Liz Gerring Dance Company To Make Chicago Debut of HORIZON, 4/6-8

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago concludes its 2016-17 season with the Chicago debut of Liz Gerring Dance Company performing its newest evening-length work Horizon, described as "exuberantly athletic" by The New York Times. Performances are April 6-8 at the Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

"Horizon is a new work for seven dancers centered around the idea of density," Gerring said. "In this piece, I endeavored to add as much as possible to the space in terms of dancers and movement. With multiple phrases occurring simultaneously, the dance takes the form of a constantly shifting universe full of activity." With contributions from electronic music composer Michael J. Schumacher, production designer Robert Wierzel and costume designer Liz Prince, Gerring's work, performed under a white ceiling cantilevered over the stage, is fresh testimony to her pure, movement-driven action and exhilarating physical surprises in a constantly changing media-saturated stage-world.

Liz Gerring Dance Company
Since its inception in NYC in 1998, Liz Gerring Dance Company has been exploring non-narrative, abstract movement, often derived from natural gesture. Works are characterized by their intense physicality and intricate choreography. Movement evolves from cause and effect rather than storytelling and is framed by independent media elements-often a multi-channel sound score or video set design. Gerring is considered a 21st century formalist, about whom New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay has written, "This is not choreography that turns into poetic images, metaphors, stories, anything other than itself. Yet at times it's wild, cold, amusing, surprising, impetuous."

Residency activities
There will be a post performance conversation with the artists Thursday, April 6 in the theater and a pre performance talk Friday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m. at Sherwood Community Music School Recital Hall, 1312 S. Michigan Ave. (next door to the Dance Center), both free to ticket holders. Additional residency activities with community partners and Columbia College Chicago students take place throughout the week leading up to the performance weekend.

Funding
Horizon was co-produced by Peak Performances @ Montclair State University, developed in residence at the Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair, New Jersey, and supported by a creative residency and commissioning fund provided by the Joyce Theater Foundation, New York City, with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Financial support for Horizon's development was provided by Kirk August Radke. Liz Gerring Dance Company is a program of Tonalmotion Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

The Dance Center's presentation of Liz Gerring Dance Company is funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Dance Center
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago is the city's leading presenter of contemporary dance, showcasing artists of regional, national and international significance. The Dance Center has been named "Chicago's Best Dance Theatre" by Chicago magazine, "Best Dance Venue" by the Chicago Reader and Chicago's top dance venue in 2014 by Newcity, and Time Out Chicago cited it as "...consistently offering one of Chicago's strongest lineups of contemporary and experimental touring dance companies." Programs of the Dance Center are supported, in part, by the Alphawood Foundation; The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince; The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; Illinois Arts Council Agency; the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation; Marcia E. Lazar Challenge Grant; Martha Struthers Farley and Donald C. Farley, Jr. Family Foundation, N.A., Trustee; the Arts Midwest Touring Fund; and the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks to Friends of the Dance Center for their generous contributions to the work of the Dance Center.

Tickets and information
The Dance Center presents the Chicago debut of Liz Gerring Dance Company April 6-8,Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave. Single tickets are $30; groups of 10 or more receive a 25 percent discount. All programming is subject to change. The theatre is accessible to people with disabilities. For information and tickets, call 312-369-8330 and or visitcolum.edu/dancecenterpresents.

(Photos of Horizon by Miguel Anaya.)

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