Jessica Lang Dance Coming to The Wallis, 5/30-31
By: Tyler Peterson Apr. 30, 2014
The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the West-Coast debut of Jessica Lang Dance (Jessica Lang, Artistic Director) on May 30 and 31, 2014 at the Bram Goldsmith Theater. The performance will feature a diverse array of pieces from Jessica Lang Dance's repertoire including, "Lines Cubed," "Mendelssohn / Incomplete," "Among the Stars," "The Calling," "White" (A Dance on Film) and "i.n.k."
Founded in 2011, Jessica Lang Dance (JLD) is a New York City-based dance company dedicated to creating and performing the work of Jessica Lang. JLD enriches and inspires global audiences by immersing them in the beauty of movement and music. Hailed as "a master of visual composition" by Dance Magazine, Lang seamlessly incorporates striking design elements and transforms classical ballet language into artfully crafted, emotionally engaging contemporary works.
Since the company's inception, marked by Lang's receipt of a Joyce Theater Artist Residency supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, JLD has garnered significant attention and acclaim, thrilling audiences at major venues throughout the country including two consecutive seasons at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival where JLD made its full company debut in 2012, The Joyce Theater, New York City Center and most recently at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas where the company's performance was chosen as the best dance event of 2013."Lines Cubed," to music by John Metcalfe and Thomas Metcalf, with costumes by Lisa Choules, set design by Molo Designers, Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen, and lighting design by Nicole Pearce. Tess Alfano from BroadwayWorld.com said "The use of symmetry, clean lines, and primary colors set against a white stage offered the perfect dichotomy to a work that evoked a contemporary, dangerous feel. Lines Cubed had an artistic texture that made the audience feel as if we were watching a moving painting."
"Mendelssohn / Incomplete" to music by Felix Mendelssohn, with costumes by Elena Comendador, and lighting design by Nicole Pearce. Tim Martin in Dance Europe said, "The partnering work is genteel, but with spirit, and present throughout her work is a mesmerizing use of dynamics- simple kneeling or lunging becomes so much more when rendered by her dancers in varying, unearthly qualities." "Among the Stars" (2010)
"Among the Stars" to music by Ryuichi Sakamoto, with costume design by Elena Comendador and lighting design by Amarante Lucerno. The piece was commissioned by TITAS Command Performance Gala and was created for Yuan Tan and Clifton Brown. Margaret Putnam, from Theatre Jones, called it, "the most touching work." "The Calling" (2006)
"The Calling" to music by Trio Mediaeval, with costume design by Elena Comendador, costume concept by Jessica Lang, and lighting design by Al Crawford. This piece was commissioned by Ailey II. Gina Miles from The Bermuda Sun called this piece, "A heavenly ballet...The beautiful movements seamlessly moved from the long and lyrical to the urging and angular, leaving the audience completely mesmerized." "White" A Dance on Film (2006)
"White" A Dance on Film to music by Edward Grieg with costume design by Elena Comendador, collaboration with Shinichi Maruyama, edited by Tetsushi Wakasugi. Andrew Boynton in The New Yorker said, "Using a more folky, weighted vocabulary, Lang conveyed the poignancy of dance - the heartbreaking desire for moments to stretch for as long as possible." "i.n.k." (2011)
"i.n.k." to music by Jakub Ciupinksi (commissioned score), with costume design by Elena Comendador, lighting design by Nicole Pearce, and video art by KUSHO by Shinichi Maruyama, edited by Tetushi Wakasugi and Jackson Notier. Zahra Sadjadi, from Theater is Easy, said, "This piece was so utterly poignant and moving that I was surprised how captivated I could be by images, sounds, movements, and moments so abstract, simple and peaceful." Jessica Lang has attained rare levels of success as a female choreographer continuously working with ballet companies across the U.S. and abroad since 1999. Described as having "established a reputation for concocting ingenious choreographic interactions between dancing bodies and the movements of striking set and costume pieces" (Kansas City Star), Lang has created more than 80 works on companies including The National Ballet of Japan at the New National Theatre Tokyo, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Ballet San Jose, Richmond Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Ailey II, ABT II, Hubbard Street 2 and New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, among many others. American Ballet Theatre presented her work at the Metropolitan Opera House in 2008 and 2011 while her ballet Lyric Pieces, commissioned and performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet earned a nomination for a coveted 2013 Manchester Theatre Award in the UK. Lang received outstanding acclaim for her choreography and directorial debut of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater at the 2013 Glimmerglass Opera Festival. She has received commissions from the Dallas Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum for its Works and Process series. Lang's work has been performed by The Juilliard School, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, The Ailey/Fordham BFA Program, Marymount Manhattan College, SUNY Purchase College, Southern Methodist University, Princeton University, University of Richmond, and Point Park University, among others. She is on faculty of American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School as well as a teaching artist for the Make a Ballet program. Lang has received numerous grants for her work on ballet companies from organizations including the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Choo San Goh Foundation. Her receipt of a 2010 Joyce Theater Artist Residency supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation helped launch her own company, Jessica Lang Dance (JLD). Coming up this season, The National Ballet of Japan will premiere an original work by Lang at the New National Theatre Tokyo. Lang has also been commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra to create a new work for JLD to premiere in May 2014. Lang's work From Foreign Lands and People will be restaged on Dayton Ballet and Lines Cubed on Richmond Ballet, while students from The Juilliard School, Princeton University, Oklahoma University and Douglas Anderson Performing Arts High School will perform her work throughout the spring semester. Lang, a graduate of The Juilliard School under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy, is a former member of Twyla Tharp's company, THARP.
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