The Joffrey Ballet to Present BOLD MOVES, 2/10-21

For its annual winter engagement, The Joffrey Ballet presents "Bold Moves," a program of three contemporary ballets including a World Premiere by British choreographer Ashley Page, along with the return of two popular works from the Joffrey repertoire - Yuri Possokhov's RAkU and Ji?í Kylián's Forgotten Land plus live orchestral accompaniment from the Chicago Philharmonic, led by Joffrey Music Director Scott Speck, during every performance. "Bold Moves" is presented in 10 performances only at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, February 10-21, 2016.

"The Bold Moves program springs from the marriage of music and movement." said Joffrey Ballet Artistic Director Ashley Wheater. "By combining dynamic live music with compelling contemporary choreography, each piece delivers a dramatic punch. We're proud to begin the second half of our 60th anniversary season with this emotionally-charged program. With masterpieces by Ji?í Kylián and Yuri Possokhov and a world premiere by Ashley Page, this program offers dancing as bold as the music which inspired it."

A winner of numerous international dance awards, Ashley Page is known for his daring collaborations with visual artists and contemporary composers. Though drawn from the discipline of ballet, his bold choreography explores new avenues for dance. Following 27 years dancing and choreographing for London's Royal Ballet, and then a decade as the director of the Scottish Ballet, Page is currently working on numerous commissions for ballet and contemporary dance companies around the world. For the Joffrey, Page is creating a work (untitled) for 12 dancers exploring the elemental and organic nature of human behavior through abstract movement that feeds off the drama, texture and constantly shifting energies of in-demand British composer Thomas Adès' violin concerto, Concentric Paths.

Forgotten Land, last performed by the Joffrey in 2012, was created for the Stuttgart Ballet in 1981 by Czech choreographer Ji?í Kylián. Set to the music of English composer Benjamin Britten (Sinfonia da Requiem), with its images of the sea engulfing the land, this ballet is inspired by a painting by the Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch, of women on a beach staring at the sea. Forgotten Land explores memories, events, and people that over time are lost or forgotten and how people sometimes vainly try to recover them, or a sense of them, in order to regain their former power and value.

RAkU, which mesmerized Joffrey Ballet audiences with its Chicago Premiere in September 2014, returns by popular demand. Set to music by Shinji Eshima, this contemporary ballet by San Francisco Ballet Resident Choreographer Possokhov, tells the tale of a Japanese emperor, his wife and a jealous monk driven mad by obsessive love. With a modernist, costume and set design with projections and moving screens, it is a stylized interpretation of the burning of the Kyoto Temple of the Golden Pavilion, brimming with lush lyricism and dark drama.

Tickets and Schedule

The Joffrey Ballet performs "Bold Moves" February 10-21, 2016; the full performance schedule is as follows: Wednesday, February 10 at 7:30pm, Friday, February 12 at 7:30pm, Saturday, February 13 at 2:00pm and 7:30pm, Sunday, February 14 at 2:00pm, Thursday, February 18 at 7:30pm, Friday, February 19 at 7:30pm, Saturday, February 20 at 2:00pm and 7:30pm, Sunday, February 21 at 2:00pm.

Single tickets, priced from $32 to $155, are available for purchase at The Joffrey Ballet's official Box Office located in the lobby of Joffrey Tower, 10 E. Randolph Street, as well as the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University Box Office, all Ticketmaster Ticket Centers, by telephone at (800) 982-2787, or online at ticketmaster.com.