Presented by Affiliates and Annenberg Center Live

Media Contact Dance Affiliates- Community Outreach Carrie Gorn Anne-Marie Mulgrew Perpetual Motion PR Director, Education & Special Projects [email protected] [email protected] 215.480.7423 215.636.9000 ext.110

For Immediate Release Hi-res images available at AnnenbergCenter.org/press or by request.

New Zealand’s Black Grace Makes Its Dance Celebration debut in conjunction with its North American Tour February 12-14

PHILADELPHIA - Mixing its rich Pacific Island heritage with contemporary , New Zealand’s Black Grace brings intensity, artistry and prowess to Dance Celebration. Performances take place Thursday February 12 at 7:30 PM, Friday, February 13 at 8 PM and Saturday, February 14 at 2 PM and 8 PM at the Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut Street. Tickets are $20-$50. For tickets or for more information, visit AnnenbergCenter.org or call 215.898.3900. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Box Office. Dance Celebration is co-presented by Dance Affiliates and Annenberg Center Live.

The program features five works choreographed by artist director Neil Ieremia, expressing raw finesse, unique beauty and power. include Minoi (1999), Pati Pati (2009), Mother Mother (2013), Method (2000) and Gathering Clouds (2009), performed a company made up of primarily Pacific Island dancers – seven men and three women.

Two works drawn from traditional Pacific Island dance open the program. Set to traditional music, Minoi fuses a Samoan dance style known as Fa’ataupati (slap dance) with western to explore cultural identity issues with live singing and vocalizations. Pati Pati is influenced by traditional Samoan Sasa (seated dance) and Fa’ataupati (slap dance) set to music by Surface.

Mother Mother is a tribute to Ieremia’s mother who is often the unsung hero of the family. It was originally choreographed for a music video by New Zealand’s Fat Freddy’s Drop. Method, a playful romp, is inspired by boyhood memories. The Boston Globe notes “Method is a charming nod to Paul Taylor’s classic “Esplanade.” Using some of the same music, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.3, it features the men flinging themselves into one another’s arms and exuberantly jumping over a body rolling across the floor. But Ieremia’s exploration is a lot more rough and tumble. You can see backyard rugby games and impromptu wrestling matches in the dancers’ kicks and headlocks, with spins that flip on a dime.”

The show closes with Gathering Clouds, a 60-minute work set to drumming and chanting, hymns, music by Elvis Presley, and excerpts of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The piece has a diverse movement vocabulary that ranges from traditional Samoan dance to fast and dynamic movements influenced by cult hero Bruce Lee. This piece captures Black Grace at its physical and creative best. A deeply personal work, Gathering Clouds responds to controversial claims made by a New Zealand economist in a discussion paper titled “Growing Pains: The Valuation and Cost of Human Capital.” He notes, amongst other things, that “Pacific Island immigrants are a drain on the (New Zealand) economy” and warns that Polynesians living in New Zealand display “significant and enduring under-achievement” – a problem he believes immigration is making worse.

Said Ieremia about the piece, “Gathering Clouds is not about looking back in anger, nor is it about pretending that everything is perfect when clearly it is not. It is simply about reaffirming who we are as a young and diverse nation that is learning to weather the storms of change.”

In addition, Black Grace will be conducting three outreach activities - a Student Discovery program, Friday, February 13 at 10:30am, a Curtain Talk after the Friday, February 13 8pm performance and a free master class taught by Neil Ieremia o Friday, February 13 at 1pm. For more information, contact 215-636-9000 ext. 110 or [email protected].

About Black Grace Black Grace was founded by Neil Ieremia in 1995. As Artistic Director and Choreographer, Ieremia draws from his Samoan and New Zealand roots to create innovative dance works that reach across social, cultural and generational barriers. The work itself is highly physical, rich in the story telling traditions of the South Pacific and expressed with raw finesse, unique beauty and power. The Company features some of New Zealand’s finest dancers and has toured internationally to Europe, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Australia and New Caledonia. In 2004, Black Grace made its USA debut, performing a sold-out season at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, with a subsequent return to the Festival in 2005. Since then, the Company has performed regularly throughout North America earning audience and critical acclaim.

About Neil Ieremia (Artistic Director and Choreographer) Founding Artistic Director Neil Ieremia is one of New Zealand’s most accomplished choreographers as well as a creative entrepreneur and inspirational leader. Born in Wellington and of Samoan heritage, Ieremia was raised in a tough working class neighborhood in a country focused more on sporting prowess and agriculture than creative expression. At the age of 19 and with no formal training, Ieremia resigned from his banking job, left home, enrolled in a full-time dance program and broke his parents’ hearts. In his final year of training he was invited to join the prestigious Douglas Wright Dance Company which he worked for until 1996. Motivated to provide a different perspective and a fresh voice in the dance scene, Ieremia founded his own company, Black Grace, in 1995, with ten male dancers of Pacific, Maori and New Zealand heritage. Since then, he has changed the face of contemporary dance in New Zealand and turned Black Grace into one of the most recognizable and iconic cultural brands. The Company tours throughout New Zealand, developing new audiences and a new appreciation for dance. Internationally, his work has been presented in Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Caledonia, South Korea, Switzerland and the U.S. Ieremia was a recipient of the 2005 Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award and received the Paul D. Fleck Fellowship in the Arts from The Banff Centre, Canada. Numerous ‘firsts’ for a New Zealand choreographer include sell-out performances at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (US debut 2004 and 2005), a four-week season on ’s 42nd Street, performances at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and performances as part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver.

Funding for the 14/15 Dance Celebration season is provided by the Friends of Dance (Affiliates), Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Virginia C. Mulconroy Fund of The Philadelphia Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation. State arts funding is received through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

About Dance Celebration Founded by Artistic Director Randy Swartz, Dance Celebration is the Greater Philadelphia region's major contemporary dance series and is nationally-recognized in its field. The 14/15 program marks Dance Celebration’s 32nd season. Dance Celebration is a collaboration between Dance Affiliates and Annenberg Center Live for the Performing Arts. The annual Dance Celebration series engages a broad range of world-class and emerging dance companies each season. As a major cultural asset to the city and region, the program enhances the quality of life of both residents and visitors. Supporting Dance Celebration's primary mission of presenting and commissioning is a commitment to the presentation of diverse styles and choreography, cultures and nationalities; the cultivation of broadly-based adult and children's audiences; the enrichment of the school curriculum through quality children's matinees, arts education, and outreach; collaborations with performing arts partners in the field; and service to the local dance community through workshops, master classes, seminars and symposia.

Throughout its illustrious history, Dance Celebration has presented ancillary series including the edgy NextMove Festival (1999- 2003), the groundbreaking Monday Night Series (1986-1998), and numerous special events (1987-2011). Nikolais Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Pilobolus Dance Theater and Murray Louis Dance Company launched the inaugural season at Annenberg Center in 1983, followed in subsequent years by legends Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, Bella Lewitsky and José Limon.

About Annenberg Center Live Annenberg Center Live is dedicated to the advancement of a diverse and thriving cultural community through the pursuit of excellence, innovation and intellectual engagement in the performing arts. Affirming its core belief in the power of the arts to transform lives, the Annenberg Center embraces creative expression from the past and the present, of local and global origin, to expand the worlds of all who participate. As a destination and a resource, the Annenberg Center connects and engages artists, audiences, the University of Pennsylvania and the regional community through shared experiences in its high quality venues.

About Dance Affiliates Founded in 1979 by artistic director Randy Swartz as American Competition, the organization later changed its name to Dance Affiliates, reflecting its mission since 1983 as one of the nation’s few remaining dance-only presenters. Its annual Dance Celebration program is Philadelphia’s acclaimed and longest-running series of world-class contemporary dance. Having presented 200 companies in 1,500 performances, Dance Affiliates provides a wealth of opportunities for the Philadelphia community to interact with visiting dance artists through master classes, residencies, artistic collaborations, symposiums, film screenings, workshops, special student programs and pre- and post- performance curtain talks. Through more than 600 outreach programs, 30,000 students and aspiring dancers have been served. Visit www.danceaffiliates.org.

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