Jacob's Pillow to Welcome the Brian Brooks Moving Company, 7/10-14

Jacob's Pillow presents dynamic contemporary dance ensemble Brian Brooks Moving Company July 10-14 in its Doris Duke Theatre. Led by choreographer and Artistic Director Brian Brooks, a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow, the company presents a daring program featuring larger-than-life stage design, bold costuming, and full-out movement. These Pillow performances showcase multifaceted explorations of space and motion in four different works choreographed by Brooks including BIG CITY, I'm Going to Explode, DESCENT, and excerpts from MOTOR.

Brooks uses engaging and rigorous choreography in the ensemble work BIG CITY (2012), exploring the impacts of deconstruction and the human efforts involved in the process of rebuilding. The piece showcases Brooks' affinity for architecture through a dynamic, large-scale stage installation constructed with hundreds of aluminum pipes. The audience watches as the incredible floor-to-ceiling set is raised, symbolizing the reconstruction that follows loss. The company's seven dancers, accompanied by an original score from composer Jonathan Pratt, test the limits of physical and emotional endurance as well as the line between balance and imbalance.

I'm Going to Explode (2007), a solo choreographed and performed by Brooks, juxtaposes the tension of working within confined spaces against the relief of breaking out of them. Brooks explores movement within articulated areas, such as his immediate surroundings and the relative space defined by his body. The piece demonstrates the dichotomy of Brooks' movement, both fluid and rigid at the same time. The choreography intertwines an array of influences ranging from formal dance techniques and street dance to sports and physics.

The entire company comes together in DESCENT (2011), a group work that aims to investigate the relationships between bodies and their tendencies for both dependency and detachment. Through Brooks' "visually arresting" choreography (Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times), the dancers are propelled through space in a sequence of graceful falls and collisions. The piece features inventive lighting design, metallic costuming, and an electronic original score by composer Adam Crystal.

Closing the program, the dancers in the duet MOTOR (2010) "subtly, sublimely vary their routine, gradually injecting graceful swoops and other twists, for a complex, transcendent ode to simplicity" (Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune).

Aside from his Guggenheim Fellowship, Brooks boasts a series of accomplishments in 2013 including the NY City Center Fellowship and the Jerome Robbins New Essential Works Grant. Brooks has also been commissioned to create new works this year for the Juilliard School and the Vail International Dance Festival. In addition to the six performances with his company, Brian Brooks will return to the Pillow August 14-18 to perform a duet with Wendy Whelan choreographed for Restless Creature.

Company History: Since embarking on its first national tour in 2002, the Brian Brooks Moving Company has produced dance works for live performance and film that "shatter conventional notions of the human capacity for strength and endurance" (Susan Yung, Dance Magazine). Performing annually in its hometown of New York City and throughout the U.S., the group has been presented several times in South Korea, Montreal, and in Dusseldorf, Germany. Additionally, the company has enjoyed two consecutive seasons at The Joyce Theater (2011, 2012) and is preparing its debut at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music (BAM) as part of the Next Wave Festival.

Festival Connections: Brian Brooks Moving Company first performed on the Pillow's Inside/Out stage during the 2003 festival season.

Tickets are $22-$38. Now on sale online at jacobspillow.org, via phone at 413.243.0745, or in person at the Jacob's Pillow Box Office. Under 35 Friday Tickets are available for $19 on Friday, July 12 (ages 18-35), two per person, must show I.D. when picking up tickets. Available by phone and in person only.

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