dance, but it’s always
a breath-taking experience to watch one of its complete two-hour
performances. And the debut of the new production titled "Reflections"
was no different.

The event took on an aura of its own, just by taking place at the
prestigious Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center. Completely remodeled and
rebuilt this year, the sophisticated theater on New York’s Upper West
Side prepared everyone for a night of special surprises. Among its
myriad of Manhattan shows, the Ensemble has already performed seven
times at Alice Tully Hall, in addition to twice at Avery Fisher Hall
(also in Lincoln Center) and eight times at Carnegie Hall.

The program was sub-titled "Performance and Celebration," but it wasn’t
until the show began that everyone realized it would be so much more
than they had come to expect from Antranig. With four decades of
accomplishments, the dance ensemble couldn’t let its past go unnoticed,
and through unique integrations was able to tie its several hundred
performances and over 300 alumni dancers into the evening’s
presentation. In fact, this anniversary event was the Ensemble’s 100th
full-length program.

Archival videos of the group on and off stage, photos from dozens of
road performances, recognition of past founders and artistic directors,
and video congratulations from all corners of the arts world turned an
evening of Armenian dance into a crescendo of 40 years of successes. In
all the special effects and presentations, let it not be forgotten that
the Antranig Dance Ensemble of today, comprised of 40 young men and
women, put on a dance performance to surpass everything that had come
before. The choreography of Gagik Karapetian, former Director and
Choreographer of the State Dance Ensemble of Armenia, was enough to
amaze even the most knowledgeable attendees. The energy and precision of
the Antranig dancers was so intense as to surprise even the 100-plus
former performers who were in the audience. "This was developed as a
professional-level show. There are very few amateur groups in the world
that could have performed this as well," Karapetian said.

The variety of the program, as in so many Antranig productions, offered
something for all tastes. Still true to its roots, the Ensemble
presented traditional ethnographic dances, though completely updated for
today’s audiences. There was new choreography added to many styles of
contemporary Armenian music, never before danced by any group. And there
were all-new stories-in-dance that are so familiar to Antranig
audiences. Artistic Director Joyce Tamesian-Shenloogian credits her
twenty-year partner, Karapetian, with building and developing the
Antranig Dance Ensemble to its current level. "With each generation of
dancers, he raises the bar for Armenian dance even further. His
creations are complex and challenging, but always in the best of taste
and always aimed at entertaining his audience," she said.

The reputation of the Ensemble as one of the foremost Armenian dance
groups in the world has been upheld admirably in this all-new show. In
the coming year, the show will travel to a number of cities nationwide,
to showcase the current level of beauty and energy of Armenian dance. As
company manager Robert Doramajian said, "I’m not ready to know what else
could possibly be planned for future years." Also notable in the
Antranig story is that the Ensemble now boasts several "second
generation" dancers – children of former dancers, who count themselves
as part of the greater AGBU Antranig Dance Ensemble family. One of the
evening’s emcees, Ashod Spendjian, said in the opening remarks, "AGBU
created Antranig in 1969 as a way to ensure that our Armenian culture
would continue to thrive here in this country. It was a way to engage
the youth … and it worked. It flourished … and for the past 40 years
the Antranig Dance Ensemble has given our young adults a place to
experience their culture and a way to deliver it to communities around
the world."

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian program, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians around the world.

For more information about AGBU and its worldwide programs, please visit