Dancers will visit DPAC this year
From staff reports
: The Herald-Sun
Mar 27, 2009
DURHAM -- The 76th season of the American Dance Festival will explore the influence that modern dance and ballet have had on one another in a series of performances and other activities on the theme "Where Ballet and Modern Meet." Performances begin June 18 and continue through July 25.
The 2009 festival also will be the first season in which events will be presented in the new Durham Performing Arts Center in downtown Durham. Works previously presented in Page Auditorium at Duke University will be presented at the DPAC.
Performances will continue to be presented at other Duke venues -- Reynolds Industries Theater and Baldwin Auditorium. One event this year also will be presented in the renovated Golden Belt facility in downtown Durham.
Shen Wei, of the company Shen Wei Dance Arts, and known for the material he contributed to the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies, will open the festival in the DPAC. His works, "Re- (I, II, III)," will be presented for the very first time together.
Also at this opening concert, choreographer Mark Dendy will present a new work in the lobby areas of the DPAC, from 7 to 8 p.m. each night of Shen Wei's opening weekend.
Ballet and modern, long considered separate forms, have a common history. Many of the modern choreographers represented this season -- Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Laura Dean, Ohad Naharin, Mark Morris and Shen Wei -- have choreographed works for some of the world's top ballet companies. Similarly, ballet choreographers have also influenced the modern dance world.
Festival audiences will get a taste of this intersection of forms at the ADF this summer. The festival will also feature commissioned world premieres from festival favorites Pilobolus, and new to the ADF, the company H. Art Chaos.
Other highlights of the festival:
* ADF will feature work by Israeli choreographers. Emanuel Gat Dance returns with a duet, "Winter Variations." Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet will present Israeli modern choreographer Ohad Naharin's "Decadance."
* H. Art Chaos, one of Japan's top dance companies, arrives in Durham for the first time with their much talked about work "The Rite of Spring" (1995) for performances in Reynolds Industries Theater.
* The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet will present a reconstruction of "Sue's Leg" (1975) by Twyla Tharp, a reconstruction of Laura Dean's "Night" (1980), and William Forsythe's "Slingerland Pas de Deux."
* Festival favorites Pilobolus will present an ADF-commissioned work by Jonathan Wolken, titled "Redline."
* New to the ADF, New York City's Doug Elkins and Friends will present "Fräulein Maria," a new take on Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical "The Sound of Music." Elkins uses classic vaudeville gags, modern social dance moves, and references to modern dance icons in this work.
* Paul Taylor Dance Company will present three of Taylor's works -- "Beloved Renegade" (2008), "Mercuric Tidings" (1982) and "Scudorama" (1963).
* Reconstructions and new works will again appear on the same program as Past/Forward takes place at Reynolds Industries Theater. Various artists will present works by Laura Dean, Faye Driscoll and Rosie Herrera.
* The festival comes to a close with a program by Mark Morris Dance Group, who will perform "Peccadillos" (2000), "Excursions" (2008), "Going Away Party" (1990) and other works.
Single tickets to ADF performances go on sale May 11. To purchase, call 684-4444 (Duke venues), 680-2787 (DPAC events) or online at www.tickets.duke.edu or www.dpacnc.com.
© 2009 by The Durham Herald Company. All rights reserved.