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'Black Swan' Choreographer's L.A. Dance Project Premieres at Disney Hall
What better way for Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Centerto open its 10th Anniversary season than in the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the city’s very own new ballet company? Commissioning the recently formed L.A. Dance Projectand its acclaimed choreographer Benjamin Millepied, this inaugural event will have its premiere performances this Saturday and Sunday.
Bringing a program of both modern and ballet choreography to the stunning Frank Gehry-designed stage, the six now-LA-based dancers will perform iconic Merce Cunningham's 1964 “Winterbranch” (with music by La Monte Young and costumes and object conceived by Robert Rauschenberg), ballet innovator William Forsythe’s 1993 "Quintett" (music by Gavin Bryars) and Millepied's own premiere, a collaboration with composer Nico Muhly, visual artist Christopher Wool and costumers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte in a work he calls ”Moving Parts.”
Performed by ex-NY dancers Amanda Wells, Julia Eichten, Frances Chiaverini, Charlie Hodges, Morgan Lugo and Nathan Makolandra, each production will also include screenings of Millepied's acclaimed dance films 30 minutes prior to each performance in the Walt Disney Concert Hall's BP Hall.
Having made an international name for himself as the choreographer of the 2010 award-winning feature film “Black Swan,” which followed his tenure as a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, French-born Millepied has already made dances for ballet companies across the globe. His first staging of a musical, "Hands on a hard body" will open on Broadway in New York in 2013.
With names and backgrounds like those mentioned, it sounds like work of the highest artistic quality. Set in the beautiful trappings of Disney Hall, the overall experience seems not to be missed!
Watch L.A. Dance Project on "So You Think You Can Dance!":
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