White Bird presents Jessica Lang Dance at the Newmark Theatre

White Bird is proud to welcome Jessica Lang Dance to the Newmark Theatre, March 8-10, marking the company's first time in Portland. Founded in 2011 in New York City, Jessica Lang Dance (JLD) creates and performs diverse repertoire, often with strong visuals and intense musicality. The Washington Post has declared that "Lang has a gift for conveying emotion with exquisite simplicity." Her work has been called "stunning" and "vibrantly cinematic" by Arts Birmingham (Alabama), and The Boston Globe states that "we enter new realms with each dance."

Jessica Lang Dance performs internationally over 50 times annually at renowned venues such as Lincoln Center's White Light Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Joyce Theater, Winspear Opera House, Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, Helikon Opera and Palacio de Bellas Artes, among others. Known for their cross-disciplinary collaboration, JLD has been simultaneously breaking down barriers of definitive, gender-based roles in dance while sewing together the ideas of choreographers, film artists, costumer designers, and musicians alike.

The company's White Bird debut features six original works choreographed by Artistic Director Jessica Lang. The program ranges from the geometric illusions of Lines Cubed (2012), to the breathtaking costuming of The Calling (2006), which GMB News termed "a surreal essay." The Calling features an enormous billowing dress conceptualized by Lang herself and designed by costume designer Elena Comendador. JLD will also perform glow (2017), which combines the fluidity of ballet with the shapes and conceptual risk of modern dance. Solo Bach (2008), as the title suggests, is a solo performed to J.S Bach's Partita no. 3 in E Major. The program concludes with two powerful dramatic works, Sweet Silent Thought (2016) and Thousand Yard Stare (2015), the latter being a piece that Lang interviewed veterans and therapists in preparation to create.

Born and raised in Bucks County, PA, Jessica Lang is one of the most acclaimed choreographers of her generation, choreographing and teaching throughout the world. She has created original works for companies including American Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, the National Ballet of Japan, and Joffrey, among many other. She is the recipient of a 2014 Bessie Award and the 2017 Arison Award as well as a Juilliard School graduate under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy and a former member of Twyla Tharp's company THARP!

Noted for her dedication to educational activities, Lang developed a unique curriculum for JLD called LANGuage, which is offered as part of the company's programming on tour and locally in New York City, focusing on the Queens community. JLD is committed to engaging and empowering minds of all ages and populations with its Education and Outreach Program. LANGuage focuses on creative thinking while serving a diverse community of dance students, pre-professionals, underserved populations, special education youth, senior citizens and veterans.

White Bird's 20th season (2017-18) is supported by the Regional Arts & Culture Council, including support from the City of Portland, Multnomah County and the Arts Education & Access Fund; Work for Art; The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Cultural Trust, and Starseed Foundation.

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