Dance Preview
Local and international ballet companies and dance troupes grace the stages of DC in fall 2004
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CLARICE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
University of Maryland
College Park
301-405-ARTS
www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu
Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh & Company — Songs of My Life links a series of choreographed vignettes which represents a snapshot of certain relationship or situation that might happen in a club. Between the vignettes, a DJ spins live mixes of songs while audience and cast members alike are invited to dance (9/24 & 9/25)… Doug Varone & Company — Deconstructing English, a celebration of the human spirit set to J.S. Bach’s “English Suites” (10/29, 30 & 31)… Train Wreck Dance Company — Scheduled works include “Painted Desert,” a fusion of Native American Dance and contemporary ballet (11/12 & 13)…
DANCE PLACE
3225 8th St. NE
202-269-1600
www.danceplace.org
Dance D.C. Festival Folk Family Celebration — Celebrating the colorful traditions of folk dance in a day-long festival featuring master classes for children and adults in folk dances ranging from hip-hop to Romanian to tango, an outdoor family market place, and an evening performance with audience participation. The performance features Carla & Company, Step Afrika!, Ciocarlie Ciocarli, Ashe Moyubba Folkloric Ensemble, and Coyaba Dance Theater (10/2)… El Teatro de Danza Contemporanea de El Salvador — The powerful and “physically sumptuous” 10-member troupe presents Solo Por Hoy (Only For Today), among other selections (10/9 & 10/10)… Jane Franklin Dance and VTDance — Franklin’s company celebrates the splendid, scatter-brained, thoughtful and sublime moments of life. Featured in the program is Side by Side, co-choreographed by Jane Franklin and Vincent E. Thomas. VTDance will present new work from the Grandmother Project, which includes reflections and memories of loved ones through spoken text, movement and projected images (10/16 & 10/17)… LEVYdance — Dance Magazine named artistic director, Benjamin Levy, one of the “Top 25 to Watch” in 2004 and described his choreography as “a judicious balance of athletic and lyrical, brainy and sexy.” The troupe presents three Washington, D.C. premieres (10/23 & 10/24)… Havana Select — Founded in 1985 and directed by Steve Bloom, Havana Select offers rare traditional Afro-Cuban music and dance (10/30)… Jump Rhythm Jazz Project — The art of jazz dancing is celebrated in joyous, high-energy bursts of movement to the syncopated sounds of swing, blues and Latin jazz. The company will dance the Washington, D.C. area premieres of Sorrows of Unison Dancing and For Buster. (11/5, 6 & 7)… Nejla Y. Yatkin, NY2Dance — From Alpha to Omega: A 5-Year Retrospective looks at the troupe’s best works from the past five years. (11/13 & 11/14)… Carla & Company — The resident company of Dance Place focuses on uplifting themes that appeal to people of all ages (11/20 & 11/21)… Rap Tap Hip-Hop Step — Enjoy the foot-stomping and pulse pounding rhythms of percussive dance with performances by Step Aside Tap Company, Tappers With Attitude, Brandon “Peace” Albright’s Illstyle & Peace Productions and other artists to be announced (12/3, 4 & 5)… Laura Schandelmeier — Shandelmeier presents Rappaccini’s Daughter, inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s gothic love tale. Created in collaboration with visual artist Eleanor Rufty and dance artist Stephen Clapp and performed to Toby Twining’s Chrysalid Requiem (12/11 & 12/12)… CrossCurrents Dance Company — Seeking to frame and capture the intricate web of shared experiences that connect people to one another and to their communities, CrossCurrents fulfills its mission to reveal the strength of human stories through the language of dance (1/8 & 1/9/05)…
GMU CENTER FOR THE ARTS
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, Va.
703-993-ARTS
www.gmu.edu/cfa
Jump Rhythm Jazz Project — Billy Siegenfeld has a talent for making movement look and feel larger than life. His Chicago-based jazz dance troupe uses Siegenfeld’s original “rhythm-first” approach to transform performers’ bodies into musically articulate, energy-driven percussion instruments. The ensemble of eight dancer-singer-actors perform rhythmically explosive choreography and contagious syncopations to the music of such greats as Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, and Christian McBride (11/3)… Bale Folclorico da Bahi — This troupe combines the athleticism of its dancers with a deeply rooted cultural tradition, part of a commitment to preserve and celebrate Brazil’s rich heritage. The ensemble performs with unrestrained enthusiasm in a program based on Bahian folk dances including a form of Afro-Brazilian martial arts known as capoeira, a dramatic dance called maculele that originated in the sugar cane plantations, and the sensual sambas of Bahia’s carnavale (11/6)…
JOY OF MOTION DANCE CENTER
Jack Guidone Theatre
5207 Wisconsin Ave. NW
202-362-3042
www.joyofmotion.org
Tehreema Mitha Dance Company — Based in classical Indian Dance, this multi-cultural company moves forward taking surprising steps into your contemporary world (10/2 & 10/3)… Shane O’Hara * Solo Dance — Virginia movement artist Shane O’Hara brings his unique blend of dance theatre back to D.C. with his concert “Biting My Tongue and other solo dance adventures.” Timely in its relationship to the upcoming national elections, the concert will focus squarely on the political questions facing us today (10/9 & 10/10)… Joy of Motion Anniversary Concert — celebrating a diverse community of dance. (10/16 & 10/17)… Meet Me at the Café — Presented by Arts United of Washington, this evening of modern dance unravels stories of lost loves when two strangers meet in a jazz café. A live jazz combo will accompany the production, inspired by the chilling music of Nina Simone and standards popularized by such vocalists as Frank Sinatra (10/23 & 10/24 and 10/30 & 10/31)… TRUE TO FORM II — A collaboration of six Washington, D.C.-based choreographers from diverse artistic backgrounds and presenting an eclectic evening of modern and jazz dance, musical theatre, juggling, ballet and performance art. Featuring work by Ann Behrends, Emily Crews, Mikael Manoukian, Michele Morris, Stefan Sittig and Kimberly Tapper (11/6 & 11/7)… Joy of Motion Dance Project Choreography Showcase — A night of new works by local choreographers, providing an opportunity for developing dance artists to present their works for the first time (12/4)… D.C. International Improvisation Plus Festival — Part of the 10th Annual D.C. International Improvisation Plus Festival, a two week festival of improvisation, dance, movement, theater and performance art. The event brings together international, national and D.C.-based artists for collaborative performances and workshops (12/11)….
KENNEDY CENTER
2700 F Street NW
202-467-4600
www.kennedy-center.org
Bangarra Dance Theatre — An Australian company which blends traditional Aboriginal history and culture with contemporary dance in Artistic Director Stephen Page’s newest work, Bush (11/5 & 11/6, in the Eisenhower)… Paul Taylor Dance Company — The venerable company celebrates its 50th Anniversary with a program of classic Taylor works (12/16 to 12/19, in the Eisenhower)…
The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago — A week-long engagement of the company’s family holiday favorite, The Nutcracker (11/24 and 11/26-28, Opera House)… Kirov Ballet — In the third installment of the Kennedy Center’s ten-year collaboration with the Kirov, the company presents its glorious new production of Cinderella, choreographed by Alexey Ratmansky and with music by Sergei Prokofiev (12/8 to 12/12, Opera House)… Dance Theatre of Harlem — Encore performances of St. Louis Woman, DTH’s newest ballet with choreography by Michael Smuin and music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Johnny Mercer (1/25 to 1/30/05, Opera House)…
American Ballet Theatre — Scheduled works include Giselle and Swan Lake, as well as a program of works by Michel Fokine to include Les Sylphides, Spectre de la Rose, Polovtsian Dances, and Petrouchka (2/1 to 2/13/05, Opera House)… Martha Graham Dance Company — Program includes her classic Appalachian Spring as part of the Kennedy Center’s A New America: The 1940s and the Arts (2/17 to 2/19/05, in the Eisenhower)… New York City Ballet — On October 11, 1948, George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein’s Ballet Society had its first performance as the resident company at City Center and New York City Ballet was born. The company’s 2005 engagement features the company’s own orchestra as well as several programs of mixed repertory (3/2 to 3/6/05, Opera House)…
THE LINCOLN THEATRE
1215 U Street NW
202-328-6000
www.thelincolntheatre.org
Washington Reflections Dance Company — Highlights from Remembering U, a look back at U Street’s “Black Broadway” days (10/8)… Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company — The troupe performs Tracings, which commemorates Korean immigration to the United States, as well as solo works by Japanese choreographer Michio Ito (11/11 to 11/5)…
LISNER AUDITORIUM AT GWU
730 21st Street NW
www.lisner.org
Friday, October 15, 2004 at 8:00 p.m.
Rasika — A team of Indian musicians and dancers presents Gajamukha, which revolves around the elephant-faced Hindu deity of the same name. Indian music, dance, and theater combine in this presentation of the divine manifestations of Gajamukha, with lyrical compositions in Sanskrit and Tamil (10/15, presented by WPAS)… Flamenco Festival — The annual audience favorite returns, with performances by Carmen Cortez, Gerardo Nunez, Alejandro Granados, Carlos Rodriguez, Rocio Molina and Ballet Flamenco’s Sara Baras (2/2 to 2/9/05)…
THE WASHINGTON BALLET
202-362-3606
www.washingtonballet.org
Giselle — A new production of the classic (10/20 to 10/24 at the Kennedy Center)… The Nutcracker — An all-new production choreographed by Septime Webre (12/9 to 12/26, Warner Theatre)…
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