PA Ballet Love & Longing interview with Meredith Reffner

Sounds of Sinatra will warm up your winter as Pennsylvania Ballet presents Love & Longing
February 11 – February 15 at the Merriam Theater

Pennsylvania Ballet continues its 45th Anniversary Season February 11 – February 15 at the
Merriam Theater at the University of the Arts, 250 S. Broad Street with Nine Sinatra Songs, Fearful
Symmetries and the world premiere of Requiem for a Rose by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. This exciting
repertory program was designed especially with your Valentine in mind.
The vocal stylings of the quintessential romantic, Frank Sinatra, set the mood for Twyla
Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs. This ballad ballet pays tribute to the legendary crooner through nine of
his timeless hits including “My Way,” “That’s Life,” and “Strangers in the Night.” Couples explore
the complexities of relationships through graceful ballroom dancing while donned in exquisitely
designed costumes mirrored after Oscar de la Renta’s original designs.
First performed by Pennsylvania Ballet in March 2005, Peter Martins’s Fearful Symmetries
is a study in precision and intensity with its dancers draped in dramatic hues of crimson and
burgundy. A ballet for two principal couples, a soloist couple, three corps men, six corps women,
and four corps couples it is a large, complex ballet that experiments with contemporary movement
culminating in a high impact ensemble finish against John Adams’s racing score.
Choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa offers Requiem for a Rose, her first commission for
the Company. Set to Shubert’s Adagio from Quintet in C, Requiem is an intimate ballet that uses 13
Company dancers to create an emotional experience through abstract movement, subtle gestures and
longing glances. Much of the inspiration for her choreography is drawn from art and music rather
than contemporary dance trends. The half-Columbian, half-Belgian Ochoa completed her dance
training at the Royal Ballet Academy before dancing with several companies throughout Europe.
Ochoa’s choreographic work was recently seen by Philadelphia audiences in Still@Life, created for
BalletX last July.

Tickets for Love & Longing are on sale January 6, 2009, with prices ranging from $21.50 – $126.50
and can be purchased by calling 215.336.2000 or online at www.paballet.org. Groups of 10 or more
can purchase discounted tickets by calling 215.587.6921.

Create your own subscription package for Pennsylvania Ballet’s 45th Anniversary Season.
Choose 3 of the season’s remaining ballets for as little as $61. Subscribers receive many benefits
over single ticket purchasers including a 20% discount, priority seating, easy ticket exchanges,
discounts to fine restaurants and other area cultural institutions, and more! Subscriptions are
available by calling 215.893.1955 or online at www.paballet.org.

Founded in 1963 by Balanchine student and protégée Barbara Weisberger, Pennsylvania
Ballet is one of the nation’s leading ballet companies. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the
Company’s annual local season features six programs of classic favorites and new works, including
the Philadelphia holiday tradition, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. For more information, call
215.551.7000 or visit www.paballet.org.

Meredith Reffner

Meredith Reffner, a native of Annapolis, Maryland, has studied at the Washington School of Ballet, The School of American Ballet and the Chautauqua Institute. Ms. Reffner received recognition for her dance studies by being named a Maryland Distinguished Scholar, Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and receiving a Level One Award from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts.
Ms. Reffner danced with the Washington Ballet for one season where she participated in the 25th Anniversary Celebration of The Kennedy Center. She was a member of the Fort Worth Dallas Ballet for four seasons and performed with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Some of Ms. Reffner’s featured roles include the Siren from The Prodigal Son, Emeralds from Jewels, and the Second Aria from Stravinsky Violin Concerto.
She performed with Pennsylvania Ballet as a guest artist in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of
the Shrew, and George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. She joined the Company as a member of the Corps de Ballet in August 2001. Since then she has been featured in John Butler’s Carmina Burana, Peter Martins’ Fearful Symmetries, Jose Limón’s The Moor’s Pavane, and Christopher Wheeldon’s Swan Lake, among others. Ms. Reffner is the proud mother of Lorelei Clarice Callender who was born September 15, 2006.