Mark Morris Dance Group Returns to the Harris Theater 2/25-27

Maverick choreographer Mark Morris and his extraordinary Mark Morris Dance Group return to the Harris Theater for a limited engagement February 25 and 26, 2011 at 7:30 pm and February 27, 2011 at 3 pm. Accompanied by nine musicians from the MMDG Music Ensemble, Mark Morris Dance Group will perform the Chicago premieres of three of Morris' newest works The Muir, Petrichor, and Socrates described by The New York Times as "the most sensuously attractive new choreography that I have seen by Mr. Morris in more than 10 years." The Harris Theater engagement will mark only the second performances of The Muir and Petrichor, and the third performances of Socrates. Tickets for the Mark Morris Dance Group engagement, which range from $45 - $95 are on sale now at the Harris Theater box office located in Millennium Park at 205 E. Randolph Dr., by calling 312-334-7777 or by visiting www.HarrisTheaterChicago.org.

The program for the Mark Morris Dance Group engagement includes three Chicago premieres:
The Muir

Described as a "lyrical work full of curvilinear shapes, harmonious symmetry and expansive gestures" (Times Union) The Muir showcases a flirtatious interaction and courtship between the three male and three female dancers. The work is set to Beethoven's melodic arrangements of Scottish, British, and Irish folk songs performed by piano, violin, cello, and four voices. The Muir premiered on June 27, 2010 at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts; the Harris Theater engagement will mark only the second performances of the work.

Petrichor

Accompanied by Heitor Villa-Lobos' richly chromatic String Quartet #2, Op. 56, Petrichor is a work for seven women. Commissioned, in part, by the Boston Celebrity Series, it premiered on October 14, 2010 at the Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston; the Harris Theater engagement will mark only the second performances of this unique new work.

Socrates

The New York Times described Socrates as "though not simple, it is simply beautiful." Set to Erik Satie's cantata Socrate, fifteen dancers move through the work's three sections in a deliberate neo-classical style with intricate choreography. The work is accompanied by piano and tenor solo performing a vocal recitative of excerpts from three of Plato's dialogues Symposium, Phaedrus, and Phaedo. Socrates premiered at Brooklyn Academy Of Music on February 23, 2010; the Harris Theater engagement will mark only the third performances of this work.

Biographies
Mark Morris was born on August 29, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, where he studied with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson. In the early years of his career, he performed with the dance companies of Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean, Eliot Feld, and the Koleda Balkan Dance Ensemble. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980, and has since created more than 120 works for the company. From 1988-1991, he was Director of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the national opera house of Belgium. Among the works created during his time there were three evening-length dances: L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; Dido and Aeneas; and The Hard Nut. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Morris is also a ballet choreographer and has created seven works for the San Francisco Ballet since 1994 and received commissions from many others. His work is also in the repertory of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, New Zealand Ballet, Houston Ballet, English National Ballet, and The Royal Ballet. Morris is noted for his musicality and has been described as "undeviating in his devotion to music." He has worked extensively in opera, directing and choreographing productions for The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, English National Opera, and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. In 1991, he was named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation. He has received ten honorary doctorates to date. In 2006, Morris received the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Mayor's Award for Arts & Culture and a WQXR Gramophone Special Recognition Award "for being an American ambassador for classical music at home and abroad." He is the subject of a biography, Mark Morris, by Joan Acocella (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and Marlowe & Company published a volume of photographs and critical essays entitled Mark Morris' L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato: A Celebration. Morris is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. In 2007, he received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival lifetime achievement award. In 2010, he received the prestigious Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society.
The Mark Morris Dance Group was formed in 1980 and gave its first concert that year in New York City. The company's touring schedule steadily expanded to include cities both in the U.S. and in Europe, and in 1986 it made its first national television program for the PBS series Dance in America. In 1988, MMDG was invited to become the national dance company of Belgium, and spent three years in residence at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. The company returned to the United States in 1991 as one of the world's leading dance companies, performing across the U.S. and at major international festivals. Based in Brooklyn, NY, the company has maintained and strengthened its ties to several cities around the world, most notably its West Coast home, Cal Performances in Berkeley, CA, and its Midwest home, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. MMDG also appears regularly in New York, NY; Boston, MA; Fairfax, VA; and Seattle, WA. MMDG made its debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in 2002 and at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2003 and has since been invited to both festivals annually. From the company's many London seasons, it has also garnered two Laurence Olivier Awards. MMDG is noted for its commitment to live music, a feature of every performance on its international touring schedule since 1996. MMDG collaborates with leading orchestras, opera companies, and musicians including cellist Yo-Yo Ma including the Emmy Award-winning film Falling Down Stairs (1997); percussionist and composer Zakir Hussain, Mr. Ma and jazz pianist Ethan Iverson in Kolam (2002); The Bad Plus in Violet Cavern (2004); pianists Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson and Yoko Nozaki for Mozart Dances (2006); and with the English National Opera in Four Saints in Three Acts (2000) and King Arthur (2006), among others. MMDG's film and television projects also include Dido and Aeneas, The Hard Nut, two documentaries for the U.K.'s South Bank Show, and PBS' Live From Lincoln Center. In September of 2001, the Mark Morris Dance Center opened in Brooklyn, NY, to provide a home for the company, rehearsal space for the dance community, outreach programs for local children, and a school offering dance classes to students of all ages. For more information, visit www.mmdg.org.
The MMDG Music Ensemble, formed in 1996, performs with the Dance Group throughout the season at home and on tour and has become integral to the company's creative life. The core group of accomplished musicians is supplemented by a large roster of regular guests, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax. Most recently, the ensemble, consisting of fourteen musicians, traveled with the company to Moscow, Russia to perform Mark Morris' evening length Dido & Aeneas. While in Brooklyn, members of the ensemble continue to participate in the Mark Morris Dance, Music and Literacy Project in the New York City public school system.

Harris Theater Resident Company Collaborates with Mark Morris Dance Group

On Saturday, February 26, 2011, Harris Theater resident company Hubbard Street Dance Chicago will welcome teachers from Mark Morris Dance Group's Dance for Parkinsons® Program into its studios to co-teach one of HSDC's Parkinson's Project© classes. Hubbard Street has the oldest Parkinson's Dance Project program in the Midwest. This unique collaboration will offer Hubbard Street Level II students the opportunity to experience theories and therapy from two different experts in Parkinson's movement therapy. Led by Founding Teaching Artist and former Hubbard Street dancer Sarah Cullen Fuller, HSDC's Parkinson's Project© uses contemporary dance techniques to work to slow the progress of the disease, as well as providing a community of support for our students.

Participants in this joint class will also have the opportunity to experience a performance by the unparalleled Mark Morris Dance Group at the Harris Theater as part of the Theater's Access Tickets Program.

Launched at the height of the recession in January 2009, the Access Tickets Program offers a minimum of 10% of Family Series and Harris Theater Presents performance tickets free of charge to children and families that do not have the financial means or access to attend live performances.

Through partnerships with more than 20 arts education and local social service and health agencies, the Theater offers in-depth and diverse arts experiences providing arts-based programming to underserved constituencies, and makes it possible for individuals focusing in the performing arts to attend performances by world class artists.
The Theater has developEd Strong relationships with Access Living, Better Boys Foundation, Center on Halsted, Chicago Academy for the Arts, Children's Memorial Hospital, Celestial Ministries, HSDC Parkinson's Project, Music Institute of Chicago, Merit School of Music, and USO of IL to name just a few.
The Access Tickets Program strives to ensure that ALL individuals and families are able to experience the benefits of music and dance to enrich their lives. Since its launch, the program has provided complimentary tickets to over 1,600 participants from more than 20 partner organizations. The Theater's goal for the 2010-2011 season is to reach a minimum of 1,000 children and families.

* * * All programs, prices and dates are subject to change. * * *

Opened in 2003, the Harris Theater's mission is to partner and collaborate with an array of Chicago's emerging and mid-sized performing arts organizations to help them build the resources and infrastructure necessary to achieve artistic growth and long-term organizational sustainability. The Harris Theater for Music and Dance was the first multi-use performing arts venue to be built in the Chicago downtown area since 1929 and today the Theater continues to host the most diverse offerings of any venue in Chicago, featuring the city's world-renowned music and dance institutions and the Harris Theater Presents series of acclaimed national and International Artists and ensembles. To learn more about the season at the Harris Theater, visit www.harristheaterchicago.org or call the box office at 312-334-7777 to request a brochure.

For additional information about the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago's state-of-the art 1,470 seat performance venue, please visit www.harristheaterchicago.org.