Joyce Theater Foundation Welcomes Pontus Lidberg Dance Company This Weekend

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. is proud to present two companies each having its first full engagements at The Joyce this June: Brian Brooks Moving Company, from June 2 - 4, with a mixed program that includes a world premiere; and Pontus Lidberg Dance, this weekend, June 6 - 7, with the New York premieres of Snow and Written on Water.

Tickets for both companies range in price from $10 to $30 and can be purchased through JoyceCharge at www.Joyce.org, or by calling 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street.

A recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, Brian Brooks creates dances that test the edges of physical endurance. His Joyce engagement, following an acclaimed Joyce debut as part of the 2013 FOCUS Dance ballet festival, features the world premiere of a new solo work and two other works: a New York premiere set to Steve Reich's "Vermont Counterpoint;" and two of Brooks' most recent works-Division, in which the company navigates through an ever-shifting maze of movable and held-held surfaces, and Torrent, which sends a cast of 28 soaring to a revelatory score by Max Richter as the dancers fluctuate between orderly patterns and unrestricted turbulence. All works presented by Brian Brooks Moving Company were created in part during Brooks's 2013-2014 Joyce Creative Residency.

Pontus Lidberg, a Swedish choreographer, actor/dancer, and filmmaker, has created dances for stage and film since 2000. During that time, he has received commissions to create new works for major international dance companies including Morphoses, the Royal Swedish Ballet, Beijing Dance Theater, and Semper Oper Ballet Dresden. For his return to The Joyce - after giving audiences a taste of his unique artistry when he performed Within with Morphoses in 2012 - Lidberg will present the New York premieres of his acclaimed works Snowand Written on Water.

The schedules for Brian Brooks Moving Company and Pontus Lidberg Dance at The Joyce Theater are as follows:

• Brian Brooks Moving Company: June 2 - 4; Tuesday and Wednesday* at 7:30pm, Thursday at 8pm
• Pontus Lidberg Dance: June 6 - 7; Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm and 7:30pm

*Brian Brooks Moving Company will have a Curtain Chat following the performance on Wednesday, June 3. This free post-show talkback with members of the company is open to all ticket-holders for that evening's performance.

Tickets for Brian Brooks Moving Company and Pontus Lidberg Dance range in price from $10 to $30 and can be purchased through JoyceCharge at (212) 242-0800 or online at www.joyce.org. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.joyce.org.

ABOUT THE COMPANIES

Pontus Lidberg has been making dances for stage and film since 2000. Recently, Lidberg produced WITHIN(Labyrinth Within), during his tenure as Resident Artistic Director of Morphoses. Other recent productions include a contemporary re-imagined Giselle for Le Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève; and SNOW, a work that merged dance and puppetry for Pontus Lidberg Dance. His re-invented production of Raymonda for the Royal Swedish Ballet premiered in Stockholm on November 28, 2014. Since 2000, Lidberg has been commissioned to develop new works for several international dance companies, including SemperOper Ballet Dresden (2013); Oregon Ballet Theatre (2013); Le Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève (2012); the Royal Swedish Ballet (2012, 2014); the Royal Danish Ballet (2010); and Beijing Dance Theater (2009). In 2003, he formed Pontus Lidberg Dance to support the development and production of his independent projects. Under the auspices of Pontus Lidberg Dance, he has developed films as well as dance works for the stage. His most recent film, Labyrinth Within (2011), featuring New York City Ballet ex-principal dancer Wendy Whelan and a score by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang, received the Court Métrange du Jury prize at the Court-Métrange Film Festival in Rennes, France (2011) and won Best Picture at the Dance on Camera Festival in New York (2012). For the stage, Pontus Lidberg Dance has presented SNOW (2013); Warriors (2010) and Faune (2011).

Brian Brooks was awarded with a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a proud recipient of the NY City Center Fellowship (2012-2013) and The Joyce Theater's Artist Residency (2013-2014). Based in New York City, his dance group, the Brian Brooks Moving Company, has been presented throughout the US, South Korea and in Germany, and was presented by BAM in its 2013 Next Wave Festival. For three consecutive years, Brooks has been commissioned by Damian Woetzel at the Vail International Dance Festival to create new works featuring dancers from NYC Ballet. He is currently engaged in a three-year tour with New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Wendy Whelan, performing his duet as part of her Restless Creature project. Brooks choreographed director Julie Taymor's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (2013), which was the inaugural performance at Theatre for a New Audience's Brooklyn home. As a guest artist, Brooks has created new dances at schools such as The Juilliard School, The Boston Conservatory, Skidmore College, Rutgers University, Princeton University, Barnard College of Columbia University, Alfred University, the University of Maryland at College Park and Illinois State University. He has served as part-time faculty at both Rutgers University and Princeton University, and was a Teaching Artist at the Lincoln Center Institute from 1999 to 2012.

ABOUT THE JOYCE THEATER FOUNDATION

The Joyce Theater Foundation, a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community and its audiences for three decades. The founders, Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea, which opened as The Joyce Theater in 1982. The Joyce Theater is named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther's clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to build the theater. One of the only theaters built by dancers for dance, The Joyce Theater has provided an intimate and elegant home for more than 320 domestic and international companies. The Joyce has also commissioned more than 130 new dances since 1992. In 2009, The Joyce opened Dance Art New York (DANY) Studios to provide affordable studios for rehearsals, auditions, classes, and workshops for independent choreographers, non-profit dance companies, and the dance/theater communities. New York City public school students and teachers annually benefit from The Joyce's Dance Education Program, and adult audiences get closer to dance through pre-engagement Dance Talks and post-performance Dance Chats. The Joyce Theater now features an annual season of approximately 48 weeks with over 340 performances for audiences in excess of 135,000.