The 2008 Financial Crisis And Climate Change Seen Through Contemporary Ballet

MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet (MOVEIUS), pushing the boundaries of ballet to tackle policy issues affecting society, has been invited to be the opening performance of the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival. MOVEIUS' evening of repertoire at the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival will take place on February 21, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. at the Atlas Performing Arts Center and will continue creating a path for ballet to speak to social issues. With Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall the company looks back at the 2008 recession with 10-years of hindsight. Glacier: A Climate Change Ballet uses modern and ballet choreography as a medium that transports audiences to the artic, making the threat of polar ice cap collapse palpable.

Set to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring score, Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall employs Stravinsky's storyline-along with pedestrian props drawn from every day spaces such as corporate offices-as the company of dancers inhabits the stage in an examination of power and accountability. In GLACIER: A Climate Change Ballet MOVEIUS' dancers ripple, crack and plunge amidst live video projections by renowned filmmaker Robin Bell, creating movement that connects the audience-member to the impact of global warming.

"Whether about the immediate threat of global warming, or the effects of a financial crisis, ballet provides a unique opportunity to lend emotion to these challenging political and social issues," says climate-change policy expert and MOVEIUS' Artistic Director Diana Movius. "I want audience members to leave with a desire to take action."

The missions of both MOVEIUS and The Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival also intersect-as both present impactful art works that take-on issues affecting culture and society. Most recently Glacier: A Climate Change Ballet had its West Coast premiere at the Global Climate Action Summit, where it became the first ballet ever presented at an international climate conference. Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall was commissioned by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as part of the 2018 Local Dance Commissioning Project.

EVENT AND VENUE DETAILS

Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall and Glacier: A Climate Change Ballet at the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival will run Thursday, February 21st at 8:00 p.m. The performance will take place at Lang Theatre, located at 1333 H St., NE Washington, DC. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased here.

REPERTORY DETAILS

Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall (2018)

Choreography: Diana Movius

Composer: Igor Stravinsky

A dance-theater piece underpinned by contemporary ballet technique, Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall borrows its storyline from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, and features Stravinsky's full score to revisit the financial crisis of 2008. As in the traditional Rite of Spring storyline, an ancient tribe chooses a victim-The Chosen One-to sacrifice to the gods. With an eye back to 2008, and with our current political environment in mind, the ballet will prompt audiences to ask the question: who will be The Chosen One in this modern take on a classic story?

Glacier: A Climate Change Ballet (2015)

Choreography: Diana Movius

Music: Max Richter, David Lang, Andrew Thomas

GLACIER creates an onstage arctic environment where the threat of polar icecap collapse is set to movement by dancers who ripple, crack and plunge amidst live video projections by filmmaker Robin Bell.