Alonzo King LINES Ballet
Scheherazade
December 9 & 10
Monaco Dance Forum
Grimaldi Forum Cultural Center, Monte Carlo, Monaco

This December, as part of the Monaco Dance Forum Festival's Centennial Celebration of the Ballets Russes, Alonzo King LINES Ballet will be taking the stage in Monte Carlo. We are honored to have been asked to open the festival with our original interpretation of the classic ballet Scheherazade.

Alonzo is exploring collaborations with extraordinary musicians, artists and fashion designers in creating this incredible production. But he can't do it without you. The right resources to support the highest level of production for Scheherazade will make the difference between good and great. Your support at any level is most appreciated and will help Alonzo create this unique work.

To support this amazing production, please click here or contact Alexis at 415-863-3040 x250. With your help, we will create a new masterpiece for our age.

For those who invest $250 or more, we will provide you with behind the scenes access including:
• Entrée into the rehearsal studio to experience the creation process first hand as Alonzo and the dancers work together building this new performance piece.
• Updates on the creation process of Scheherazade such as comments and reactions from the dancers, photos from rehearsals, and inside information on the design elements.
• Priority seating at the San Francisco 2010 Fall Season arranged through our giving office.

And for gifts of $1,000 or more:

• A lecture-demonstration with the dancers that provides rich insight into the choreographic process.
• Assistance with travel arrangements to attend the world premiere of Scheherazade in Monaco in 2009.
• And of course all the benefits related to our Inner Circle membership.

Ballets Russes

In the history of ballet, no company has had as profound and far-reaching an influence as the Ballets Russes under the direction of impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Formed in 1909, it created a global sensation, bringing musical and visual artists into the public eye, completely reinvigorating the art of dance. They were known for their magnificent and innovative artistic collaborations with Stravinsky, Matisse, Picasso, and Debussy. The Company premiered now-famous works by the great choreographers Balanchine, Fokine, Massine and Nijinsky. While no longer existing in name, Ballets Russes continues in spirit and tradition. The founders of the West's most prominent companies had their origins in the Ballets Russes including the American Ballet Theater, San Francisco Ballet and New York City Ballet. Click here for more information.

Scheherazade

Scheherazade, like the thousand and one nights through which she is said to have told her stories, spans more time than seems possible. It could be said, in fact, that her stories are a way of spinning a time outside of time. She tells fables that already belonged to the five books of the Sanskrit Panchatantra in the sixth century, and eventually she recounts the adventures of characters that came straight out of the imagination of a Frenchman in 1704. Rimsky-Korsakov composed the score prior to the conception of the Ballets Russes production. For the Alonzo King LINES Ballet production, Zakir Hussain will transcribe Korsakov's score for instruments as ancient and contemporary as the stories of Scheherazade: violin, cello, oboe, oud, panderete, tabla, naqqara, lute, exabeba and harp. Click here for more information.

The Monaco Dance Forum

For a few days every two years, the Mediterranean principality of Monaco becomes the center of the international dance world. Selected dance companies from around the globe perform in a festival with Princess Caroline, dance curators and international media in attendance. This year's festival, marking the centenary of the Ballets Russes, and the prestigious Nijinsky Awards will take place in the Salle Garnier in the Grimaldi Forum. Performances will pay tribute to this ground breaking company, its artists and the works produced from that prolific period. Click here for more information.