Peter Boal
14 minutes
May 9, 1994
New York City Ballet (Diamond Project)
September 17, 2005
Red Angels is a ballet of intense dramatic impact that is calculated to charge all the senses. Dressed in scarlet leotards and bathed in white and red hot light, four dancers perform with powerful athleticism to a riveting score for electric violin. Ulysses Dove commented on working with the dancers of New York City Ballet: “I wanted to deal with aspects of the Balanchine aesthetic I find appealing: the speed, legginess, the formality. As for the title, I think the dancers are angelic. And for me, the angels of the senses are red.” Composer Richard Einhorn has described Maxwell’s Demon as “a conscious attempt…to transmute American popular music into art…with a nod towards direct expression and to an audience steeped in American rock ‘n roll.”
Richard Einhorn’s music has been described as “hauntingly beautiful,” “sensational,” and “overwhelming in it semotional powers.” He has become one of a small handful of living composers who not only reaches a large worldewide audience but whose music receives widespread critical praise for its integrity, emotion, depth, and craft. Einhorn has written opera, orchestral and chamber music, song cycles, film music, and dance scores.
Ulysses Dove (1947-1996) born in Columbia, SC, began studying dance with Carolyn Tate while a pre-med student at Howard University. Upon graduation from Bennington College with a degree in dance, Dove moved to New York to dance professionally with Merce Cunningham, Alvin Ailey, and Anna Sokolow. Dove created works for companies including American Ballet Theatre, Ballet France de Nancy, Basel Ballet, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, New York City Ballet, Swedish National Ballet, and the Choreographic Research Group of the Paris Opera, where he spent three years as assistant director.