CAP UCLA Presents Maya Beiser/Wendy Whelan/Lucinda Childs/David Lang THE DAY

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) presents Maya Beiser/Wendy Whelan/Lucinda Childs/David Lang's THE DAY on Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19, at 8 p.m. at Royce Hall. Tickets for $28-$99 are available now at cap.ucla.edu, 310-825-2101, and the Royce Hall box office.

THE DAY, conceived by famed cellist Maya Beiser, should be considered an assembly of legends. A new music/dance work, THE DAY is an evening-length multisensory exploration danced by Wendy Whelan, choreographed by Lucinda Childs, with music by David Lang and recorded vocals, text and live cello performed by Maya Beiser.

Beiser describes Whelan, a beauty and power, as the only one who could fit her vision for this piece. Formerly with New York City Ballet for thirty years, Whelan is a celebrated ballerina across the world. Working with Lucinda Childs was a dream of both Beiser and Whelan and created what Beiser calls "magic." Choreographer Lucinda Childs is a CAP alum: her Dance Company performed at Royce Hall in 2016.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang, a long-time friend to Beiser, created the musical compositions in order for THE DAY to be fully conceived. The two musical compositions are called the day and world to come. The first part takes the audience through themes of memory, aging, and death with the following prompt, "I remember the day."

The second part focuses on the ideas of the soul leaving the body and what happens after you die. This second composition, actually composed first, was created during the devastating attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. Beiser, Whelan, Childs, and Lang created something truly spectacular. Through their collaboration and support, THE DAY graces the Royce Hall stage for its West Coast Premiere this October.

Funds for the CAP UCLA presentation of THE DAY are provided in part by Deborah Irmas and the Merle & Peter Mullin Endowment for the Performing Arts.

CAP UCLA's Dance series continues next year with Pam Tanowitz/Brice Marden/Kaija Saariaho: Four Quartets (Feb 15 & 16, Royce Hall).

Photo credit Hayim Heron, courtesy of Jacob's Pillow.