Seattle's Khambatta Dance Company Celebrates the Winter Holiday Season with CONSTELLATIONS

Khambatta Dance Company (KDC), the producers of the Seattle International Dance Festival, celebrates the winter holiday season with two performances of Constellations at Capitol Hill's Broadway Performance Hall December 9-10 at 8pm. True to the KDC mission offering a global perspective on dance, audiences will take a trip around the world with winter-themed contemporary works inspired by Korean folktales, the earth's rotation amongst celestial bodies, and the impact humans have on one another. Artistic Director Cyrus Khambatta has put together a dance concert featuring pieces inspired by world perspectives; different pieces will be presented on each night.

On December 9, choreographers Ethan Rome and Cyrus Khambatta present a works with distinct Asian-American views. Rome'sCaelestis Unbound, Sun and Caelestis Unbound, Moon feature KDC dancers and guests in a dance story that pulls from Korean folk stories and fairy tales; the kumiho, tiger, moon and stars are recurring themes. Khambatta's Centrifugal Force is a work about celestial bodies and the ever-spinning nature of the universe; the movement in the piece rotates counterclockwise, the same direction that the earth turns from the point of view of the North Star. And So It Goes is a vigorously physical piece about the drama of first-world problems: those silly little voices in our heads, the quirky things we to escape, and the orchestral madness of our obsessive self-conscious society. Falling Snow is an emotionally meditative solo performed by CarliAnn Forthun, to a full stage image of continuous snow falling, set to solo piano by Moon Ate the Dark.

On December 10, KDC performs Khambatta's most recent work performed on tour in India and Lithuania, Casualties of Fate. The piece explores our seduction by identity and power as a respite from emptiness and invisibleness. It examines what people hide and what is exposed as neurotic attempts to control fate dematerialize. It was recently described by Indian historian and critic, Dr. Sunil Kothari as a "...balancing of the bodies, intertwining [that] had brilliant construct."

Russian choreographer Sergei Burlak's Art Modern Line Dance Theatre Company presents The Space for a Dream on December 9about meeting in a place where dreams are born. And on December 10, audiences enjoy the US premiere of Influence; a piece that evolved after 18 months of training and studying people in different public and private environments.

Advance tickets are $22 and on sale now through brownpapertickets.com. Student and senior tickets are $18. VisitKhambattadance.org

About Khambatta Dance Company

Khambatta Dance Company has called Seattle, WA its home since relocating from New York City in 2001. KDC is consistently presented throughout the west coast and abroad and has created over 25 works ranging from site-specific pieces to staged, full-length productions. The Company conducts international residencies and exchanges, sponsors a summer dance program at Wild Meadows Farm in Pennsylvania, and, in 2009, founded the Seattle International Dance Festival -Beyond the Threshold. They are dedicated to producing and presenting emotionally resonant and topically relevant work with a keen eye toward expanding the audience's world view in an inclusive manner. KDC encourages constructive self-reflection through meaningful high quality artistic work that acknowledges the role dance can play in shaping emotionally relevant lives and a strong social fabric.

Presented with support from 4Culture, Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Washington State Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Raynier Foundation and many individuals.

Support of KDC and the work of Ethan Rome is presented with a generous commission by Case Van Rij.