The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago presents the Chicago debut of Malpaso Dance Company, Havana's contemporary Dance Company that combines work by top international choreographers and new voices in Cuban choreography. Performances are March 9-11 at the Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.
The Dance Center program features Indomitable Waltz, a new work by one of the world's most in-demand choreographers,
Aszure Barton. As Rebecca Gross observed for NEA Arts Magazine: "Watching the choreography of
Aszure Barton is like watching the physical unfurling of the human psyche." Malpaso performed the world premiere of Indomitable Waltz, a layered, sophisticated exploration of the soul under extreme or intense emotional circumstances, in Havana in September 2016.
Also on the program is 24 hours and a dog, a work by Artistic Director Osnel Delgado created collaboratively with Malpaso's dancers. The work demonstrates the language of thematic and physical abstractions that the company has created to reflect the tempo of the dancers' pedestrian experience in their beloved Havana. A dog, an invisible yet omnipresent character, visits the stage with the dancers as an allegory of a fickle and unpredictable city life. The company developed the piece in 2014 as a response to the theatricality and evocative power of Grammy Award-winning Cuban-American jazz composer
Arturo O'Farrill, who wrote and recorded an original overture for the piece of the same name.
Malpaso Dance Company
Malpaso (translation: bad step) is a passionate contemporary dance ensemble that embodies the rich culture of Havana. Under the leadership of choreographer and Artistic Director Osnel Delgado, the company works to bring Cuban contemporary dance into the 21st century by collaborating with top international choreographers, such as Ronald K. Brown and Trey McIntyre, and nurturing new voices in Cuban choreography. The company made its U.S. debut in 2014 at The Joyce Theater in New York. Malpaso is an Associate Company of Joyce Theater Productions.
Residency activities
There will be a post performance conversation with the artists Thursday, March 9 in the theater and a pre performance talk Friday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Sherwood Community Music School Recital Hall, 1312 S. Michigan Ave. (next door to the Dance Center), both free to ticket holders. Additional residency activities with community partners and Columbia College Chicago students take place throughout the week leading up to the performance weekend.
Funding
The Dance Center's presentation of Malpaso
Dance Company is funded, in part, by the New England Foundation for the Arts and the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.
The Dance Center
The Dance Center's 2016-17 season continues with Ballet de Lorraine on its first U.S. tour, a collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Feb. 18-19, and the Chicago debut of Liz Gerring
Dance Company Apr. 6-8. The B-Series festival celebrating hip hop and street dance forms takes place Apr. 14-15.
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago is the city's leading presenter of contemporary dance, showcasing artists of regional, national and international significance. The Dance Center has been named "Chicago's Best Dance Theatre" by Chicago magazine, "Best Dance Venue" by the Chicago Reader and Chicago's top dance venue in 2014 by Newcity, and Time Out Chicago cited it as "...consistently offering one of Chicago's strongest lineups of contemporary and experimental touring dance companies." Programs of the Dance Center are supported, in part, by the Alphawood Foundation; The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince; The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; Illinois
Arts Council Agency; the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation; Marcia E. Lazar Challenge Grant; Martha Struthers Farley and Donald C. Farley, Jr. Family Foundation, N.A., Trustee; the Arts Midwest Touring Fund; and the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks to Friends of the Dance Center for their generous contributions to the work of the Dance Center.
Tickets and information
The Dance Center presents the Chicago debut of Malpaso
Dance Company March 9-11, Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave. Single tickets are $30; groups of 10 or more receive a 25 percent discount. All programming is subject to change. The theatre is accessible to people with disabilities. For information and tickets, call 312-369-8330 and or visit colum.edu/dancecenterpresents.
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