Pierre Rigal & compagnie derniere minute to Present MICRO at The Joyce Theater, 5/13-18

The Joyce Theater will present Pierre Rigal and his company, compagnie dernière minute, founded in 2003, from May 13-18. For this Joyce debut engagement, Rigal and his company of four musicians and dancers will perform the U.S. premiere of the evening-length work Micro. Tickets range in price from $10-$39 ($19-$29 for Joyce Theater members), and can be purchased through JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800 or via the internet at www.joyce.org. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street.

A 400-meter hurdler who studied mathematics and economics in Barcelona and graduated with a Master's degree in Cinema, the French-born Pierre Rigal made his transition to contemporary dance after meeting several choreographers whose work intrigued him, including Gilles Jobin, whose company Rigal joined in 2002. A year later, Rigal founded Compagnie Dernière Minute, and created érection (2003), and Arrêts de Jeu (2006) in collaboration with the director Aurélien Bory. For this Joyce debut, Rigal and four musician/dancers perform the U.S. premiere of Micro, an unstructured rock concert in which bass, keyboard, electric guitar, and percussion literally propel the artists into uninhibited action. Audiences will witness the line between music and dance blurred while the work poetically explores how the body and the music interact and interconnect. As Rigal describes his form of rock, "the human being is a musical animal; the rocker is a musical monster." In Micro, the music isn't just heard; it's seen.

Pierre Rigal originally trained as an athlete, specializing in 400m hurdles. He then went on to study mathematics and economics in Barcelona and graduated with a Masters in Cinema. His transition into contemporary dance was influenced by choreographers such as Heddy Maalem, Bernardo Montet and Wim Vandekeybus, Nacera Belaza, Philippe Decouflé, and directors such as Mladen Materic and Guy Alloucherie. In 2002, he joined a dance company with the choreographer Gilles Jobin. The following year, Rigal founded compagnie dernière minute, and created his first piece, the solo érection, directed by Aurélien Bory. For the next seven years, he created and/or performed numerous works such as Arrêts de jeu in the Théâtre national de Toulouse; a photographic installation the death is alive presented in the Theatre national of Toulouse; Press as International Associate artist of the Gate Theatre; Que serai-je serai-je, a 10 min long solo untitled created for the dancer Mélanie Chartreux. He presented Micro in July 2010 at the Festival d'Avignon and the final version staged at Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne in Switzerland in January 2011. In 2012, Rigal created Theatre of operations, a piece for 9 Korean dancers in LG Arts Center in Seoul.

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 informative Dance Talks, Joyce Pre-Show gatherings, and post-performance Dance Chat discussions. The Joyce Theater now features an annual season of approximately 48 weeks with over 340 performances for audiences in excess of 135,000.

Pierre Rigal and compagnie dernière minute will make its Joyce Theater debut with a week-long engagement performing the U.S. premiere of the evening-length work Micro from May 13-18. Performances are Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30pm; Thursday and Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2pm & 8pm; Sunday at 2pm. Dance Chat, a free post-performance talkback with members of the company, will take place on Wednesday, May 14. This enlightening discussion is open to all patrons attending that evening's performance. Tickets range in price from $10-$39 ($19-$29 for Joyce Theater members), and can be purchased through JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800 or via the internet 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.

This presentation is part of DANSE: A French-American Festival of Performance and Ideas in New York City from May 1 - 18, organized by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States with additional support from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, Institut français and Ville de Toulouse.