VERTICAL ROAD
US TOUR
October 2012
5 & 6 –Royce Hall, UCLA Live, Los Angeles, CA
10 – Irvine Barclay Theatre, Irvine, CA
12 – Mondavi Center, UC Davis, CA
14 – Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA
17 – Arlene Schnitzer Theatre, Portland, OR
20 – Byham Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA
23 & 24 – The Rose Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York, NY
Akram Khan Dance Company journeys across boundaries to create uncompromising artistic narratives. It produces thoughtful, provocative and ambitious dance productions for the international stage. Akram Khan takes human themes and works with others to take them to new and unexpected places – embracing and working with other cultures and disciplines.
The dance language in each production is rooted in Akram Khan’s classical Kathak and modern dance training and continually evolves to communicate ideas that are intelligent, courageous and new, bringing with it international acclaim and recognition as well as artistic and commercial success.
At the moment when the ensemble of splendid dancers in this world premiere are transformed into not one but six faun-like creatures, seated diagonally on stage in that iconic pose, faces inclined to that imagined apocryphal afternoon summer sky, it became clear that choreographer David Bolger had brought it off. Yes, a bow to the master Nijinsky’s L’Apres-midi d’un Faune, but brilliantly very much his own work. The Irish Times January 19, 2010
Nijinsky was worshipped as the greatest dancer of the twentieth century, but audiences rioted when they saw Nijinski’s first ballet, L’Apres midi d’un Faune, shocked by the shameless sensuality and revolutionary dance style. Mixing Debussy’s famous score with Queen, David Bolger explores how dance still reconnects us with our feelings and imagination and asks can we still break free?
“This faun is sensual, art deco-like, erotic and quite possibly the most beautiful contemporary dance you’ll see all year” – METRO
“…bone-shakingly sexy …playful, …such a sensuous and beautiful experience to watch… a post punk piece…terrific” RTE The View
“There is nothing greater than Mazowsze!” – New York Times
After the very successful fall 2010 tour of the East and Midwest, the world-renowned MAZOWSZE returns to the West coast of North America for the first time in 15 years, once again coordinated with major Public Television showings of the PBS special about MAZOWSZE: “The Music and Dance of Poland”.
THE MAGNIFICENT MAZOWSZE is a thrilling display of dazzling movement, vibrant color and stunning beauty. The incomparable Mazowsze performance troupe whirls, leaps, stamps and glides in a glorious outpouring of sound and motion, rhythm and music that celebrates the cultural legacy of Poland.
“Sacred Monsters” is a public dialogue in speech and motion between two artists supremely skilled in different forms of classical dance — artists who share as well a long commitment to contemporary expression. It brings together dancer-choreographer Akram Khan, a master of kathak, one of India’s more brilliant classical idioms, and Sylvie Guillem, a ballet star famed for her technique and daring.
Their 70-minute performance Wednesday in the UCLA Live series in Royce Hall represented not only a starry novelty act but also an affirmation — exactly when we needed it — that cultural isolation can be shattered, that East and West can happily coexist and grow productively from person-to-person exchange Lewis Segal, LA Times
(North American Premiere)
February/March 2010
TOUR DATES 2011
9-Feb Irvine Barclay Theatre
12-Feb Arts Power! UC San Diego
16-Feb Arts & Lectures, UC Santa Barbara
Feb 18, 19 & 20 Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco
24-Feb Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, Detroit
Feb 26, 27 & 28 Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
3-Mar University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
US TOUR DATESUniversity Musical Society
University of Ann Arbor, Michigan
October 20 – 25
http://www.ums.org/s_current_season/artist.asp?pageid=534#
North American Fall Tour 2003“Bliss, sheer bliss”
“I can think of no better way of starting the British summer”
The Daily Telegraph
