'Sensedance' To Perform Engagement at Ailey Citigroup

Henning Rübsam: SENSEDANCE performs a special engagement for its 2008 season with the premiere of "Cloudforest" at The Ailey Citigroup Theater (The Joan Weill Center for Dance), 405 West 55th Street at 9th Avenue.  The program of new dances will be performed Saturday, November 8th - Tuesday, November 11th at 8:00 pm (Sunday 11/9 at 7 pm).

Choreographer Henning Rübsam presents his company of stellar dancers in new ballets on point and with multi-media work. “Cloudforest” is a magical journey - a tribe coming together through movement. Physical trust allows for breathtaking configurations and results in a renascence of communal and spiritual energy. Set to a collage of scores, the music illustrates shifts of converging cloud patterns.  Costumes are by avant-gardist Lars Andersson and lighting design by Stephen Petrilli.

Other new works are set to music by frequent collaborator composer and pianist Beata Moon, whose third CD was released by NAXOS to glowing reviews.  "Amaranthine Road" is a pas de deux capturing the beauty of an imaginary flower that never fades.  It is created for long-time NYCB dancer and Dance Theatre of Harlem principal Andrea Long and Hassan Blandford. For “Inter-Mez-Zo” they are joined by Amanda Cobb (ABT, Ohio Ballet) and DTH principal Ramon Thielen. Christine Reisner, a former Alwin Nikolais dancer, who has appeared as a soloist with SENSEDANCE since 2002, will perform the New York premieres of two short movement studies "Innocence" and “Final Bell” - honoring the late composer Ronald Mazurek. Slide projection is designed by Ruth Grauert (Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement Award winner and 40-year Nikolais tech veteran). The seductive "Caves" for Ms. Long and former ABT dancer Dartanion Reed to music by Guggenheim composition fellow Ricardo Llorca as well as divertissements from “Merciless Beauty” set to Bach and Leslie Wildman complete the multifaceted program.

Henning Rübsam directs SENSEDANCE, a New York City-based dance company, presenting annual NYC seasons since 1992. He continues to reach out to artists of other disciplines and has an impressive roster of frequent collaborators. SENSEDANCE was founded in the hope that through the SENSES for a moment we can still all meet.  He also directs and choreographs for opera and theater, including Outer Critics Circle Award winner Lanie Robertson's Off-Broadway production "Cannibal's Waltz". Rübsam’s June production of “Spirit of Sepharad” is presented at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. He will choreograph the new musical "HURRICANE" by composer Michael Holland and will direct Edward Hudaverdi’s “The 93rd day of Spring.”

Rübsam was the subject of television documentaries in both the U.S. and his native Germany and DANCEVISTA produced three TV specials about him and his work. The documentary "Behind the Curtain" features him alongside NYCB and Graham principals as well as Prima Ballerina Assoluta Eva Evdokimova, for whom he created a critically acclaimed solo.  He has been awarded government, foundation and corporate grants as well as the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen- und Halbach Prize, a Lincoln Center Fellowship, and the DRA Award.

He joined the faculty of his alma mater, The Juilliard School, in fall 2006 and is Resident Choreographer of the Hartford City Ballet. He is a sought-after guest choreographer for ballet and contemporary ensembles across the globe and a master teacher for dance technique and dance composition. In February 2008 he was a guest artist for Ballet Nacional del Peru and the Universidad de Lima.  Henning Rübsam tours a solo program with works to live and original music and is the first dance artist to be invited to speak at the annual international GEL conference.

Tickets are now on sale for $35; online at www.smarttix.com or by phone at (212) 868-4444.  Student/Dancer Rush (with ID/class card) for $15 at the door.  There is also a special Opening Saturday 11/08 benefit ticket at $150 which includes a festive catered reception after the performance.  Rübsam’s mentors of both the ballet and modern dance, Eve Evdokimova and Beverly Blossom are the artists co-chairs for the event. For information please visit www.sensedance.org

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