Poised For Ballet Premiere -- New Dance Group From Fed. Way About To Make Its Debut

Ticket information

"Who Cares?," the debut of the Evergreen City Ballet, will be staged April 24 at 7 p.m. at the Auburn Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $12-$15. For more information, call 838-6244.

FEDERAL WAY - It's been almost three years since the Federal Way Philharmonic performed in Kazan in Russia's first production of "The Messiah."

But that artistic endeavor still is paying dividends to Federal Way's cultural community.

The latest payoff is to the Evergreen City Ballet, which will become the first U.S. ballet company to perform at the Nureyev Ballet Festival later this year in Kazan.

The new group will make its debut April 24 at the Auburn Performing Arts Center.

"Who Cares?," a George Balanchine ballet featuring the music of George Gershwin, will be featured, along with new choreography by Evergreen City Ballet company members, including Seattle-based performers Wade Walthall and Lucinda Hughey.

The Evergreen City Ballet began a year ago when Dance Unlimited, a Federal Way ballet and jazz-dance school, performed during a fund-raiser. Diana Nielsen, publicist for the Federal Way Philharmonic, suggested they work with the philharmonic, said Linda Anderson, owner of Dance Unlimited. Nielsen suggested they try to create an exchange with the same Russian opera and ballet company with which the philharmonic teamed.

Anderson said the hiring of artistic director John Prinz was crucial to forming the Evergreen City Ballet. Prinz is a former dancer for the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, two of the most prestigious U.S. ballet companies, as well as for companies throughout Europe.

Prinz, 48, moved to Seattle from San Francisco about a year ago. He began teaching at Dance Unlimited; he also teaches at the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.

The Evergreen City Ballet will begin with 16 dancers, about half of whom are from Federal Way, Prinz said. A full season of performances is planned for the next year, running from September to May.

He said the Evergreen City Ballet will maintain its ties to the Pacific Northwest Ballet, which focuses mostly on Balanchine works, while also forming its own character. Walthall and Hughey are former dancers with the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

"It's important that audiences see that we're a professional dance company developing," he said.

"Hopefully, as we build and change, that can also happen with the audience."