Verb Ballets And Body EDT At Danceworks 2017, 5/11-13

Returning from its two week international tour to Taiwan, Verb Ballets features a shared program with Taiwanese dance company BodyEDT for DanceWorks 2017 presented by Cleveland Public Theatre. Verb Ballets' presents a dynamic evening of works by company dancers Michael Hinton and Antonio Morillo. Lee Ming-Cheng, Artistic Director and Creator of Body Expressions Dance Theatre (BodyEDT) will present the United States premiere of Initial- Space Starting combining movement with installations, digital, technology, and instrumental music.

Ming's works have received many awards including Creative Award, Taishin Art Award, Taipei Digital Art Award and respectively granted dance and technology research awards from the Ministry of Culture. Lee joined Verb Ballets last spring for a three-month residency through The Cleveland Foundation's Creative Fusion program, bringing a world-class style and vision to the company.

Morillo's work, Pieces of Yearning, was chosen by the Martha Graham Dance Theatre for its NEXT@Graham series which premiered in New York. His work drew inspiration from the work of Merce Cunningham and explores the process of relating the environment to movement development. The original score composed by Sean Hamilton is a conjunction of new, electroacoustic, free improvisation and experimental music. The music and the dance exist simultaneously in the same space, but are not related to one another.

Verb Ballets' dancer Hinton premiered Broken Bridges at the Akron Civic Theatre on the Continuing the Legacy of Heinz Poll evening. Hinton has re-imagined Elegiac Song to tell a new story of struggle, bringing the piece into this century while retaining its intensity and beauty.

This performance is the culmination of Verb Ballets and BodyEDT dual continental residency connecting a dance company of a major Midwestern city with a Taiwanese dance company. This creative fusion created opportunity for deeper and prolonged commitment between artists and encourages responsible global citizenry. Verb Ballets is grateful for the support of The Cleveland Foundation in making this residency and trip possible.

Verb Ballets will perform in DanceWorks 2017, May 11-13, 2017 in the Cleveland Public Theatre's James Levin Theatre. The newly-renovated James Levin Theatre is fully ADA compliant featuring a patron elevator and gender neutral, wheelchair accessible restroom. Performances take place at 7:00 p.m. Single tickets on Fridays and Saturdays are $30 for general admission and $12 for all tickets on Thursdays. Purchase seats by calling 216-631-2727 ext. 501, online at www.cptonline.org or buy in person at the Cleveland Public Theatre box office, located at 6415 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44102. For more information on the DanceWorks 2017 series and to purchase tickets, visit www.cptonline.org.