Pittsburgh Dance Council Announcement

FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Contact: Veronica Corpuz, 412-471-6082


THE PITTSBURGH DANCE COUNCIL ANNOUNCES THE
2009/2010 SEASON
Sponsored by First Commonwealth


PITTSBURGH, PA …The Pittsburgh Dance Council’s Executive Director Paul J. Organisak proudly announces the 2009/2010 series featuring an exciting season of Pittsburgh premieres by leading dance companies from around the globe. The season promises to surprise and inspire regional audiences with a diverse range of beauty, physicality and creativity. The 2009/2010 season is generously sponsored by First Commonwealth to support the growth and development of dance in Pittsburgh.

“The companies selected for the Pittsburgh Dance Council’s season reflect the exciting contemporary choreography by established and emerging artists who are creating innovative works of remarkable artistry and virtuosity,” noted Mr. Organisak. “The season will feature works choreographed by legendary Twyla Tharp and Margaret Jenkins, to the meteoric Crystal Pite and Aszure Barton. To witness their respective works is to experience the depth and richness found in the choreographer’s creative process.”

Subscriptions to the Pittsburgh Dance Council range from $72 to $204. Subscriber benefits include: priority seating, flexible exchange privileges and discounts on additional ticket purchases. To order a Pittsburgh Dance Council subscription, please call (412) 456-1390 or (800) 828-9200 or visit pgharts.org to subscribe online. To purchase 10 or more tickets, please call (412) 471-6930.


Kidd Pivot
Lost Action
Saturday, October 3, Byham Theater

Artistic director Crystal Pite creates a series of vignettes—solos, small groupings and large groupings—that explores the points of origination for body movement as well as the body’s capacity to contort and sculpt itself into unusual yet beautiful shapes. “It’s not hard to understand why Nederlands Dans Theater, one of the foremost modern dance companies in the world, has just hired Crystal Pite, of the Vancouver-B.C.-based dance troupe Kidd Pivot as a resident choreographer. Pite’s vocabulary is absolutely distinct…” writes Alice Kaderland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.


Margaret Jenkins Dance Company & Quandong Modern Dance Company
Other Suns
Saturday, October 24, 2009, Byham Theater

Other Suns is a trilogy of dances created by Margaret Jenkins and her company in a cross-cultural collaboration with the Guangdong Modern Dance Company of Guangzhou, China. With athleticism, technical acuity and nuance, the dancers from both companies create a highly charged landscape that transcends national and cultural borders. The Margaret Jenkins Dance Company (MJDC) has been a part of the cultural fabric of San Francisco for over three decades. At the heart of the organization’s mission is the belief that it is incumbent on the artist to be in conversation through her work—to break the isolation and expand who sees and responds to the arts. mjdc.org


Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
Sue’s Leg
Friday, February 26, 2010, Byham Theater

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet has made a lasting impression by performing a sophisticated repertoire featuring some of the world’s foremost choreographers, earning glowing reviews by critics and audiences alike. For over a decade, the company’s signature style has encompassed a far-reaching aesthetic vision in an honest expression of the art of dance. The performance includes Sue’s Leg, one of Twyla Tharp’s first professionally commissioned pieces. Set to the music of Fats Waller, Sue’s Leg re-jigs tap, Charleston and ballroom dance with a slouchy, scampering and luxurious flavor. aspensantafeballet.com


Complexions
Saturday, April 3, 2010, Byham Theater

Former Alvin Ailey Company virtuosos Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson forged a common appreciation for diversity and multiculturalism through dance, establishing the resulting Complexions in 1994 as a springboard for innovative, envelope-pushing creativity. The New-York company distinguishes itself with stunning choreography and original music within the roots of classical dance, while espousing an all-out physicality and a seductively uninhibited charm. Complexionsdance.org


BJM DANSE Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal
Jack in the Box
Saturday, April 17, 2010, Byham Theater

BJM DANSE Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal work is inspired by the innovative spirit of modern jazz, yet grounded in technique, vocabulary, discipline and aesthetic of classical dance. Blending the disciplines of classical and contemporary dance forms with theater, the circus, visual arts and new music, adds up to an ambitious repertoire that is unique to BJM DANSE. The evening includes Jack in the Box, an exuberant work about growth, etiquette and power of the group as a collective whole by acclaimed choreographer, Aszure Barton. bjmdanse.ca


Vincent Dance Theatre
Broken Chords
Saturday, May 1, 2010, Byham Theater

Broken Chords is a portrait of breaking up and breaking down. Heartbreaking in its honesty, full of dark humor, sublime dancing and playful theatricality, Broken Chords shifts effortlessly between the bleakly comic and the beautifully tragic, charting the director's devastating divorce with rebellious and hysterical results. Vincent Dance Theatre has been making and touring devised dance theatre work since 1994. Artistic Director Charlotte Vincent is considered “one of the UK’s most challengingly theatrical choreographer-directors” (The Observer). vincentdt.com



Subscriptions to the Pittsburgh Dance Council range from $72 to $204. Subscriber benefits include: priority seating, flexible exchange privileges and discounts on additional ticket purchases. To order a Pittsburgh Dance Council subscription, please call (412) 456-1390 or (800) 828-9200 or visit pgharts.org to subscribe online.

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