Compagnie Maguy Marin's 'BiT' to Make U.S. Premiere at The Joyce

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. will present the return of the French choreographer Maguy Marin, and her dance troupe Compagnie Maguy Marin, to The Joyce Theater for the first time in nearly a decade. From October 25-29, the company will perform the U.S. premiere of its provocative and controversial 2014 evening length work, BiT.

Tickets for Compagnie Maguy Marin, last seen at The Joyce in 2008 as part of the theater's acclaimed French Connection Festival, range in price from $26-$46 and can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800, or by visiting The Joyce Theater box office. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street. For more information, visit www.Joyce.org.

For more than four decades, dancer, and choreographer Maguy Marin has left audiences around the world both astounded and inspired with her intense and wildly creative choreographic works. Ms. Marin and her French-based dance troupe, Compagnie Maguy Marin, now make a long-awaited return to The Joyce Theater with the U.S. premiere of the 2014 evening length creation, BiT. A chilling and confrontational piece exploring violence, which premiered at Théâtre Caronne in Toulouse, BiT features six dancers who carve through the space alternating between ecstatic celebration and a frenzied scurry. With movement vocabulary inspired by the farandole, a folk dance from Provençe in which the dancers join hands and move in a chain, BiT explores how each choice, step, and movement a person makes combine to create a unique rhythmic imprint; and how these distinct imprints can join together to create a rhythmic chorus or a cacophony of chaotic sound.

Audiences are asked to please be advised that this performance contains nudity and explicit sexual content, and is recommended for those 18 and older. Please also note this performance contains depictions of sexual violence.

Performances of Compagnie Maguy Marin will be October 25 - 29 at The Joyce Theater (175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street) according to the following schedule: Wednesday at 7:30pm; Thursday-Saturday at 8pm; and Sunday at 2pm. There will be a post-performance Curtain Chat with Compagnie Maguy Marin on Thursday, October 26, which is open to all patrons attending that evening's show. Tickets range in price from $26-$46 and can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org.

Maguy Marin (Artistic Director, Choreographer)Born in Toulouse, dancer and choreographer Maguy Marin studied classical ballet at the Toulouse Dance Academy. She then joined the Strasbourg Dance Company and later Mudra, Maurice Béjart's multi-disciplinary school in Brussels. In 1978, she founded the Ballet-Théâtre de l'Arche with Daniel Ambash, which became Compagnie Maguy Marin in 1984. The Centre Chorégraphique National de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne followed in 1985-its unremitting artistic work spread worldwide.

In 1987, Marin's encounter with musician-composer Denis Mariotte was the starting point of a decisive partnership, which broadened the scope of her experimentation.

In 1998, she found a new place for a new Centre Chorégraphique National, in Rillieux-la-Pape: a place as a we in time and space to strengthen one's ability to foster those diagonal forces resisting oblivion (H. Arendt).

In 2011, she remodeled the framework in which the company's reflection and achievements unfolded. After the intensity of the Rillieux-la-Pape years, there emerged a need for a new phase in Toulouse beginning in 2012. In January, 2015, Maguy Marin and the company moved to the region of Lyon.

The Joyce Theater Foundation ("The Joyce," Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a nonprofit organization, has proudly served the dance community for over three decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and The Joyce renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea. Opening as The Joyce Theater in 1982, it was named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther's clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to build the theater. Ownership was secured by The Joyce in 2015. The theater is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance and has provided an intimate and elegant home for over 400 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also presented dance at Lincoln Center since 2012, and launched Joyce Unleashed in 2014 to feature emerging and experimental artists. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (K-12th grade) benefit from its school program, and family and adult audiences get closer to dance with access to artists. The Joyce's annual season of about 48 weeks of dance now includes over 340 performances for audiences in excess of 150,000.

Photo Credit: Herve Deroo