Northrop Concerts and Lectures at the University of Announces 2012-13 Northrop Season

NORTHROP MOVES: Northrop Dance, Women of Substance, SOLO—McKnight Artist Fellowships for Dancers

Minneapolis, MN (April 11, 2012) – Northrop Concerts and Lectures at the announces its 2012-13 Northrop Season, featuring three sub-series, including Northrop Dance, Women of Substance at St. Catherine University (copresented with The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University), and SOLO from the McKnight Artist Fellowships for Dancers. This season marks the 94th Northrop Concerts and Lectures Season since it was founded in 1919 at the University of Minnesota. The season highlights major debuts and historic returns, internationally significant companies and choreographers performing culturally diverse, boundary- breaking new repertoire; rarely performed, iconic masterworks; as well as a selection of the best local Minnesotan dancers and choreographers. This season will also feature a special programmatic focus on the 100th Anniversary of , featuring the original recreation of the Nijinsky/Stravinsky version from 1913, along with Maurice Béjart’s radically experimental version.

While the construction and revitalization of the historic Northrop Auditorium continues (Feb 2011-Spring 2014), the second NORTHROP MOVES season includes performances in downtown State and Orpheum Theatres, Ted Mann Concert Hall on the U of M campus, and The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University.

THE 2012-13 NORTHROP SEASON

2012-13 Northrop Dance

Northrop Dance Presents Moves MN Debut , artistic director Tue, & Wed, Oct 23 & 24, 2012, 7:30 pm Orpheum Theatre

Polyphonia - 2001 - 1972 Zakouski - 1992 Hallelujah Junction - 2001

PROGRAM: Polyphonia - (2001) Choreographer: Music: György Ligeti () “Romantic with comic twists,” is how Christopher Wheeldon describes his new work set to ten eclectic piano pieces by Ligeti. Its brief sections run the choreographic spectrum from the bold, neoclassic angularity of Balanchine through playful duets, a dreamy waltz, a gentle, plaintive solo to the intense intertwining of one couple. Anchored by dynamic opening and closing ensembles filled with twisting turns, jabs, and quirky hard movements, its eight dances seem to be tearing through the musical fabric. Overhead horizontal lifts, rolls, and pushes off the floor contrast with classical ballet steps. The first of two key duets for the leading principal couple evokes sea creatures swimming, while the second looks like a strange plant growing and closing in on itself. The last horizontal lifts and fades out, arrest the movement, frame it, and let it dissolve like a film. Ligeti’s polyphony (many individual voices sounding simultaneously) with fleeting references to Stravinsky, Debussy, Kodály and Prokofiev, among others, finds its match in the choreographer’s interweaving of ballet and modem dance movement.

Duo Concertant – (1972) Choreographer: Music: (piano/violin) Stravinsky dedicated Duo Concertant to Samuel Dushkin, a well-known violinist he met in 1931. The composer premiered the work with Dushkin in Berlin in 1932, and the pair gave recitals together across Europe for the next several years. The piece had long been a favorite of Balanchine — who had first heard it performed by Stravinsky and Dushkin soon after it was composed — but not until years later, when he was planning the 1972 Stravinsky Festival, did he decide to choreograph it. The performance of the musicians on stage is integral to the conception of the ballet. Standing at the piano with the musicians, the dancers listen to the first movement. During the next three movements they dance, mirroring the music and each other, and pause several times to rejoin the musicians and to listen. In the final movement, the stage is darkened and the dancers perform within individual circles of light. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), born in Russia, is acknowledged as one of the great composers of the twentieth century. His work encompassed styles as diverse as Romanticism, Neoclassicism and Serialism. His for Diaghilev’s included , , The Rite of Spring, and . His music has been used in over thirty ballets originating with from 1948 through 1987, including , , The Cage, , , Rubies, Symphony in Three Movements, Stravinsky Violin , Concerto for Two Solo , Suite from L’Histoire du Soldat, Concertino, and Jeu de Cartes.

Zakouski – (1992) Choreographer: Peter Martins Music: Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 (1915) by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Parasha’s Song from the opera (1921-22) by Igor Stravinsky, Cinq Melodies (Fourth Melody) (1920) by , and Valse-, Op. 34 (1877) by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky Zakouski is the Russian term for “hors d’oeuvres.” This ballet for two dancers set to four short works for violin and piano explores through vernacular gesture and movement the emotional terrain of its musical sources. Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891-1953) was a leading Soviet composer and a brilliant pianist. He left Russia in 1918 and lived in Germany and Paris for the next sixteen years, with frequent trips to America for concert appearances. In 1934 he settled in Moscow and composed prolifically until his death. Among his better known works are the ballet scoresRomeo and Juliet, Cinderella, and The Prodigal Son, the opera Love for Three Oranges, the children’s classic Peter and the Wolf, the film score and forAlexander Nevsky, and the Classical Symphony.

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), Russian composer, conductor and pianist. He studied at the St. Petersburg and Moscow Conservatories. His distinctive musical style is characterized by richness of melody, harmony, texture, a particular flair for vocal music, and a sensitivity to Russian poetry. His Second Piano Concerto (1900-1) brought him international fame and is still one of the most performed orchestral works. After the Revolution of 1917 he made his home in America, where he gave regular concerts and recitals to support himself and his family. His extensive gramophone recordings preserve his expressive piano style. He died at his home in Beverly Hills, California.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), born in Russia, is acknowledged as one of the great composers of the twentieth century. His work encompassed styles as diverse as Romanticism, Neoclassicism and Serialism. His ballets for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes included The Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring, and Apollo. His music has been used in over thirty ballets originating with New York City Ballet from 1948 through 1987, including Danses Concertantes, Orpheus, The Cage, Agon, Monumentum pro Gesualdo, Rubies, Symphony in Three Movements, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Concerto for Two Solo Pianos, Suite from Histoire du Soldat, Concertino, and Jeu de Cartes.

Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky (1840-1893) studied at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg, where Balanchine later studied piano in addition to his studies in dance. Tschaikovsky is one of the most popular and influential of all romantic composers. His work is expressive, melodic, grand in scale, with rich orchestrations. His output was prodigious and included chamber works, symphonies, concerti for various instruments, operas and works for the piano. His creations for the ballet, composed in close partnership with Marius Petipa, include , , and The Sleeping Beauty.

Hallelujah Junction - (2001) Choreographer: Peter Martins Music: Hallelujah Junction (1996) by The silhouettes of two pianists, their pianos facing each other, appear through dim light above the stage. Three dancers in practice clothes, a male in all black and a principal couple in all white, appear in a spotlight in the center of the stage. As the stage floods with light, they dance with elongated and intertwining movements, the pianists still barely visible in the dark above them. Four women in all black and then four men in all white join the lead dancers, taking turns surrounding them and mirroring their steps.

This mostly fast-paced ballet features a quiet pas de deux for the principal couple, a jazzy duet for the male principal and soloist, and multiple turns and explosive leaps for the male soloist. Each of the four couples takes turns zigzagging the stage with lightening- speed partnering and high lifts. The ballet concludes when the male soloist unites with all the dancers on stage in an arresting moment washed in shimmering light.

New York City Ballet Moves The New York City Ballet, one of the foremost dance companies in the world, is unique in U.S. artistic history. Solely responsible for training its own artists and creating its own works, the New York City Ballet was the first ballet institution in the world with two permanent homes, the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Consisting of a small group of artists from the full company, New York City Ballet Moves provides an opportunity to showcase NYCB’s dancers and repertory. It is made up of a mix of principals, soloists, and members of the NYCB corps, and is not intended to serve as a second company or training group for students or apprentices. The ballets programmed by New York City Ballet Moves are derived from NYCB’s vast repertory, and are performed to live music played by instrumentalists, primarily from the New York City Ballet . Peter Martins Peter Martins (born October 27, 1946) is a Danish dancer and choreographer. Martins was named Man of the Year by Danish American Society, 1980. He was a with the and with The New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, , and as balletmaster in 1981. He retired from dancing in 1983 at which time he became Co--In-Chief with Robbins, and since 1990 has borne sole responsibility for artistic leadership of City Ballet.

Born and raised in Denmark, Martins studied at the School of the Royal Danish Ballet and danced with the company from 1965 to 1969. Although before that, he studied ballroom dance at the tender age of five. He was already an international star when he joined NYCB in 1970 as a principal dancer. Martins danced a wide variety of roles, although he may be most famous for Apollo and the Cavalier in Balanchine’s Nutcracker. He danced frequently with , although they parted acrimoniously when she retired in 1989. Martins was Balanchine’s choice to run the company, and he was made Balletmaster in 1981. He retired from dancing in 1983 and assumed the job of Balletmaster-in-Chief in 1990.

Martins regularly choreographs new works for both companies. His first piece was set to music by and premiered in 1977. His more recent pieces include , , Stabat Mater, and the full-length ballets The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Romeo † Juliet.. http://www.nycballet.com

Northrop Dance and Walker Art Center Present Hofesh Shechter Company MN Debut Tue, Nov 13, 2012, 7:30 pm Orpheum Theatre

Political Mother - 2010

PROGRAM: Political Mother,the new full-length work by Hofesh Shechter, had its world premiere May 20, 2010 at the Brighton Festival where critics responded calling it “a work of galvanizing challenging power” (The Guardian). Hofesh and his highly acclaimed young company are now embarking on a world tour where the cast of 10 dancers and 8 live musicians will be performing in 24 cities around the world before the end of the year, taking in venues such as The Sydney Opera House, Theatre de la Ville, Paris, LG Arts Centre, Seoul, and Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Testimony to Hofesh’s now established status as one of the International dance scene’s leading young artists,Political Mother is co-commissioned by some of the most well known producers in the industry and critics and audiences alike have applauded his brave and accomplished work as the “future of dance” (The Observer).

Political Motherbrims with Shechter’s emotional and gritty complexity as an ever more surreal chain of images makes our existence seem more impossible than the events taking place in front of us. A Chinese puzzle of encounters leads to amusing, sad, and shocking events that confuse our values and challenge our perceptions of what is normal.

Political Mother is accompanied by Shechter’s cinematic score performed by a band of live musicians. Political Mother promises to draw audiences back to Shechter’s world whose astonishing unisons, percussive grooves, and a raw and honest physicality mark him as one of the most exciting artists to emerge in recent years.

Political Mother was declared an “audio visual marvel” by critics after its premiere in 2010. In 2009 Shechter reworked his acclaimed program Uprising/In your rooms into a musical feast of percussion and strings, creating an unforgettable dance ‘gig’. Now, Political Mother gets the same treatment.

Hofesh Shechter Following the world-wide acclaim of Uprising/In your rooms Shechter and his young and talented dance company have quickly established themselves as a leading force in the UK dance scene. Shechter moved to the UK in 2002 and following a career as a dancer he made his choreographic debut two years later with Fragments. A former drummer in a rock band, Shechter creates the musical scores for each of his dance creations and his atmospheric, groovy music alongside his company’s unique physicality has earned his work an unrivalled reputation around the world.

Winner of the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Choreography (modern) in 2008, Shechter grew up in Jerusalem and graduated from the Jerusalem Academy for Dance and Music, explaining on the BBC’s Newsnight in May 2010, “the reason I got into dance was because of the music.” After moving to Tel Aviv and dancing with Batsheva Dance Company he continued his interest in music by taking drum and percussion studies in Paris at the Agostiny College of Rhythm. Subsequently, he began experimenting and developing his own music while participating in various projects in Europe involving dance, theatre and body-percussion. In 2002, Shechter moved to the U.K. and initially worked as a dancer before beginning to focus on his own work. He made his choreographic debut in 2003 with Fragments, a duet for which he also created the score and which toured both nationally and internationally. In 2004, Shechter was commissioned by The Place Prize to create the sextet, Cult. The work was one of five selected finalists and was announced winner of the Audience Choice Award. From 2004 to 2006 Shechter was Associate Artist at The Place, during which time he was commissioned to createUprising , his ever-popular popular work for seven men. In 2007 London’s three major dance venues, The Place, Southbank Centre, and Sadler’s Wells, collaborated on a unique producing venture, commissioning Hofesh to create In your rooms. The work was presented at all three venues in 2007 and culminated in sell-out shows at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, cementing Shechter’s reputation as the U.K.’s most promising young artist throughout Europe and beyond. Shechter was subsequently made an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells. In your rooms was nominated for a South Bank Show Award and won the Critics Circle Award for Best Choreography (modern) in 2008; a year later Shechter was awarded Most Promising Newcomer Award at the International Movimentos Awards for dance in Wolfsburg, Germany. http://www.hofesh.co.uk/

Northrop Dance Presents Ashley C. Wheater, artistic director Tue Feb 26, 2013, 7:30 pm Orpheum Theatre

In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated - 1987 Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) - 1913 New Stanton Welch Piece - 2013

PROGRAM: In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated - 1987 Choreographer: William Forsythe William Forsythe is an American choreographer who has spent his career primarily in Germany, where he directed Ballet Frankfurt and now the Forsythe Company. His athletic choreography is a union of classical ballet and modern dance—a bold regeneration of the academic dance vocabulary.

Commissioned by Rudolf Nureyev in 1987 for the , Forsythe’s In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated was recognized immediately as a contemporary masterpiece and has since entered the repertories of major companies around the world. The faux disdain of the dancers contrasts with the strict and severe technical demands of the choreography, while the electronic score by Dutchman Thom Willems cuts the air like thunder.

Forsythe has commented: “Originally created for the Paris Opera Ballet, In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated is a theme and variations in the strictest sense. Exploiting the vestiges of academic virtuosity that still signify “the Classical,” it extends and accelerates these traditional figures of ballet. By shifting the alignment and emphasis of essentially vertical transitions, the affected enchainements receive an unexpected force and drive that makes them appear foreign to their own origins.”

As for the title of the ballet, look for two golden cherries hanging “in the middle, somewhat elevated,” a minimal reflection of the vast interior of the Palais Garnier, home of the Paris Opera Ballet.

Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) – 1913 Pictures of Pagan Russia in Two Acts Choreography after Vaslav Nijinsky Ballet Notes: Vaslav Nijinsky, as a member of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, was one of the greatest dancers of the 20th century as well as an innovative choreographer. Le Sacre du Printemps gave him the opportunity to revolutionize dance, stimulated by his close collaborators, Igor Stravinsky, composer and Nicholas Roerich, scenarist and designer. All three felt the desire to break free from prevailing classical ballet and evoke the primitive soul of their native Russia, return to colorful peasant costumes and the vast stony regions of the Slavic north. Stravinsky captured in his music the first moment of the Russian Spring, which, as he said, was like the whole world suddenly cracking. Roerich and Stravinsky conceived a pagan rite involving elders of a tribe watching the annual fertility ritual where a young girl dances herself to death. Such a work was realized, a ballet completely apart from the norm of their day. The movements that Najinsky devised were so unfamiliar to the classically trained dancers that many of them rebelled against the steps he required. But he stood firm.

Stravinsky’s polyrhythms were monumentally difficult. Diaghilev asked a pupil of Jaques-Dalcroze (founder the music study system, Eurhythmics) to assist Nijinsky with the score for the . Her name was Marie Rambert who later directed the Ballet Rambert in London. Nijinsky created the role of the Chosen One in Le Sacre for his sister, Bronislava, who became pregnant and could not perform. She was replaced by Maria Plitz who danced the role to acclaim. By the final rehearsals, most of the dancers believed in the ballet, though everyone, including Diaghilev, was anxious about the audience reaction to the new work. In fact, at the premiere in Paris in 1913, pandemonium broke out in the theatre with audience members howling, whistling, and catcalling in response to the violent fertility rite, drowning out the music and fighting in the aisles. There was chaos at the Théâtre des Champs-Elyssées and the ensuing riot has become legend. Le Sacre du Printemps nevertheless, made a profound impression, considered by many to be the tumultuous birth of modernism in ballet.

Stravinsky’s score of Le Sacre du Printemps is in the repertoire of most of the world’s great and more than 200 choreographers have since done creations to the score, but only The Joffrey Sacre turned legend back into artifact. It was meticulously researched and reconstructed by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer and is recognized internationally as the closest possible version of Nijinsky’s original. This reconstruction is a testimony to the ardent desire of Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino to revive this rare classic, which the company still presents with great care, allowing audiences to experience the defining treasures of ballet. The 100th anniversary of Le Sacre du Printemps is celebrated in 2013, and this will be one of two versions presented by Northrop Dance.

ACT I —Adoration of the Earth Spring. The Earth is covered with flowers. The Earth is covered with grass. A great joy reigns over the Earth. The men join in the dance and invoke the future according to the rites. The Sage among all the Ancestors (Elders) participates in the glorification of the Spring. All are made one (led to unite) with the abundant and rich Earth. Everyone tramples the Earth with ecstasy.

ACT II —The Sacrifice After the day: after midnight. On the hills are the consecrated stones. The (young) maidens carry out the mystical games and look for the Great Path. They glorify, they exalt the maiden who is designated to be the chosen one of the god. They call the Ancestors, venerated witnesses. And the wise Ancestors of Men contemplate the (Dance of) Sacrifice. It is thus they sacrifice to Yarilo* the magnificent, the flaming.

—From the original program, May 29,1913, Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris, France

New Work by Stanton Welch The Joffrey Ballet has commissioned a new work to make its world premiere in Chicago just prior to the company’s presentation in Minneapolis in 2013. Stanton Welch, Houston Ballet artistic director, and his famous work,Indigo , was featured in the 2011-12 Northrop Dance season. In July 2003, the acclaimed Australian choreographer Stanton Welch assumed the leadership of Houston Ballet, America’s fourth largest ballet company, as artistic director. Since his arrival, Welch has transformed Houston Ballet by raising the level of classical technique, infusing the company with new energy, drive, and vision; introducing works by distinguished choreographers to the repertoire; and attracting some of the world’s best coaches to Houston to work with the dancers. He has created works for such prestigious international companies as Houston Ballet, , Theatre, The Australian Ballet, , and Royal Danish Ballet.

Joffrey Ballet The Joffrey Ballet has been hailed as “America’s Company of Firsts.” The Joffrey Ballet’s long list of “firsts” includes being the first dance company to perform at the White House at Jacqueline Kennedy’s invitation, the first to appear on television, the first American company to visit Russia, the first classical dance company to go multi-media, the first to commission a rock ‘n’ roll ballet, the first and only dance company to appear on the cover of Time magazine, and the first company to have had a major motion picture based on it, Robert Altman’s The Company.

For more than a half-century, The Joffrey Ballet’s commitment to taking world-class, artistically vibrant work to a broad and varied audience has created a solid foundation that continues to support the company’s unprecedented capacity for achieving important “firsts.” Today, the Joffrey, which has been hugely successful in its former residences in New York and Los Angeles, lives permanently in its brilliant new facility, Joffrey Tower, in the heart of America, Chicago, Illinois. The company’s commitment to accessibility is met through the most extensive touring schedule of any dance company in history, an innovative and highly effective education program including the much lauded Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, and collaborations with myriad other visual and performing arts organizations.

Classically trained to the highest standards, The Joffrey Ballet expresses a unique, inclusive perspective on dance, proudly reflecting the diversity of America with its company, audiences, and repertoire which includes major story ballets, reconstructions of masterpieces, and contemporary works. Founded by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey in 1956, guided by celebrated choreographer Gerald Arpino from 1988 until 2007, The Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under internationally renowned Artistic Director Ashley C. Wheater and Executive Director Christopher Clinton Conway. The Joffrey Ballet has become one of the most revered and recognizable arts organizations in America and one of the top dance companies in the world.

Ashley C. Wheater Ashley C. Wheater, Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet, has dedicated his life to dance. He was born in Scotland and trained at School in England. While at the school he worked with in Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice, and performed at Covent Garden in numerous productions such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, and The Dream. Having graduated to the upper school of The Royal Ballet, Wheater danced in many of the full-length productions and performed with Rudolph Nureyev in Nureyev and Friends at the London Coliseum. After leaving The Royal Ballet, Wheater joined the London Festival Ballet where he continued to work with Nureyev in his Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty and Glen Tetley in Sphinx and Greening along with a huge repertoire of classics and new creations. Under the artistic direction of John Field he was promoted to principal dancer at the age of 20. In 1982 he joined the Australian Ballet where he continued dancing principal roles in both classical and contemporary work, especially in the John Cranko full-lengths. At the invitation of Gerald Arpino in 1985, Wheater joined the Joffrey Ballet. For the next four years he performed various works by American choreographers including William Forsythe, Gerald Arpino, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, and Laura Dean, as well as repertoire by Ashton and Cranko. Joining the San Francisco Ballet in 1989 he continued to cultivate his creative career while working with Helgi Tomasson, James Kudelka, David Bintley, and many more. In 1997 he retired from dancing and was appointed Ballet Master at the San Francisco Ballet and later named Assistant to the Artistic Director. Since his appointment in 2007 as Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet, his passion and commitment to the Joffrey have been evident in the quality that he has brought to the dancing and the repertoire. Under his direction he has brought world-class choreographers to create new work for the company. He has introduced work by Val Caniparoli, William Forsythe, James Kudelka, Edwaard Liang, Wayne McGregor, Yuri Possokhov, and Christopher Wheeldon to the Joffrey repertoire. Wheater has added new full-length works, including Lar Lubovitch’s groundbreaking Othello, Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, and Yuri Possokhov’s world premiere Don Quixote. In 2008 Wheater was the recipient of the Boeing Game-Changer Award in recognition of his commitment to promoting diversity in Chicago communities through the art of dance. In 2010, Wheater, representing the Joffrey Ballet, was named Lincoln Academy laureate, the highest honor presented by the state of Illinois. http://www.joffrey.org/

Northrop Dance Presents Grupo Corpo Paolo Pederneiras, artistic director Tue, Mar 5, 2013, 7:30 pm Orpheum Theatre

Ímã - 2009 Sem Mim - 2011

PROGRAM: Ímã - 2009 The polarities intrinsic to the human condition and the principles of interdependence and complementarity that govern relationships form the starting point for choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras’ creation of ímã. Smooth and vital, trivial and strange, harmonic and dissonant, the Grupo Corpo piece is dotted with duos and marked by the constant alternation between a full and empty stage.

ímã premiered in São Paulo, Brazil in August 2009 with an original soundtrack composed by + 2, the Brazilian trio of Domenico, Kassin, and Moreno, set and lighting by Paulo Pederneiras, and costumes by Freusa Zechmeister. experimentation & refinement + 2 takes its first trip through instrumental music with the ímã soundtrack, having recorded three discs on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label – Máquina de Escrever Música (Moreno + 2, 2001), Sincerely Hot (Domenico + 2, 2003) and Futurismo (Kassin + 2, 2006) – that are all integrally populated by songs. This new experience preserves the trio’s main characteristics that have sparked interest on the international stage: a keen balance between experimentation and refinement; the use of technological resources in the name of building an esthetic and exploring new sounds (not the misleading manipulation of trial and error); and the juxtaposition of tones and textures of a wide range of diverse instruments like guitar and ocarina, balaphone, cello, synth, cuíca, and kalimba.

The soundtrack created by Kassin, Moreno, Domenico for Grupo Corpo, “40 minutos e 13 temas”, takes us to the abstract (Chorume, by Moreno), the essentially melodic (Sopro, by Domenico), and the typically electronic (Padre Baloeiro, by Kassin), while revealing influences that range from bossanovista João Donato to ‘70s afro-music icon Fela Kuti, visiting contemporary Japanese multi- instrumentalist Cornelius along the way. strangeness & beauty Fugacity provides Rodrigo Pederneiras the tone for designing the use of space. In ímã everything is formed with the same speed at which it is unformed (or transformed). Nothing seems to conform completely. Solos, duos, quartets, larger and smaller groups come together and dissipate throughout in an incessant game of union and dispersion that translates to a scenic version of perverse chemistry (or physics) that has caused opposites to attract and repel since the beginning of time.

This poetry of polarities – molded by the magic that lurks in the convergent of the divergent, the juxtaposition of the disparate, the excitement that surrounds the friction – reaches its climax when the music of + 2 and the choreography of Rodrigo are added to Paulo Pederneiras’ lighting and Freusa Zechmeister’s costumes.

Freusa Zechmeister creates differentiated patterns and models for each of the dancers who perform practically the entire piece using a single costume design. Color alone serves as an agent for the changes demanded by the choreography and the music. This resource not only highlights the personality of each dancer on the stage, but also reveals and esteems each performance.

Using seven-color LEDs that were recently released by an American company, Paulo Pederneiras creates a new scenic spatiality where volume and texture acquire an “ethereal materiality” because they are made of pure light. The whole, almost bucolic tones at the beginning of ímã lead to an explosion of color. Violent, radical, exuberant, the colors produce unusual, almost always dissonant combinations between them or in intense dialogue with the costumes. In the end, they confer a mixture of strangeness and indescribable beauty.

Sem Mim The ocean (in Vigo), that takes and brings back the beloved one, the friend, is also the one that gives life and movement to the new ballet by Grupo Corpo, Sem Mim.

With choreography by Rodrigo Pederneiras, scenography and lighting by Paulo Pederneiras, and costumes by Freusa Zechmeister, the latest creation of the Brazilian dance group is rocked by the original soundtrack woven by the hands of the Viganese musician and composer Carlos Núñez and by the Brazilian from (“the ocean”) of the city of São Vicente José Miguel Wisnik, from the only set of pieces of music from the Galician-Portuguese medieval profane songbook that got to us with their respective original sheet music: the famous cycle of the ocean in Vigo, by Martín Codax. The seven chants, dated from the XIIIth century, are the oldest testimony and the most appreciated survivals of one of the aspects of the troubadouresque tradition in the region at that time: the so called “friend chants.” There, the poet always speaks in the name of the woman; more specifically, young women that mourn the absence or celebrate the imminent return of the beloved-friend. Avid for the reunion, they confide sometimes with the ocean, sometimes with the mother, sometimes with friends. And to pacify or fustigate the desire, they bathe in the waves of the ocean. (In case of the Codax girls, in the waves of the ocean in Vigo.)

The lyric of the Viganese medieval troubadour inspires Rodrigo Pederneiras to rule his movement music sheet by the alternation between the calm and the fury, and by the seesaw that is typical of ocean waves, and, also, to (re)produce, on the stage, the separation between feminine and masculine, where one always claims the absence of the other.

The ocean, impetuous and lascivious, this Codaxian ocean, a mixture of desire and drift, master and vector of the (re)approximation and the distance, element of origin and instrument of cure of the most intimate turbulences of love. The ocean, the Codaxian ocean, is a great source of inspiration for the three creators who, for exactly 30 years, give light, shape, and movement to Grupo Corpo creations: Rodrigo Pederneiras, who left the Corps de Ballet in 1981 to take over the position of resident choreographer; Paulo Pederneiras, artistic director since the foundation in 1975, who, in that same year, also accumulated the position of lighting designer and, since 1997, also signs the spectacles as a scenographer; and Freusa Zechmeister, architect, transformed since then into the official costume designer and inseparable member of Grupo Corpo.

The swing of the waves, their permanent comings and goings, the surf on the rocky scarps flow to the repetition of movements, sinuous or abrupt, of the trunk, and incisive knee bendings by the dancers, in a spatial displacement marked by the constant flow of advances and retrocessions, in the one that Rodrigo Pederneiras considers his most stripped choreography.

From the combination of a geometric shape (a huge hollow aluminum square) and an organic shape (meters and meters of a synthetic woof used to shadow agricultural cultures), both of them vertically manageable, Paulo Pederneiras builds a metamorphic scenario that, along the spectacle, changes and forms representations of sceneries and different elements: ocean, mountains, clouds, boat, fishing net, dawn. The light he makes fall on the ballet dancers goes from white to light yellow, while a cyclorama on the background allows the color to invade the scenic space in punctual moments.

Over thin meshes dyed according to the color of the skin of each , Freusa Zechmeister applies inscriptions and textures based on adornments from the Middle Ages and the Pre-Raphaelite period, transforming the body of the ballet dancers into a support for all the simbology from that time, and creating the illusion that the scene is populated by “naked” men and women, whose “nudity” is just covered by one of the most archaic signs of the marine imaginarium: the tatoo.

Grupo Corpo The contemporary Brazilian dance company Grupo Corpo, founded in 1975, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, debuted its first work, Maria Maria, the very next year. Featuring original music by Milton Nascimento, a script by Fernando Brandt, and choreography by the Argentine Oscar Araiz, the ballet would go on to spend six years on stage and tour fourteen countries. But even though the piece was an immediate critical, popular, and commercial success, the group´s distinctive artistic identity, its long-term popularity, and its artistic achievements have been the fruits of a long, arduous journey. As a result, the group started operating in its own premises as of 1978.

While the success of Maria Maria was still reverberating throughout Brazil and in various European and Latin American countries, Grupo Corpo (literally Body Group in English) never stopped working, staging no less than six productions between 1976 and 1982. In the first phase of the group´s existence, the influence of Araiz, who in 1980 would write O Último Trem, was evident in varying degrees in the dance troupe´s work. However, the company´s distinctive features and personality were chiefly molded by Paulo Pederneiras, the man responsible for sets and lighting the group´s performances and its artistic direction and the dancer Rodrigo Pederneiras, who left the stage in 1981 to assume the role of full-time choreographer.

In 1985, the company launched what would be its second great success, Prelúdios, a theatrical piece incorporating twenty-four Chopin preludes interpreted by pianist Nelson Freire. The show debuted to public and critical acclaim at the First International Dance Festival of Rio de Janeiro and would cement the group´s reputation in the world of contemporary Brazilian dance. Grupo Corpo then entered a new phase, establishing its own unique theatrical language and choreography. Starting with an erudite repertoire featuring the works of Richard Strauss, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Edward Elgar, among others, the company began combining classical technique with a contemporary re-reading of popular Brazilian dance forms. This would become the group´s trademark.

In 1989 the company debuted Missa do Orfanato, a complex theatrical reading of Mozart´s Missa Solemnis k.139. Almost operatic in dimensions, this ballet became such an esthetic triumph that, nearly two decades later, it remains in the company´s repertoire.

The group underwent a radical transformation three years later with the production of 21, a ballet that confirmed the uniqueness of Rodrigo Pederneiras´s choreography and the unmistakable persona of the dance troupe. Utilizing the singular sounds of Brazilian instrumental group Uakti, as well as ten themes composed by Marco Antônio Guimarães, 21 leaves behind the group´s preoccupation with technical form and sees it taking apart melodies and rhythms in order to explore their underlying ideas. The decision to once again use specifically composed scores – a mark of the group´s first three shows in the 1970s – allowed it to further explore the language of popular Brazilian dance.

In the work that followed, Nazareth (1993), Rodrigo Pederneiras´s fascination with traversing the worlds of both popular and erudite music found a perfect opportunity for fuller expression. Inspired by the verbal games of Brazilian literary icon Machado de Assis (1839-1908) and by the works of Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934), a seminal figure in the formation of Brazilian popular music, the work was scored by composer and literary theorist José Miguel Wisnik. Though built on a solid, classical foundation, the production brought together in good-humored fashion the light-hearted and sensual elements inherent Brazilian popular dances.

The partnership of Grupo Corpo with contemporary authors has been such a success that scores composed especially for the company have become the norm, and each score has inspired a new creation. An exception came in 2004 with the production of Lecuona, a work that drew on thirteen love songs by the Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963) and in which Rodrigo Pederneiras demonstrated his gift for the creation of pas- de- deux.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, Grupo Corpo intensified its international touring. Between 1996 and 1999, it was the resident dance company of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France. Several of the group´s creations (Bach, Parabelo and Benguelê) were first staged in Europe over this period.

Today, having created 35 choreographies and more than 2,200 pieces, the Brazilian dance company maintains ten ballets in its repertoire and gives 70 performances a year in places as distinctive as Iceland and South Korea, the United States and Lebanon, Italy and Singapore, the Netherlands and Israel, France and Japan, Canada and Mexico.

The minimalism of Philip Glass (Sete ou Oito Peças para um Ballet, 1994); the vigorous pop and urban sounds of Arnaldo Antunes (O Corpo, 2000); the primordial experimentalism of Tom Zé (Santagustin and, with Wisnik, Parabelo, 1997); the African sensibility of João Bosco (Benguelê, 1998); the metaphysical verse of Luís de Camões and Gregório de Mattos with the light touch of Caetano Veloso and Wisnik (Onqotô, 2005); the rootsy modernity of Lenine (Breu, 2007); the sound diversity of Moreno, Domenico and Kassin (Ímã, 2009); the contemporary vision of Martin Codax’s medieval songs by Carlos Núñez and José Miguel Wisnik (Sem Mim, 2011): Grupo Corpo has drawn on all of these elements and more to produce shows of a very diverse character – cerebral, cosmopolitan, primitive, existential, tough – while always keeping in sight the company´s distinctive traits. http://www.grupocorpo.com.br/

Northrop Dance Presents Khmer Arts Ensemble MN Debut Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, artistic director/choreographer Fri, Apr 5, 2013, 8:00 pm State Theatre

A Bend in the River - 2013 In association with the Season of Cambodia

PROGRAM: A Bend in the River - 2013 In association with the Season of Cambodia Choreography & Direction by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro Music by Him Sophy Puppets by Sopheap Pich Performed by Khmer Arts Ensemble

Three of Cambodia’s internationally renowned performing and visual artists join forces and add to their culture’s rich storytelling tradition with A Bend in the River, a new dance work that reflects on the choices we make in the heat of passion. Conceived and choreographed by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro for 15 dancers and an unreliable narrator, A Bend in the River is a contemporary telling of a Cambodian village tale of love, heartbreak, magic, vengeance, consequence, and redemption.

The work will be set to an original musical score by Him Sophy, performed live by 8 instrumentalists and singers, and feature puppets by visual artist Sopheap Pich.

About the Work

In A Bend in the River Cheam Shapiro breaks with received storylines to set her work on earth rather than in heaven, and among humans and animals rather than among gods and mythological creatures.

Moha, a giant crocodile, is the antagonist and catalyst for this parable of passion and revenge. His adversary? The lovely Kaley, a young woman whose family, fearing the unknown, attacks the unsuspecting croc and are subsequently killed by it. A reclusive hermit, a charming fiancé, family and friends are among the other characters in the story.

Sculptor Sopheap Pich will create the large-scale bamboo and rattan crocodile puppets with and within which the dancers will perform, as they bring the story’s central characters to life.

To these, Cheam Shapiro adds a narrator, giving the tale a unique point of view and binds past to present. As a practical matter, this guide, who speaks in the language of the viewer (English in the U.S., Khmer in Cambodia, French in Paris), creates an interpretive bond for audiences who may not be familiar with the gestural vocabulary and references of the classical Cambodian A Bend in the River/Khmer Arts dance form. This is also a more integrated and interesting approach than the use of subtitles.

Him Sophy’s score for pin peat ensemble, the percussive and woodwind instrumental group that customarily accompanies classical dance, will replace the standard musical themes used to accompany the dance (there are often fixed pieces for battle scenes, love duets, etc.) with original polyphonic leitmotifs for the characters. As jumping off points for the score, Him and Cheam Shapiro are exploring the relationship between music and storytelling in Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique. And the instruments of the ensemble will include a one-of-a-kind three-level gong tuned to both Western and Cambodian scales, commissioned specifically for A Bend in the River.

The cast will be costumed in lighter, more transparent materials to accommodate the form’s iconographic S-shaped silhouette and innovative movements rather than the heavy velvets and brocades traditionally employed in classical dance. In Sophiline’s costumes for Shir Ha Shirim – a quartet set to a score by composer John Zorn – and her recent The Lives of Giants she chose a color palate and textiles previously unknown in the dance form. And even in her more ‘traditional’ costuming, including those for Pamina Devi: A Cambodian Magic Flute, she designed new headdresses and introduced new elements and techniques.

A Bend in the River is first and foremost a spell-binding tale full of intriguing characters and plot turns. But like all good tales, the meanings are multiple. The world is ever changing, nature a great leveler, and man’s choices, often made in haste, are sure to be tested. We rush to vengeance rather than justice at our peril. Crocodiles have been known to eat their young, after all.

Khmer Arts Ensemble The Khmer Arts Ensemble is Cambodia’s celebrated 25-member dance and music troupe based at the Khmer Arts Theater in Takhmao, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, an important regional resource and international center for dance training, exploration, creation, and performance.

The ensemble specializes in developing and performing the original choreography of Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, in reviving and documenting works from the Cambodia’s classical dance canon, and in teaching the context and technique of Cambodian classical dance worldwide.

Like western ballet, Cambodian classical dance is a technically complex and aesthetically beautiful, refined and stylized form with a codified vocabulary and body line/silhouette. Both genres were nurtured in the court, and story-based dances are hallmarks of each. In Cambodian classical dance, these dramas typically take place in a mytho poetic realm populated by gods and kings, demons and fantastical beings. During the 20th century, western ballet makers began experimenting, seeking to extend this form’s vocabulary, subject matter, and audience. Cambodian classical dance is now undergoing its own sea change.

Since 1999, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro has been expanding Cambodian classical dance’s possibilities through works that push against the form’s boundaries by enlarging the movement and gestural vocabularies, introducing new narrative devices, originating movement patterns, and experimenting with musical accompaniment, setting and costume – all of which are often considered inviolate.

Cheam Shapiro’s choreographic patterns are dynamic and sometimes asymmetrical; movement flows out of but is not restricted to codified gesture, vocabulary or posture. Inventive partnering and lifts define and reinforce relationships and add dimensionality and tensions to the stage frame. This rigorous, robust experimentation links her to dance-makers across the globe such as Senegal’s Germaine Acogny, Indonesia’s Sardono, the late Chandralekha from India, and Americans William Forsythe and Karole Armitage. Sophiline Cheam Shapiro Sophiline Cheam Shapiro is a choreographer, dancer, vocalist, and educator whose dances have infused the venerable Cambodian classical form with new ideas and energy. Her work has toured to four continents hosted by such notable venues as New York’s Joyce Theater, Cal Performances, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Venice Biennale, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Carolina Performing Arts, University Musical Society/Ann Arbor, Vienna’s New Crowned Hope Festival, and Amsterdam’s Het Muziektheater. Works include Samritechak (2000), The Glass Box (2002), Seasons of Migration (2005), Pamina Devi: A Cambodian Magic Flute (2006), Spiral XI (2008) and Munkul Lokey/Shir-Ha-Shirim (2008), a collaboration with John Zorn, and Stained (2011).

Sophiline is a 2009 recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship, a lifetime honor awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, and a USA Knight Fellowship. She was awarded the Nikkei Asia Prize for Culture in 2006 and has received Creative Capital, Durfee, Guggenheim and Irvine Dance Fellowships, among many other honors.

Born in Phnom Penh, Sophiline was a member of the first generation to graduate from the School of Fine Arts after the fall of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime and was a member of the dance faculty there from 1988 to 1991. She studied all three major roles for women (neang, nearong and yeak), which is rare. With the school’s ensemble, she toured India, the Soviet Union, the U.S., and Vietnam. She immigrated to Southern California in 1991, where she studied dance ethnology at UCLA on undergraduate and graduate levels. She is co-founder and Artistic Director of Khmer Arts, dual-based in Long Beach, CA and Takhmao, Cambodia.

Sophiline lectures and teaches at conferences and universities around the world. Her many essays have been published in Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors (1997, Yale University Press), Dance, Human Rights and Social Justice: Dignity in Motion (2008, Scarecrow Press); Cultural Identities: Tokyo to Bombay (2008, Centre national de la danse), Beyond the Apsara: Celebrating Dance in Cambodia (2009, Routledge), and elsewhere. www.KhmerArts.org

Northrop Dance Presents Béjart Ballet Lausanne MN Debut Gil Roman, artistic director Wed, May 1, 2013, 7:30 pm Orpheum Theatre

Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) - 1959 with U of M Symphony Orchestra Mark Russell Smith, artistic director/conductor

PROGRAM: Le Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring- 1959) Choreography: Maurice Béjart Music: Igor Stravinski

Additional repertoire to be announced

“What is spring but this immense primitive force long slumbering under the coat of winter that suddenly breaks forth and lights up the world of plants, animals, and humans?

Human love, in its physical aspect, symbolizes the very act by which the divinity created the Cosmos and the joy that it drew from this. At a moment in which the anecdotal borders of the human mind are gradually falling apart, we must reject all folklore that is not universal and only remember the essential forces of man, which are the same on all continents, under all latitudes, in all eras. Bejart’s The Rite of Spring, from 1959, was considered a radically experimental version of Stravinsky’s work. From the over 200 works created by Bejart, his Rite of Spring is now considered by many to be his best work, a philosophical musing on the individual vs. the group. The 100th anniversary of Le Sacre du Printemps is celebrated in 2013, and this will be one of two versions presented by Northrop Dance.

Let this ballet, stripped of all artifices of the picturesque, be the Hymn of this union of Man and Woman deep within their flesh, the union of sky and earth, the dance of life or death, as eternal as spring!” –Maurice Béjart

Béjart Ballet Lausanne The Béjart Ballet Lausanne was founded in 1987. It was established by Maurice Béjart, a well-known choreographer who had previously founded and managed the “Ballet du XXe Siècle” (Ballet of the 20th Century) in Brussels, Belgium. Current Artistic Director is Gil Roman.

Maurice Béjart was born in Marseille, France in 1927. Fascinated by a recital of Serge Lifar, he decided to devote himself entirely to dance. In South France days, he had studied under Mathilde Kschessinska. In 1945, he enrolled as a corps de ballet at the Opéra de Marseille. From 1946, he had studied under Madam Rousanne (Sarkissian), Leo Staats, Madam Lyubov Egorova, and Olga Preobrajenska at “Studio Wacker,” and etc. in Paris. In 1948, he was also formed with Janine Charrat, Yvette Chauvire, and then with Roland Petit; in addition he had studied under at London.

In 1954, he founded the Ballet de l’Étoile company (dissolved in 1957). In 1960 he founded the Ballet du XXe Siècle in Brussels (dissolved in 1987). In 1987 he moved to Lausanne in Switzerland, where he founded the Béjart Ballet Lausanne, one of the most famous and successful dance companies in the world. He made significant contribution to the Persian Ballet Repertoire in the late 1960s and 1970s performing at the famous Roudaki Hall in Tehran created under the supervision of the former Empress of Iran, with whom he kept strong ties of friendship over the years.

A prolific creator, Béjart’s works span four decades, and he engaged with all the leading names in ballet, including Maya Plisetskaya, , Sylvie Guillem, and Suzanne Farrell. He also argued with them, in a well-publicized spat with Rudolf Nureyev that reportedly caused Béjart to leave his native land for elsewhere. His blend of the contemporary and classical, his trademark scores that combined pop with Wagner or Japanese shamisen with Strauss, his blurring of genre, and his attention to different cultures and traditions now seem prophetic. Whatever is the ultimate judgement, Béjart’s works infused ballet with an energy and controversy that attracted young viewers and markedly reconsidered the art, his body of work changed ballet in dance throughout Europe.

University of Minnesota Symphony Orchestra The Symphony Orchestra is a select ensemble of 80 to 90 students who are primarily music majors. The orchestra rehearses and performs the finest orchestral literature available, from well-known works to premieres of new compositions. The orchestra performs four to six concerts per year, in addition to working with the University Opera Theatre and performing in the annual Bach Festival. Members also occasionally have the opportunity to participate in Side-by-Side, where they work and perform with the . Admission is by audition only.

Mark Russell Smith, conductor Whether conducting contemporary masterpieces or bringing fresh insights to the symphonies of Mozart, Beethoven, or Brahms, Mark Russell Smith demonstrates consummate musicianship and enthusiastic commitment to the art of music-making – qualities that have endeared him to audiences and musicians alike. In June, 2007, Smith was appointed Director of New Music Projects of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Minnesota, a combined post that enables him to bring his commitment for excellence and passion for education to new audiences. In March, 2008, he was named Music Director and Conductor of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. As Music Director of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, a position he held from 1999 to 2009, Smith has been praised for his innovative and approachable programming and is widely credited with fostering the orchestra’s unprecedented artistic growth. http://www.bejart.ch/fr/en-2/

2012-13 Women of Substance at St. Catherine University

Northrop Dance and The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University Present Women of Substance Series

The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University and Northrop Concerts and Lectures are delighted to announce an exciting new collaboration focusing on women in dance. Beginning Fall 2012, both will copresent four Women of Substance dance performances that bring exemplary female artists to The O’Shaughnessy. In addition, workshops will be offered specifically to high school girls, with emphasis on building self-esteem, confidence, and a healthy sense of community and self. Impacting over 1,000 middle school and high school girls, the partners will collaborate with G.I.R.L. Initiative (Girls in Real Life) to engage young women in the St. Paul community.

Northrop Concerts and Lectures, the University of Minnesota’s arts presenter, is committed to advancing the education, research, and engagement mission of the University through the pursuit of excellence and innovation in the performing arts, community engagement, and creative exchange. As part of the largest women’s college in the United States, The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University opens its stage to artists, academics, dignitaries and innovators who make a difference in their professions, communities, and the world.

Women of Substance, which was created at St. Catherine University in 1996, is a unique series to the Twin Cities arts ecology. With its specific emphasis on featuring the work of female artists, the partnership allows increased support and shared service to women. Both presenters are committed to proceeding in the spirit of partnership and collaboration, and this joint programming venture allows both organizations to creatively support each other, build new audiences, fulfill their missions, and cultivate a lasting love of dance.

The O’Shaughnessy’s acclaimed Women of Substance Series at the St. Catherine University has brought national and international artists, entertainers, dignitaries, and public figures to the Twin Cities. Building on St. Catherine’s outstanding reputation as an educational institution developing women to lead and influence, Women of Substance has served thousands of girls and women from various backgrounds and nationalities, offering them inspiration and hope by attending performances by these extraordinary role models. Founded to encourage women to find their voice and place on life’s stage, the series continually reminds audience members of both genders the importance of living lives of substance.

Northrop Dance and The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University Present Women of Substance Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca MN Debut Martín Santangelo, artistic director Wed, Oct 3, 2012, 7:30 pm The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University

Quebradas - Inspired by Rosa (WORLD PREMIERE) - 2012

PROGRAM: Quebradas - Inspired by Rosa Choreography by Martín Santangelo and Soledad Barrio Inspired by Rosa, Soledad’s mother, the term “quebradas” literally translates into “women turning oneself inside out.” It is also a flamenco dance term that refers to a dance move that only women perform, which requires a woman to perform with her chest off its axis.

The piece will feature three women and original music.

At its essence, the piece is about the repression of women, how they find strength within themselves and with each other, independent of men. The piece will be a tribute to all mothers and women.

Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca Under the direction of Martín Santangelo, the award-winning Noche Flamenca has become Spain’s most successful touring company. Formed in 1993 by Santangelo and his Bessie award-winning wife, Soledad Barrio, the company regularly tours throughout the globe. Performance highlights in North America include Berkeley’s Cal Performances, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the American Dance Festival, Wolf Trap, and the Hollywood Bowl, among others. Internationally, the company has appeared on stages in Australia, New Zealand, Greece, and Egypt, among other countries. With annual seasons in New York City and Buenos Aires, and return engagements at theaters around the world, the company has a dedicated global audience.

Hailed by critics everywhere for its transcendent and deeply emotional performances, Noche Flamenca is recognized as the most authentic flamenco touring company in the field today. Santangelo has successfully brought to the stage the essence, purity, and integrity of one of the world’s most complex and mysterious art forms without the use of tricks or gimmicks. All aspects of flamenco, dance, song, and music, are interrelated and given equal weight in the presentations of Noche Flamenca, creating a true communal spirit within the company - the very heart and soul of flamenco. In support of its mission to educate and enlighten audiences about flamenco, the company offers extensive residency programs that reach out to people of all ages. With company members based in Spain, Noche Flamenca is a registered U.S. not-for-profit with its office and representation based in New York City. Noche Flamenca’s artistic integrity has been recognized with awards from the National Endowment for the Arts (2007 & 2008), the National Dance Project (2006), and the Lucille Lortel Award for Special theatrical Experience (2003), among others.

Martín Santangelo Martín Santangelo (Artistic Director) formed Noche Flamenca in 1993 with his wife and fellow flamenco dancer, Solédad Barrio. Santangelo was awarded a prestigious Production Grant in 2006 from the National Dance Project for the creation of a new work (La Strada) that will premiere in late fall, 2007. Under Santangelo’s direction, Noche Flamenca is recognized as the world’s leading flamenco company. The company tours to theaters throughout the globe, offering audiences the opportunity to experience the authenticity of this ancient form. Noche Flamenca received the 2003 Lucille Lortel Award for Special Theatrical Experience. Its lead dancer, Solédad Barrio, was awarded a 2001 Bessie for outstanding creative achievement. In 2000, Santangelo was nominated for Cal-Arts’ Alpert Award in the Arts.

Inspired to train in the form of flamenco, Santangelo moved to Madrid in 1992. There, he trained with Leo Guito, Ciro, Alejandro Granados, and Manolete. He began working professionally as a flamenco dancer one year later, performing in Europe, North and South America, and Asia with Paco Romero’s Ballet Flamenco, Maria Benitez Teatro Flamenco, and Maria Magdalena.

Santangelo’s theatrical credits include a collaboration with Julie Taymor for the Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater presentation of Juan Darien; El Teatro Campesion, Luis Valdez, Director; a collaboration with Lynne Taylor-Corbett for Eduardo Machado’s Deep Song; choreography for Larry Kornfield’s Bodas de Sangre at SUNY Purchase; choreography for several productions for Yarrick Bielski’s Madrid-based Replica Teatro, including Bodas de Sangre, Lower Depths, La Celestina, and A Streetcar Named Desire; and choreography for Romeo and Juliet at the Denver Theater Center. Feature films include Fun Down There, Roger Tigliano, Director.

Santangelo attended the University of Iowa and New York University where he studied dance, theater, and American Studies. He trained for six years with the jazz legend Luigi in New York City and went on to train with the Director Gerzy Jrotowski in Irvine, CA. Santangelo was born in The West Village in New York City in 1963 to Luly and Edwin Santangelo. His father was a sculptor and a physicist. Raised by his mother, a dancer with the and Alwin Nikolais companies, he was exposed to theatrical dance through years of attending Graham rehearsals. From the impressionable age of four to eight, Santangelo experienced the form of flamenco when the flamenco master Mario Maya lived at his home. Santangelo presently lives in Madrid with his wife Barrio and their two daughters, Gabriela and Stella.

Soledad Barrio In 1993, Soledad Barrio founded Noche Flamenca with her husband, Martin Santangelo (Artistic Director). The company has proven to be an exceptional vehicle for Soledad to develop as an artist. With Noche, she has performed for audiences around the globe, including performances in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Canada, Mexico, and extensively throughout the United States. In 2001, she was awarded a BESSIE (The New York Dance and Performance Awards) for Outstanding Creative Acheivement – the first to be awarded to a flamenco dancer.

Soledad danced her way through her childhood, performing at fiestas and celebrations. It was after Antonio Gades perform that she was inspired to begin her formal dance training at the age of 18 at Amor de Dios in Madrid. Her primary and most influential teachers were Maria Magdalena, El Guito, and Manolete. Soledad made her professional debut as a dancer with El Ballet de Paco Romero in 1981 in El Amor Brujo. She has appeared as soloist with Manuela Vargas, Blanca del Rey, Luisillo, El Guito, Manolete, Cristobal Reyes, and El Toleo, Festival Flamenco, and many other companies. She has performed throughout Europe, Japan, and North and South America with such artists as Alejandro Granados, El Torombo, Isabel Bayón, Jesus Torres, Miguel Perez, Belen Maya, Manolo Marin, Javier Barón, Merce Esmeralda, Rafael Campallo, and Belen Maya.

Hailed as the “Baryshnikov of flamenco,” Soledad Barrio was born in Madrid. Her father was a shepherd in the province of Segovia. After the war, he moved to Madrid, where he drove a cab to support his family. Her mother grew up without parents – Soledad’s grandmother died quite young and her grandfather was imprisoned by Franco’s regime – leaving Soledad’s mother to raise her eight younger brothers, along with Sole and her three sisters in Madrid.

Renowned for her profound Seguiriya and Soleo (two essential dances in the flamenco canon), Soledad has been critically acclaimed around the globe for her cathartic performances. She says about her work, “In performance, I try to forget myself - my physical or emotional limit. And to give myself over to what is happening at the moment - to something broader or larger - to become part of something else in performance.”

She also states, “Sometimes I feel like I am a person who has one foot in this world and one foot in another world. With my technique, I can express a certain amount. But on stage, another dimension appears. At that moment, there is a fluidity with the singers and the music. And something happens that has never been in rehearsal.”

Soledad Barrio lives in Madrid with her husband Santangelo and their two daughters, Gabriela and Stella. She performs regularly throughout the globe with Noche Flamenca. http://www.nocheflamenca.net

Northrop Dance and The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University Present Women of Substance Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre MN Debut Rosie Herrera, artistic director/choreographer Thu, Nov 29, 2012, 7:30 pm The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University

Various Stages of Drowning: A Cabaret – 2009 Dining Alone - 2011

PROGRAM: Using water as a metaphor for the unconscious, Various Stages of Drowning recreates dream states using dance, theater, cabaret, and film. The breakout piece by this young choreographer,World Dance Reviews calls Herrera “a magician… that twists our emotions “ and The Classical Voice of North Carolina says this work is “strange and adventurous...hugely ambitious and skilled in its scope.”

Dining Alone is an exploration into the deconstruction of empathetic instincts assigned to age, fragility, youth and isolation. Addressing the inherent drama and comedy attached to food,Dining Alone invites you into the bittersweet and private moments that are amplified by the experience of dining.

Rosie Herrera Rosie Herrera has emerged as Miami’s leading cutting-edge, multidisciplinary choreographer and theater artist. Combining modern dance, ballet, drag, burlesque, theater, hip hop, and opera, she is paving the way for the next generation of artists in the U.S. She has danced with Freddick Bratcher and Co, Animate Objects Physical Theater, Bill Doolin and Camposition Hybrid Theater Project. As a rehearsal director, co-choreographer and performer, Herrera was in residency at the Chat Noir Cabaret at Dream Night Club in South Beach with the interdisciplinary performance ensemble CircX. Herrera is a classically trained lyric coloratura soprano and performs with the Performers Music Institute Opera Ensemble as well as choreographs and stages operas independently throughout Miami. Her choreography has been presented by the Florida Dance Festival, Dot Fifty One Gallery, The Emerging Choreography Series at Excelo Dance Space, and internationally as part of the Digital World Institute.

She has been commissioned by New World School of the Arts, The Good for Something Dancers, The Miami Light Project in association with the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts as part of the 2009, and 2010 Here and Now Festivals, and the American Dance Festival in 2010 and 2011. In 2009 she was in residency at the American Dance Festival recreating her work Various Stages of Drowning: A Cabaret on ADF dancers. In the fall she choreographed the New World School of the Arts production of Three Penny Opera and presented an informal showing of her work Dining Alone as part of the Miami Made Festival presented by the Miami Light Project and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. On the same program was her choreographic collaboration with the performance/theater artist Rudi Goblen on his one-man show Farewelling.

Her 2010 ADF commission of Pity Party premiered in July 2010 to rave reviews and is being reworked for the American Dance Festival this June. Herrera is a 2010 MANCC recipient and completed her residency at Florida State University where she was researching and developing Dining Alone. In Miami, she was recently seen in Liony Garcia’s Clandestine and Michael McKeever’s South Beach Babylon, where her collaboration with dance theater Octavio Campos was hailed by critics as being “clever, funny and performed with such talent and vigor that it dimmed the lights of the Merce Cunningham troupe that had performed just an hour before...” She collaborated with local filmmaker Lucas Leyva on a short film that premiered at the 2011 Borsht film festival. http://www.rosieherrera.com/

Northrop Dance and The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University Present Women of Substance Bebe Miller Company Bebe Miller, artistic director, choreographer Thu, Feb 12, 2013, 7:30 pm The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University

A History - 2012

PROGRAM: A History (2012) is a new dance work choreographed by Bebe Miller in collaboration with longtime Bebe Miller Company members Angie Hauser and Darrell Jones, as well as dramaturg Talvin Wilks, and video artist Lily Skove. A multi-tiered project with accompanying installation and website,A History viscerally captures the threads of BMC’s creative conversation in live performance and media. This guerrilla mode—nimble, strategic, with multiple points of entry—is designed to give audiences the interactive spontaneity of truly accessible theater. This performance will be accompanied by a specially-created video installation of Bebe Millers’ entire oeuvre where she reexamines her history through the eyes of her choreography and personal story.

Bebe Miller Company Established in 1985, the mission of Bebe Miller Company is to support the artistic vision of choreographer Bebe Miller in creative, cross-disciplinary explorations and in creating and performing new works. Miller’s vision of dance and performance reside in her faith in the moving body as a record of though, experience, and sheer beauty. Her aesthetic relies on the interplay of a work’s idea, its physicality, and the contributions of company members to fashion its singular voice. Seeking to expand the language of dance, Miller’s work encompasses choreographer, writing, film, video, and digital media.

Committed to keeping dance available to a wide spectrum of people, the company is also dedicated to providing access to the creative process and expression to a diverse community.

After nearly two decades of operating as a traditional touring dance company, BMC is now structured as a “virtual company,” with members living in various locations around the U.S. New work is developed over a period of years in long-term residencies that bring BMC dancers and project collaborators together for creative exploration, rehearsals, and community-based activities. BMC is pioneering the use of digital media to share the company’s ongoing creative conversation, as an artist-driven archive for artists, schools, and the dance audiences everywhere.

Bebe Miller Company has toured extensively throughout the United States and abroad. The company has been commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music NEXT WAVE Festival, City Center Theater, The Joyce Theater, Wexner Center for the Arts, Walker Art Center, Northrop Auditorium, On The Boards, Hancher Auditorium, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Theater Artaud, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, New England Presenters, Bates Dance Festival, Dance Place, Painted Bride Art Center, Dance Theater Workshop, and Danspace Project.

Bebe Miller Bebe Miller (Choreographer/Director) has been making dances for over 25 years, forming Bebe Miller Company in 1985. Known for a mix of virtuosic dancing and fundamental humanity, her choreography has been produced at major dance centers throughout the U.S. and abroad. Collaborations being fundamental to her creative process, she has worked with numerous composers, visual artists, writers, filmmakers, and directors; she has received four Bessie Awards for choreography and direction, fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Ohio Arts Council, and is a United States Artists Ford Fellow. Currently a Full Professor in Dance at The Ohio State University, she serves on the boards of Danspace Project and Bearnstow, and is a member of the International Artists Advisory Board of the Wexner Center for the Arts. http://www.bebemillercompany.org/

Northrop Dance and The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University Present Women of Substance Emily Johnson/Catalyst Emily Johnson, artistic director/choreographer Sun, April 21, 2013, 7:00 pm The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University

Niicugni (Listen) - 2012

PROGRAM: Niicugni (Listen) Created and performed by Emily Johnson with Aretha Aoki, Bethany Lacktorin, James Everest, Heidi Eckwall

“I want to be on the land my ancestors dug into, pulled from, rose up from - and fell into. I want to be on this land, listening, and I also want to let the land be.”

Niicugni is a new performance centered on movement, story, and sound housed within a light/sound installation of hand-made, functional salmon skin lanterns. Second in a trilogy of work, it equates land we live on with cells that comprise our bodies and calls upon audiences to remember that land is alive with ancestry, memory, and possibility, and that our bodies also hold these things. Taking into account the forces that build and simultaneously breakdown our bodies and earth, Niicugni brings life and death—the ultimate contradiction—into the conversation.

Created and performed by Emily Johnson with Aretha Aoki. Sound composed and performed by multi-instrumentalist James Everest and violinist/electronic musician Bethany Lacktorin. Lighting design by Heidi Eckwall.

Emily Johnson Emily Johnson is a director/choreographer/curator, originally from Alaska and currently based in Minneapolis. Since 1998 she has created work that considers the experience of sensing and seeing performance. Her dances often function as installations, engaging audiences within and through a space and environment – sights, sounds, smells – interacting with a place’s architecture, history, and role in community. She works to blur distinctions between performance and daily life and to create work that reveals and respects multiple perspectives. Allowing for the possibility of multiple meanings, her work stimulates reflection and emotional empathy between performer and audience, and between audience members. Emily is a 2011 Native Arts and Cultures Fellow, a 2010 and 2009 MAP Fund Grant recipient, a 2009 McKnight Fellow, and a 2009 and 2011 MANCC Choreographer Fellow. The Thank-you Bar toured through 2011 to The TBA Festival, The Dance Center at Columbia College, Northrop Concerts and Lectures, DiverseWorks, ODC Theater, Vermont Performance Lab, and Dance Theater Workshop with support from National Dance Project.

Emily grew up in her native Alaska playing basketball and running long distance. At 18 she left rural living, moved to Minneapolis, and quite by accident, learned to be a choreographer and performer. For the past 16 years city living has swirled around her, dragging her away from the physical space of Alaska and the summer and fall family rituals of hunting and fishing, then smoking, drying, canning, and freezing food. She is pulled back when Midwesterners and others ask her if she lived in an igloo (myth), if she has an Eskimo name (no), and if it is OK to say the word “Eskimo” (rarely). She is of Yup’ik descent, though she does not speak the language – yet. Emotionally, she is tied to the landscape of South Central Alaska where she was born and to the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta where her father’s family is from.

Her work includes commissions by Walker Art Center, PS122, Out North, Franconia Sculpture Park, and Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts. She has been presented by theaters across the U.S. including Walker Art Center, TBA Festival, ODC Theater, PS122, Franconia Sculpture Park, Links Hall, Dance Umbrella, Velocity, and OutNorth. She has toured with Scuba and NPN and self- presented in numerous venues including Dance Theater Workshop, Rogue Buddha Art Gallery in Minneapolis, and The Que’Ana Bar in Clam Gulch, Alaska. She has embarked on performance projects in Montreal and St. Petersburg, Russia and toured her work to 14 American states. Her dance films have screened at the Walker, DTW, Chicago Cultural Center and university film festivals. She was a 2009 Loft Native InRoads Fellow and recipient of a Seventh Generation Fund Grant. Her past work has been supported by a Forecast Public ArtWorks Grant (2008), Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Visual and Expressive Arts Grant with Rhianna Yazzie and Carolyn Anderson (2008), MAP grant with Lisa D’Amour and Katie Pearl (2008), Blacklock Nature Sanctuary Residency (2007), Puffin Foundation Grant (2005), Bush Artist Fellowship (2004), Jerome Artist Fellowship (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004), and Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship (2001). Emily has made large cast dances for public spaces with people of varied genders, ages, cultures, and physical abilities. She has collaborated with musicians, visual and video artists, sculptors, writers, and geothermal scientists. She takes inspiration from the annual migration of salmon who swim upstream for thousands of miles because they must. She has watched these salmon swim up waterfalls and believes humans are also called to do amazing things. She has been told that she makes dance for “dance-lovers” and for “people-who-generally-don’t-like-dance.” She would like to think this is true; that her dances are for every body and that maybe they enlighten small aspects of our existence. http://catalystdance.com/

SOLO—McKnight Artist Fellowships for Dancers & Choreographers

Northrop at the University of Minnesota Presents SOLO—McKnight Artist Fellowships for Dancers Fri, Sep 21 & Sat, Sep 22, 2012, 8:00 pm Ted Mann Concert Hall

This Northrop event features world premieres from six of the Twin Cities’ finest dancers and recipients of the 2010 and 2011 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Dancers. As part of their awarded fellowship, the fellows also receive a commission for a new solo work created expressly for them. Join us for this wildly varied, captivating celebration of solo debuts, two shows only at Ted Mann Concert Hall.

Dancer Fellows SOLO Commissioned choreographer Amanda Dlouhy Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy (MN) Emilie Plauche Flink Sara Hook, Sara Hook Dances (IL) Nic Lincoln Larry Keigwin, Keigwin + Company (NY) Leslie O’Neill Jeanine Durning (NY) Eddie Bruno Oroyan Roberto Olivan, ENCLAVE Dance Company (Spain) Amy Behm Thomson Luis Lara Malvacias (NY) http://www.northrop.umn.edu/mcknight/solo

TICKETS: Northrop Dance Series Packages ON SALE NOW. More information and ordering available at northrop.umn.edu or 612-625-6600.

There are five easy options for subscribing to a Northrop Dance series: Portfolio, Ballet, Innovators, Journeys, and Women of Substance.

Portfolio: For ultimate dance lovers who want it all. The “must see” Twin Cities 2012-13 series. $264 - $437

Ballet: The gorgeous delicacies of ballet and classic dance in its purest form. $108 - $180

Innovators: The latest offerings from the leading makers of inventive dance. $132 - $213

Journeys: A first-timer’s introduction to classic ballet and modern dance. $136 - $222

Women of Substance: Copresented with The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University. $60 - $104

Prices include taxes and facility fees. A $10 per order processing fee will be added to all orders.

Subscriber benefits include a 15% discount (17% for seniors, students, U of M students/staff/faculty, UMAA, and military), priority seating now and in the new Northrop, free first ticket exchanges, and a 15% discount on all additional single tickets (order before they go on sale to the general public).

Single tickets on sale to the general public beginning August 6, 2012 at ticketmaster.com. To save on processing fees, patrons may purchase single tickets in person at the State Theatre Box Office, 805 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, or by phone at 612-339-7007.

NORTHROP CONCERTS AND LECTURES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Northrop Concerts and Lectures, the University of Minnesota’s arts presenter, is dedicated to advancing the education, research, and public engagement mission of the University through the pursuit of excellence and innovation in the performing arts, community, and creative exchange. For more than 80 years, Northrop has been committed to presenting world-­class artists in music, dance, and theater in ways that engage audiences and support exceptional teaching within the University and throughout the community. As a founding member of the Major University Presenters consortium; a National Dance Project hub site; and the home of McKnight Artist Fellowships for Dancers, Choreographers, and international artists; Northrop is a national leader in the performing arts field. While Northrop undergoes a dramatic physical transformation (February 2011-­February 2014), its large-­scale dance programming will continue “on the road” with performances in Minneapolis’ historic theater district on Hennepin Avenue.

Artists and programs subject to change. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

Media Contact: Cari Hatcher 612-625-6003 (W) 763-442-1756 (C) [email protected] northrop.umn.edu Press photos at: http://www.northrop.umn.edu/press/event-photos

Media Contact for Women of Substance: Kathleen Spehar 651-690-6921 (W) 651-276-9262 (C) [email protected] oshaughnessy.stkate.edu