Bowen McCauley Dance Co. 25th Season Kicks Off In March With Virtual Screening Of LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS A QUARTRE MAINS

Bowen McCauley Dance Company, an award-winning contemporary dance company with a legacy of community engagement, announces changes to its previously announced 25th Season schedule, due to COVID-19-related restrictions. The celebration will now begin with an added livestream screening of the 2012 World Premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring) on Friday, March 19, at 5:30 p.m.

The Company's 25th Celebration event will now take place in September 2021 at Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Performances slated for the season will include four world premieres and reprises of classic BMDC works. These world premieres build on a repertoire of over 100 original dance works choreographed by Lucy Bowen McCauley in the Company's 25 year history.

Le Sacre du Printemps, recorded at Kennedy Center Terrace Theater during its 2012 World Premiere, features eight BMDC dancers, and choreography by Lucy Bowen McCauley in her signature style of musicality and athleticism. This fresh interpretation of Sacre-long considered the staple of modern dance - is angular and abstract, with a score full of harmonic dissonance and syncopated rhythms.

"I wanted people to relate to the full emotional range of the work and the unfolding of events in a less obvious way," said Lucy Bowen McCauley. At the recommendation of then Music Director and Composer Larry Alan Smith, the piece uses the four-hand piano version as opposed to the orchestral 1913 version, which Lucy felt was a perfect match for her chamber size company.

Additional changes to the schedule include: BMDC Presents 25th Season Opening Performance (Virtual) - Live from the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater for One Night, which will now take place on Wednesday, May 26, at 7:30 p.m. Two Artists Reunite for the Company's Season 25 Finale will be open to in-person attendance on Tuesday, September 14, at 7:00 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater.

The shift to online livestream performances is a special opportunity for BMDC to fulfill its mission to "make contemporary dance accessible to all, through performances and community outreach activities." Accessible online performances accompany online weekly Dance for Parkinson's Disease classes. BMDC is the only Dance Company that is a licensed affiliate of the Mark Morris Dance Group's researched-backed Dance for Parkinson's Disease program in the Mid-Atlantic region. Since 2009, BMDC has served over 700 people living with Parkinson's as part of the program.

25TH SEASON EVENT SCHEDULE

BMDC Celebrates Spring with a Virtual Screening of "Le Sacre du Printemps a quartre mains" (Rite of Spring - Four Hand Piano)

FRIDAY, MARCH 19 on Youtube

5:30 p.m. - Artist Pre-show Discussion

6:00 p.m.- Screening

Take a retrospective look at the 2012 World Premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps via YouTube. This recorded live performance at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, features eight BMDC dancers, choreographed by Lucy Bowen McCauley in her signature style of musicality and athleticism. This fresh interpretation of Sacre-long considered the staple of modern dance - is angular and abstract with a score full of harmonic dissonance and syncopated rhythms.

The evening will begin with a live pre-show discussion with Lucy Bowen McCauley, principal dancers, Alicia Curtis and Dustin Kimball, along with one other original cast member, Alvaro Palau.

Choreography by Lucy Bowen McCauley

Performed by Alicia Curtis, Michelle de Fremery, Dustin Kimball, Leslie Lamberson, Antoine Lee, Heather Malone, Alvaro Palau

Set and costumes by award-winning designer Tony Cisek

Four-hand piano accompaniment by Fabio and Giselle Witkowski

Lighting design by Martha Mountain

BMDC Presents 25th Season Opening Performance (Virtual) - Live from the Kennedy Center for One Night

WEDNESDAY, MAY 26 @ 7:00 p.m.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Terrace Theater

The LIVE virtual performance for BMDC will include a reprise of "Dances of the Yogurt Maker," Choreography by Lucy Bowen McCauley with music by Turkish Composer Erberk Eryilmaz. The first-ever collaboration between these two award-winning artists was commissioned by the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra (March 2019). Lucy Bowen McCauley will also premiere a new work, "Trois Rêves" created for the COVID socially distanced stage performance, set to Maurice Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, featuring a live piano solo by Nikola Paskalov. The new piece is set on eight Company dancers and highlights the graceful sweeping movements that only a Ravel composition could deliver.

The evening will begin with a pre-show discussion with Lucy Bowen McCauley and artists sharing their insights and thoughts on the evening's performance. The virtual performance will follow at 7:30 p.m.

Two Artists Reunite for the Company's Season 25 Finale

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 @ 7:00 p.m.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - Eisenhower Theater

2700 F St NW, Washington, DC 20566

BMDC unites with Turkish Composer Erberk Eryilmaz and German/Croatian Composer Nikola Glassl to present an Eastern European inspired journey featuring live musicians and eight BMDC dancers in a memorable 'Big Celebration' farewell to the Company.

Finale line up includes two world premiere works. "Imago'' choreographed by Lucy and set to six songs from German/Croatian Composer, Nikola Glassl, played live by the Company's Music Director and the Composer's grandson, Nikola Paskalov with soprano, Karin Paludan. And a rhythmic and choreographic tour de force with Lucy's interpretation of Erberk's "Insistent Music." This new composition, written especially for Lucy, will feature eight dancers and five musicians from Hoppa Project that include: Evie Chen, Samuel Park, Laura Ann Krentzman, and Bree Ahern with Erberk on piano and percussion.

The evening will also present the Kardelen Turkish Dance Ensemble of Washington, DC for an authentic traditional Turkish Folk dance and "Exuberant Fanfare," McCauley's choreographed dance piece set to the music of Igor Stravinsky, Suite Italienne from Pulcinella and played live by violinist Leonid Sushansky and pianist Carlos Cesar Rodriguez.

To post a comment, you must register and login.