For the past 30 years, the Mark Morris Dance Group has enthralled critics, enthusiasts and novices alike with its amazing technical expertise, unique artistry and its signature use of music. Hailed by The New Yorker as one of the “greatest living choreographers,” Mark Morris has had a profound impact on the dance world ever since he burst onto the scene in 1980 and he continues to create important new works with a singular ability to combine beautiful music, graceful movement and delicious wit. His choreography is known for its inherent musicality and he insists that the company always perform to live music. In honor of its 30th anniversary, the Mark Morris Dance Group presents a unique performance featuring three classic pieces from its repertory.
“….the most prodigiously gifted choreographer of the post-Balanchine era.” —TIME Magazine
VIDF PROGRAM AUGUST 3
Going Away Party
Choreography by Mark Morris
Music by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
Set to 11 songs by the ebullient Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, this piece showcases Mark Morris’ wit and masterful craftsmanship.
“Hilarious and heartbreaking.” —The New York Times
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Grand Duo
Choreography by Mark Morris
Music by Lou Harrison
In Grand Duo, Morris created a landmark work to Harrison’s mysterious and pulsing score. With an air of preordained ritual, Grand Duo displays a sense of inexorable tribal impulse and a fierce collective joy.
“…one of the most viscerally charged passages in the annals of modern dance.” —Boston Globe
DANCE FOR PD:
A movement class for persons with Parkinson’s and their families, friends and caregivers.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
11:00 am -12:30 pm
Vail Mountain School
3000 Booth Falls Road
Vail, CO 81657
The class is offered free of charge, and is taught by members of the Mark Morris Dance Group with live musical accompaniment.
Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) was formed in 1980 and gave its first concert that year in New York City. The company’s touring schedule steadily expanded to include cities both in the U.S. and in Europe, and in 1986 it made its first national television program for the PBS series Dance in America. In 1988, MMDG was invited to become the national dance company of Belgium, and spent three years in residence at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. The company returned to the United States in 1991 as one of the world’s leading dance companies, performing across the U.S. and at major international festivals. Based in Brooklyn, NY, the company has maintained and strengthened its ties to several cities around the world, most notably its West Coast home, Cal Performances in Berkeley, California, and its Midwest home, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. MMDG also appears regularly in New York, NY; Boston, MA; Fairfax, VA; and Seattle, WA. MMDG made its debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in 2002 and at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2003 and has since been invited to both festivals annually. From the company’s many London seasons, they have also garnered two Laurence Olivier Awards.
MMDG is noted for its commitment to live music, a feature of every performance on its full international touring schedule since 1996. MMDG collaborates with leading orchestras, opera companies, and musicians including cellist Yo-Yo Ma in the Emmy Award-winning film Falling Down Stairs (1997); Indian composer Zakir Hussain, Mr. Ma and jazz pianist Ethan Iverson in Kolam (2002); The Bad Plus in Violet Cavern (2004); pianists Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson and Yoko Nozaki for Mozart Dances (2006); and with the English National Opera in Four Saints in Three Acts (2000) and King Arthur (2006), among others. MMDG’s film and television projects also include Dido and Aeneas, The Hard Nut, two documentaries for the U.K.’s South Bank Show, and PBS’ Live From Lincoln Center.
In the fall of 2001, MMDG opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY, housing rehearsal space for the dance community, outreach programs for local children, as well as a school offering dance classes to students of all ages.
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