WALLIE WOLFGRUBER & COMPANY in ‘SACRED THINGS’ (World Premiere)
The Abrons Arts Center presents
WALLIE WOLFGRUBER & COMPANY in ‘SACRED THINGS’ (World Premiere)
Friday & Saturday, March 5 & 6 at 8 PM
Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, New York, NY
Tickets: $20; $15 for students & seniors
Reservations: 212-352-3101 or http://theatermania.com
Choreography & Earth Installation: Wallie Wolfgruber
Music: Nico Muhly
Lighting Design: Gregory L. Bain
Dancers: Rebecca Bliss, Michael Blake, Janet Forward, Ryoko Kudo, Gabrielle Lamb, Jake Laub, Daniel Madoff, Kelly Slough, Wallie Wolfgruber
The Abrons Arts Center is pleased to present the premiere of Wallie Wolfgruber’s “Sacred Things,” an evening of dance augmented by an Earth Installation by the choreographer and a display of photographs by Lisa Gillette and Wolfgruber, all driven by the desire to reclaim our vital connection to the Earth and our physical bodies. This open-ended, ongoing project by Wolfgruber includes the dance quintet “Dream Support” and “Ingress,” as well as Wolfgruber’s signature solo “Hatch.”
Wolfgruber has assembled a stellar group of young and veteran artists whose past and current credits include the companies of Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham, Christopher Wheeldon, and Lar Lubovitch. Music for the new works is by rising young composer Niko Muhly, a graduate of Columbia and Juilliard. Most recently, the Vermont native’s works have been heard at Carnegie Hall (a Carnegie Hall commission), and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. This year will see the premiere of Muhly’s new orchestral song cycle for tenor Mark Padmore, violinist Pekka Kuusisto, and the Britten Sinfonia.
“Ingress” is inspired by rhythms in nature – starting with the Winter Solstice, the longest night of winter, and continuing on through Spring Equinox to the beginning of May – and explores how these natural rhythms manifest in our bodies. The work features a multi-generational cast and dance veterans including Michael Blake (whose credits include the Limon and Donald Byrd Companies and currently PARADIGM), Kelly Slough and Wallie Wolfgruber (former with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company), joined by four company members.
“Dream Support” evokes images of support and love for each other and is Wolfgruber’s investigation of what is truly “sacred” in our lives. With text from the writings of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and set to Muhly’s emotionally charged score “Mother Tongue,” “Dream Support” is designed to reaffirm and deepen our connection to the forces of nature which give and sustain life on our planet and which connect all people on Earth.
The evening will also include Wolfgruber’s signature solo “Hatch” (1996), set to the andante section of Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A major, D 664. For the first time in a New York performance the mezmerizing solo will be danced by the stunning Gabrielle Lamb, former soloist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and member of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company.
For more information please visit the official Wallie Wolfgruber & Company website at http://walliewolfgruber.com
Topics: Britten Sinfonia, Christopher Wheeldon, Daniel Madoff, Donald Byrd, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Gabrielle Lamb, Jake Laub, Janet Forward, Jose Limon, Kelly Slough, Lar Lubovitch, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Mark Padmore, Merce Cunningham, Michael Blake, Paradigm, Pekka Kuusisto, Rebecca Bliss, Ryoko Kudo, The Wheeldon Company, Wallie Wolfgruber
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