The Wallis Presents Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Third Coast Percussion

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the highly anticipated West Coast premiere of excerpts from the first collaboration between the acclaimed Chicago-based company Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, considered a major force in contemporary dance, and Grammy Award-winning Third Coast Percussion with three performances on Thursday, January 10 through Saturday, January 12, 2019, at 7:30 pm. The new works, both by Los Angeles choreographers, include "For All Its Fury" by YouTube sensation Emma Portner, who gained international attention for her video and tour choreography for Justin Bieber, and "Everything Must Go," by Teddy Forance, whose work has been featured on the hit television show "So You Think You Can Dance." Inspired by the principal of sustainability and loosely intertwined, the works feature a powerful score by British singer/songwriter/composer Devonté Hynes, also known as Blood Orange, that will be performed live on stage by Third Coast Percussion. The highly regarded quartet of classically-trained percussionists also performs a solo interlude by Hynes. Hubbard Street's Wallis debut launches a four-month North American tour by the company that also includes stops in New York City, West Palm Beach, FL, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Additionally, Hubbard Street performs three works from its established repertoire, among them "Ignore," an excerpt from "Decadance/Chicago" choreographed by Ohad Naharin for Hubbard Street and premiered by the company in June 2018. Featuring five female dancers and set to the music of Arvo Pärt, it includes spoken word by Bobbie Jene Smith (contains explicit language). Naharin, the former artistic director of the Tel Aviv-based Batsheva Dance Company who developed the dance style known as Gaga, is noted for work that "unlocks a fresh dance vocabulary, and for his accessible, interactive creations" (Chicago Slash Magazine).

Three of the company's male dancers are spotlighted in Alejandro Cerrudo's witty "PACOPEPEPLUTO," featuring the characters Paco, Pepe and Pluto and set to songs popularized by the "king of cool," Dean Martin, in the '50s and '60s. Cerrudo, Hubbard Street's first-ever Resident Choreographer, has created 15 works for the company.

Closing the program is "Solo Echo," a weighty work for seven mixed dancers choreographed by Crystal Pite to Brahms' "Sonata for Cello and Piano in E Minor" and based on "Lines for Winter," a poem reflecting on life, loss and death by Pulitzer Prize recipient and former American Poet Laureate Mark Strand. Pite, Associate Choreographer of Nederlands Dans Theater and Associate Dance Artist of Canada's National Arts Centre in Ottawa, is "a legend in the world of dance (whose) work brings together the magic of theatre and the rigor of dance in pieces that are moving on an emotional level" (CBC Arts).

"This multi-faceted program by Hubbard Street Chicago exquisitely showcases the company's broad artistic range," says Wallis' Artistic Director, Paul Crewes."It includes some audience favorites by renowned choreographers who have enjoyed a long association with Hubbard Street as well as exciting collaborations with a new generation of exceptional choreographers."

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. Celebrating its 41stseason in 2018/19, under the artistic leadership of Glenn Edgerton, Hubbard Street continues to innovate, supporting ascendant creative talent while presenting repertory by internationally recognized living artists. Hubbard Street has grown through the establishment of multiple platforms alongside the Lou Conte Dance Studio - now in its fifth decade of providing a wide range of public classes and pre-professional training - while extensive Youth, Education, Community, Adaptive Dance and Family Programs keep the organization deeply connected to its hometown.

Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy Award-winning, artist-run quartet of classically-trained percussionists hailing from Chicago. For more than ten years, the ensemble has forged a unique path in the musical landscape with virtuosic, energetic performances that celebrate the extraordinary depth and breadth of musical possibilities in the world of percussion. The ensemble has been praised for "commandingly elegant" (The New York Times) performances, the "rare power" (The Washington Post) of their recordings, and "an inspirational sense of fun and curiosity" (Minnesota Star-Tribune). The four members of Third Coast are also accomplished teachers, and since 2013, have served as ensemble-in-residence at the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Third Coast Performers: Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore.

Single tickets are $35-$105. Visit TheWallis.org, call 310.746.4000, or stop by in person atthe Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Services Office located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210.

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