Soon to enter its 21St season, The Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center has just released their 2023/2024 dance lineup which features the annual return of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, plus The Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Hispánico, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring & common ground[s]. These five companies offer works by many of the finest national and international choreographers performed by some of the best dancers in the world.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Photo by Todd Rosenberg Photography
The season opens with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago at The Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre September 29 – October 1, 2023 performing a program of mixed repertory that includes Coltrane’s Favorite Things, choreographed by Lar Lubovitch. The work was inspired by and danced to John Coltrane’s 1963 “Live in Copenhagen” interpretation of Richard Rodgers’ “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music.
“The backdrop for the dance is a reproduction of Jackson Pollock’s landmark painting “Autumn Rhythm.” With this dance, Lubovitch reimagines the choreographic possibilities of jazz, creating a vibrant counterpart to the impulsiveness of two 20th century artistic giants. Aszure Barton’s poignant BUSK simultaneously celebrates and scrutinizes the essence of what it means to perform, laying bare complex layers of human experience and emotion through mesmerizing multitasking movements.” Music Center website.
February 9-11, 2024 brings Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring & common ground[s] to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion performed by a newly formed group of dancers from several African countries. This unique version of The Rite of Spring was co-choreographed by Pina Bausch, Germaine Acogny and Malou Airuado, the latter two of whom are also responsible for forming this new group of dancers. Acogny, often referred to as the “mother of contemporary African dance”, is the founder of the Senegalese company École des Sables. Airuado was a member of Germany’s Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, performing numerous leading roles.
The music for Rite is by French composer and indie artist Fabrice Bouillon-LaForest, who is also known by his stage names LaForest and L’Eoscene.
To watch a trailer of The Rite of Spring & common ground[s], please click HERE.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – “Revelations” – Photo by Paul Kolnik
Founded in 1958, the always popular Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will perform a mixed program at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion March 20-24, 2024. The company’s return marks the launching of a multi-year residency at The Music Center. This year’s program features works by several different choreographers but will of course include Ailey’s iconic work Revelations that never fails to bring audiences to their feet demanding more. Revelations made its debut in 1960 at New York’s Kaufman Concert Hall, 92nd Street YM-YWHM.
The Joffrey Ballet’s “Romeo & Juliet”. Photo by Cheryl Mann.
Known for presenting ground-breaking works by some of the world most renown ballet and contemporary choreographers, The Joffrey Ballet presents its Music Center debut of the company’s powerful Anna Karenina at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion June 21-23, 2024. It is a work that won the 2019 “Oscars of Dance” Benois de la Danse International Prize for Best Choreography by Yuri Possokhov. Formerly with the Bolshoi Ballet, Russian born Possokhov received his training at the Choreographic Ballet Academy in Moscow. In 1992 Possokhov joined the Royal Danish Ballet and then spent 12 years performing with the San Francisco Ballet before retiring from the stage to join the company’s artistic staff.
The original score for Possokhov’s Anna Karenina is by Russian composer Ilya Demutsky.
Ballet Hispánico in Anabelle Lopez Ochoa’s “Tiburones” – Photo by Paula Lobo
July 12-14, 2024 will bring a close to the 2023/2024 dance season with performances by the renowned New York based, largest Latinx cultural organization in the United states, and one of America’s cultural treasures, Ballet Hispánico. The company will perform Doña Perón created by Colombian-Belgian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa to music by British composer Peter Salem. This ballet was inspired by and is a portrait of Eva “Evita” Perón, one of the most recognizable and controversial women in Argentinian history whose life was the motivation for both a Broadway Musical and a Hollywood film known as Evita.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center website.
For information on The Music Center, please visit their website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: The Joffrey Ballet in Romeo and Juliet – Photo by Cheryl Mann
