Part of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Dance Residency, PNB Dance Film Festival Presented by The Music Center in Association with Dance Camera West to Premiere at Jerry Moss Plaza on July 13
LOS ANGELES (June 29, 2022) – Pacific Northwest Ballet, one of the nation’s largest and most highly regarded ballet companies, returns to The Music Center on July 15–17, 2022, as part of the 19th season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center. Showcasing three stunning, daring works choreographed by Twyla Tharp, Crystal Pite and the company’s resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo, under the direction of Peter Boal, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s three-day Los Angeles residency is part of the company’s 50th anniversary celebration and will feature live music by the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra. The company last performed at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 2016 as part of Celebrate Forsythe, a special salute to the acclaimed choreographer William Forsythe.
Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Music Center residency also includes the PNB Dance Film Festival, a free film festival presented by The Music Center in association with Dance Camera West, and therapeutic dance classes for people with Parkinson’s disease and their care partners.
“We are thrilled to welcome Pacific Northwest Ballet back to The Music Center for a multi-faceted residency and to join in celebrating 50 years of incredible dance. Our audiences are in for a treat as the company will perform a mixed repertoire including contemporary works never before seen in Los Angeles,” said Rachel S. Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center. “We are also excited to collaborate with the company and Dance Camera West to bring the PNB Dance Film Festival to Southern California. This is a wonderful way to highlight how dance brings joy to our lives, and I welcome all Angelenos to join us for the free public screenings where they will discover both the magic of dance and the creativity of highly talented local filmmakers.”
Pacific Northwest Ballet’s performances will feature Little mortal jump, a complex work by the company’s resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo. The 26-minute piece is a bubbling blend of different styles and genres that distills into a fluid, cohesive whole. The dance fuses the technicality of movement, the theatricality of the stage and the dark humor inherent in relationships. The program continues with Plot Point, a haunting piece (with music from the 1960 movie Psycho) inspired by film noir and created by Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite; in Plot Point each performer is shadowed by a counterpart dancer. The concept piece features dancers whose configurations and gestures sketch out the essential plot points of a narrative as their corresponding characters embody the emotional tone and tension of those moments. The performances will be capped by Twyla Tharp’s large-scale work Waiting at the Station, a piece which the incomparable choreographer developed for the company in 2013 as its first-ever artist-in-residence. Set in 1940s New Orleans, with a score by R&B artist Allen Toussaint, the work’s “scale, humanity and impetus sweep” (New York Times) the audience into a narrative ballet that follows a man attempting to connect with his son one final time.
Launched in April 2022 by The Music Center in association with Dance Camera West, the free PNB Dance Film Festival offered an open call to Southern California student and professional filmmakers, digital dance creators and emerging artists to submit short or long dance films for consideration by an esteemed panel of professionals in the dance field. Created originally by Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2021 in response to an explosion of creativity during the pandemic, the festival helps continue to unite voices within the dance community and forge a more connected and inclusive arts world.
The winning films include:
- bound/less by Victoria Brown (TRT: 8 minutes, 29 seconds)
In commemoration of National Women’s Equality Day and the 19th Amendment, MashUp Contemporary Dance Company commissioned three choreographers to explore racial tensions within the feminist movement. Accompanied by a narration of Alyesha Wise’s poem To Black Women, Brown's film explores living as a black woman in America, encountering many challenges and expectations by society and even ourselves. - the construct of one by Hayden Rivas (TRT: 4 minutes, 21 seconds)
Rivas writes: “This film was made with the intention of trying to showcase my own feelings of feeling isolated but consistently trying to brush it off. I'm surrounded by so many wonderful people that it feels as though I should have no complaints, however, at times I feel lost. I wanted to use movement to showcase the feelings that I wish I could express with words.” - The Farewell by Kitty McNamee (TRT: 5 minutes, 26 seconds)
Star crossed lovers torn apart by racial divides and the call to war rendezvous for what will be their final dance. - Firebrand Sway by Achinta S. McDaniel & Saam Gabbay (TRT: 4 minutes, 53 seconds)
A dance film conceived by choreographer and Blue13 Dance Company’s Artistic Director Achinta S. McDaniel. Born of her collaboration with director Saam Gabbay, the short film is an abstract exploration of longing and loss and the connection of beings across the multiverse. String theory and sonder are brought to life through contemporary western movement with classical Indian Bharatanatyam and Kathak in an other-worldly landscape. - Gumball by Derion Loman & Madison Olandt (TRT: 4 minutes, 13 seconds)
Grab a quarter, turn the crank, and enjoy the colorful world of Gumball. A piece created out of play and collaboration motivated by cause and effect and momentum. - REMNANTS OF HOPE: DREAMS by Isaiah Kim (TRT: 4 minutes, 58 seconds)
A short dance documentary film composed of three different chapters titled HERITAGE, DREAMS, & FAITH. Presented through narration and dance choreography, each chapter is a real-life story of Vietnamese Modern/Animation dancer SonLam Nguyen who traveled to America five years ago in pursuit of a professional career in Los Angeles, hoping to work hard and to provide a better life and future for his family in Vietnam. The chapters examine the ways in which the human experience shapes and molds our character and how the presence of hope is what gives us identity. - Unconscious by Derion Loman & Madison Olandt (TRT 12 minutes, 01 second)
In the hustle of everyday life, it can be all too easy to fall into monotony. Unconscious is a cinematic work that questions our connection to each other as humans. At its core this piece provides a space for the viewer to contemplate their daily interactions through a new lens.
The Music Center will screen the films to the public starting on Wednesday, July 13, on the LED screens on its Jerry Moss Plaza. Screenings will continue throughout Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Los Angeles residency. Winning films will also be screened to performance ticketholders in Stern Grand Hall located in The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Southern California filmmakers in three categories submitted nearly 300 dance films: students under 18 years of age; students 18 years and older; and professional filmmakers. Filmmakers could submit a short dance film (four minutes or less) or long dance film (four to 12 minutes, suggested maximum) for consideration by an esteemed panel of industry professionals, among them:
- Patrick Corbin, founder of Corbin Dances and a faculty member of USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance;
- Silas Farley, a former dancer with New York City Ballet who now serves as Dean of the Trudi Zipper Dance Institute at Colburn School in Los Angeles;
- Irishia Hubbard, an interdisciplinary artist whose films have premiered in festivals such as Dance Camera West, ADF’s Movies By Movers and CineVox Dance Film Festival;
- Eva Stone, founder, producer and curator of CHOP SHOP: Bodies of Work, founder of The Stone Dance Collective, and currently on faculty at Spectrum Dance Theater and Pacific Northwest Ballet School; and
- Rourou Ye, an independent choreographer whose works with movement, shadow puppetry and technology have shown at Movement Research, Center for Performance Research, Austin Dance Festival and more.
As part of TMC Arts’ commitment to engagement experiences that enrich communities Dance for PD® at Pacific Northwest Ballet, in collaboration with Seattle Theatre Group, will offer internationally acclaimed, free dance classes in Los Angeles for people with Parkinson’s disease and their care partners on Friday, July 15, 2022. The classes will be taught by a professional teaching artist trained in the Dance for PD® model and will be accompanied by a professional musician. All are welcome—neither dance experience nor a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is required to participate—and the class is open to all abilities and mobility of movement. The experience includes seated upper and lower body warm up and progresses either seated or standing, exploring a variety of movement and dance styles. Participants may remove their shoes to dance, wear socks with rubber traction on the bottom or wear shoes for the duration of class.
“We are thrilled to partner with Dance Camera West, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Seattle Theatre Group to offer experiences that engage the public in addition to performances. The PNB Dance Film Festival and the Dance for PD® at Pacific Northwest Ballet are examples of our commitment to expanding ways for Angelenos to learn and experience both dance and dancing at The Music Center,” said Josephine Ramirez, executive vice president of TMC Arts for The Music Center. “We are grateful to our partners for helping us extend and enhance our vision of deepening cultural lives.”
Currently, The Music Center requires all members of the public who attend performances and events inside The Music Center’s four theatres to show proof of full vaccination for COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of attendance (including children under 12). All visitors to The Music Center’s indoor venues must wear a face covering, whether fully vaccinated or not. These policies could change and will be adapted to current conditions.
In accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health directives, The Music Center worked behind-the-scenes during the pandemic to prepare for the return of live performances in its venues, both indoors and outdoors, by implementing new measures and procedures. The Music Center became the first performing arts organization in the nation to earn the UL Verified Healthy Buildings Mark for Indoor Air and Water Quality. The Music Center underwent an extensive assessment process to earn the verification, demonstrating that each of its four venues, Grand Park’s administrative office and The Music Center Annex has excellent quality for indoor air and water. Additionally, The Music Center has enhanced all cleaning procedures, installed hand sanitizer dispensers in all public spaces and created a contact-free experience in its public restrooms as well as instituted electronic ticketing and a digital program book, among other measures.
Tickets for Pacific Northwest Ballet performances at The Music Center start at $34 and are available for purchase online at musiccenter.org/pnb; at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Box Office, 135 N. Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012; or by calling 213-972-0711. For groups of 10 or more, call 213-972-8555 or email mcgroupsales@musiccenter.org
The 19th season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center is generously supported by Glorya Kaufman Foundation, Center Dance Arts, Dorothy B. Chandler Program Fund and Elisabeth Katte Harris.
*Programs and artists subject to change.
Situated on the ancestral and sacred land of the Tongva and many other indigenous groups who call these grounds home, The Music Center acknowledges and honors with gratitude the land itself and the First People who have been its steward throughout the generations.
CALENDAR LISTINGS
Pacific Northwest Ballet
The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Friday, July 14, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 15, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 16, 2022, at 2:00 p.m.
Performances:
Little mortal jump (Duration: 26 minutes)
Choreography: Alejandro Cerrudo
Music: Beirut, Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire, Alexandre Desplat, Philip Glass, Hans Otte, Max Richter
Staging: Pablo Piantino
Scenic Design: Alejandro Cerrudo
Costume Design: Branimira Ivanova
Lighting Design: Michael Korsch
Plot Point (Duration: 32 minutes)
Choreography: Crystal Pite
Music: Bernard Hermann (from Psycho, 1960), with additional sound design by Owen Belton
Staging: Sandra Marín Garcia
Scenic Design: Jay Gower Taylor
Costume Design: Nancy Bryant
Lighting Design: Alan Brodie
Waiting at the Station (Duration: 32 minutes)
Choreography: Twyla Tharp
Music: Allen Toussain
Staging: Kiyon Gaines
Scenic and Costume Design: Santo Loquasto
Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls
Box Office:
The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
135 N. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tickets start at $34.
Online:
musiccenter.org/pnb
Phone:
213-972-0711
For 10 tickets or more, call 213-972-8555 or email mcgroupsales@musiccenter.org
PNB Film Festival
The PNB Dance Film Festival presented by The Music Center in association with Dance Camera West will be screened to the public free of cost on Jerry Moss Plaza and to ballet performance ticketholders inside Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s Stern Grand Hall, as follows:
- Wednesday, July 13, 2022, 5:00 p.m. – Midnight on Jerry Moss Plaza
- Thursday, July 14, 2022, 5:00 p.m. – Midnight on Jerry Moss Plaza
- Friday, July 15, 2022, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Jerry Moss Plaza and 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s Stern Grand Hall
- Saturday, July 16, 2022, 5:00 p.m. – Midnight on Jerry Moss Plaza and 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s Stern Grand Hall
- Sunday, July 17, 2022, Noon – 6:00 p.m. on Jerry Moss Plaza and 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s Stern Grand Hall
About Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center
Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, a TMC Arts program, is one of the leading presenters of dance on the West Coast. The celebrated series offers significant works by prestigious ballet and contemporary dance artists from around the world. Now entering its 19th year, Dance at The Music Center is a powerful force, supporting new works and artists-in-residence projects by today’s most influential companies and choreographers. Performances take place throughout The Music Center, including the historic Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the distinctive Ahmanson Theatre and the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall, on the Jerry Moss Plaza and in locations around the Los Angeles area.
About Center Dance Arts
Center Dance Arts is proud to celebrate 20 years as the founding supporter of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center. Center Dance Arts offers members the opportunity to support world class dance engagements and commission future masterpieces, inspire thousands of children with student performances, school assemblies and masterclasses, as well as interact with celebrated dancers and distinguished dance luminaries at exclusive events that enrich passion for dance. For more information, visit musiccenter.org/centerdancearts.
About The Music Center
The Music Center convenes artists, communities and ideas with the goal of deepening the cultural lives of every resident in Los Angeles County. The $70 million non-profit performing arts organization has two divisions: TMC Arts and TMC Ops. TMC Arts, The Music Center’s programming engine, provides year-round programming inside The Music Center’s four theatres, on Jerry Moss Plaza, outside at Grand Park—a 12-acre adjacent green space—in schools and other locations all over Los Angeles County and on a digital platform called The Music Center Offstage. TMC Arts presents world-class dance with Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, free and low-cost public concerts and events, as well as live and digital K–12 arts education programs, workshops, performances, interactive experiences and special events. TMC Ops manages the theatres, the Plaza and Grand Park, which comprise $2 billion in county assets, on behalf of the County of Los Angeles. The Music Center is also home to four renowned resident companies—Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles Master Chorale, LA Opera and LA Phil. For more information, visit musiccenter.org. Follow The Music Center on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @MusicCenterLA.
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