Queens Theatre Presents MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY, 10/11-12

Queens Theatre (QT) is pleased to announce that their 2014-2015 Season Dance Series will begin with performances by the world-renowned Martha Graham Dance Company on Saturday, October 11 at 2pm & 8pmand Sunday, October 12 at 3pm at Queens Theatre (14 United Nations Avenue South, Flushing Meadows Corona Park). Tickets are available at queenstheatre.org and range from $25-$42.
The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a leader in contemporary dance for almost 100 years. Today, the Company is embracing a new programming vision that showcases masterpieces by Graham, her peers, and their successors as well as new, visionary works by contemporary artists. With programs that fuse the work of choreographers across time, the Company is building on tradition, while creating innovative ideas for contemporary dance in new, compelling works.

"This will be the first time that the legendary Martha Graham Dance Company will perform at Queens Theatre. Queens Theatre audiences have been thrilled by choreography by Pascal Rioult and Paul Taylor in past seasons; both were members of the Martha Graham Dance Company early in their careers," said Queens Theatre Managing Director Taryn Sacramone.

The performance will include:

SUITE FROM APPALACHIAN SPRING

The Appalachian Spring Suite is a narrated presentation of highlights from Appalachian Spring that gives the audience an inside look at the remarkable collaboration between Martha Graham and Aaron Copland. "Graham demonstrated that a dance has its own life, often independent from music." - New York Times

CAVE OF THE HEART (1946)

Premiered at Columbia University in 1946 and originally entitled Serpent Heart, this dance is a psychological study of the destructive powers of love, the dark passions that guard the human heart, coiled like a serpent ready to strike when attacked. Medea, princess of the kingdom of Colchis, was known as a sorceress.

Later in October:

Queens Theatre will present The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged!), a bawdy adult comedy that will take audiences on rollicking ride through centuries of laughter, from the high-brow to the low-brow, from the ancient Greeks to Charlie Chaplin to "The Daily Show." October 25 & 26, 2014. Saturday at 2pm & 8pm, Sunday at 3pm.

Coming to QT in November:

Queens-based Valerie Green/Dance Entropy will present an exciting and innovative modern dance program.November 1 & 2, 2014; Saturday at 2pm & 8pm, Sunday at 3pm.

The Cottage by Sandy Rustin. A mischievous farce set in a cozy "love nest" in the English countryside in the early 1920's. As the classy cast exchange stinging barbs and longing looks, a surprising and delicious web of secrets is unraveled. November 7-16, 2014; Fridays at 8pm (11/14 Matinee at 2pm) Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm, Sundays at 3pm.

TICKETS: $25-$42
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Mainstage Theatre Series Subscription $126; Dance Series Subscription $126; NEW QT Flex Subscription$140
MEMBERSHIPS: NEW Queens Theatre Membership $50.
For more information, please call the box office at (718) 760-0064 or email boxoffice@queenstheatre.org

Queens Theatre
14 United Nations Avenue South
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Queens, NY 11368
FREE PARKING

DIRECTIONS:
Queens Theatre is located at 14 United Nations Avenue South in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, directly under the towers of the New York State Pavilion.
Car: Queens Theatre is accessible by all major highways that traverse Queens and is minutes away from Long Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Westchester. And the best part? Parking is always FREE. http://queenstheatre.org/getting-theatre for directions
Subway: 7 train to the Mets-Willets Point station. Follow signs to LIRR/Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Free Shuttle Service runs every 15 minutes beginning one hour prior to curtain and stops outside Mets-Willets Point station.

ABOUT MARTHA GRAHAM
Martha Graham has had a deep and lasting impact on American art and culture. She single-handedly defined contemporary dance as a uniquely American art form, which the nation has in turn shared with the world. Crossing artistic boundaries, she collaborated with and commissioned work from the leading visual artists, musicians, and designers of her day, including sculptor Isamu Noguchi and composers Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and Gian Carlo Menotti.

Graham's groundbreaking style grew from her experimentation with the elemental movements of contraction and release. By focusing on the basic activities of the human form, she enlivened the body with raw, electric emotion. The sharp, angular, and direct movements of her technique were a dramatic departure from the predominant style of the time.

Graham influenced generations of choreographers that included Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp, altering the scope of dance. Classical ballet dancers Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov sought her out to broaden their artistry. Artists of all genres were eager to study and work with Graham-she taught actors including Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Madonna, Liza Minelli, Gregory Peck, Tony Randall, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, and Joanne Woodward to utilize their bodies as expressive instruments.

During her long and illustrious career, Graham created 181 dance compositions. During the Bicentennial she was granted the United States' highest civilian honor, The Medal of Freedom. In 1998, TIME Magazine named her the "Dancer of the Century." The first dancer to perform at the White House and to act as a cultural ambassador abroad, she captured the spirit of a nation. "No artist is ahead of his time," she said. "He is his time. It is just that the others are behind the time."

ABOUT THE COMPANY
The Martha Graham Dance Company has been a leader in the development of contemporary dance since its founding in 1926. Informed by the expansive vision of its pioneering founder, the Company has expanded contemporary dance's vocabulary with masterpieces such as Appalachian Spring, Lamentation, and Chronicle, rooted in social, political, psychological, and sexual contexts.

Always a fertile ground for experimentation, the Martha Graham Dance Company has been an unparalleled resource in nurturing many of the leading choreographers and dancers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Graham's groundbreaking technique and unmistakable style have earned the Company acclaim from audiences in more than 50 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Today, the Company continues to foster Graham's spirit of ingenuity. It embraces a new vision that showcases classics by Graham, her contemporaries and their successors alongside newly commissioned works. The Company is actively working to create new platforms for contemporary dance and multiple points of access for audiences.

About Queens Theatre:
Queens Theatre (QT) is the premier performing arts venue in Queens. QT's mission is to provide quality and diverse live performances that are economically and geographically accessible to the 2.2 million residents of Queens, the most ethnically diverse county in the nation, and the surrounding metropolitan region. To foster greater cultural awareness and appreciation, the Theatre presents and produces programs that reflect this diversity and feature international, national and local artists.

Photo Credits: Lorenzo Pagano and Lloyd Mayor in Andonis Foniadakis' Echo; photo by Costas

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