Kennedy Center presents DIAVOLO | ARCHITECTURE IN MOTION(R)
By: A.A. Cristi Feb. 01, 2018
Using movement to explore the relationship between the human body and its architectural environment, L.A.-based contemporary dance ensemble DIAVOLO makes its Kennedy Center debut with three D.C. premieres on February 23 and 24. The company brings two of its newest pieces to the Eisenhower Theater: Passengers, part two of the evening-length L.O.S.T or Losing One's Self Temporarily and The Veterans Project: A Long Journey Home, a community-based work featuring military veterans (with little to no dance experience) onstage. The program will also feature Trajectoire, a quintessential DIAVOLO performance that features a 3,000-pound rocking boat structure. Known for creating visceral and awe-inspiring works, Creative Director Jacques Heim leads a team of dancers, designers, choreographers, and engineers whose creations reveal how one is affected emotionally, physically, and socially by the spaces we inhabit. Please note: The Veterans Project and Trajectoire replace the previous announced work, Cubicle.
Passengers, from L.O.S.T (or Losing One's Self Temporarily)
L.O.S.T. uses meticulously designed structures to explore what divides and unites us as we traverse through our daily lives. Part two of the two-part piece, Passengers was created in 2016 and is a work about people caught in the wild loop of their shifting states of mind. Using a massive moveable structure that transforms into both a staircase and a train, dancers move around, go through, and jump off the framework to create a blend of dance and acrobatics. Their journey in searching for "identity" and "self" is a metaphoric embodiment of the challenges, obstacles, and adversity we all face in our waking reality.
The Veterans Project: A Long Journey Home
Conceived by DIAVOLO Executive Director Jennifer Cheng and led by Heim, The Veterans Project: A Long Journey Home is equal parts community, creativity, and discovery. Inspired by Sebastian Junger's novel Tribe and the rich stories of veterans' experiences, the project has given veteran participants new victories in their post-service lives, helping to restore their core inner strengths of hope, optimism, self-belief, and resiliency that may have diminished during their difficult transition back into civilian life. Believing that movement offers peace and purpose as a tool of human development, the company worked with veterans with little to no dance experience, in California for many weeks through intensive training. The same cast of veterans will be featured in the Kennedy Center engagement.
Trajectoire
Trajectoire takes the audience on a visceral journey through the ebb and flow of the human experience. A 3,000-pound rocking boat made of wood, aluminum, and steel provides the structure from which the artists interact and push the limits of gravity. Explosive and unexpected flips, leaps, and partnering test when to hold on and when to let go. As the performers struggle to find their balance on a voyage of destiny and destination, the work shows the transcendence of the human soul against all odds. This performance recently reached the final round of NBC's America's Got Talent in 2017.
Ticket Information
Tickets start at $19. Tickets can be purchased at the Kennedy Center box office or by calling Instant Charge at (202) 467-4600. Patrons living outside the Washington metropolitan area may dial toll-free at (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.
Performance Schedule
Diavolo | ARCHITECTURE IN MOTION
Jacques Heim, Artistic Director
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater
Passengers (from L.O.S.T. or Losing One's Self Temporarily)
D.C. premiere
D.C. premiere Trajectoire
D.C. premiere
Friday, February 23, 2018 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 24, 2018 at 2 p.m. & 8:00 p.m.
For more information about the Kennedy Center visit www.kennedy-center.org.
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