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| SONA KHARATIAN RECEIVES INDIVIDUAL ARTIST AWARD FOR DANCE |
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 10, 2000 Contact: Tania Chichmanian (301) 587-6225 or tjc@arkaballet.org Washington, DC - ARKA Ballet is pleased to announce that company member Sona Kharatian is the recipient of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award for Solo Dance for the Year 2000. The Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards are awarded to Maryland artists through an anonymous, competitive process to encourage and sustain their pursuit of artistic excellence. A limited number of awards are offered each year. Miss Kharatian is a native of Yerevan, Armenia where she studied at the Yerevan Choreographic Academy. She came to the United States in 1993, pursuing her ballet training at the Kirov Academy of Ballet and the Washington School of Ballet in Washington, DC. She has performed with the Washington Ballet and Southern Ballet Theater, and was featured at City Center’s Studio 5 and at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. A frequent guest artist, she has toured with the Kirov Ballet and was one of the dancers chosen to perform in the Kennedy Center’s 25th Anniversary Program “Suzanne Farrell Stages Balanchine”. Miss Kharatian, who currently lives in Montgomery County, Maryland, is a founding member of the Washington, D.C.-based company ARKA Ballet. Just 22, Miss Kharatian is an accomplished ballerina who has already performed some of the most important classical roles, such as Giselle and Myrtha in the romantic ballet Giselle; Prelude in Les Sylphides; the role of Carlotta Grisi in Pas de Quatre; Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker, and many others. A beautiful dancer with long, graceful lines, Miss Kharatian’s repertoire also includes works by such 20th century choreographers as Balanchine, Choo San Goh, Bujones, Vanucchi, Anastos and McCullogh, as well as many works created especially for her by her father, the award-winning choreographer, Roudolf Kharatian. Washington, DC theatergoers will have the opportunity of seeing Miss Kharatian perform on May 7, during ARKA Ballet’s spring program at the Lisner Auditorium. Miss Kharatian will star in Roudolf Kharatian’s Stabat Mater, a new one-act ballet to Pergolesi’s famous musical work of the same name. The hauntingly beautiful ballet highlights Miss Kharatian’s expressive gifts. Viewers will see her more playful side in La Vie En Rose, by popular choreographer Mark Mejia. The one-act ballet is set to songs of great French chanteuse Edit Piaf. The evening will be rounded out by excerpts from favorites of the classical repertoire. The award ceremony for the MSAC Individual Artist Awards for the year 2000 will take place later this spring. For more information about Miss Kharatian and ARKA Ballet, please contact Tania Chichmanian at (301) 587-6225 or e-mail:tjc@arkaballet.org |