Juilliard Dance Presents NEW DANCES PLUS: EDITION 2013 Tonight

Juilliard Dance, under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes, presents New Dances PLUS: Edition 2013 from tonight, December 11-15, 2013featuring Juilliard alumna Pina Bausch's Wind von West (Wind from the West) performed by 4th-Year Dancers, plus three world premiere commissions created for each of the classes of Juilliard's Dance Division. This year's innovative choreographers are Juilliard alumnus Takehiro Ueyama (1st-Year Dancers); Brian Brooks (2nd-Year Dancers); and Juilliard alumnus Darrell Grand Moultrie (3rd-Year Dancers).

New Dances PLUS: Edition 2013 performances take place tonight, December 11; Thursday, December 12; Friday, December 13; and Saturday, December 14, all at 8 PM; and Sunday, December 15 at 3 PM.

Tickets at $30 are available online at www.juilliard.edu/newdances, by calling CenterCharge (212) 721-6500, or at Janet and Leonard Kramer Box office at Juilliard (155 West 65th Street). Senior/student and TDF tickets at $15 are available only at the Janet and Leonard Kramer Box Office. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM to 6 PM. For further information, call (212) 769-7406 or go to www.juilliard.edu/newdances.

Pina Bausch's Wind von West (Wind from the West) is set to Stravinsky's Cantata. It was created and performed in 1975 on a groundbreaking program that included Bausch's masterpiece, Das Frühlingsopfer (The Rite of Spring). Lost to time, this haunting and poetic work will be revived by two schools where Pina Bausch developed as an artist - The Juilliard School and the Folkwangschule (now the Folkwang University of the Arts' Institute of Contemporary Dance) in Essen, Germany. This will be only the second time the work has been performed by a company outside of Pina Bausch's company; the Paris Opera Ballet performed the piece. The work honors the 40th anniversary of Bausch's company, Tanztheater Wuppertal, and has been reconstructed by original Bausch dancers Mari DiLena, Jo Ann Endicott, and John Giffin. Performances by shared casts of dancers from each of these institutions will take place in Wuppertal, Germany this month and at Juilliard in New York in December on
New Dances PLUS.

The Pina Bausch project has been generously funded by Tanzfonds Erbe (Dance Heritage Fund), an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. The fund is for artistic projects that promote the cultural heritage of dance in Germany. For more information on the Tanzfonds Erbe, please visit http://www.tanzfonds.de/en/erbe-info.

Stravinsky's Cantata will be performed live by Juilliard musicians: Stephanie Kwak and Jake Chabot (flutes); John Upton and James Riggs (oboes); and Madeline Fayette (cello), conducted by Yuga Cohler, with Juilliard singers Avery Amereau (Ricercar I); Miles Mykkanen (Ricercar II); Angela Vallone (Soprano I); Laura LeVoir (Soprano II); Kara Sainz (Alto I); and Kelsey Lauritano (Alto II). The work will be sung in English.

For his new work, Takehiro 'Take' Ueyama was inspired by Nakamura Kanzaburo, a star of Japan's Kabuki Theater who broke from tradition and brought that art form to younger generations and new audiences. Mr. Kanzaburo passed away a year ago. The work celebrates his life. Take choreographed his piece for 24 dancers in the 1st-year class. Take, a native of Japan, graduated from Juilliard and danced with the Paul Taylor Company for eight years. His dance company, TAKE Dance, blends Eastern and Western sensibilities to communicate the universal human condition. The company recently had a successful run at Symphony Space. In 2014, Take will create commissioned works for the Hartt School, Adelphi University, Performance Spaces for the 21st Century in Chatham (PS 21), New York, and ArcDanz in Mexico.

Brian Brooks' piece is entitled "Torrent" and is set to Vivaldi's Four Seasons (excerpts). The music guides the dancers in a dramatic urgency. The piece is fast and detailed and at the same time big and sweeping. Brian is working with 24 dancers in the 2nd-Year Class. Brian Brooks' dance company, Brian Brooks Moving Company, recently made its debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in their 2013 Next Wave Festival. His company has enjoyed two consecutive seasons at the Joyce Theater (2011, 2012) as part of the Gotham Dance Festival, in addition to touring throughout the United States, South Korea, and Germany. Brooks recently choreographed director Julie Taymor's new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream as the inaugural performance of Theatre for a New Audience's Brooklyn home. He is touring internationally with New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Wendy Whelan, performing his duet as part of her Restless Creature project.

Darrell Grand Moultrie's piece is entitled "Seeds of Endurance," and he is working with 27 dancers in the 3rd- year class. Darrell looks back on his days as a student and wants to share his experience as a professional with the students. His work is in three movements, and it speaks to the perseverance it takes to sustain a career. The work begins showcasing the current vitality and exuberance of the dancers (and Moultrie gradually and deliberately puts them through their paces) to start exploring the idea of what happens when you have to find a source within yourself in order to keep going. Darrell's upcoming projects include a collaboration with tap legend Savion Glover, choreographing alongside Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus (Hair, Porgy and Bess, Pippin) for the new musical Witness Uganda at the American Repertory Theater. He also was selected by Grammy Award-winning artist Beyoncé as one of the choreographers of her Mrs. Carter Show (World Tour).

Choreographers' Bios

Pina Bausch (1940-2009) was born in Solingen, Germany and died in Wuppertal. She received her dance training at the Folkwangschule in Essen under Kurt Jooss. She continued her studies on a DAAD scholarship to the United States, studying with José Limón, Antony Tudor, and others at The Juilliard School. Soon after, the director of Wuppertal's theaters, Arno Wüstenhöfer, engaged her as choreographer. From fall 1973, she renamed the ensemble the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Under this name, although controversial at the beginning, the company gradually achieved international recognition. Its combination of poetic and everyday elements influenced the international development of dance decisively. Awarded some of the greatest prizes and honors worldwide, Pina Bausch is one of the most significant choreographers of our time.

Brian Brooks, originally from Hingham, MA, lives in New York City. He is the recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship. Recent honors include the NY City Center Fellowship (2012-2013), the Jerome Robbins New Essential Works Grant (2013), and the National Dance Project's Production and Residency Grants (2012). Brooks has been commissioned to create new works for the Vail International Dance Festival (2012 and 2013), Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors (2010), the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Foundation (2008), Dance Theater Workshop (2006), and Symphony Space (2005), among others. His dance group, the Brian Brooks Moving Company, has toured throughout the U.S. and internationally since 2002, with repeat engagements at venues including the American Dance Festival, North Carolina State University, Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts, Alfred University, SUMMERDANCE Santa Barbara, the Chicago Dancing Festival, and the Joyce Theater. In addition to the work with his company, Brooks is engaged in a multi-year international tour performing his duet, First Fall, with New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Wendy Whelan, originally commissioned in 2012 by Damian Woetzel for Vail. As a guest artist, Brooks has created new dances at Skidmore College, Rutgers University, Princeton University, Barnard College of Columbia University, the University of Maryland at College Park, and Illinois State University, among others. He has served on part-time faculty at both Rutgers and Princeton, and was a Teaching Artist at the Lincoln Center Institute from 1999-2012.

Darrell Grand Moultrie is one of America's very diverse and much sought-after choreographers and master teachers. A recipient of a Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award, he is one of the few choreographers working in the theater, modern, ballet, and commercial dance genres simultaneously. Darrell has created and staged multiple works for The Juilliard School, Colorado Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, BalletMet Columbus, Ailey2, Sacramento Ballet, and Milwaukee Ballet. His work has also been commissioned by North Carolina Dance Theatre, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Atlanta Ballet, The August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble, Tulsa Ballet, Richmond Ballet, and Smuin Ballet. He has also taught and choreographed at many universities throughout the United States such as Ailey/Fordham B.F.A., Point Park University, CalArts, New York University, and Stanford University. Most recently, Grammy Award-winning recording artist Beyoncé selected Darrell as one of her choreographers for her current Mrs. Carter Show (World Tour). He also recently collaborated with Tony Award-winning hoofer Savion Glover on a new dance project. Tony Award winning director Diane Paulus tapped Darrell to choreograph the original musical Witness Uganda at American Repertory Theatre. As a performer, Moultrie was seen in West Side Story in Milan, Italy, at the La Scala Opera House. He has also appeared on Broadway in the smash hits Hairspray The Musical with Harvey Fierstein, and Aida where he understudied the role of Mereb, performing opposite Toni Braxton. Darrell was also an original cast member of the Tony Award-winning musical Billy Elliot. Darrell is a proud New Yorker, born and raised in Harlem. He is a graduate of P.S. 144, LaGuardia High School, and The Juilliard School. More at: Darrellgrandmoultrie.com

Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Takehiro "Take" Ueyama moved to the United States in 1991 to study dance at The Juilliard School in New York City. Upon graduation, he was invited to join the Paul Taylor Dance Company, touring the world with them for eight years.In 2003 Ueyama debuted his first choreographic work, Tsubasa, performed with fellow Taylor dancers at the McKenna Theatre at SUNY New Paltz, New York, and in 2005 founded TAKE Dance. He has performed repeatedly as a guest artist with Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre. His television and film credits include PBS's Dance in America series (with the Taylor Company), Acts of Ardor, andDancemaker, a film by dancer/choreographer Matthew Diamond. Having been a baseball player in Japan before fully committing to dance, Ueyama's work blends both Eastern and Western sensibilities. Containing both powerful athleticism, as well as traces of his Japanese heritage by employing delicate gestures, his repertoire has been inspired by the beauty in nature, the duality of darkness and light in the universal human condition and the humanity and compassion in day-to-day living. These elements, combined with his various partnerships and collaborations with artists of other genres, lend diversity to movement, music and subject matter. Described as both sensitive and exciting, Ueyama's choreography ensures a place for the heart on any stage it appears, a feast for the eyes, mind and soul; it is uniquely "TAKE." In 2005 Ueyama's work, Sakura Sakura was a prizewinner at the International Modern Dance Choreographic Competition in Spain, and he was one of four choreographers selected for 2006 Free to Rep at FSU's Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. In 2010 he was the first choreographer to win the S & R Foundation's prestigious Washington Award. For more information, please visit www.takedance.org.

Now in its 62nd season, the Juilliard Dance Division is a groundbreaking conservatory dance program whose faculty and alumni have changed the face of dance around the world. The program was established in 1951 by William Schuman during his tenure as president of Juilliard with the guidance of founding director Martha Hill. It became the first major teaching institution to combine equal dance instruction in both contemporary and ballet techniques. Among the early dance faculty members at Juilliard were Alfred Corvino, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, José Limón, Anna Sokolow, Antony Tudor, and Hector Zaraspe.

Ballet master and master teacher, Lawrence Rhodes, was appointed the artistic director of the Juilliard Dance Division in July 2002. In his 12th year as director, he has reordered the curriculum and elevated requirements for the diploma and degree programs at Juilliard. He has increased the number of performances and brought in many prominent choreographers to work with the students. Graduates of the program have gone on to perform with virtually every established contemporary and ballet dance company in the United States and abroad, and they also are among the directors and administrators of respected companies worldwide.

Alumni of Juilliard's Dance Division include Robert Battle, Pina Bausch, Martha Clarke, Mercedes Ellington, Robert Garland, Charlotte Griffin, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Adam Hougland, Saeko Ichinohe, Jessica Lang, Lar Lubovitch, Bruce Marks, Susan Marshall, Austin McCormick, Andrea Miller, Ohad Naharin, and Paul Taylor.

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