Jeanne Ruddy Dance presents the Final Season— Twelve Memorable Seasons Come to a Close May 10-12

The final performances of the Jeanne Ruddy Dance company will take place May 10-12 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, home of the Philadelphia Theatre Compnay on Broad & Lombard Sts. in Philadelphia. This season will feature three of Artistic Director, Jeanne Ruddy’s, most captivating worksâ€" MonTage à Trois; Out of the Mist, Above the Real; and her final work for the company, Game Drive.

Inspired by Ruddy’s experiences on a Kenyan Safari during a recent trip to Africa, Game Drive is set to a unique and pulsating score by Philadelphia’s own 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Jennifer Higdon, hailed by the Washington Post as “a savvy, sensitive composer with a keen ear, an innate sense of form and a generous dash of pure esprit.”

Utilizing her vision of the dramatic beauty of the African landscape, Ruddy’s fun, mischievous choreography, paired with Higdon’s score, results in a vibrant feast for the senses, taking audiences on a magical, bumpy ride to a Kenyan wildlife preserve.

Debuted at the Hamilton Galleries of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts last April as part of the inaugural Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, MonTage à Troisâ€"Ruddy’s first full-length workâ€" incorporates the paintings of renowned artist Elizabeth Osborne as it explores the idea of collaboration between dance and other mediums. Set to the music of Erik Satie and Claude Debussy, with extensive video design by composer/videographer Ellen Fishman-Johnson, this site-specific work â€" now re-staged for the proscenium theatre, spotlights the relationship of costume design to both dance and fashion, featuring the work of longtime JRD costume designer Jeffrey Wirsing (member of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire costume design team), who has collaborated with Ruddy since the company’s inception.

Finally, Out of the Mist…Above the Real â€" a work which premiered during the 2004 season and not seen since 2005, is Ruddy’s homage to life’s journey, set to composer Daniel Brewbaker’s score about the four stages of life: Childhood, Youth, Middle Age, Old Age. The concept grew out of Ruddy and Brewbaker’s mutual admiration of Irish culture, history and music, which sprang from their individual explorations into family history on the Emerald Isle. Using nine company dancers and one child, the piece is based on poems that express a search for our most ancient origins, taking its title from the poem “The Irish Cliffs of Moher,” by Wallace Stevens. For the choreography, Ruddy used “The Voyage of Life” paintings by famed Hudson River School painter, Thomas Cole, as inspiration, which enables the piece to truly conjure up the poignant images of ancient Irish cliffs and the rolling sea.

For one last time as artistic director of Jeanne Ruddy Dance, and calling upon her former career as a Martha Graham principal dancer, Jeanne will perform a section of this piece with her dancers. Guest artist Renee Robinson-Buzby as the mother and Brigitta Herrmann, as the mature woman, will reprise the roles they originated, and Zoe Shae Buzby (Robinson-Buzby’s daughter) and Sophia Davis, will be performing the role of the young child. The work has unique meaning for Robinson-Buzby, whose older daughter Noa premiered the role of the young child in 2004, and will now feature her young daughter Zoe in the same role, seven years later.

Established in 1998, Jeanne Ruddy Dance has grown from the performance of one work twelve years ago, to an annual concert season, outreach programs, workshops, lecture demonstrations, touring and more, not to mention the renovation and creation of the Company’s studio headquarters, the Performance Garage. Creating works that continue to expand the vocabulary and genre as well as the numbers and diversity of its audience, JRD has featured the work of such preeminent choreographers as Robert Battle, Ann Reinking, Mark Dendy, Susanne Linke and Martha Clarke. A mainstay of the region’s dance community, each season’s productions have also included new or re-imagined works by Ruddy herself, who has throughout, continued to explore diverse styles and techniques with her company of 8 professional dancers.

In addition to founder and Artistic Director Jeanne Ruddy, JRD Company members include: Janet Pillaâ€"Associate Artistic Director, Christine Taylorâ€"Associate Artistic Director, Rick Callenderâ€"Artistic Consultant, Melissa Chisena, Thayne Alexandra Dibble, Gabrielle Revlock, Jerome Stigler and Jennifer Yackel.

Jeanne Ruddy Dance’s Spring 2012 Season will be presented May 10 â€" 12 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Broad & Lombard Streets, Philadelphia. Performances include opening night on Thursday, May 10 at 7:30pm following the performance will be a celebratory champagne toast; Friday, May 11 at 8:00pm with a post-performance talk back featuring Jeanne Ruddy and composer Jennifer Higdon and the Final Gala Celebration on Saturday, May 12 at 8:00pm, honoring the legacy of Jeanne Ruddy Dance and its artistic collaborators. General performance ticket prices range from $25 â€" 35 and can be purchased by visiting http://www.etix.com or by calling 800.514.ETIX (3849). Students with ID and DancePass holders: 50% off. Discount does not apply to Final Gala Celebration tickets, which are $100-130. For any questions regarding tickets, please email Rachael Glashan at rglashan@ruddydance.org.

For further information on the upcoming performance season please call 215.569.4060 or visit www.ruddydance.org. For press tickets or interviews please contact Nina Zucker Associates at 610.667.0706 or nzapr@aol.com or visit www.ruddydance.org.