CAP UCLA Presents THE GREAT TAMER: A Work by Dimitris Papaioannou

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) in association with Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance present the U.S. Premiere of Dimitris Papaioannou's celebrated work The Great Tamer on Friday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m. at Royce Hall. Tickets for $29-$79 are available now at cap.ucla.edu, via Ticketmaster, by phone 310-825-2101, and at the UCLA Central Ticket Office.

Conceived, visualized, and directed by Dimitris Papaioannou, The Great Tamer takes its audience on a journey through the meaning of life and the mysteriousness of death.

Moving within the framework of innovative choreography and stunning optical illusions, performers pause in tableaux recalling sculptures and paintings of great masters such as Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, Michelangelo's David and Anatomy Lesson by Rembrandt. In these scenes, familiarity collides with the unknown and unexplored allowing viewers to wrestle with thoughts and emotions evoked by the piece. Nudity is used to punctuate moments of gravity and absurdity, helping to evoke the full spectrum of life.

On the heels of a successful international run including at the famed Festival d'Avignon in the south of France, The Great Tamer features ten performers who seamlessly join to look into the deepest and darkest parts of the human soul.

Perhaps most widely known for creating the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Papaioannou is the rare artist who traverses and merges visual and performative mediums: art, dance, set design, costume and staging to create unforgettable not-to-be-missed experiences; experiences that strike the heart and challenge the mind all at once.

Funds provided by Deborah Irmas, Diane Levine and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation multi-year grant for Collaborative Intersections in the Visual and Performing Arts.

CAP UCLA's 2018-19 theater series continues with Quote Unquote Collective in association with Why Not Theatre MOUTHPIECE (Feb. 9, Royce Hall Rehearsal Room), Andrew Dawson: Space Panorama and Spirit of the Ring (Feb. 21-22, Royce Hall Rehearsal Room), Carrie Mae Weems: Past Tense (March 8, The Theatre at Ace Hotel), CAP UCLA in association with Center Theatre Group presents The White Album by Joan Didion by Lars Jan/Early Morning Opera (April 5-7, Freud Playhouse).