Visceral Dance Chicago Sets Fall 2015 Harris Theater Engagement

Visceral Dance Chicago will begin its 2015-2016 season with a Fall engagement at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park, the first mainstage Chicago performance of the company's third season. Fall Engagement, as the program is titled, will include a world premiere by Artistic Director Nick Pupillo and a company premiere by Fernando Melo, as well as three exciting works created in the company's second and inaugural seasons.

Visceral Dance Chicago will present the company premiere of Bate, meaning heartbeat, by Fernando Melo, rehearsal director of Göteborgsoperans Danskompani (Sweden). Featuring a cast of five men, Bate explores masculinity and the fantasy of a woman. Artistic Director Nick Pupillo will present a world premiere, She Three. This trio for women follows a journey of ascent as individuals and as a group, finding strength.

The Fall Engagement program will also mark the return of full-company piece, Sum Noir, by Pupillo. Inspired by the French author and philosopher Albert Camus' quote, "Life is a sum of all your choices." A second full-company work, Hadal Zone, by Brian Enos, Artistic Director of The Big Muddy Dance Company (St. Louis), takes the dancers on a powerful, surging ride. Lastly, Ohad Naharin's succinct and deeply felt Duet Mabul (1992). Visceral Dance Chicago is dedicated to presenting intriguing, innovative contemporary dance from diverse choreographic voices.

ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

Nick Pupillo, Founder and Artistic Director of Visceral Dance Chicago, graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Science in Ballet. In 2001, Pupillo joined the acclaimed Giordano Dance Chicago where he toured nationally and internationally for three years. Pupillo decided in 2006 to train and mentor young talent by developing the prestigious Visceral Studio Company.

Pupillo founded Visceral Dance Chicago in the fall of 2013. This repertory company presents his daring vision to explore the infinite possibilities of contemporary movement. The dancers of Visceral demonstrate this choreographic invention and are recognized for their technique, passion, and athleticism. In less than a year, Pupillo has led the company in a forthright direction, establishing a repertoire described as "expertly devised and stylish as they come." (Laura Molzahn, Chicago Tribune) He created two signature works for the company, Senza di te and Impetere. He has also commissioned world premieres by Sidra Bell, Monica Cervantes, and Robyn Mineko Williams.

Pupillo has received various awards for his choreography, including "The Dance Chicago Outstanding Choreography Award" in 2005 and 2012 and "The Cliff Dwellers 2013 Choreographer of the Year. His work has been described as "impressively dancey," (Lauren Warnecke, Arts Intercepts) and "a stroke of choreographic genius...complex, tumbling changes...in this portrait of perpetual motion." (Laura Molzahn, Chicago Tribune) Pupillo is frequently invited to conduct master classes in the U.S. and around the world and has taught for the Jazz Dance World Congress, Chicago Dance Connection and Chicago National Association of Dance Masters. Pupillo is currently an artist in residence at Culver Academies.

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