Mikhail Baryshnikov to Perform in CFA June 8-11

BUFFALO, NY -- Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Mikhail Baryshnikov and Hell's Kitchen Dance, June 8-10 at 8 p.m. and June 11 at 2 p.m. in the Drama Theatre, located at the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. March 11.

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Hell's Kitchen Dance go on the road for the first tour of works created at the newly opened, New York-based Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC), featuring two world premieres by Aszure Barton's, Over/Come and Come In, and a world premiere by Benjamin Millepied titled Years Later. Both choreographers were named 2005-2006 artists-in-residence at the center for their exceptional talents, and their work will be danced by Baryshnikov and Hell's Kitchen Dance, an ensemble of young performers, mostly from The Juilliard School and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, who received fellowships from BAC for this occasion.

Following its UB performance, the tour will continue on to the Zellerbach Playhouse at the University of California Berkeley in Berkeley, CA (June 15-18); Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara, CA (June 21-23); Mercat de les Flors Theatre in Barcelona, Spain (July 6-9), and Teatro Español in Madrid, Spain (July 13-16).

The Baryshnikov Arts Center, Baryshnikov's new artistic venture that opened its doors in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in November 2005, is an international center for artistic experimentation and collaboration, and serves as a creative laboratory for emerging and mid-career artists from around the world and across all disciplines.  The Hell's Kitchen Dance tour offers a first-time opportunity for national and international audiences to experience fresh talent, and the works created by artists selected by Baryshnikov and produced in the stimulating environment of BAC.

The world's most celebrated dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, began his ballet study Vaganova School in Leningrad under the renowned teacher Alexander Pushkin. At 18, he entered the Kirov Ballet as a soloist and remained with the company from 1968 to 1974, when he left Russia. From 1974 to 1979, he danced with ballet and modern companies around the world. He was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet from 1979 to 1980, and from 1980 until 1989 he was artistic director of American Ballet Theatre. From 1990 to 2002, Baryshnikov was director and dancer with the White Oak Dance Project, which he co-founded with choreographer Mark Morris. His most recent awards are the Kennedy Center Honors, The National Medal of Honor and the Commonwealth Award.

Tickets for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Hell's Kitchen Dance are $60. Tickets are available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Center for the Arts Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations, including Kaufmann's. To charge tickets, call 852-5000; in Canada, call 1-416-870-8000. For group sales, call 645-6771. For more information, call 645-ARTS. The Center for the Arts is a Ticketfast location. The CFA Box Office also will be open from 10 a.m. to noon on March 11.