Robert Moses' Kin returns to the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago

The San Francisco-based company Robert Moses' Kin returns to the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago with three Chicago premieres. Performances are February 24-26 at The Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Robert Moses' Kin also will offer a FamilyDance Matinee, featuring a 45-minute family-oriented performance preceded by a movement workshop with the artists on February 26 at The Dance Center.

Making its Chicago premiere is The Cinderella Principle: try these on, see if they fit, a collaboration with playwright Anne Galjour centering on the process of identity formation within non-homogenous "constructed" families, i.e., culturally, racially or genealogically diverse, adoptive or otherwise nontraditional familial groupings. The work, which reflects a new way of looking at and understanding self-definition, interpersonal relationships and family characteristics, features an original score by violinist/composer Todd Reynolds and beat boxer Kid Beyond.

Also on the program are the Chicago premieres of Approaching Thought and Towards September, each highlighting Moses' intensely demanding movement in a technical tour-de-force, together forming a fully realized presentation of dance as a visceral form and featuring original scores by the choreographer.

RESIDENCY ACTIVITIES
As part of Robert Moses' Kin's residency, there will be a post-performance conversation with the artists following the Thursday, February 24 performance, and Moses will give a pre-show talk on Friday, February 25 at 7 p.m., free to ticket holders. Moses also will lead a DanceMasters class Monday, February 21 at 6 p.m. at the Lou Conte Dance Studio at the Hubbard Street Dance Center. DanceMasters is a series of community master classes presented by The Dance Center's division of Community Outreach and Education (COE), in partnership with the Lou Conte Dance Studio at the Hubbard Street Dance Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Classes are for dancers at the intermediate level or higher.

ROBERT MOSES' KIN
Founded in 1995, Robert Moses' Kin aims to produce work that speaks to what is specific and unique in human nature, using movement as the medium through which race, class, culture and gender can voice the existence of our greater potential and unfulfilled possibilities. Founder and Artistic Director Robert Moses explains, "My work expresses my concern with the honor, dignity, truth and potential of real people. Human lives and beliefs are the material, the choreographic elements, of my work." The diverse 11-member company is known for its eclectic movement vocabulary, demanding choreography, ferocious dancing and provocative themes. Moses focuses on the expressiveness of the human body and his desire to speak with the voices of his African American heritage, collaborating with a number of prominent dancers, musicians, composers, sculptors, authors, poets and designers to realize the concept of dance as a unifying form of art, an art form that speaks broadly from a specific place.

2010-11 SEASON
The Dance Center's season continues with Same Planet Different World Dance Theatre (March 10-12); Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group (March 31, April 1-2) and, in collaboration with the Columbia College Chicago Theater Department, The Llanarth Group (May 20-21).

THE DANCE CENTER
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, named "Chicago's Best Dance Theatre" by Chicago magazine and "Best Dance Venue" by the Chicago Reader, is the city's leading presenter of contemporary dance, showcasing artists of regional, national and international significance. Programs of The Dance Center are supported, in part, by Alphawood Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince, New England Foundation for the Arts, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Boeing Company, The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust, The Irving Harris Foundation and Arts Midwest. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. Special thanks to Friends of The Dance Center.

FUNDING
The Dance Center's presentation of Robert Moses' Kin is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

TICKET INFORMATION
Robert Moses' Kin appears February 24-26 at The Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Avenue. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $26-30; subscribers ordering tickets for at least three different performances throughout the season save 20 percent. The FamilyDance Matinee takes place Saturday, February 26 at 3 p.m., preceded by a free movement workshop at 2:15 p.m. Admission for children 12 and younger is free; tickets for adults are $15. The DanceMasters class with Robert Moses on Monday, February 21 at 6 p.m. at the Lou Conte Dance Studio at the Hubbard Street Dance Center, 1147 W. Jackson Blvd., is $15; space is limited. All programming is subject to change. The theatre is accessible to people with disabilities. For more information, call 312-369-8330 or visit colum.edu/dancecenter.

 

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