Island Moving Co., Newport’s contemporary ballet company, will make its premiere at the beautiful Vets Memorial Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 23.  Now in its 34th season, IMC has performed on tour and regularly in Newport but has never performed a full evening at the Vets.  For this evening, entitled “Moment to Moment,” Artistic Director Miki Ohlsen has programmed two premieres and an evening performed entirely to live music.   Tickets are on sale at the Vets Box Office.

“Moment to Moment” features works by Artistic Director Miki Ohlsen, Spencer Gavin Hering and Colin Connor, with IMC premieres choreographed by Bill Evans and Mark Harootian.  Each dance will be accompanied by live music, played by area musicians including Tobias Andrews, Jane Murray, and Adrienne Taylor, plus others to be announced.  The musicians are being assembled by cellist Adrienne Taylor, resident musician with Community MusicWorks in Providence.  Music for “Moment to Moment” includes works by Chopin, Schubert and Philip Glass, with other contemporary works by Brian Crain, Kevin Keller and Claudia Queen.  

The program will include two works choreographed by Ohlsen: her dramatic trio, Ruth…Less and La Tierra Giro, which premiered at Rosecliff in 2015 with composer Kevin Keller playing his score live at the performance.  The program also includes Breathing Space by Spencer Gavin Hering and  Everything is Closer Than It Appears by Colin Connor.  Connor, who was recently named Artistic Director of the Jose Limon Dance Company, has choreographed six pieces for the Company, spanning from Quite Early One Morning, created in 1997.

Island Moving Co. will premiere a work by noted choreographer Bill Evans, For Nana, with an original score by Claudia Queen. Evans, who recently moved to Providence, has been a prolific choreographer and performer since the ’70s, when his company, Bill Evans Dance, was one of the busiest touring companies in the country.  He has performed with numerous ballet, modern dance and tap companies and now teaches at Dean College in Massachusetts and at his own Summer Institute of Dance in New York.

Mark Harootian, a former Festival Ballet dancer, has choreographed several works for Island Moving Co. and has been working as Ballet Master for the Company upon his return from a year abroad.  He will be making a new piece for three of the Company’s dancers, danced to an original score by Brian Crain.

Spencer Gavin Hering, former Associate Artistic Director of Island Moving Co., created Breathing Space as well as seven other works for IMC over his two year tenure.  He is presently in California, teaching and choreographing for iMEE, a company he co-directs with his wife Andrea Dawn Shelley.

“Moment to Moment” immediately precedes Island Moving Co.’s tour to the Republic of Kazakhstan.  The Company leaves for a two-week tour on April 24 under the sponsorship of the U.S. Embassy and Consulate, in celebration of the 25 Anniversary of U.S./Kazakhstan relations.  The Company will perform in Astana, Almaty and Shymkent.  For more information about the Island Moving Co.’s 34th season, visit www.islandmovingco.org.

Tickets to “Moment to Moment” are available at the Vets Box Office, online and by phone at 421-ARTS (2787). For tickets to the post-show reception and for information about sponsorship opportunities call 847-4470.