Talk to the Feet!

2010 April 30

From Left to Right: Mandy Kirschner, Barrington Hinds, Julian De Leon, Gino Grenek and Emily Stone in Ghostown
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While many chicsters hit the New York City Ballet's opening gala last night, Stephen Petronio's company celebrated its own world premiere of Ghostown earlier this week—not to mention its 25th anniversary. A fusion of five unique and modern pieces (think tunes from Radiohead's "Creep" to Elvis's "Love Me Tender"), Petronio has successfully pulled together a show with a beautifully dynamic and athletic cast that Chic recommends for those who want something more avant-garde than en pointe. So how does he keep it up? "Talk to my feet," he joked after the performance. "You need to be extremely stubborn and extremely driven and I’m both of those things. I‘m very much about working with music and fashion and visual art and interacting with them keeps me on my toes!" To help bring his latest performance to the masses, Petronio tapped fashion designer Jillian Lewis of Project Runway fame to create the costumes. "I never work with costume designers only fashion designers," he explained. "I want designers who are in the world, not just the theater world. I usually have to talk to designers about extreme movement and stress on the seams but being a dancer herself, she understands it."

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