Mariinsky Ballet, Cloud Gate, ABT & More Set for The Music Center's 2015-16 Dance Season

With the continued growth of its celebrated Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center series, and the success of its highly popular participatory dance experiences, The Music Center has become an important hub for dance in Los Angeles. Its 2015-2016 dance season is a prime example of the commitment of The Music Center to present distinctive dance experiences to Southern California audiences, especially by internationally renowned artists in classical ballet and contemporary expression.

This coming season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center (Dance at The Music Center) includes Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra (October 8-11, 2015), the west coast premiere of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago + The Second City (November 6-8, 2015), The Music Center debut of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan (January 29-31, 2016), Complexions Contemporary Ballet (April 15-17, 2016), Compagnie Käfig (June 17-19, 2016), and American Ballet Theatre (July 8-10, 2016).

At the same time, new Music Center initiatives will showcase some of Los Angeles' up-and-coming dance ensembles, which are forging new ground and attracting new audiences, and provide ways to engage audiences in their own dance experiences. This includes the introduction of a site-specific series, The Music Center Presents Moves After Dark (July 13, 14, 20, and 21, 2015), the return of the much-in-demand Dance Downtown on Friday nights during the summer on The Music Center Plaza (June 5 and 19, 2015; July 3, 17, 2015 and 31; August 14 and 28, 2015), as well as Los Angeles' National Dance Day public celebration (July 25, 2015).

According to Renae Williams Niles, vice president of programming for The Music Center, the new dance season represents a combination of both the familiar and the new, as well as a number of Southern California and west coast premieres along with The Music Center debuts. "We are excited to announce our 15/16 dance season with the return to The Music Center's stages of some of the most sought-after companies, as well as the introduction of new concepts and new companies that collectively represent the incredible dimensions of ballet and contemporary movement today," she said. "These tremendous performances, along with so many different opportunities for Music Center guests to engage in distinct dance experiences themselves, make The Music Center a must both for dance lovers and those new to the art form," she explained.

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Dance at The Music Center 2015-2016 Season:

Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra - Alexei Ratmansky's Cinderella (Southern California Premiere)
October 8-11, 2015
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at The Music Center

St. Petersburg, Russia's world-renowned Mariinsky Ballet (formerly the Kirov Ballet) opens the season with the Southern California premiere of its celebrated work, Alexei Ratmansky's Cinderella. Set to Sergei Prokofiev's haunting score, performed by the Mariinsky Orchestra, Ratmansky's Cinderella takes a fresh look at the classic story-ballet with vibrant choreography, feisty humor and a glamorous 1930s twist. Commissioned for the Mariinsky Theatre and premiering in March 2002, the ballet launched Ratmansky onto the world stage. He weaves together a magnificent array of different styles that are interpreted through virtuous classical language along with a monumental, dramatic score. The result is a fresh, witty and sardonic account of the story. Ratmansky combines the grand spectacle of ballet from Soviet Russia with innovative choreography that has a contemporary edge, offering audiences endearing characters and a sense of sophistication. Cinderella is portrayed as a lonely dreamer and her stepmother as a vicious, tantrum-prone social climber. The choreography builds to a pas de deux of aching beauty and tenderness between Cinderella and her prince. The performances are complemented by spectacular sets and costumes that portray a more modern world of the 20th century. The Washington Post said, "Ratmansky's treatment echoes the sharp and piercing modernism in the score..." while The New York Times said, "[Ratmansky] appreciates how Prokofiev's ballet is poised between touching romance and biting sarcasm."

Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies. Valery Gergiev is artistic and general director of the Mariinsky Theatre.

Alexei Ratmansky's Cinderella
Choreography: Alexei Ratmansky
Music: Sergei Prokofiev
Libretto: Nikolai Volkov after motifs from the fairytale by Charles Perrault
Set Design: Ilya Utkin, Yevgeny Monakhov
Costume Design: Elena Markovskaya
Lighting Design: Gleb Filshtinsky
Musical Director: Valery Gergiev

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago + The Second City - The Art of Falling (West Coast Premiere)
November 6-8, 2015
Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center

In an example of contemporary dance meets comedic excellence, Dance at The Music Center presents Hubbard Street Dance Chicago + The Second City, with a unique collaboration, The Art of Falling, from two of Chicago's most creative and compelling companies. This lively, charming and sometimes absurd performance is the brainchild of five choreographers, four writers and more than 30 dancers and actors. Helmed by Jeff Award-winning director Billy Bungeroth, The Art of Falling combines contemporary dance with comedy in three distinct, interwoven storylines punctuated by short vignettes. The cross-disciplinary creative collaboration spotlights the improvisational nature of contemporary performance. "Second City may have pioneered sketch comedy since its formation in 1959, but this latest collaborative project takes the art form to visually spectacular and emotionally satisfying new heights," proclaimed The Huffington Post, while the Chicago Tribune praised the performance as "Hugely entertaining and strikingly emotional...not-to-be-missed."

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's core purpose is to bring artists, art and audiences together to enrich, engage, educate, transform and change lives through the experience of dance. Currently celebrating its 37th season, Hubbard Street continues to be an innovative force, supporting its creative talent while presenting repertory by major international artists.

Rooted in the improvisational games of Viola Spolin, The Second City opened in Chicago in December 1959 and began developing its entirely unique way of creating and performing comedy. Founded by Spolin's son, Paul Sills, along with Howard Alk and Bernie Sahlins, The Second City was experimental and unconventional in its approaches to both theatre and comedy, railing against conformist culture with scenes that spoke to a younger generation.

The Art of Falling
Director: Billy Bungeroth
Writers: Tim Mason with Carisa Barreca, T.J. Jagodowski, Kate James, Chris Redd, and the casts of The Second City
Choreographers: Alejandro Cerrudo, Lucas Crandall, Jonathan Fredrickson, Terence Marling, Robyn Mineko Williams
Musical Direction/Original Music/Sound Design: Julie B. Nichols
Costume Design: Branimira Ivanova
Set Design: Martin Andrew
Lighting Design: Michael Korsch
Properties Design: Tierra G. Novy

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan - Rice (The Music Center Debut)
January 29-31, 2016
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at The Music Center

Making its Music Center debut, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Asia's most renowned contemporary dance company, and the first contemporary dance company in any Chinese speaking community, presents a stunning production of Rice. With dancers trained in meditation, Qigong (an ancient form of breathing exercise), internal martial arts, modern dance and ballet, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre transforms ancient aesthetics into thrilling original performances that integrate the use of spectacular visual sets.

Created by Founder and Artistic Director Lin Hwai-min, who has been heralded as one of the most important choreographers in Asia, Rice was inspired by the landscape and story of Chihshang in the East Rift Valley of Taiwan, a farming village that was tainted by the use of chemical fertilizer, but which has now regained its title as the "Land of Emperor Rice" by adapting organic farming methods. Lin was awed by the immense waves of grain rolling across the expansive fields of rice and moved by the environmentally-conscious farmers. He took his dancers to the village where they joined the farmers in harvesting the rice and embraced the experience of working in the fields. The result is a human drama that parallels the life cycle of rice cultivation - from death to rebirth, devastation and resurrection. Lin's creation includes exuberant, powerful movements that are woven into his story of the land and the contemplation of the destruction of the Earth. To emphasize the messages, the production uses projection of vivid video images of flooding, growth, harvesting and the burning of the fields. The soundtrack mixes Hakka folk songs, Western opera, Taiwanese and Japanese drums and the sound of nature - wind, rain and thunder recorded on-site.

Rice was heralded by The Guardian as "a sharply moving synthesis of man and nature, east and west, death and rebirth...Lin's own song of the earth." The New York Times said, "Lin Hwai-min has succeeded brilliantly in fusing dance techniques and theatrical concepts from the East and the West."

Rice
Concept/Choreography: Lin Hwai-min
Set Design: Lin Keh-hua
Lighting Design: Lulu W.L. Lee
Projection Design: Ethan Wang
Videographer: Chang Hao-jan (Howell)
Costume Design/Execution: Ann Yu-Chien, Li-Ting Huang and the Department of Fashion Design/Shih Chien University
Music: Hakka traditional folk songs, drum music by Liang Chun-mei, Monochrome II by Ishii Maki performed by Ondekoza, Casta Diva from the opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, Le Rossignol et la Rose by Camille Saint-Saëns, Symphony No. 3 in D minor Fourth Movement by Gustav Mahler

Complexions Contemporary Ballet - Program TBD
April 17-17, 2016
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at The Music Center

New York-based Complexions Contemporary Ballet is a contemporary ballet company run by two esteemed alumni of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Artistic Directors Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson. Founded in 1994, the Company has a focus on reinventing dance with an emphasis on the artistic and aesthetic appeal of the multicultural. The Company combines technical precision, athleticism, passion and the occasional pop song, using 20 incredibly trained classical and contemporary dancers.

Winners of many awards, including The New York Times' "Critics Choice" Award, Complexions has appeared throughout the United States and internationally. Heralded by the Washington Post as "Cross-cultural ballet with attitude...wearing toe shoes has never looked like so much fun," the Company creates an open, continuously evolving form of dance that reflects the movement of the world and all of its cultures as an interrelated whole. According to Rhoden and Richardson, dance should be about removing boundaries, not reinforcing them, and should transcend a single style, period, venue or culture. The Company will deliver an exciting genre-bending performance that blurs the boundaries of ballet and contemporary dance.

Compagnie Käfig - Käfig Brasil and More (To Be Announced) (The Music Center Debut)
June 17-19, 2016
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at The Music Center

In a Music Center first and making its Music Center debut, Franco-Brazilian Compagnie Käfig will explore the confluence of the many arts subgenres that have contributed to the development of Hip Hop globally. Established in 1996, the Company flavors its works with dare-devilish circus skills, street dance, martial arts and the fun and energetic Hip Hop vocabulary. Compagnie Käfig brings the street to the stage with an all-male cast of 11 dancers who combine Hip Hop, Capoeira, Samba, electronic music and the Bossa Nova for a performance that showcases astonishing acrobatic skills along with energy and invention. Led by Artistic Director Mourad Merzouki, who applies a multidisciplinary approach to the exploration of Hip Hop, the company will present Käfig Brasil, a rhythmic and muscular dance that the Times Union said is, "...animated by waves of energy, as if volts of electricity were travelling from muscle to muscle and limb to limb. Then that tightly controlled power explodes into fireworks."

Compagnie Käfig found its artistic dimension within the fusion of styles. It combines a sense of humor with gravity and flavors its works with the Hip Hop vocabulary, as well as a spirit that is open to other choreographic and artistic languages. By avoiding all the social stereotypes, the Company has managed to assert a unique style that has not denied its origins and has enabled the Hip Hop movement to win over audiences whose origins are as diverse as those of the dancers themselves.

Käfig Brasil (with additional programming to be announced)
Artistic Director: Mourad Merzouki
Choreographers: Collectif Käfig Brasil, Denis Plassard, Céline Lefèvre, Octavio Nassur, Anthony Egéa, Mourad Merzouki
Musical Arrangements: AS'N
Music: Vivaldi, Dinho Nascimento, Guy Monk, AMe, Camille, The Lushlife Project, AS'N, Deadmau5, Emmanuel Santarromana
Lighting Design: Yoann Tivoli assisted by Cécile Robin
Costume Design: Emilie Carpenter
Set Design: Mourad Merzouki, Yoann Tivoli
Props Construction: Samuel Chenier

American Ballet Theatre - Mixed Repertoire including Firebird (The Music Center debut)
July 8-10, 2016
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at The Music Center

The 2015-16 season of Dance at the Music Center concludes with five performances by American Ballet Theatre (ABT). ABT Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky brings his choreographic vision in a full evening of works, including his 2012 Firebird and a selection from the Company's 2012-2013 presentation of Ratmansky's Shostakovich Trilogy. Ratmansky's reimagined Firebird, set to the iridescent music of Igor Stravinsky and performed by a live orchestra, tells an enchanting tale of a mythical bird who possesses magical powers and helps two lovers overcome an evil sorcerer.

Firebird takes audiences on an extravagant adventure. The ballet received its world premiere under the title L'Oiseau de Feu by Diaghilev's Ballet Russes in Paris on June 25, 1910, with choreography by Mikhail Fokine and scenery and costumes by Alexander Golovine and Leon Bakst, and premiered in the United States as Firebird with the same company in New York on January 17, 1916. Firebird, with choreography by Adolph Bolm and scenery and costumes by Marc Chagall, first entered the repertory of ABT on October 24, 1945, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. A second production, with choreography by Michel Fokine, staged by Christopher Newton, and scenery and costumes by Nathalie Gontcharova, was given its first performance on February 21, 1977, at The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. A revival of Firebird, with choreography after Michel Fokine and produced by Nicholas Beriozoff, was given its first performance on January 24, 1992, at the Palacio des Bellas Artes, Mexico City.

This new production, with choreography by Ratmansky, which will grace the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion stage in 2016, had its world premiere in Southern California at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa on March 29, 2012. The Los Angeles Times said, "...choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has updated the iconic 'Firebird' into an extravagant and fanciful adventure..." while The Wall Street Journal called it "...a freshly told fantastical tale."

Recognized as one of the premier dance companies in the world, American Ballet Theatre brings the highest quality dance and dancers to audiences across the globe. Celebrating its role as America's National Ballet Company, ABT tours nationally and internationally, performing for over 400,000 people annually. Under the artistic direction of former ABT Principal Dancer Kevin McKenzie, the Company remains steadfast in its vision as "American" and continues to bring the art of dance theater to the great stages of the world.

Firebird
Choreography: Alexei Ratmansky
Music: Igor Stravinsky (Le Oiseau de Feu)
Scenery Design: Simon Pastukh
Costume Design: Galina Solovyeva
Costume Consultant: Holly Hynes
Lighting Design: Brad Fields
Projection Design: Wendall K. Harrington

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Season tickets/subscriptions for Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center are on sale now. For information, call (213) 972-0711 or visit www.musiccenter.org/1516dance.

Experiential Dance Programs and Dance Lovers Packages

In addition to its new dance season, The Music Center will introduce a number of programs to provide audiences with an array of distinct dance experiences. This includes the introduction of The Music Center Presents Moves After Dark (July 13, 14, 20 and 21), a site-specific series of performances in which audiences will traverse a variety of different spaces around The Music Center in order to experience four Los Angeles-based dance companies led by female directors. Held on the nights in which The Music Center theatres are typically "dark," or not in use, Moves After Dark, will inspire dance enthusiasts and new audiences with compelling and inventive dance presentations. Audiences will enjoy performances and works by Ate9, Lula Washington Dance Theatre, Ana María Alvarez, and BodyTraffic. Tickets will be available on June 2, 2015 by visiting www.musiccenter.org/moves , calling (213) 972-0711, or in-person at the Dorothy Chandler Box Office, 135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

The Music Center will also be the site for the West Coast's flagship National Dance Day event to celebrate the 6th Annual National Dance Day in partnership with the Dizzy Feet Foundation. The national initiative, created by The Music Center Board Member Nigel Lythgoe, co-creator, executive producer and judge of So You Think You Can Dance, encourages Americans of all ages to dance as a way to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle. The public is invited to participate in dance routines at the free dance extravaganza, along with performances and activities on The Music Center Plaza. For more information, visit www.musiccenter.org/ndd.

The Music Center will transform The Music Center Plaza with the 2015 season of The Music Center Presents Dance Downtown. Now in its eleventh year, Dance Downtown is an evening of dance on select Friday nights between June and August on The Music Center Plaza. Dancers of all levels are encouraged to attend, and beginner dance lessons are available throughout the evening with a live band or DJ. This year's themes include: June 5-Salsa, June 19-Line Dance/Two-Step, July 3-Argentine Tango, July 17-Bollywood, July 31-Cumbia, August 14-70s, 80s and 90s Night featuring Disco, and August 28-Samba). Much more than just dancing, the evening offers participants the chance to learn new dance moves in a judgment-free zone. For more information about Dance Downtown, visit www.musiccenter.org/dancedowntown.

This fall, for the first time, The Music Center will introduce a special membership program for dance lovers
- The Music Center's Dance 135 Membership - that combines tickets to their favorite shows with special offers, including behind-the-scenes access, discounts, giveaways and more. In addition, The Music Center will introduce
The Music Center's Balcony Club in the fall, making access to dance engagements even easier. The Balcony Club includes $25 Balcony tickets, complimentary binocular rentals, the option to bring drinks inside the theatre and a dedicated cash bar for food and drink purchases.

About Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center - Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center is one of the leading presenters of dance on the West Coast. The celebrated series offers significant works by prestigious ballet and contemporary dance artists from around the world. Entering its second decade, Dance at The Music Center continues to be a powerful commissioning force through the support of new works and artists-in-residence projects by today's most influential companies and choreographers. Performances take place throughout The Music Center, including the historic Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the distinctive Ahmanson Theatre, and the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall, providing the ideal setting for inspiring dance experiences.

About The Music Center - The Music Center is Los Angeles' home to the world's greatest artistic programs and events. With four iconic theaters and four renowned resident companies - Center Theatre Group, the LA Master Chorale, the LA Opera and the LA Philharmonic - and recognized for its illustrious dance programming, Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, The Music Center is a destination where audiences find inspiration in the very best of live performance, as well as nationally recognized arts education and participatory arts experiences. For more information, visit www.musiccenter.org.

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