RAIFORD ROGERS
MODERN BALLET
/ Los Angeles
Chamber Ballet
ABOUT
Raiford Rogers, a native of Bad Axe, Michigan, is an internationally recognized contemporary choreographer. He has created numerous collaborative pieces with prominent musicians and artists. Mr. Rogers was twice awarded National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer Fellowships.
Raiford Rogers
Guest Artist | GOLDEN PRAGUE FESTIVAL | Opening Gala Concert marking the 70th anniversary of the Prague Dance Conservatoire
Arts Advisor | Alberto Vilar Global Fellowship in Performing Arts
Guest Artist | Loyola Marymount University Dance Department
Board of Directors | Arts Inc. and panelist on numerous non-profit and government peer panels
Besides his work in dance, Mr. Rogers hosted and directed art segments for Life & Times (KCET PBS), profiling leading artists and architects.
Rogers was portrayed as a wiener dog in the CBS animated series Creature Comforts (Aardman Animations). His profile is depicted as Saint Bonaventure in artist John Nava’s Communion of Saints tapestries for the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. As an entrepreneur, he co-created Cartesian® Original, a start-up accessory company. He was named one of the 100 coolest people in Los Angeles by Buzz Magazine. Mr. Rogers is a published poet and has been included in two poetry anthologies.
Tetyana Martyanova in Seeds of Rain
BALLETS 2010 - Present
Etudes (2023)
Music: Philip Glass
Seeds of Rain (2022)
Music: Philip Glass & Zbynek Mateju
Act 2: Garden of Untamed Roses (2019)
Music: Lloyd Rodgers
Naivete of Flowers (2018)
Music: Lloyd Rodgers
Joshua Tree Symphony (2017)
Music: Zbynek Mateju
Still Life (2015)
Music: Zbynek Mateju
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Seeds of Rain
On Matters of Consequence (2014)
Music: Lloyd Rodgers
Schubert’s Silence (2013)
Piano Sonata No 18 in G major “Fantasie” D.894 by Franz Schubert
Preludes In a Landscape (2012)
Prelude Fantasia in A minor, BWV 922 (JS Bach).
Chorale Prelude BWV 659 (Bach/Busoni)
In a Landscape 1948 (John Cage)
Largo, Concerto for Piano in F minor, BWV 1056 (JS Bach/Kempff)
Abschied (Franz Liszt)
Reckoner (2012)
Music: Radiohead
Four Pieces for Piano (2011)
Toccata and Fugue for Left Hand (Jeno Takacs)
Fantasia for Piano (CPE Bach)
Piano Trio in E No. 28, Allegretto (Joseph Haydn)
Abschied (Franz Liszt)
Hammerklavier (2010)
Hammerklavier - Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major (Adagio) Op.106-3 (Beethoven)
Gesangvoll - Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major (Andante) Op.109 (Beethoven)
Arietta - Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor (Arietta) Op.111-2 (Beethoven)
BALLETS 2000 - 2009
Ostinato In C (2009)
Piano Quintet Op. 30, Largo (Sergey Taneyev)
Poquita Fe (2009)
Music: Flaco Jimendez
Last Songs of Beethoven (2008-2009)
Grosse Fuge in B flat Op.133 (2008)
Cavatina,String Quartet No.13 in B flat, Op.130-5 (2008)
Heiliger Dankgesang (2009) String Quartet No. 15
in A minor Op. 132-3
Adagio in Blue (2007)
Toccata in C, Adagio BWV 564 (JS Bach)
Transcription: Passacaglia (2007)
Partita II in D minor (Bach / Reger)
Transcription: Chaconne (2006)
Chaconne in D Minor (Bach / Busoni)
Sonata No. 2 (2006)
Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 (Bohuslav Martinu)
Prelude in Green (2005)
Sonata for Violin and Cello (Corelli/ Geminiani)
Tetyana Martyanova in Seeds of Rain
Zbynek Mateju, Raiford Rogers, Andreas Sebastian Weiser
Concertante (2005)
Petite Symphonie Concertante (Frank Martin)
Wishes and Turns (2004/1985)
Piano Quartet (Bohuslav Martinu)
Ex Machina (2003)
Music: Crater Lizards by Carlos Rodriguez
In C (2002)
Music: Terry Riley
CHANEL (2001/1994)
Music: Amon Tobin
Cabin Fever (2001/1994)
Music: Sandra Tsing Loh / Amon Tobin
Knockaround (2000)
Music: Joey Altruda and the Jump with Joey Ska-Band
Lucas Segovia in Etudes
Jasmine Perry, Joshua Brown in Etudes
BALLETS con't 1980 - 1989
Symphonie No. 4 (1989)
Music: Mozart
Dmitri (1989)
Scenario by Woody Allen
Orpheus: A Ballet-Opera (1988)
Music: Lloyd Rodgers
The Little Prince (1986-87)
Music: Lloyd Rodgers
Stone or Star (1986)
Music: Johann Strauss
Wishes and Turns (1985)
Piano Quartet (Bohuslav Martini)
Lysistrata (1984)
Concerto for Cello in G minor (Vivaldi)
Autumn Trilogy (1983)
Oboe d’amore Concerto in A major (JS Bach)
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1982)
String Quartet No. 2 (Alberto Ginastera)
Concertino (1981)
Concertino (Luciano Berio)
BALLETS 1990 - 1999
Charms (1999)
Music: Piccioni/Umilian
Cocktails with Joey (1997/1998)
Music: Joey Altruda and His Mambo Orchestra
Merge (1996)
Music: “Lonely Woman” by Ornette Coleman (Charlie Haden)
Where Are You My Love? (1995)
Music: Charlie Haden Quartet West
Cabin Fever (1994)
Music: Sandra Tsing Loh
The Nutcracker (1994)
Sleep Walk Question of Balance / Problem of Dreams (1992-1993)
Music: Sonnambula (Bellini), Macbeth (Verdi), Rusalka (Dvorak), Medea (Cherubini)
Dream Baby (1991)
Music: Roy Orbison
So Nice (1990)
Music: Bossa Nova
Artwork (painting progressions) for all the Glass and Mateju ballets are by painter Mike Nava. The stage projections are animations showing the chronological evolution of a series of paintings each photographed layer by layer. The hundreds of stages of the painting’s development slowly fade from one to the next without a static moment providing a living environment for the dancers and visual embodiment of the music.
Noteworthy ballets include: Where Are You My Love and Merge with jazz legend Charlie Haden; Cocktails With Joey with Joey Altruda and his Mambo Orchestra; Cabin Fever with Sandra Tsing Loh; and Ex Machina with L.A. Phil composer Carlos Rodriguez. Other unique projects include Dmitri, set to a synopsis by Woody Allen; In C to music of Terry Riley; Orpheus: a Ballet-Opera and The Little Prince with composer Lloyd Rodgers; Sleepwalk with artist John Nava; and Dream Baby set to music by Roy Orbison with sets by artist Mark Stock.
Raiford Rogers co-founded the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet with Victoria Koenig in 1982. In 2002 he created the Raiford Rogers Modern Ballet. The Company performs annually at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex, CSULA.
University of New Mexico (BFA). Danced with Gene Marinaccio American Concert Ballet and the Constanza Hool Ballet of Mexico.
New ballets include Philip Glass’ Etudes (2023) performed by pianist Hui Wu; Seeds of Rain (2022), set to Glass' Mad Rush with Mark Alan Hilt (organ), and to Czech composer Zbynek Mateju's Three Stone Concerto with Helena Sucharova Weiser (piano) and the Hradec Kralove Philharmonic Orchestra recorded specifically for this ballet collaboration. Additional works choreographed to original music by Zbynek Mateju include Joshua Tree Symphony and Still Life. Naivete of Flowers (2019) was set to original music by Lloyd Rodgers.