Jacob's Pillow Presents ZviDance & BalletX Next Week

ZviDance returns to Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival with their newest collaborative work Escher/Bacon/Rothko on the Doris Duke Theatre stage, July 20-24. In this riveting mixed-medium choreographic endeavor, Artistic Director Zvi Gotheiner and the company members of ZviDance draw inspiration from distinguished visual artists of the 20th century to question notions of modernity. Escher/Bacon/Rothko provides an intelligent visual experience for audiences as it seamlessly transforms one-dimensional artwork into a three-dimensional performance.

"ZviDance is delighted to be returning to this iconic venue in the beautiful Berkshires," says Zvi Gotheiner, Artistic Director of ZviDance. "My dancers and I so look forward to performing in this place filled with so much dance history and creative energy. It is an experience unequaled in the dance world."

"ZviDance stands out among today's Modern Dance Groups, both for the strength of its ensemble dancing...and the power and sense of its choreography" (Tom Philips, DanceViewTimes). ZviDance is led by the artistic vision and internationally diverse scope of Israeli-born and former Batsheva Dance Company member, Zvi Gotheiner. ZviDance's mission is to investigate the depth of human experience with a unique movement vocabulary that celebrates diversity through melding genres. ZviDance is distinctly shaped by a collaborative model of creation.

The evening-length triptych Escher/Bacon/Rothko uses movement as a representation of visual art. New layers of perspective are added to M.C. Escher's black and white mathematical lithographs, Francis Bacon's boldly grotesque figurative painting, and Mark Rothko's colorful and impassioned form of abstract painting. The piece is performed in three distinct sections to reflect conceptions of modern art. Harmonious collaboration of costuming by Mary Jo Mecca, lighting design by Mark London, and evocative partnering by nine of ZviDance Company members, lends itself to an all-encompassing evening. Long-time collaborator, popular modern dance composer, and Resident Composer of the nearby Berkshire Theatre Festival, Scott Killian provides the score for the Escher/Bacon/Rothko.

ZviDance's collaborative choreographic mission is distinct in the way that it involves the ensemble, designers, and musicians from its initial research phase. Artistic Director Zvi Gotheiner's inclusive creative process upholds the ethics of creation within an inter-disciplinary format. As one of Alastair Macaulay's "Dance Favorites of 2013", Macaulay praises the importance of Gotheiner's work saying, "Zvi Gotheiner's choreography suggests that he is as much a sociologist as dance-maker" (The New York Times).

"One does not just watch a dance by Zvi Gotheiner. One enters a world with its own internal logic, a sensual, organic world of movement, language, and images where one is pulled along by currents unseen and inevitable" (Naomi Abrahami, Dance Magazine). Zvi Gotheiner established ZviDance 25 years ago, and has since transformed the company into a well-known dance ensemble with international appeal. ZviDance has performed at prestigious venues like Brooklyn Academy Of Music (BAM), The Joyce Theater, New York Live Arts, and Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, as well as in countries including Germany, Poland, Russia, Israel, Brazil, and Japan.

Also this week, BalletX . Founded in 2005, BalletX is Philadelphia's premier contemporary ballet company. In the ensemble's Jacob's Pillow debut, they perform choreographer Matthew Neenan and composer Rosie Langabeer's ballet Sunset, o639 Hours. This narrative evening-length work interprets the dramatic, true story of pilot Edwin Musick's 1938 inaugural airmail flight across the Pacific. With stunning dancers and an onstage cabaret-style band, audiences will be transported by the rich sights and sounds of pre-World War II New Zealand, Samoa, and Hawaii through this beautiful and intensely personal narrative of loss, longing, and paradise. Tickets start at $39.

Tickets start at $25. Now on sale online at jacobspillow.org, via phone at 413.243.0745, or in person at the Jacob's Pillow Box Office.

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