The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Presents DEMO: HEROES

Following the success of last season's new DEMO series, Damian Woetzel continues to unite artists from across fields around a common theme in a performance on October 10, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. This installment of the multi-genre series brings together acclaimed artists for a special one-night performance to celebrate their heroes and artistic inspirations. The cast of Heroes features soprano Jacqueline Bolier, singer/songwriter Kate Davis, Broadway and New York City Ballet star Robert Fairchild, tap dance powerhouse Jared Grimes, acclaimed ballerina Carla Körbes, visual art curator, author, and historian Sarah Lewis, Memphis jookin' dance pioneer Lil Buck (last seen as part of DEMO: Place), the MusiCorps Wounded Warrior Band, and jazz prodigy Matthew Whitaker.

"For this DEMO we are celebrating our heroes, those who inspire us, the shoulders we all stand upon, and thinking about the idea of heroism in all our lives," said director Damian Woetzel. "It might be Robert Fairchild bowing to Gene Kelly, Kate Davis remembering David Bowie, or Matthew Whitaker channeling the energy of Stevie Wonder-DEMO: Heroes will be a roll call of gratitude, with extraordinary artists paying homage through their performances to their inspirations."

"We will also pay tribute to our heroes of creative genius," continued Woetzel, "with the ballerina Carla Körbes performing Elegie-an extraordinary solo choreographed by George Balanchine and rarely seen since its premiere in 1983-as well as Martha Graham's iconic dance Lamentation."

"Beyond those tributes," concluded Woetzel, "we will salute heroism itself, as the MusiCorps Wounded Warrior Band honor us in joining this special performance.

Previous DEMO performances have centered around the theme of Time and Place, and featured artists including iconic dancer and actress Carmen De Lavallade, Grammy®-nominated tabla player Sandeep Das, actor, clown, and comedian Bill Irwin, and New York City Ballet ballerina and star of the Kennedy Center's Little Dancer, Tiler Peck.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

New York City Ballet Principal Dancer turned director, choreographer, and producer Damian Woetzel curates and hosts DEMO. Woetzel is currently the Artistic Director of the Vail International Dance Festival and the Director of Arts Programs for the Aspen Institute. Dubbed "the matchmaker" by the New York Times in 2013, Woetzel has earned acclaim over the last years for creating unusual combinations of music, dance, and theater, often engaging with the world of ideas, in venues varying from China's National Performing Arts Center to New York's Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

Robert Fairchild is a Principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, and most recently starred on the Tony Award®-winning Broadway hit musical An American in Paris. ?B?orn in Salt Lake City, Utah, he ?began his dance training at age four. In June 2005, Mr. Fairchild became an apprentice with New York City Ballet, and the following June, he joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet. He was promoted to soloist in May 2007, and in October 2009 was promoted to Principal dancer. ?In the 2013, Fairchild ?played the role of Carousel Boy in the New York Philharmonic's Emmy-nominated production of Carousel directed by John Rando and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. Fairchild is an artist-in-residence of the Vail International Dance Festival, and he is a recipient of the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise at The School of American Ballet.

Jacqueline Bolier graduated from Curtis Institute of Music, where she performed Anna Gomez (The Consul), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Musetta (La Bohe?me), and la Pastorelle (L'enfant et les Sortile?ges). She is a Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Encouragement Award Winner, and a first place winner in both the Queens College Vocal Heritage Competition and the Friday Woodmere Music Club Vocal Competition. Among her appearances, Ms. Bolier has performed at the Portland Opera Performing Institute, the Acade?mie Internationale d'e?te? de Nice, and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

Named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" in 2012 and the Wall Street Journal's 2014 Performing Arts Innovator, Lil Buck began jookin'-a street dance that originated in Memphis-at age 13. His rendition of The Swanwith world renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, brought together by Damian Woetzel, has garnered more than 3 million views to date, and opened the door to future collaborations with a broad range of renowned artists, from Janelle Monae to JR, to the New York City Ballet, and Madonna. Lil Buck was the 2011 artist-in-residence at the Vail International Dance Festival and also served as an artistic ambassador alongside Yo-Yo Ma at the U.S.-China Forum on the Arts and Culture in Beijing that same year. In 2013, among other performances he starred in the award-winning show, Lil Buck @ (le) Poisson Rouge, which was directed by Woetzel and featured Ma and an assortment of international musicians. Lil Buck has performed on The Ellen Degeneres Show, with Madonna during her Super Bowl XLVI halftime show and on her MDNA and Rebel Heart tours, and in the Cirque du Soleil show Michael Jackson: One. He was an Aspen Institute Harman-Eisner Artist-in-Residence in 2014.

The music of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Kate Davis has been turning heads in New York's music scene since 2012. Whether she's crooning rootsy ballads or plucking bright riffs from her bass, the gutsy songstress from Portland, Oregon, puts a fresh spin on the standards and brings a canonical sensibility to her own lush tracks. Lauded by MTV as one of 2014's "15 Fresh Females Who Will Rule Pop," Davis has performed at illustrious venues including the Kennedy Center, The Bowery Ballroom, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall, among others. Recently, she has shared the stage with such diverse artists as Alison Krauss, Josh Groban, Ben Folds, Sara Bareilles, and Renée Fleming. Her accolades include a Robert Allen Award from the ASCAP Foundation and her arts advocacy work includes a presentation at TEDx Portland and participation in the 2010 National Arts Policy Roundtable. She is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music.

Multitalented Jared Grimes is a quadruple threat in the world of the arts where he is heavily making his mark in singing, dancing, acting, and choreographing. On numerous occasions, he has danced alongside legends such as Wynton Marsalis, Gregory Hines, and Jerry Lewis. He has toured with Mariah Carey and danced for artists such as Common, Salt-n-Pepa, En Vogue, Busta Rhymes, and the Roots. His numerous theater credits include After Midnight on Broadway, Twist, Babes in Arms, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and television and film credits include Fringe, Boardwalk Empire, The Marc Pease Experience, Little Manhattan, and First Born, among others. Currently he is choreographing the musical Jelly's Last Jam at Signature Theater.

Carla Körbes was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and began her ballet training at age five with local teachers. At age 11, she began studying at Ballet Vera Bublitz and in 1996, Peter Boal, former NYCB Principal Dancer, danced with her as a guest artist of the school and encouraged her to come to New York to study at the School of American Ballet. For the academic year 1997-1998, her tuition was paid for by renowned ballerina Alexandra Danilova so she could continue studying. She joined the New York City Ballet as an apprentice in 1999, and was promoted to the corps de ballet a year later, and soloist in 2005. During her tenure with the company she was the recipient of the Mae. L. Wien Award (1999) and was the Janice Levin Dancer Honoree for 2001-2002. She joined Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) as a soloist in 2005, later promoted to Principal in 2006. June 7th, 2015 marked Korbes' last performance with PNB. The same month she assumed her current role as Associate Artistic Director of L.A. Dance Project. Ms. Korbes continues to perform as an acclaimed guest artist, frequently under the direction of DEMO creator Damian Woetzel. Of her performances at Woetzel's Vail International Dance Festival in 2015, the New York Times wrote: "Ms. Körbes is a paragon, one of those rare dance creatures who truly seem like an apparition from an ideal realm."

Bestselling author, curator, and an Assistant Professor at Harvard University, Sarah Lewis' most recent book,The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery (Simon & Schuster) is a Los Angeles Timesbestseller. Her essays on race, contemporary art, and culture have been published in many journals as well as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Artforum, Art in America and in publications for the Smithsonian Institution, The Museum of Modern Art, and Rizzoli. She is the guest editor of Aperture magazine's issue dedicated to the theme of "Vision & Justice," the topic of her first course at Harvard University and the related exhibition at the Harvard Art Museums (August 2016-January 2017). Lewis is a frequent speaker at many universities and conferences such as TEDGlobal, SXSW, PopTech, ASCD, and for a wide range of organizations from the Aspen Institute to the Getty to The Federal Reserve Bank.

Jazz prodigy Matthew Whitaker has performed nationally and internationally in such venues as the UN Youth Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, SF Jazz Center, the Kennedy Center (most recently at the KC Jazz Club in February 2016), and internationally in France, Italy, Morocco, Tokyo, and Japan. Whitaker started playing the electric keyboard at the age of three and at nine, taught himself how to play the Hammond Be organ. At age 13, he became the youngest artist to be endorsed by Hammond Organ in its 81-year history. He studies classical piano and drums at The Filomen M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School of Lighthouse Guild for the Blind and Visually Impaired in New York City and attended the Harlem School of the Arts for piano studies in jazz. He has performed with legends such as Ray Chew, Christian McBride, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Rhoda Scott, Marc Cary, Arturo O'Farrill, and Wayne Brady.

MusiCorps Wounded Warrior Band, the performance component of MusiCorps, is made up of injured veterans who became musicians through MusiCorps. With powerful performances that speak to the talent and resilience of its members, the Band has performed with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Yo-Yo Ma, Sheryl Crow, Billy Corgan, Tom Morello, Ricky Skaggs, Aaron Neville, Oleta Adams, and the Kansas City Symphony, among others and at venues the Kennedy Center, Grand Ole Opry, Madison Square Garden, and Constitution Hall. They have been covered by NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and CNN, and performed on PBS, The Colbert Report, and NCIS.

Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased online, at the Kennedy Center box office or by calling Instant Charge at (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.

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