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In November 2018, as part of the 22nd International Dance Theatre Festival in Lublin, the organisers of the event (Lublin Dance Theatre, Centre for Culture in Lublin, Centre for the Meeting of Cultures) will host performances of famous American dance companies. The festival will feature presentations by Ailey II (twice) and Alonzo King Lines Ballet. The American shows will be presented within the frame of the large scale formula developed by the festival in collaboration with the Centre for the Meeting of Cultures. Tickets are now on sale. We publish the detailed information on the performances and the companies below.
Presentation schedule:
17-18 November 2018, 6 pm, Centre for the Meeting of Cultures (Opera Hall)
Ailey II
Where There Are Tongues: 27 minutes
– intermission – 15 minutes
Road To One (excerpts): 15 minutes
The Hunt: 14 minutes
– intermission – 15 minutes
Revelations: 36 minutes
24 November, 18.00, Centre for the Meeting of Cultures (Opera Hall)
Alonzo King LINES Ballet
Art Songs: 25 minutes
– intermission – 20 minutes
Figures of Speech: 56 minutes
Tickets:
Tickets and passes can be purchased at the box office and online on the websites of the Centre for Culture and Centre for the Meeting of Cultures in Lublin
Tickets Category I ? 70 PLN
Tickets Category II ? 50 PLN
Tickets Category III (limited visibility) ? 30 PLN
Group tickets (min. 10 persons per show ? only Category I tickets) – 50 PLN ? bookings should be sent to taniec@ck.lublin.pl
More information on the shows:
www.ck.lublin.pl
www.mstt.pl
www.spotkaniakultur.com
About the shows:
Alvi Ailey II
Where There Are Tongues
(2018)
Choreography: Bradley Shelver
Music: Lo C?r De La Plana
Costumes: Mark Eric Rodriguez
Lighting: Josh Monroe
Created by Bradley Shelver, Where There Are Tongues is an energetic piece inspired by the idea that we are all in this world together, succeeding or failing as a collective. The rhythmically complex music, by French a cappella group Lo C?r De La Plana, couples with Shelver?s quirky style to make dance theater that will set pulses racing.
Road To One ? excerpts
(2017)
Choreography: Darrell Grand Moultrie
Music: Various artists
Costumes: Mark Eric Rodriguez
Lighting: Lauren Parrish
What legacy will you leave behind? Darrell Grand Moultrie?s Road To One passionately embraces the journey we all take to find meaning in our lives and eventually pass it on to the next generation. Inspired by a mentor who introduced him to the arts at a young age, Moultrie pays it forward with the Ailey II dancers, creating a high-energy ensemble work that uses elegant, modern movement with a contemporary edge. The musical score features an eclectic range of artists, including Ezio Bosso, Kenji Bunch, Monica Ohuchi, Oliver Davis, and Spark.
The Hunt
(2001)
Choreography: Robert Battle
Music: Les Tambours du Bronx
Costumes: Mia McSwain
Lighting: Burke Wilmore
In The Hunt, Robert Battle, the Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has created an intense piece for six men, which exposes the predatory side of the human nature and the primitive excitement induced by hunting. The music composed by Les Tambours du Bronx is fuelled by thundering percussion that drives the explosion of movement, which straddles modern sports and the rites of the gladiators.
Revelations
(1960)
Choreography: Ailey II
Music: traditional
Stage design, costumes: Ves Harper
Customisation of costumes for ?Rock My Soul?: Barbara Forbes
Lighting: Nicola Cernovitch
Using African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs and holy blues, Ailey II?s Revelations fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul. Ailey said that one of America?s richest treasures was the African-American cultural heritage ??sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful.? This enduring classic is a tribute to that tradition, and to Ailey?s ingenuity. Since its premiere in 1960, the ballet has been performed continuously around the globe, transcending barriers of faith and nationality, and appealing to universal emotions, making it the most widely-seen modern dance work in the world.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet
Art Songs
Choreography: Alonzo King
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Haendel, Robert Schumann, Henry Purcell
Lighting design: James F. Ingalls
Costumes design: Robert Rosenwasser
Co-financed by the Lisa and John Pritzker Family Fund.
Premiere: 2016
Duration: 25 min
Maya Lahyani (mezzo soprano, Israel), lent her voice to Alonzo King?s Art Songs. The finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and the laureate of the Adler Fellowship at the San Francisco Opera is currently considered to be one of the biggest young female voices in the world.
In the text accompanying the 2016 premiere of the piece, Alonzo King wrote, ?Because humans are an expression of the Creative Word, sound has the most potent and immediate effect on us. The ancient rishis of India discovered laws of sound alliance between nature and man. Sound and vibration are the seed thought that forms the universes. In his notes, Rishi, who was an inspired poet and author of humans, included remarks on the use of poetry and voice as a means of spiritual expression.?
In his review of the piece, Jaimie Robles wrote, ?Once more, the LINES Ballet has combined a refined and elegant performance with top-notch dance and infinitely dynamic choreography. It is a truly heavenly combination.?
Figures of Speech
Choreography: Alonzo King
Music: Alexander MacSween
Lighting: David Finn
Video: David Finn et David Murakami
Sound: Philip Perkins
Costumes: Robert Rosenwasser
Duration: 56 min.
Created in collaboration with the poet Bob Holman, Figures of Speech is based on a collection of recordings of poetry and indigenous songs. Based on a pessimistic assumption that over half of the currently used languages (over 7,000) are projected to become extinct by the end of this century, Alonzo King turns to the power of these lost languages. Choreography and music are mutually complementary, because Holman understand words similarly to King?s sense of movement: not just as a tool of communication but also a system of consciousness. Thus, the piece enables them to approach the moving body and the speaking voice, treating them as a means to deepen one?s knowledge of the world. The audience might feel disoriented, though, aliens in a peculiar, sonic land, guided home by the dancers who seem to know the language inside out.
Alonzo sees dance as something more than a mere visual art. King cultivates the art of hearing as intensely as a poet would, consistently requiring his dancers to hone their movement communications and distil them into their bare essence. ?Whenever I watch somebody dance,? says King, ?I listen to what they have to say, rather than just look at what they do.?
About the featured artists and companies:
Ailey II
There is nothing more exciting than discovering new talents or being the first one to watch a new piece by an established choreographer. Ailey II gives us a go at both of the above thanks to his company of 12 ?rising star? dancers and a fresh repertoire created by one of the most intriguing choreographers of the era.
Selected by the artistic director Troy Powell, Ailey II dancers are on the road all year long, sharing their ?untamed energy? (?The New Yorker?) with audiences around the world. Their schedule is so imposing it seems unrivalled by any other company. Find out for yourselves why the New York Times has written that ?Nothing beats a night spent with Ailey II.?
Ailey II ? company history
For the past 40 years, Ailey II has combined the spirit and energy of the best young US dancers with the passion and artistic vision of some of the most promising young choreographers. Founded in 1974 as the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, the company ? currently operating as Ailey II ? embodies Alvin Ailey?s pioneering mission to establish an extended cultural community that provides dance performances, training, and community programs for all people. Under the direction of Sylvia Waters, an experienced dancer who was personally anointed by Ailey to act as the artistic director of the company, Ailey II flourished for 38 years into one of the most popular modern dance companies, combining a rigorous touring schedule with extensive community outreach programs. In June 2012, Waters retired, naming her long-time collaborator Troy Powell as her successor. With Powell at the helm, Ailey II continues to thrive as he brings a fresh dimension to this beloved company.
Known worldwide for its unique repertoire, Ailey II has performed pieces by such dance masters as Alvin Ailey, Talley Beatty, Donald Byrd, Ulysses Dove, George W. Faison, Lar Lubovitch, Robert Battle (Artistic Director of Ailey II) or Emerita Judith Jamison (Artistic Director of Ailey II). The company also stages innovative pieces by emerging choreographers, among others Kyle Abraham, Jennifer Archibald and Ray Mercer. During its 2018-2019 tour, Ailey II will perform in several dozen cities around the globe.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet is a celebrated contemporary ballet company that has been guided since 1982 by the unique artistic vision of Alonzo King, who has collaborated with noted composers, musicians and visual artists from around the word to create performances that alter the way we look at ballet today. Alonzo King understands ballet as a science ? founded on universal, geometric principles of energy and evolution ? and continues to develop a new language of movement from its classical forms and techniques. Alonzo King?s visionary choreography, brought to life by the extraordinary LINES Ballet dancers, is renowned for connecting audiences to a profound sense of shared humanity.
?Alonzo King is one of the few bona fide visionaries in the ballet world today, and we are fortunate to have him and his LINES Ballet in San Francisco,? the San Francisco Chronicle proclaims.
While the Company?s spring and autumn home seasons bring new works of illuminating beauty to Bay Area audiences, LINES Ballet?s global tours allow us to share our vision of transformative, revelatory dance worldwide. LINES Ballet has been featured at venues such as the Venice Biennale, Monaco Dance Forum, Maison de la Dance, the Edinburgh International Festival, Montpellier Danse, the Wolfsburg Festival, and the Holland Dance Festival.
Now in its thirty-third year, Alonzo King LINES Ballet continues its commitment to dance education and community involvement through the LINES Ballet Training Program and Summer Program, the Joint BFA Program in Dance with Dominican University of California, and the LINES Dance Center, one of the largest dance facilities on the West Coast.
?The term LINES alludes to all that is visible in the phenomenal world. There is nothing that is made or formed without line. Straight and Circle encompass all that we see. Whatever can be seen is formed by line. In mathematics it is a straight or curved continuous extent of length without breadth. Lines are in our fingerprints, the shapes of our bodies, constellations, geometry. It implies genealogical connection, progeny and spoken word. It marks the starting point and finish. It addresses direction, communication, and design. A line of thought. A boundary or eternity. A melodic line. The equator. From vibration or dot to dot it is the visible organization of what we see.?
Alonzo King
Alonzo Kingis a visionary choreographer and artistic director of the Alonzo King LINES Balle. He has been called a visionary choreographer, who is altering the way we look at ballet. King calls his works ?thought structures? created by the manipulation of energies that exist in matter through laws, which govern the shapes and movement directions of everything that exists.
Often working in collaboration with world-renowned musicians and artists, Alonzo King has created more than 170 ballets, including a remarkable repertoire for LINES Ballet. To achieve his visions, he has collaborated with creative stars like Danny Glover, Pharaoh Sanders, Hamza al Din, Pawel Szymanski, Jason Moran, and tabla master Zakir Hussain (master of the Indian table), among many others.
King?s pieces have been represented in the repertoires of many exemplary companies, including the Swedish Royal Ballet, Ballets de Monte Carlo, Frankfurt Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Béjart Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theater, and Washington Ballet.
Renowned for his skill as a teacher, King has been guest ballet master for dance companies around the world. ?You see how meticulous and what a perfectionist he is ? how clear he is on what he wanted,? noted Judith Jamison, former artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. ?The movement he elicited from the dancers ? it was just so delicious, I had never seen them dance that way before.?
Branching out from his busy schedule with LINES Ballet, King has written and lectured on the art of dance, and has also worked in opera, television, and film. In 2013, the LINES Ballet issued a photo album devoted to King?s body of work.
