Today, March 8th NJPAC showcases of the quality and diversity of dance created in the Garden State. In its third year, Jersey Moves! Festival of Dance will feature New Jersey's top dance companies as well as the leading emerging dance troupes from around the state. Over the course of two evenings, nine dance companies with genres from Irish to modern, ballet to tap, and styles from around the world. The opening night's program will feature the two of the state's leading dance companies, and will include two world premieres from Randy James' all male dance company 10 Hairy Legs as well as a world premiere from The Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company.
Tickets are $24-$39, and are available by telephone at 1-888-466-5722, at the NJPAC Box Office at One Center Street in downtown Newark, and at www.njpac.org. To purchase tickets for groups of 10 or more, call 973-297-5804. Immediately preceding the performance, 10 Hairy Legs will conduct a free pre-performance workshop at NJPAC. For more information on the workshop, please contact Elizabeth Sobo at bsobo@10HL.org
Randy James' 10 Hairy Legs will present the world premiere of two new works. "The Blind Man and the Elephant" choreographed by Julie Bour and Doug Elkin's new work entitled "Trouble Will Find Me."
"The Blind Man and the Elephant" will feature a newly composed score by Kyle Olson and scenic design by
Benjamin Heller. Bour is a recipient of a Bessie award and is a graduate of the Conservatoire National of Paris. She has danced with Ballet Prejocai (France) and Inbal Pinto
Dance Company (Israel), also working with a variety of international choreographers and directors and has toured internationally throughout Europe, Scandanavia, Asia, North and South America and in Middle East.
"Trouble Will Find Me" features five company members in a rousing work set to music by acclaimed Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The movement will incorporate floreos, floor work, Capoeira and Salsa. Elkins is a two-time Bessie Award winning choreographer and started his career as a B-Boy, touring the world with break dance groups New York Dance Express and Magnificent Force. The evening's program will be rounded out with Randy James' poignant duet "Closing the Glass Door" set to the Haendel-Halvorsen Pascacaglia, performed to live musical accompaniment.
10 Hairy Legs, founded in 2012 by Randy James, is a repertory company that celebrates and explores the tremendous technical and emotional range of the male dancer. The company provides extensive educational and humanities programs throughout the state of New Jersey, having served over 10,000 students statewide. James, with over 30 years in dance and as an advocate of the arts, has created over 40 works with his own company as well as 16 works for other dance companies. He was heralded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation as "The Patron Saint of New Jersey Dance." The New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State honored him twice with Choreography Fellowships in recognition of his artistic excellence and named him "Distinguished Teaching Artist."
The
Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company (CDDC) will feature the world premiere of "Portrait Perfect" by award-winning choreographer Peter Chu. With explosive movement and sinuous partnering, Chu creates a cinematic work unmaksing the outer façade and inner darkness of relationships. The evening will also feature
Carolyn Dorfman's visually stunning "Interior Design (ID)," named by The Sta- Ledger as one of the "Top Ten Dance Events of 2013." Using the entire theater as a stage, Dorfman and her all-female collaborators create an immersive environment that reveals the internal and external worlds of both the performer and spectator.
Known as a maker of evocative dances about the human experience,
Carolyn Dorfman creates worlds for the audience to enter. For over 30 years, she has been at the pinnacle of dance in New Jersey and the region. Her Company's high-energy and technically demanding repertory uses movement as metaphor to take audiences on what one reviewer described as an intellectual and emotional journey. With bold athleticism, technical range and dramatic nuance, CDDC's 11-member, multi-ethnic company appears at major theaters, dance festivals, universities and schools regionally, nationally and internationally. The company - described as "ingenious" (The Star-Ledger), "emotionally resonant" (New York Times) and "a group of dancers with a four octave range..." (guest choreographer
Doug Elkins) - presents new and repertory works by Dorfman and regularly commissions original scores and artistic collaborations. This program features such collaborations and the evening celebrates the company's lauded arts, education and community impact.
Jersey Moves! Festival of Dance continues May 3rd with performances by
American Repertory Ballet, Nai-Ni Chen
Dance Company, Cleo Mack Dance Project, tap dancer Maurice Chestnut, dancer
Timothy Kochka and
Claire Porter's Portables.
Programming has been made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by Discover Jersey Arts.
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