Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center (TMC) is now in its 18th year of being one of the leading presenters of new and classical dance from around the world. Over the years these performances have taken place throughout the Music Center including the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Ahmanson Theatre, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, on the Jerry Moss Plaza as well as around the Los Angeles area. A founding supporter of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center for 20 year now is the Center Dance Arts which offers its members the opportunity to help support dance from around the globe, commission new works, inspire and inform children about the art of dance, and more.
With the health and well-being of its patrons, artists, and staff always in mind, The Music Center has just announced that it will be welcoming back in-person outdoor performances to a limited number of audience members as Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center launches a new outdoor series Dance at Dusk featuring tap, ballet, and modern dance artists and companies. Tickets go on sale April 21, 2021.
May 25th was designed as National Tap Dance Day, May 25th in 1989 to honor the birthday of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson for his contribution to the art of tap dancing, an art form that continues to influence music, musical theater, film and other American dance. In celebration of National Tap Day, The Music Center will create The Super Villainz Tap Dance Park on its Jerry Moss Plaza. Special tap boards will be constructed and films will be shown on its two giant LED screens, from Monday, May 24–Sunday, May 30, 2021. To insure the safety of the participants and the viewers, the tap artist will perform in specially designated areas to ensure social distancing. Timed-entry participation in these experiences must be reserved in advance; free reservations are available beginning May 10, 2021. For more information, The Super Villainz Tap Dance Park hours of operation and for advance reservations, please visit musiccenter.org/tapdancepark.
May 26-30, 2021, Dance at Dusk will continue to honor National Tap Dance Day with the debut of The Super Villainz: A Tap Dance Act for the Modern Age featuring three renown and influential tap dancers Dormeshia, Jason Samuels Smith and Derick K. Grant. The program features selections from Dormeshia’s And Still You Must Swing, a work described as capturing “the heart and legacy of tap dance and honors the influence of the Jazz roots of this outstanding art form” (TMC press release). The Super Villainz: A Tap Dance Act for the Modern Age will also feature excerpts from Jason Samuels Smith’s homage to Miles Davis, Going the Miles. The performance will take place live in the Jerry Moss Plaza with live jazz music. It will be simulcasted live at Grand Park. For more information, The Super Villainz Tap Dance Park hours of operation and for advance reservations, please visit musiccenter.org/tapdancepark. Advance sales only; tickets will not be available for purchase on-site.
And Still You Must Swing Trio Derick K. Grant, Dormeshia, Jason Samuels Smith – Photo by AK47 Division, courtesy of TMC
The series continues June 2–6, 2021 with the first performance by American Ballet Theatre (ABT) at TMC since 2018. ABT’s program offers live performances in the Jerry Moss Plaza with the Romeo and Juliet pas de deux, performed by Devon Teuscher and Cory Stearns, as well as the Don Quixote pas de deux performed by Christine Shevchenko and Joo Won Ahn. Soloists Katherine Williams and Blaine Hoven will perform the pas de deux from A Time There Was, a work featuring choreography by ABT’s Gemma Bond and music by Benjamin Britten. Additional repertoire and public events will be announced at a later date. This performance will also be live simulcast in Grand Park. Additional repertoire and public events will be announced at a later date.
American Ballet Theatre in Gemma Bond”s “A Time There Was” – Photo by Rosalie O’Connor
June 16–20, 2021 ushers in the long-awaited return of Paul Taylor Dance Company featuring a West Coast premiere of Kyle Abraham’s critically-acclaimed 2019 work, Only the Lonely, to the music of Shirley Horn, and the beloved and iconic Taylor work—Promethean Fire—created in 2002 after 9/11. Paul Taylor (1930-2018) founded his company in 1954 and went on to become one of America’s most prolific dance artist. Among his many awards, Taylor received a MacArthur Fellowship, the Kennedy Center Honors and the Primetime Creative Art Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography in 1992. The company will perform live to recorded music in the Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center and it will be simulcast live in Grand Park. The company’s last performance at TMC was in 2014. Additional public events involving the Company will be announced at a later date.
Paul Taylor Dance Company in Taylor’s “Promethean Fire” – Photo by Paul B. Goode
July 14-18, 2021 brings back live to The Music Center Alonzo King LINES Ballet which last performed there in 2013. The 12 members of LINES will perform a mixed program of choreography by Alonzo King including The Personal Element choreographed in 2019. Special guest Southern California native and New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck will appear in the premiere of a solo work created for her by Alonzo King, as well as a new duet with her NYCB colleague, Roman Mejia. This performance will take place in Jerry Moss Plaza with live simulcast in Grand Park. Additional public events involving Alonzo King LINES Ballet will be announced at a later date.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet – Dancer: Adji Cissoko – Photo © RJ-Muna
Ticket prices for The Music Center’s Dance at Dusk outdoor series are tiered per experience and sold as a pod of four tickets only for a single household unit. Tickets for Jerry Moss Plaza seating range from $150 (rear section) per pod to $275 (front section) per pod, depending on the day of the week. For lawn seating at Grand Park, pods (four tickets) are $40 per pod (Wednesdays and Thursdays) or $60 per pod (Fridays and Saturdays); no Sunday simulcasts will be offered in Grand Park. Tickets go on sale on April 21, 2021. To purchase ticket pods and for information, call (213) 972-0711 or visit musiccenter.org. Advance sales only; tickets will not be available for purchase on-site.
The Music Center’s press release states: “Pending final approval from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, all Dance at Dusk programs will take place on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center with performances starting at 7:30 p.m. There will be limited seating in a pod of four seats for ticketed audiences, who can watch the engagements live. Alternatively, audiences may choose to purchase a pod of four for lawn seating (blankets encouraged) in Grand Park to watch a live simulcast; the simulcast will be shown in the park on a 23’ x 16’ LED screen. All pods are socially distanced with a minimum of six feet between pods on all four sides; only one household per pod is permitted per County guidelines. Home audiences will be able to watch a free livestream of each Sunday evening program on musiccenter.org.”
To Recap
Tickets go on sale April 21, 2021
May 25, 2021 in honor of National Tap Dance Day – The Super Villainz Tap Dance Park, Jerry Moss Plaza (Grand Park simulcast live) – 7:30 p.m. (PDT). For more information, The Super Villainz Tap Dance Park hours of operation and for advance reservations, please visit musiccenter.org/tapdancepark.
May 26–30, 2021 – Debut performance of The Super Villainz: A Tap Dance Act for the Modern Age featuring Dormeshia, Jason Samuels Smith and Derick K. Grant with Selections from And Still You Must Swing and Going the Miles – live Jazz music – Performed live in Jerry Moss Plaza (Simulcast live in Grand Park) – 7:30 pm (PDT). For more information, The Super Villainz Tap Dance Park hours of operation and for advance reservations, click HERE.
June 2-6, 2021 – American Ballet Theatre – Selections from Romeo and Juliet; Don Quixote, and A Time There Was – Performed live in Jerry Moss Plaza (Live simulcast in Grand Park) – 7:30 pm (PDT). Additional repertoire and public events will be announced at a later date. Information and tickets, click HERE.
June 16-18, 2021 – Paul Taylor Dance Company performing Promethean Fire by Paul Taylor and west coast premiere of Only the Lonely by Kyle Abraham. Performed live in Jerry Moss Plaza (Live simulcast in Grand Park) – 7:30 pm (PDT). Additional public events involving the Company will be announced at a later date. Information and tickets, click HERE.
July 14-18, 2021 – Alonzo King LINES Ballet with special guests Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia – Program includes Alonso King’s The Personal Element – recorded music – Performed live in Jerry Moss Plaza (Live simulcast in Grand Park) – 7:30 pm (PDT). Additional public events involving Alonzo King LINES Ballet will be announced at a later date. Information and Tickets, click HERE.
Sunday Evening Performances to be Streamed Free at musiccenter.org for Home Audiences.
For more information on Dance at Dusk and tickets, click HERE.
To learn more about Center Dance Arts, click HERE.
To visit The Music Center website, click HERE.
For more information about Grand Park, click HERE.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Shuaib Elhassan – Alonzo King LINES Ballet – Photo: ©RJ-Muna
