The Harris Theater for Music and Dance Presents Choreographer in Residence, Brian Brooks's TERRAIN, 11/17

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance is pleased to announce the new details of the first commission by inaugural Choreographer in Residence, Brian Brooks; Terrain, for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago will see its world premiere as part of Hubbard Street's Season 39 Fall Series, November 17-20, 2016.

Hubbard Street is the first company to have work set upon it as part of this Residency, to be followed by Miami City Ballet, and an additional new independent project directed by Brooks, with more to be announced.

In Brooks' newest work, Terrain, conflict and collaboration coexist in a shared, intimate space. Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's 17 impeccable dancers move as if propelled by diametric forces, resistant yet inextricably linked. Shockwaves spread like currents as the group continuously folds in upon itself, reshaping and redirecting energy in an ever-changing tableau that reveals startling moments of individualism and collectivism. A bold mix of sounds, including Todd Reynolds' propulsive, electronic re-composition of Terry Riley's classic minimalist score In C, heightens the inherent tension in this intriguing premiere.

Tickets are currently on-sale and can be purchased HERE.

In the Community

As part of Brooks' residency, he will be ingraining himself in Chicago's arts and culture community through relationships and engagements with Harris Theater arts education partners and resident companies. Throughout year one, Brooks will conduct a series of master classes for students and pre-professionals, choreograph a new work for dance students, and engage audiences through talk-backs and other special events. Brooks will also be developing learning tools and resources to enrich the experience of teachers and students who will see his work on stage, and will provide opportunities for dancers of all levels to learn at his hand.

"The education and community component of this residency is paramount to us," said Harris Theater President and Managing Director Michael Tiknis. "We want Brian's work in the community to serve as an extension of what artists experience backstage by creating access points for pre-professional dancers and students. Our goal is for Brian to truly become a part of the dance scene in Chicago; this is a vital part of our mission to promote and create opportunities in the arts in our beloved city."

Chicago Academy for the Arts work

Beginning this month, Brooks will work with advanced dancers from the Chicago Academy for the Arts to create an original work inspired by, and created for, this group of students. Brooks will work with the students at several points throughout the year, including two extended residencies in March and late April. The work will see its premiere in Harris Theater's MIX at SIX series on May 3, 2016 and, additionally, will be part of the Spring Dance Concert on April 29, 2016 at the Athenaeum Theatre.

The Chicago Academy for the Arts is home to the premiere Dance program for conservatory-bound pre-professional dancers. Alumni from this program can be found at such companies, conservatories, and universities as: New York City Ballet, Juilliard, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, NYU, Houston Ballet, and dozens more.

Master Class with Brian Brooks, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

This two-hour class will mirror the rehearsal process of Brian Brooks' new work for Hubbard Street, premiering during the Season 39 Fall Series, November 17-20 at the Harris Theater. Brooks will guide participants through a combination of physical warmup activities, choreographic sequences, and creative methods, providing multiple points of entry and perspectives into his ways of creating and refining material. Through this series of explorations, source material taught by Brooks is altered by the participants in this class, encouraging dancers to further understand their own instincts. This master class will take place on Sunday, October 30, from 1-3PM at Hubbard Street Dance Center.

About the Residency

Brian Brooks is the Harris Theater's first ever Choreographer in Residence. This Residency provides $600,000 over three years that will fund choreographer compensation, commissioning, and production support. The new Residency will provide encouragement and allow choreographers to focus on creating one-to-three new works each season without the constraints of financial pressures, while providing financial support to mount and produce the new works set upon regional, national, and international dance companies.

The first three companies chosen for commissions are Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (2016-17 season), Miami City Ballet (2017-18 season), and Brian Brooks' own New York-based group (2017-18 season), with more to be announced. Each piece will either premiere at the Harris Theater, or will be presented by the Harris Theater after its premiere in another city.

The Harris Theater has a history of awarding commissions to promising and important choreographers, composers and visual artists, including Mark Morris Dance Group, Jonathan Berger, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Trey McIntyre Project, Jessica Lang Dance, and many more.

All single tickets are available through the Harris Theater Box Office at 205 East Randolph Drive, 312.334.7777, and online at HarrisTheaterChicago.org.

••• All programs, prices, and dates are subject to change •••

Sponsorship

The Choreographer in Residence at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance is made possible by the Jay Franke and David Herro Choreographer in Residence Fund through the Imagine campaign.

The Northern Trust Company is the Harris Theater's 2016-2017 season sponsor. United Airlines is the official airline of the Harris Theater. The Theater gratefully acknowledges the Irving Harris Foundation for its leadership support of the Presenting Fund.

About Brian Brooks

Choreographer Brian Brooks has recently been appointed the inaugural Choreographer in Residence at Chicago's Harris Theater for Music and Dance. This innovative three-year fellowship supports several commissions for Brooks, including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Miami City Ballet, as well as his own New York-based group. Brooks is the recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship. Other recent awards include a New York City Center Fellowship and The Joyce Theater's Artist Residency. His work has toured nationally and internationally since 2002 with recent presentations by The Joyce Theater, Jacob's Pillow, the American Dance Festival, and BAM as part of their 2013 Next Wave Festival. The American Dance Institute, where Brooks is a member of the Artist Advisory Board, has presented his company three times and supported him with two Incubator Production Residencies. Brooks has been commissioned by Damian Woetzel at the Vail International Dance Festival to create three new works featuring dancers from New York City Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet, including First Fall, in which Brooks dances with former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Wendy Whelan. He is currently performing a full production of new work that he dances together with Whelan. Theatre for a New Audience has invited Brooks to choreograph two Off-Broadway Shakespeare productions - A Midsummer Night's Dream (2013), directed by Julie Taymor, and Pericles (2016), directed by Trevor Nunn. Brooks has created new dances at schools including The Juilliard School, The Boston Conservatory, The School at Jacob's Pillow, and Harvard University. He dedicated 12 years as a Teaching Artist of Dance at the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education and has been on the part-time faculties of both Rutgers University and Princeton University.

About Harris Theater for Music and Dance

The Harris Theater, opened in 2003 in Chicago's Millennium Park, is the first multi-use performing arts venue to be built in the Chicago downtown area since 1929. The Theater hosts the most diverse offerings of any venue in Chicago, featuring the city's world-renowned music and dance institutions and the Harris Theater Presents series of acclaimed national and International Artists and ensembles.

The Harris's mission is to make the arts relevant and accessible to audiences of all ages and communities, and through its partnerships with an array of Chicago's music and dance performing arts organizations, has earned national recognition as a distinctive model for collaboration, performance, and artistic advancement.

The Theater's Imagine: The Campaign for Harris Theater, launched in 2013, is a $38.8M comprehensive fundraising effort supporting the Theater's multifaceted mission. The campaign ensures the continued growth and artistic development of the Harris Theater over 10 years.

The Imagine campaign is led by four transformational gifts: $5M from The Irving Harris Foundation, Joan W. Harris; Alexandra and John Nichols; Chauncey and Marion D. McCormick Family Foundation, Abby McCormick O'Neil and D. Carroll Joynes; $3M from Caryn and King Harris, The Harris Family Foundation. Additional leadership gifts supporting programmatic and capital projects have been generously funded by The Crown Family, Jay Franke and David Herro, Jack and Sandra Guthman, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Neisser Family Foundation, The Northern Trust Company, Christine and Glenn Kelly, Laura and Ricardo Rosenkranz, and Marilyn and David J. Vitale.

The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust and Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust are the lead underwriters of fundraising for Imagine: The Campaign for Harris Theater.

The Harris Theater maintains a commitment to engaging Chicago residents of all ages and communities. The Theater partners with health and human service agencies, K-12 schools, and community arts organizations, providing more than 8,800 underwritten performance tickets through the Access Tickets Program since 2009. The Theater also connects gifted young artists and students to presented artists through master classes, artist talks, and other enrichment activities.

The Harris Theater is located at 205 E. Randolph Drive in Chicago's Millennium Park. For further information on the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago's state-of-the art 1,525-seat performance venue, visit HarrisTheaterChicago.org or Facebook and Twitter.

About Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, under the artistic leadership of Glenn Edgerton, celebrates its 39th season in 2016 and 2017. Among the world's top contemporary dance companies and a global cultural ambassador, Hubbard Street demonstrates fluency in a wide range of techniques and forms, and deep comprehension of abstract artistry and emotional nuance. The company is critically acclaimed for its exuberant and innovative repertoire, featuring works by master American and international choreographers. Hubbard Street's artists hail from four countries and 12 U.S. states, and comprise a superlative ensemble of virtuosity and versatility. Since its founding by Lou Conte in 1977, Hubbard Street has grown through the establishment of multiple platforms. Each is dedicated to the support and advancement of dance as an art form, as a practice, and as a method for generating and sustaining communities of all kinds.

At the Lou Conte Dance Studio, directed by founding Hubbard Street Dancer Claire Bataille, workshops and master classes allow access to expertise, while a broad variety of weekly classes offer training at all levels in jazz, ballet, dance fitness, modern, tap, African, hip-hop, yoga, Pilates® and more.

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