Pittsburgh Dance Council to Present Compagnie Marie Chouinard, 9/28

The Pittsburgh Dance Council, a division of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, brings you Compagnie Marie Chouinard on Saturday, September 28, 2013, at 8:00 p.m., at the Byham Theater. Marie Chouinard and her Compagnie will open the Dance Council's 2013-2014 season and launch the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts*, performing two U.S. premieres Michaux Mouvements and Gymnopedia.

Inspired by the book Movements, by Belgian artist Henri Michaux, Marie Chouinard creates dreamlike and interpretative dance using the poetics of the body in Michaux Movements. The dancers form silhouette projections portraying the books India-ink drawings and poetry pieces. Gymnopedia features eleven dancers with music set to the glorious piano pieces by Eric Satie. Please note, these performances contain nudity.

Through a combination of movements and imagination, Montreal artist Marie Chouinard achieves an international reputation for originality preceding a twenty-eight year artistic dance career. From 1978-1990, Marie performed over fifty productions as a singular entity beginning her career with a solo piece known as Crystallization. In 1990, she formed the Compagnie which now consists of twelve dancers performing different pieces of interpretative and expressive dance. The Vancouver Sun writes that Marie Chouinard's pieces, "felt like experiencing an event rather that watching a performance. Marie Chouinard breaks boundaries...."

Marie Chouinard has been honored with opening and closing many art festivals that feature the company's unique style of dance. She has collaborated with prestigious names in the art community including the Biennale de Venise, the ImPulsTanz-Vienna International Dance Festival, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbonne, Movimentos Festwochender Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Fondazione Musica Per Roma in Rome, as well as Festival TransAmériques, the Place des Arts in Montreal, and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

Tickets ($19-$55) may be purchased at the Box Office at Theater Square, online at www.TrustArts.org, or by calling (412) 456-6666. Subscribe to the 2013-2014 Dance Council season by calling (412) 456-1390 or online at www.TrustArts.org/dance.

Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts (PIFOF), a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is a city-wide, 16-day performing and visual arts festival featuring exclusive U.S. and World premieres by highly-acclaimed International Artists and contemporary performing arts companies. Festival events are presented in association with other Pittsburgh cultural organizations and offer intimate experiences for audiences at various traditional and non-traditional performance venues within the downtown Cultural District and throughout the city.

Each year the Pittsburgh Dance Council, a division of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, showcases a world-class season of dance. As the largest presenter of international performances in the city, the Dance Council, now celebrating its 44th season, continues to help make our Cultural District one of the country's leading arts and entertainment centers.