CityDance in Concert: Catalyst

CityDance Ensemble presents season finale concert: Catalyst.
Featuring two Paul Taylor works, a collaboration between Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson and
Grammy nominee Christylez Bacon, and a preview from the company’s upcoming Middle East tour

Washington, DC—CityDance Ensemble concludes its 2009-2010 home season with Catalyst, a groundbreaking concert featuring two Paul Taylor dances—including the company’s premiere of Mr. Taylor’s 1977 masterwork Images—plus a collaboration between Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson and Grammy nominee Christylez Bacon, and a preview of choreographer-in-residence Christopher K. Morgan’s +1/-1 before it premieres at the Sareyyet Ramallah Dance Festival this spring.

The concert takes place Saturday, March 13 at 8pm and Sunday, March 14 at 4pm in the Lansburgh Theatre – Harman Center for the Arts, 450 7th Street NW, Washington, DC. Tickets are $35, $55, and $100 VIP (Saturday only). Limited $20 rush tickets will also become available 24-48 hours before showtime. Tickets are on sale through the Harman Center for the Arts Box Office (450 7th Street NW and 610 F Street NW, Washington, DC), by phone at 202.547.1122, or online at www.harmancenter.org.

“Looking back on the past six months, I am deeply proud of the remarkable progress we've made, particularly given the challenging environment that we, and virtually every arts organization, now face,” comments CityDance Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson. “As we head toward our U.S. season finale performance, I am confident this will be one of the finest concerts we have ever had the pleasure to present. It is a rare honor to perform a work by Paul Taylor, let alone two in one evening. We are grateful for this success, even in the most difficult of circumstances.”

CityDance’s premiere of Paul Taylor’s Images marks the first time that this piece will be performed in Washington, DC. Former Paul Taylor Dance Company member Patrick Corbin spent two weeks with CityDance in January 2010 rehearsing Images. A native to the DC area, Mr. Corbin won critical acclaim for his lead performances in many of Taylor’s most popular works. Images, set to Caude Debussy's piano suites Children’s Corner, demonstrates Taylor’s keen pairing of choreography and music while rendering an elegant and ballet-like aesthetic. Unlike many Taylor dances that are characterized by broad, sweeping movements, Images patterns the dancers in two-dimensional shapes and friezes as it alludes to ancient Greek imagery.

"Images is a very specific style of dancing," notes Corbin. "Think of putting yourself on a piece of paper with every part of your body flattening as much as possible. It's a difficult task because there's an amazing amount of torsion involved. You have to twist your body more than you thought your body could be twisted. But the CityDance artists are so talented. I don't know if the greater DC area fully realizes what an amazing little company they have."

Images joins Last Look as the second of Mr. Taylor’s works in CityDance’s repertory. Last Look, which CityDance premiered to a standing ovation at the 2009 VelocityDC Dance Festival in October 2009, showcases a completely different side of Mr. Taylor’s choreographic style. An intensely powerful and haunting dance, Last Look emanates tension, physicality, and theatricality as it delivers a deep commentary on a society infused with isolation and self-obsession. Surrounded by mirrors, the dancers blend structure with mayhem, beauty with despair as they command their bodies through this rigorous, demanding choreography.

Catalyst opens with the premiere of Paul Gordon Emerson's new work Little Adorations with live accompaniment by Grammy nominee Christylez Bacon. Known for his progressive hip hop style, Christylez will manipulate songs from artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Dave Brubeck, and Radiohead to which Emerson has choreographed a series of duets and trios. The result will be a live performance of re-interpreted music and improvised dance.

Finally, Catalyst presents a first look at +1/-1 by CityDance Rehearsal Director and Choreographer-in-Residence Christopher K. Morgan. +1/-1 will have its world premiere on April 19, 2010, at the gala opening night of the Fifth Annual Sareyyet Ramallah Dance Festival in Ramallah, The Palestinian Territories. The work will be performed jointly by CityDance Ensemble and Sarryet Ramallah (a Palestinian dance company). This event will mark the first collaboration of this kind and the first time an American dance company has opened this festival. +1/-1 looks at the challenges, beauty, and inherent metaphors involved when adding or subtracting partners from a dance.