Alonzo King Will Appear in Conversation with Steve Kerr at SFJAZZ Next Month

Alonzo King LINES Ballet has announced Ballet & Basketball, a conversation with LINES Ballet Artistic Director & Co-Founder Alonzo King and Head Coach of the 2022 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr. This one-of-a-kind conversation will take place on September 16, 2022 from 7:30-9:00pm at SFJAZZ in San Francisco.

There are many similarities between ballet and basketball. Both are techniques of the body requiring strength, precision, balance, flexibility, and perfect timing. Have you ever watched a basketball player leap for a shot? Or the way a team or dance company work together as an ensemble? There is beauty, mindfulness, and artistry behind it all.

Bay Area icons Alonzo King and Steve Kerr come together for a conversation that touches on ballet and basketball while also exploring issues deep beyond the parallels between sport and dance. King and Kerr will delve into some of the pressing issues of our time-including social justice, human rights, mindfulness, and the power of community.

The event will also include a short performance by Alonzo King LINES Ballet.

Proceeds from this event will support Alonzo King LINES Ballet's new works and educational programs. Tickets are $50-$100. VIP tickets include a post-conversation cocktails reception and meet-and-greet with King and Kerr and cost $200.

About Alonzo King

Alonzo King, Founder and Artistic Director of Alonzo King LINES Ballet, has been called a visionary choreographer, who is altering the way we look and think about movement. King calls his works 'thought structures', created by the manipulation of energies that exist in matter through laws, which govern the shapes and movement directions of everything that exists. Named as a choreographer with "astonishing originality" by the New York Times, Alonzo King LINES Ballet has been guided by his unique artistic vision since 1982.

King has works in the repertories of the world's leading ballet and modern companies and has collaborated with distinguished visual artists, musicians and composers across the globe. His work has been recognized for its impact on the cultural fabric of the company's home in San Francisco, as well as internationally by the dance world's most prestigious institutions. Named a Master of Choreography by the Kennedy Center in 2005, King is the recipient of the NEA Choreographer's Fellowship, the Jacob's Pillow Creativity Award, the US Artist Award in Dance, NY Bessie Award, and the National Dance Project's Residency and Touring Awards. Alonzo King LINES Ballet was recently the recipient of major grants from the LSP Family Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Bank of the West, and MacKenzie Soctt and Dan Jewett.

In 2015 he received the Doris Duke Artist Award in recognition of his ongoing contributions to the advancement of contemporary dance. Joining historic icons in the field, King was named one of America's "Irreplaceable Dance Treasures" by the Dance Heritage Coalition. He is a former San Francisco commissioner, and a writer and lecturer on humanity and art. He holds an honorary Doctorate from Dominican University, California Institute of the Arts, and The Juilliard School.

About Steve Kerr

Having completed his eighth season as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr has guided the club to four NBA championships (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022), seven NBA Finals appearances (including five-straight from 2015-2019), the NBA's single-season wins record (73), five of the six winningest seasons in franchise history, while winning an NBA Coach of the Year award (2015-16).

Kerr, who won five NBA championships during a 15-year playing career, now owns nine championships as either a player or coach, becoming the first to win at least three NBA titles as a player and three as a coach. Kerr is just the third coach in NBA history to win three championships in his first four seasons at the helm, joining Phil Jackson (1991, 1992, 1993) and John Kundla (1949, 1950, 1952) as the only coaches to do so.

Kerr, 56, owns 30 years of NBA experience as a player, coach, television analyst and front office executive. The NBA's all-time three-point percentage leader, having converted on 45.4 percent (726-of-1599) of his attempts from long range, Kerr amassed career averages of 6.0 points, 1.8 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 910 regular-season games with the Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs (twice) and Portland Trail Blazers.

Kerr was originally selected by the Phoenix Suns in the second round (50th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft out of the University of Arizona. He earned a degree in general studies from Arizona with an emphasis in history, sociology and English in 1988.

He advocates for gun control, supporting such organizations as the Brady campaign, Sandy Hook Promise, March For Our Lives, and Giffords. Kerr also helps fundraise for Oakland Promise, an initiative launched by Mayor Libby Schaaf and the Oakland Unified School District in 2016 that aims to triple the number of Oakland high school graduates who complete college by the year 2024. In October 2014, Steve and Margot Kerr committed $1 million to the University of Arizona to assist with the McKale Memorial Center renovation and future academic facility enhancements.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 27, 1965, and raised in Pacific Palisades, Calif., Steve and his wife, Margot, have two sons, Nicholas and Matthew, and one daughter, Madeleine.

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