Robert La Fosse Performs Henry V With ABT And NYC Ballet 10/13-15

Pick Up Performance Co(s), the artistic vehicle for Obie award-winning artists David Gordon and Ain Gordon, performs Dancing Henry Five, featuring Rockford native Karen Graham, ABT and New York City Ballet principal dancer Robert La Fosse and actress Valda Setterfield, presented by The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. Performances are Thursday-Saturday, October 13-15 at 8 p.m. at The Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

Dancing Henry Five is a reduction of Shakespeare's Henry V incorporating theatre, narration, scenery and prop manipulation and dance to convey the story of Henry's ascension to the throne of Britain and his defeat of the French at the Battle of Agincourt. Directed, choreographed and designed by postmodern icon David Gordon, the hour-long work provokes an ironic reflection on the (im)morality of war. The piece for seven dancers and a narrator (Satterfield) includes a score with excerpts of music by William Walton from the 1945 film version of Henry V, plus recordings of performances of the play by Laurence Olivier and Christopher Plummer.

Joining the cast of Dancing Henry Five is Robert La Fosse, who was principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre for nine years, then principal dancer with New York City Ballet. He has danced leading roles in many full-length ballets, and he has originated roles in works by Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp and Peter Martins. He performed on Broadway in Bob Fosse's Dancin' and Jerome Robbins' Broadway, for which he received a Tony nomination. He is also a choreographer, has appeared on television and wrote his autobiography, Nothing to Hide, published in 1987.

RESIDENCY ACTIVITIES
As part of Pick Up Performance Co(s)'s residency, there will be a post-performance conversation with the artists Thursday, October 13, and a pre-performance talk with David Gordon Friday, October 14 at 7 p.m., both free and open to ticket holders.

PICK UP PERFORMANCE CO(S)
Pick Up Performance Co(s) was founded in 1971 and incorporated in 1978 (as Pick Up Performance Co.) to facilitate projects created by David Gordon, then expanded in 1992 to include projects by Ain Gordon and renamed Pick Up Performance Co(s) to recognize the plural artistic leadership and projects created independently by each artist. From David Gordon's beginnings as a founding artist of the seminal Judson Church performances and the improvisational Grand Union, he purposefully examined, expanded and torpedoed conventional lines between theatre and dance and pioneered the use of text and textual narrative in movement work, anticipating the concept of "performance art." Ain Gordon began writing and directing his own work in 1985, emerging in the downtown dance/performance scene with four consecutive seasons at Dance Theater Workshop, and he began touring his work in 1990. In 1993, Ain and David collaborated, as writers, directors and performers, on The Family Business and received an OBIE. They later collaborated on Punch and Judy Get Divorced for American Repertory Theatre and American Music Theatre Festival and The First Picture Show for The Mark Taper Forum and American Conservatory Theatre. David continues to fuse text and movement for both dance and theatre venues. In 1996, Ain won a second OBIE for his play Wally's Ghost, and he continues to straddle the traditions of playwriting and performance art, blending fact and fiction in theatrical ruminations on history and memory.

FUNDING
The Dance Center's presentation of Pick Up Performance Co(s) is funded, in part, by the Illinois Arts Council.

THE DANCE CENTER
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, named "Chicago's Best Dance Theatre" by Chicago magazine and "Best Dance Venue" by the Chicago Reader, is the city's leading presenter of contemporary dance, showcasing artists of regional, national and international significance. Programs of The Dance Center are supported, in part, Alphawood Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince, Sara Lee Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Arts Midwest, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, The Irving Harris Foundation and New England Foundation for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. Special thanks to Friends of The Dance Center.

The Dance Center's 2011-12 season continues with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan (October 28-29 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance), Merce Cunningham Dance Company (co-presented with the Harris Theater November 18 and 19 at the Harris Theater), Margaret Jenkins Dance Company (February 9-11), Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak (February 23-25), The Space/Movement Project with Rachel Damon/Synapse Arts and with Erica Mott (March 8-10) and Ballet Hispanico (March 22-24).

TICKET INFORMATION
Pick Up Performance Co(s) appears Thursday-Saturday, October 13-15 at 8 p.m. at The Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Avenue. Single tickets are $26-30; subscribers who order tickets to three or more performances from the 2011-12 season save 20%. All programming is subject to change. The theatre is accessible to people with disabilities. For more information, call 312-369-8330 or visit colum.edu/dancecenter.

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