Annenberg Center Features Barnes & Weare, 2/10-12

Inventive choreography, humor and eclectic music are just a few things audiences can expect when Dance Celebration presents the Philadelphia debut of two of New York's boldest troupes lead by today's up and coming women choreographers, Monica Bill Barnes & Company and Kate Weare Company. The companies will combine forces for a shared evening of contemporary dance works that are both original and theatrically striking - Bill Barnes' witty parody Another Parade and Weare's Bright Land. Performances take place February 10-12, 2011 and are part of the 2010/11 Dance Celebration season presented by Dance Affiliates and the Annenberg Center. For tickets or for more information, please visit AnnenbergCenter.org or call 215.898.3900. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Annenberg Center Box Office located at 3680 Walnut Street.

Performances by Monica Bill Barnes & Company and Kate Weare Company take place on Thursday, February 10 at 7:30 PM; Friday, February 11 at 8:00 PM and Saturday, February 12 at 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM. Tickets are $24-$42 (afternoon performances) $28-$48 (evening performances).

Monica Bill Barnes' Another Parade showcases the many different things performers do on stage to engage an audience. Using theatricality, intelligence, humor, physicality, the troupe of four all-female dancers, wearing conservative skirts and turtleneck sweaters, attempt every conceivable mode of entertainment through symbolic actions, poses, gestures, mugging and miming. Another Parade features a soundtrack that alternates Bach with Burt Bacharach and James Brown and a variety of other popular music including Barbara Streisand, Tina Turner and Elvis. Originally planning on pursuing a career in law, Monica Bill Barnes began her career as a company of one in 1995 in New York City and rapidly began building a reputation with a series of evening-long works, cabaret numbers and inventive site-specific pieces. Of Barnes, The Village Voice has said, "Barnes is one of the wittiest young choreographers around...she can stir your heart as well as make you laugh."

In Kate Weare's Bright Land, a series of dances set to a score of old time music by the San Francisco-based bluegrass band, The Crooked Jades, provides a stark yet complementary contrast to Another Parade. Featuring a quartet of dancers, two men and two women, the piece explores the cyclical nature of human experiences - kinship, belief, suffering and transcendence and between dances, Weare's performers shed articles of clothing and layers of distance. "Weare gets under the skin of movement with almost surgical exactness, inflames it, and then makes it glow with a strange, yet familiar light. No one else is making work quite like hers" (The Village Voice). The core of the piece is a stunning duet for Leslie Kraus and Douglas Gillespie. As a choreographer, Weare has been commissioned by Jacob's Pillow and received the 2009 Princess Grace Award for Choreography. In the summer 2010, Kate Weare Company debuted at The Joyce Theater in a shared program with Monica Bill Barnes & Company.

Randy Swartz, Artistic Director of Dance Affiliates notes, "We finally have new dance voices for a new century as the next generation takes the artistic reins in hand. Smart, witty, and casual with a fresh perspective on just about everything, it's wonderful to watch."

This program replaces Dendy DanceTheater, originally scheduled for the 2010/11 Dance Celebration season. This presentation is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

In addition to performances, Monica Bill Barnes & Company will offer outreach activities including a master class as part of the Artist to Artist Series and a special school performance as part of the Annenberg Center's Student Discovery Series. For more information about the Artist to Artist Series call 215.636.9000 ext. 110 or visit www.danceaffiliates.org. For more information about the Student Discovery Series, call 215.898.6789 or visit www.AnnenbergCenter.org/studentdiscovery

 

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