“Shattering dance/theater.”—New York Times
Choreographed, written, and directed by David Roussève, Halfway to Dawn is an evening-length work weaving dance, music, sound, video, and text to uncover the deeper ”truths” of African American, gay jazz composer Billy Strayhorn’s life (1915–67) while also creating a dialogue on urgent social issues of our own time. The work is danced to a score of Strayhorn and Duke Ellington songs, from raise-the-roof jazz anthems to emotion-laden ballads. Halfway to Dawn intersects fact, conjecture, comment, abstraction, and fantasy to create an abstract portrait of Ellington’s most important, though largely unknown, collaborator.
Founded in 1988, David Roussève/REALITY creates expressionistic dance/theater works that combine the accessibility, grit, and passion of African American traditional and pop cultures with the challenging compositional structures of avant-garde dance and theater in order to explore socially-charged, immensely relevant, and often spiritual themes.
“An invigorating experience . . . Sheer visual beauty.”— Washington Post
Founded in 2008, Beijing Dance Theater is led by its choreographer, Wang Yuanyuan, together with visual artists Tan Shaoyuan and Hanjiang. Born and raised in Beijing, Wang is one of China’s leading modern dance choreographers. She prides herself on being rooted in Chinese traditions, while at the same time producing innovative, authentic, and thought-provoking contemporary dance works for the world stage.
The evening program includes selections from Hamlet—which explores Hamlet’s psychological landscape from a fresh perspective and confronts his melancholy, his compassion for humanity, and his doubt in the face of death and destruction; Wild Grass—renowned for the alluring fusion of Chinese tradition with a fiercely modern sensibility, and adapted from the poetry collection written by Chinese literary giant Lu Xun in 1927; and Crossing—which traces the struggles of the individual dancers to mark the emptiness, and sets lyrical movement against the stark realities of the space and sound.
Dedicated to revealing and exploring the inherent complexities of street and social dance forms, Ephrat Asherie Dance (EAD) creates original contemporary work that straddles dance and theater. EAD makes its West Coast debut with Odeon, an original dance work for seven dancers and four musicians. The performance marks the second collaboration between sister-and-brother team Ephrat and Ehud Asherie (choreographer and musical director, respectively).
Odeon is set to the music of Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth, known for mixing early 20th-century romantic music with samba and other popular Afro-Brazilian rhythms. The piece delves into what happens when you bring together the extended family of street and club dances—including breaking, hip-hop, house, and vogue—remix them, pick them apart, and challenge them to inhabit unfamiliar spatial and choreographic contexts.
“A fresh and innovative show. . . . When ETM: Double Down is rocking, Dorrance Dance is one big band.”—New York Times
A collaboration between “one of the most imaginative tap choreographers working today,” (New Yorker) Michelle Dorrance and company member Nicholas Van Young, ETM: Double Down celebrates the origins of tap dance, in a contemporary context, by using electronic trigger boards. Turning the entire stage into an instrument, the score is not just danced to but danced by the company. ETM, which stands for electronic tap music, features eight dancers and six musicians exploring acoustic and digitally produced sounds.
Founded in 2011 by artistic director and 2015 MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance, Dorrance Dance is an award-winning tap dance company based out of New York City. The company’s work aims to honor tap dance’s uniquely beautiful history in a new, dynamic, and compelling context; not by stripping the form of its tradition, but by pushing it—rhythmically, technically, and conceptually. The company’s inaugural performance garnered a Bessie Award for “blasting open our notions of tap,” and the company continues its passionate commitment to expanding the audience of tap dance.
“[A] pillar of American postmodern dance.”—New York Times
In planning since before Trisha Brown’s death earlier this year, ArtPower is proud to present a unique iteration of In Plain Site, a site-specific work created for the UC San Diego campus by Trisha Brown Dance Company (TBDC). The company will adapt Brown’s signature works around the campus, honoring her commitment to the presentation of performances in nontraditional venues, a format she helped pioneer.
Brown was an iconic American choreographer and cofounder of postmodern dance. She formed TBDC in 1970, and the company has toured her work throughout the world. She was a recipient of awards from the MacArthur Foundation, U.S. Artists, the Dorothy & Lillian Gish Prize, and the National Medal of the Arts, among many others.
Brown engaged collaborators who are themselves leaders in music, theater, and the visual arts, including visual artists Robert Rauschenberg, Donald Judd, and Elizabeth Murray, and musicians Laurie Anderson, John Cage, and Alvin Curran, just to name a few. With these partners, she created exceptionally varied works that have been staples in the dance world for decades.
Part of La Jolla Playhouse’s WoW festival.
Note:
- This performance takes place outdoors, on top of grass/uneven ground.
- Please wear comfortable shoes for walking.
- Please bring a light jacket as the San Diego weather is unpredictable.
- Wheelchair seating and accessible parking are available.
- Chairs will be available for ticket holders.
- More questions/concerns? Please contact artpower@ucsd.edu.
Please see map below for parking, on-site box office, and venue location.
Want a dropped pin the day of show? Text Joanna (Associate Director of Marketing and Communications) at 858-230-0943 with the message “Need TBDC pin drop.”
“ . . . elegant and bold, inventive and joyful.”—Times Union
Following their 2014 U.S. debut in a sold-out run in New York City—which garnered high praise from the New York Times—Malpaso have continued to play a prominent role in the renewed artistic dialogue between America and Cuba. Representing Cuba’s expanding cultural life, Malpaso—whose name, jokingly, means “misstep”—skillfully blend unfussy ballet, their native Afro-Cuban traditions, and intensely physical modern dance. Since being established in 2012 by resident choreographer and artistic director Osnel Delgado, Malpaso have quickly become one of the most sought-after Cuban dance companies. Emphasizing a collaborative creative process, they are committed to working with top international choreographers while also nurturing new voices in Cuban choreography.
For their San Diego debut, Malpaso will perform Indomitable Waltz, choreographed for the company by ArtPower alumna Aszure Barton; Ocaso by Osnel Delgado; and Why You Follow by Ron K. Brown.
Malpaso Dance Company is an Associate Company of Joyce Theater Productions.
Recognized as one of Europe’s most distinctive choreographers, Hervé Koubi draws creative strength from his Algerian roots and Mediterranean culture. His company makes its San Diego debut with What the Day Owes to the Night (Ce Que le Jour Doit à la Nuit), a highly physical, stunningly fluid work for 12 French Algerian and African male dancers. The piece combines capoeira, martial arts, and urban contemporary dance, and is packed with backflips, head spins, and powerful imagery evocative of Eastern paintings and Islamic architecture. What the Day Owes to the Night is danced to an eclectic score that features Johann Sebastian Bach, Hamza El Din & the Kronos Quartet, and traditional Sufi music.
The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company was born out of an 11-year collaboration between Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, who passed away in 1988. During this time, the two dancers redefined the duet form and foreshadowed issues of identity, form, and social commentary that would change the face of American dance. The Company has performed worldwide in over 200 cities in 40 countries on every major continent, and is recognized as one of the most innovative and powerful forces in the dance-theater world.
The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company returns to UC San Diego with Play and Play: An Evening of Movement and Dance, which includes two works—Ravel: Landscape or Portrait? and Story/. Both are accompanied by live music performed by Quartet Nouveau.
Founded by choreographer Park Soon-Ho, Bereishit is a Seoul-based dance company that approaches the Korean traditional culture from a contemporary perspective. The company explores the issues of identity and transformation with a dance style that merges the control and full-body excitement of break dance with sleek artistry and urban cool.
Bereishit’s West Coast debut includes two works—Bow, an athletic duet inspired by the tradition of archery, explores the boundaries of sports and dance; and the intensely physical Balance and Imbalance, which features brilliant and fun interplay among five dancers, a pair of Korean traditional drummers, and one traditional pansori singer.
“The street style in dress and movement disguises finely honed skill in balancing bodies at extraordinary angles and in extraordinary configurations.”—Critical Dance
