Two Highly Anticipated Jacob's Pillow Debuts Announced

Montréal-based Compagnie Marie Chouinard makes its Jacob's Pillow debut in the Ted Shawn Theatre, July 19-23. Described by The New York Times as a "hurricane of unbridled imaginativeness," company director Marie Chouinard has been pioneering avant garde choreography that pushes the boundaries of on-stage performance since the late 1970s. The program includes 24 Preludes by Chopin, a series of vignettes laced together by Chopin's iconic piano refrains and set to live piano accompaniment, and HENRI MICHAUX: MOUVEMENTS, inspired by the ink drawings and poems of the French/Belgian poet and visual artist.

"There is no movement vocabulary quite like the language of Marie Chouinard: technically rigorous and exacting, unrestrained in its emotional expressiveness, and unabashed in its intent to push boundaries. I am excited to have Pillow audiences discover Chouinard and her groundbreaking work," says Jacob's Pillow Director Pamela Tatge.

In 24 Preludes by Chopin, Chouinard uses the 24 Preludes from Frédéric Chopin's "Opus 28" as the work's main source of inspiration. Playing with structure, Chouinard parallels dance composition with music composition by matching solos, duets, trios, and group choreographic movements to the strength, subtly, and rawness of their classical music counterpart. Accompanied by live piano, 10 dynamic dancers perform in daring costumes designed by L Vandal, the women in translucent leotards and the men in mesh shorts. This work was created for the TanzWochen Wien Festival in Vienna, Austria and premiered on July 30, 1999. Since then, 24 Preludes by Chopin has been consistently lauded as "one of [Chouinard's] most refreshing and inventive works" (Michael Crabb, National Post, Toronto), and praised as a "product of a fully matured choreographic imagination" (Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice).

The program continues with HENRI MICHAUX: MOUVEMENTS, an inventive work based off the 64 pages of ink drawings, 15-page poem, and afterword of Mouvements (1951) by French/Belgian poet and visual artist Henri Michaux. Dancers dressed head-to-toe in black morph and distort their bodies to recreate the abstract shapes as ink drawings are projected in the background, allowing the audience to simultaneously take in the movement and Michaux's score. Poetry read in French by dancer Carol Prieur and an electronic sound score by Canadian electroacoustic composer Louis Dufort complete the interpretation. HENRI MICHAUX: MOUVEMENTS premiered at ImPulsTanz at the Vienna International Dance Festival in August 2011 and since has been praised as "fun, imaginative, and utterly captivating" (The Chronicle Herald, Canada). Choreography, artistic direction, lighting, set design, costumes, and hairstyles are notably all created by Chouinard herself.

About Compagnie Marie Chouinard

Marie Chouinard is a Canadian contemporary dancer, choreographer, and director who has created more than 50 solo and group works. She is the Executive and Artistic Director of Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Founding Chair of the Prix de la Danse de Montréal, an Associate Dance Artist of Canada's National Arts Centre, and Director of Dance at the Venice Biennale. She has won several awards for her contribution to the arts, including the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts (Canada, 2016), the Positano Prize "Choreographer of the year" (Italy, 2016), the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement (Canada, 2016), the title of Chevalier of the Ordre national du Québec (2015), the Prix Denise-Pelletier (Quebec, 2010), the title of Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 2009), the title of Officer of the Order of Canada (2007), and a New York Dance and Performance ("Bessie") Award (New York, 2000).

Compagnie Marie Chouinard was founded in 1990 as a platform for Chouinard's daring choreographic work. The company's mission explores a multitude of projects and protean creations in which choreography is explored through various media: installation, performance, film, photography, drawing, writing, and application.

Compagnie Marie Chouinard at Jacob's Pillow, Ted Shawn Theatre, July 19-July 23, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00pm, Sunday at 2:00pm (no Saturday matinee), $69, $59, $39

Tickets are on sale now; online at jacobspillow.org, via phone at 413.243.0745, and at the Jacob's Pillow Box Office at 358 George Carter Road, Becket, MA, 01223.

A limited number of $20 Under 35 tickets are available; adults ages 18-35 are eligible. One ticket per person; each guest must show valid I.D. when picking up tickets at Will Call.

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