The PAC Celebrates 40 Years in Dance with Jessica Lang Dance, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and More

THE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, PURCHASE COLLEGE (The PAC) welcome new friends, Jessica Lang Dance, and old, Suzanne Farrell Ballet to dance this year at the center. Most performances will be accompanied by master classes, open rehearsals, artists talks and more. All performances take place at The PAC, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY 10577. For tickets call 914-251-6200 or visit www.ArtsCenter.org. Media Kit and Photos for the Season.

"Our Dance Series makes us the unmatched gold standard for Dance in the county while simultaneously leaving our indelible mark on the dance world nationally, by increasingly putting more work made at Purchase into the world," states Interim Director, Seth Solloway. "This season keeps us going forward while honoring our 40 year history with a very special visit from Purchase Alum Kyle Abraham, the last ever area visit from Suzanne Farrell, and brand new built at Purchase pieces from Jessica Lang and LADP."

Abraham.In.MotionDearest Home: A Special Presentation in our Black Box TheatreFriday, October 20, 2017, 8pm | Black Box TheatreSaturday October 21, 2017, 8pm | Black Box Theatre$75 http://www.artscenter.org/events/kyle-abraham-a-i-m/.

Purchase alum Kyle Abraham's company Abraham.In.Motion strives to create an avenue for personal investigation through an evocative, interdisciplinary body of work. Born into hip-hop culture in the late 1970s and grounded in Abraham's artistic upbringing in classical cello, piano, and the visual arts, his work entwines a sensual and provocative vocabulary with a strong emphasis on sound, human behavior, and all things visual.Dearest Home is an interactive dance work developed in a multi-year process, focused on Loving and Longing, Love and Loss. Comprised primarily of solos and duets generated in conversation and collaboration with a variety of age groups and self-identified subcultures, HOME interweaves movement, in its most vulnerable state, with cross-cultural conversation and community action. It will be performed in the in the round, in the intimate setting of our black box theatre.

The presentation of A.I.M.'s Dearest Home is made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Suzanne Farrell Ballet Farewell Tour
Sunday, December 3, 2017, 3pm | Concert Hall
$87.50 / $70 / $57.50 / $32.50
http://www.artscenter.org/events/suzanne-farrell-ballet/

Join us for a very special afternoon with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, which celebrates its final performances this fall.Under the artistic direction of Suzanne Farrell, George Balanchine's most celebrated muse, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet reveals unique insights into Balanchine's works: with Ms. Farrell's coaching and guidance, the company's performances reveal the musicality and nuance of Balanchine's masterful ballets in ways that no other stagings can. New York Times Chief Dance Critic Alastair Macaulay has praised the company for "tackling arduous roles...with degrees of energy, scale, detailed nuance, and musical sophistication seldom found anywhere.

"The program is a pageant of favorites, all handpicked for their special meaning to Ms. Farrell, including classic works of the cannon and iconic works created especially for her by Mr. Balanchine. Says Ms. Farrell: "The enormous respect and pride I have for my dancers is immeasurable. This final program is a reflection of our last 16 years. It has been an honor to serve the art of ballet and of George Balanchine."

L.A. Dance Project
Friday, March 2, 2018, 8pm | PepsiCo Theatre
Saturday, March 3, 2018, 8pm | PepsiCo Theatre
$62.50 / $55 / $35
http://www.artscenter.org/events/la-dance-project/

L.A. Dance Project, founded in 2012 by choreographer and dancer Benjamin Millepied along with composer Nico Muhly, art consultant Matthieu Humery, founding producer Charles Fabius, and composer Nicholas Britell, has made its mark on the dance world with a contemporary approach to art and movement that the Los Angeles Times describes as "a defining artistic vision for our time."Their original works endeavor to be multidisciplinary collaborations with both emerging and established visual artists, musicians, designers, film directors, and composers, contributing to intriguing new platforms for dance.

RUBBERBAN Dance Group
Saturday, March 31, 2018, 8pm | PepsiCo Theatre
$57.50 / $55 / $35
http://www.artscenter.org/events/rubberbandance-group/

Choreographer and dancer Victor Quijada founded RUBBERBANDance Group (RBDG) as a vehicle to manifest his unique choreographic identity through the creation of powerful and innovative dance works.The company, also led by dancer and artistic co-director Anne Plamondon, reconciles the spontaneity, fearlessness and risk-taking of hip-hop culture with the refinement and choreographic maturity of the ballet. Beating with the fresh pulse of street attitude and an acute understanding of theatrical staging, Quijada's choreographies explore human relationships by harnessing the ardor of obsession, the shock of violence, and the delicate nature of tenderness, comedy, and tragedy with a great deal of honesty and courage.

Jessica Lang Dance
Saturday, May 5, 2018, 8pm | Concert Hall
$87.50 / $70 / $57.50 / $32.50
http://www.artscenter.org/events/jessica-lang-dance/
Former Twyla Tharp dancer and choreographer Jessica Lang and her company aim to make their performances full sensory experiences into which onlookers, whether they be balletomanes or dance novices, can completely submerge themselves. Her work blends the fluidity and grounded quality of contemporary dance and the beautiful lines of traditional ballet to great modern effect.On this very special evening, Lang, whose choreography is "reliably sophisticated and achingly beautiful" (Chicago Tribune), will present the world premiere of a brand new work, developed here on campus and set to the music of Tony Bennett, as we celebrate The PAC's own 40th anniversary.