Like Being Awake Sleeping and Hearing Seeing

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2005)

Music: Sasha and John Digweed

Lighting: Trad A Burns

Costumes: Studio Sangha, Christine LaPerna, Edward Sylvia and Gina Dudik 

Premiered at Cleveland’s Ingenuity Festival in the summer of 2005, “Like Being Awake Sleeping and Hearing Seeing” pits opposite human states and senses together aiming to create an evocative, rather than informative, experience for the audience. 

A Surrealist Manifesto

Inspired by the works of Meret Oppenheim and Max Ernst

Special thanks to Studio Sangha

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Luis

Choreography: Mark Tomasic (2006)
Music: Uakti by Uakti
© 1987 Dunvagen Music Publishers o/b/o Uakti Music. Used by Permission.
Lighting Design: Raymond Kent
Costume Design: Edgar Day Stanton
Based on the short story LUIS by Dr. Richard Selzer*
Script Adaption: Eric Coble

7 women, 4 men

Luis was commissioned by the Hiram College Center for Literature, Medicine, and the Biomedical Humanities; the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care; and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Department of Bioethics for the national Global Health Care Justice symposium hosted at Hiram College in June 2006.
*This ballet is performed through arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc., for Richard Selzer.

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The Man and the Echo

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2002)
Music: Edvard Grieg*
Original Lighting: Chenault Spence
Costumes: Edward Sylvia

World Premiere: September 12, 2002
Cortez & Co. Contemporary/Ballet, Danspace Project
St. Mark’s Church, New York, New York

Full Company

Man: While man can still his body keep
Wine or love drug him to sleep,
Waking he thanks the Lord that he
Has body and its stupidity,
But body gone he sleeps no more,
And till his intellect grows sure
That all’s arranged in one clear view,
Pursues the thoughts that I pursue,
Then stands in judgment on his soul,
And, all work done, dismisses all
Out of intellect and sight
And sinks at last into the night.

Echo: Into the night.
The Man and the Echo, William Butler Yeats (1938)

*"Holberg Suite" written/composed by Edvard Grieg.

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MoonDogg: A Rock and Roll Fantasia

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2003)
Music: Various Early Rock ‘N Roll Artists*
Costumes: Philip Heckman
Lighting: Chenault Spence

World Premiere: December 12, 2003
Metro Theatre, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio.

Full Company

Major funding for MoonDogg provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

*"Right Now, Right Now," performed by Alan Freed and His Rock & Roll Band, written/composed by Charles E. Calhoun and Al Sears, published by EMI Longitude Music (BMI); "Alright, Okay, You Win," performed by Joe Williams, written/composed by Mayme Watts and Sydney J. Wyche, published by Cherio Corporation and Melody Lane Publications Inc. (BMI); "Can't We Be Sweethearts," performed by the Cleftones, written/composed by Herbert Cox and Morris Levy, published by EMI Longitude Music (BMI); "Big Heavy," performed by Alan Freed and His Rock & Roll Band, written/composed by Cozy Eggleston, published by Eggton Publishing Company (BMI); "Rock, Rock, Rock," performed by Jimmy Cavallo and the House Rockers, written/composed by Glen T. Moore and Milton Subotsky, published by EMI Longitude Music and Glenfoe Music Company (BMI); "Sincerely," performed by the Moonglows, written/composed by Alan Freed and Harvey Fuqua, published by Alan Freed Music, Arc Music Corp., Irving Music Corp. and Liaison Two Publishing (BMI); "Out of the Picture," performed by the Robins, written/composed by Joe Lubin and Adam Roth, published by Criterion Music Corporation (ASCAP); "Rip It Up," performed by Bill Haley and His Comets, written/composed by Robert Alexander Blackwell and John S. Marascalco, published by Sony/ATV Songs LLC (BMI); "Dance with Me Henry," performed by Etta James, written/composed by Hank Ballard, Etta James and Johnny Otis, published by Careers BMG Music Publishing Inc., Fort Knox Music Inc. and Trio Music Co. Inc. (BMI); "One Night Only," performed by Otis Williams and the Charms, written/composed by Rose Marie McCoy and Charles Singleton, published by Bienstock Publishing Company and Quartet Music Inc. (ASCAP); "Magic Touch," performed by the Platters, written/composed by Ram Buck, published by AMC Incorporated and Universal MCA Music Publishing (ASCAP); "The Saints Rock 'n' Roll," performed by Bill Haley and the Comets, written/composed by Milt Gabler and Bill Haley, published by MCA/Northern Music Company (ASCAP); "Run Rudolph Run," performed by Chuck Berry, written/composed by Marvin Lee Broadie and John D. Marks, published by St. Nicholas Music Inc. (ASCAP). Music used by permission.

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Mozart Piano Trio in C Major

Choreography: Seán Curran (2004)
Music: W. A. Mozart, Piano Trio in C Major
Lighting: Chenault Spence
Costumes: Janet Bolick

Full company

This production made possible with support from the Playhouse Square Foundation and The Kulas Foundation.

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Ocean Depths

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2007)
Music: Richard D. Rinehart
Lighting: Trad A Burns
Costumes: Suzy Campbell

7 women, 3 men

The creation of Ocean Depths is supported by RSIS; a NASA Glenn contractor and The Bascom Little Fund

An Underwater Fantasy

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Planet Soup

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (1999)
Music: Afro-Celtic Sound System, Dead Can Dance*
Original Lighting: Chenault Spence
Costumes: Edward Sylvia

World Premiere: 1999, Cortez & Co. Contemporary/Ballet
Limelight Theater, New York, New York

Full Company

Set to the Afro-Celt Sound System and other contemporary World Music artists, the company’s new signature piece unifies folk and vernacular dances from around the world in an athletic hybrid of movement styles, including Indian traditional, Irish reels, and African rituals. The cross-cultural fusion also incorporates "Tinikling," the authentic Filipino folk dance in which dancers step between clapping poles.

*"Saor/Free/News From Nowhere," performed by Afro-Celt Sound System, written/composed by Ronan Cormac Brown, published by EMI Virgin Songs Inc. (BMI); "Whirl-y-reel 1," performed by Afro-Celt Sound System, written/composed by Simon Daniel Emmerson and James McNally, published by EMI Virgin Songs Inc. (BMI)

Original production of Planet Soup was created with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Née Dance Company, and Purchase College Conservatory of Dance.

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"please"

Choreography: Catherine Meredith (2007)
Music: Michael Nyman
Lighting Design: Raymond Kent
Costume Design: Kelly Michaels

2 women, 2 men

World Premiere: Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, February 17, 2007

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Polka Madness
Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2007)
Music: Frankie Yankovic and Johnny Koenig
Lighting Design: Trad A Burns
Costume Design: Suzy Campbell

The Johnny Koenig Orchestra: Pete Oberson, Mark Habat, Magnolia Tetreault, and Johnny Koenig

Full company

World Premiere: Ohio, Cain Park, July 20, 2007

A madcap romp celebrating Cleveland's Polka tradition.

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Prelude and Six Easy Pieces

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2006)
Music: Jonathan Sheffer, Six Easy Pieces for Piano Solo - Three Common-Tone Studies, Three Dance Studies
Pianist: Michael Schneider
Original Lighting Design: Trad A Burns
Costume Design: Suzy Campbell

Waltz-- Company
Prelude after Chopin-- 2 women
Octave Etude-- 1 woman, 1 man
Prelude-- 1 woman, 1 man
Polonaise after Debussy-- 1 woman and company
Tango-- 1 woman, 1 man
Prelude (reprise)-- Company

Six Easy Pieces premiered at Playhouse Square, Ohio Theater, in March, 2006.

Prelude was created by Hernando Cortez for Fire Island Dance Festival 12, benefiting Dancers Responding to AIDS. Generous support for Prelude was provided by The Conway Family (World Premiere July 15, 2006)

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Shadows of Nes-min

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2006)
Music: Klaus George Roy, Christopher-Suite (Suite Francaise), op. 23 (1953), Overture, Passepied, Berceuse, Menuet I, Menuet II, Air Tendre, Air Vif, Gavotte, Air Tendre, Gigue
Pianist: Michael Schneider
Lighting Design: Trad A Burns
Costume Design: Suzy Campbell

6 women, 2 men

The Book of the Dead was a collection of prayers and spells believed to provide aid for the spirit of the deceased in the next life. In this vignette, Nes-min is led into the presence of Osiris and the gods who judge the dead by Ma'at, goddess of truth. His judgment is represented by the weighing of his heart against an ostrich feather, symbolizing truth and right-doing. If he did not pass this individual judgment, his heart would be fed to the monster crouching in readiness before Osiris.

Shadows of Nes-min was commissioned by Millie L. Carlson for The Cleveland Play House FusionFest, May 2006.

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Sleep Study

Choreography: David Parsons (1987)
Restaged for Verb Ballets: Katarzyna Skarpetowska
Music: Flim and the BBs
Lighting Design: Howell Binkley

Full company

True to its name, young and old alike will recognize the tossing and turning that make up this sleep study.

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Song and Dance

Choreography: Hernando Cortez

(company premiere 2007)
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Don Black and Richard Maltby
Co-Directed by Scott Spence and Hernando Cortez
Musically Directed by Larry Goodpaster

Produced through special arrangement with R & H Theatricals

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Speed

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2003)
Music: Alpha Team, DJ Keoki*
Original Lighting: Trad Burns
Costumes: Gino Ventura

World Premiere: May 30, 2003, Cleveland Repertory Project
Playhouse Square, Cleveland, Ohio

Speed/Icarus: One Male

Wings/Trixie: Three Females

Commissioned by Dancing Wheels/Professional Flair and Sabattino Verlazza for The Icarus Project.

*"Speed," performed by Alpha Team, written/composed by Dane Stewart Roewade and Craig Takaoko, published by Insomniak Publishing (ASCAP), based on the theme song from "Speed Racer," written/composed by Nobuyoshi Koshibe and Yoshiyuki Yoshida, published by Speed Classic Music (BMI), remixed by DJ Keoki as "Go Speed Go."

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Super Friends

The Variety Show
Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2006)
Music: TV Tunes
Lighting: Trad Burns
Costumes: Ginna Dudik

Full Company

A zany multi-section salute to favorite comic book characters from classic to current.

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Tango Non Gender

Choreography: Troy McCarty (2005)
Music: I. Val Tango and Victoria Moran, El Amanecer
II. Edison Quintana, El dia que me quieras
III. Astor Piazzola, Calambre
Lighting: Trad Burns
Costumes: Troy McCarty

I. 4 women, 2 men
II. 1 woman, 1 man
III. 9 women, 2 men

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A Twist of Fate

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (1999, Company Premiere)
Music: Elena Kats-Chernin, Clocks and Zoom and Zip
- By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., publisher and copyright owner.
Lighting: Chenault Spence
Costumes: Edward Sylvia

Full company

"In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself in a dark wood where the straight way was lost."
- Canto I, Dante's Inferno

Dedicated in loving memory of Isabelita Cortez.

Clocks was recorded in 1996 by the Sydney Alpha Ensemble. Zoom and Zip was recorded in 1998 by Australian Chamber Orchestra. By arrangement with Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Classics.

Created and rehearsed with funds from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Dance Projects, Philadanco, Purchase College Conservatory of Dance and Harkness Space Grant.

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Two Hours That Shook the World

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2002)
Set Design and Camera: Edward Hillel
Editing: Henry Joost
Music: Ges-E and Usman, Niraj Chag, Buffalo Springfield*
Original Lighting by Chenault Spence

World Premiere: September 12, 2002
Cortez & Co. Contemporary/Ballet, Danspace Project
St. Mark’s Church, New York, New York

Full Company

Like every other part of the city, New York's dance community was profoundly affected by the tragic events of September 11. In the one year since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, there has been time for reflection and healing. Many artists have created memorials, both physical and presentational, in hopes of honoring those lost and uniting those who remain.

I started to craft this "memorial" dance performance only weeks after the attacks -- though I didn't know it at the time. Like many New Yorkers, I had a personal connection to the tragedy: one of my dancers, Liz Flynn, lived only blocks from the WTC, and during the initial communication blackout we panicked for we weren't sure whether she was safe (she was). We were all so stunned at the time.

If anything, I went out of my way to NOT do a September 11 piece. But as we went through our creative process, in the three first weeks of October, 2001, in our residency in Scranton, PA, it became clear that something rooted in an emotional connection to the event would evolve. How could it not? When not in the studio, we were glued to the newspapers and television to update us about our homes, our city! I feel strongly that while the work will definitely resonate with New York audiences now, it's not necessarily intrinsically tied to the WTC terrorist attacks. Two Hours That Shook The World is about how humanity handles a monumental catastrophe. It could be Pearl Harbor, or JFK's death -- or Martin Luther King's.
- Hernando Cortez

*"Flute Song" and "Dah Din Beats," performed by Ges-E and Usman; "Redemption," performed by Niraj Chag; For What It's Worth," performed by Buffalo Springfield, written/composed by Stephen Stills, published by Cotillion Music Inc., Richie Furay Music, Springalo Toones and Ten East Music (BMI).

Created with generous contributions from the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit 19, Archbald, PA, Ballet Theatre of Scranton, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, DANSKIN™, Equinox Health Club 91st St (NYC).
Special Thanks to Dr. Catherine Richmond-Cullen for making this work possible.

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Unquiet Minds

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2005)
Music: Francis Poulenc, excerpts from Concerto for Two Pianos,
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Works for Two Pianos
Lighting: Trad A Burns
Costumes: Christine LaPerna

5 women, 3 men

Unquiet Minds was originally developed on American Ballet Theatre II, commissioned by ABT Artistic Director, Kevin McKenzie. Reworked and re-envisioned for Verb Ballets, “Unquiet Minds” brings to life “Commedia del Arte” characters in their tragic yet hopeful existence.

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Vagaries

Choreography: Marcela E. Alvarez-Lemus (2007)
Music: (sources) E. Satie, Andesmanta, Rammstein, Slipknot
Music Engineer: Hernando Cortez
Lighting Design: Raymond Kent
Costume Design: Maria D. Lemus

5 women, 1 man

World Premiere: Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, February 17, 2007

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Wings and Aires

Choreography: Heinz Poll (1981)
Music: J.S. Bach, Brandenberg Concerto No. 4
Original Lighting: Thomas Skelton
Lighting: Trad Burns
Costumes: Janet Bolick

Full Company

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Wolfgang Strategies

Choreography: Hernando Cortez (2006)
Music: Wolfgang A. Mozart, Symphony No. 28 in C Major
Lighting Design: Trad A Burns
Costume Design: Janet Bolick

5 women, 4 men