Performances Magazine | The Music Center, February 2024

Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center Pina Bausch’s

THE RITE OF SPRING &

common ground[s]

by Germaine Acogny & Malou Airaudo

A Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables & Sadler’s Wells production.

Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring. Photo by Maarten Vanden Abeel.

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MAGAZINE

contents P1 Program Cast, performances, who’s who, director’s notes and donors

6 In the Wings North American premiere of Matthew Bourne's Romeo & Juliet ballet at the Ahmanson, Dining with the Sultan at LACMA, four-time Grammy Award-winning jazz bassist Stanley Clarke at BroadStage.

12 Balancing Acts

A musician’s career can mean performing with a classical orchestra at night, then recording a movie soundtrack the next day—a Los Angeles lifestyle for versatile artists seeking satisfaction and stability.

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32 Parting Thought Performances’ new program platform for shows and concerts can be accessed from any digital device.

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YOU’RE HERE. Congrats, You’ve Picked a Great Performance!

Check out the interactive version of this theater program magazine and enjoy even more insight into the performers, creative talent and theater activities that are behind it all.

LINKS TO PERFORMERS’ SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE. UNDERSTUDY UPDATES THEATER SUPPORT OPPORTUNITIES UPCOMING SHOWS AND CONCERTS AROUND TOWN INSIDER SCOOPS FROM THEATER AND MUSIC PROFESSIONALS

It’s the new way to read the program, it’s

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I N TH E W I N G S

DANCE

The Madness of First Love

MATTHEW BOURNE IS known for shattering stereotypes and pushing boundaries in dance—perhaps best known for his now legendary Swan Lake with its corps de ballet of menacing male swans. Key to his approach is creating work from familiar titles accessible to audiences unfamiliar with dance; his mesmerizing adaptation of Romeo and Juliet with British dance theater company New Adventures is no exception.

Center Theatre Group, in association with Glorya Kaufma Presents Dance at the Music Center, presents the work through Feb. 25 at the Ahmanson Theatre.

“There are no warring families or feuds to propel the action and the eventual tragedy,” notes The New York Times. “Instead, there are other forces, particularly resonant ones: mental health and sexual harassment.”

The music, based on the original score by Sergei Prokofiev, is by Terry Davies. 335 N. Grand Ave., downtown, 213.628.2772, centertheatregroup.org

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Rory MacLeod and Monique Jonas in Matthew Bourne’s Romeo & Juliet; opposite, Jonas

PHOTOS JOHAN PERSSON

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IN TH E W I N G S

MUSEUM

COMING TOGETHER TO partake of a meal is a practice shared by all cultures. Food defines us—we are what we eat. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is the first exhibition to present Islamic art in the context of its culinary traditions. It features some 250 works of art, from 30 public and private collections in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, related to the sourcing, preparation, serving, and consumption of food through the lens of fine dining. Gustatory discernment was a fundamental activity at the great Islamic courts; the exhibition stimulates not only the eyes but also the appetite! A companion exhibition for children, Dining With the Sultan at Charles White Elementary School, runs offsite Saturdays, 1 to 4 pm. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown, 213.972.8001, laopera.org

At Dining With the Sultan: Enjoying Coffee, top, by unknown 18th-century painter, and a variety of 13th- to 18th-century Islamic artifacts; bottom left, 17th-century dish at related offsite children’s exhibition. Opposite: Damascus Room, 1766–67.

TOP: PERA MUSEUM, ISTANBUL. JAR: MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART, DOHA, QATAR. SPOON: AL-SABAH COLLECTION, DAR AL-ATHAR AL-ISLAMIYYAH, KUWAIT. ALL OTHERS THIS SPREAD: MUSEUM ASSOCIATES/LACMA

A FEAST OF ISLAMIC ART

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TOP: PERA MUSEUM, ISTANBUL. JAR: MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART, DOHA, QATAR. SPOON: AL-SABAH COLLECTION, DAR AL-ATHAR AL-ISLAMIYYAH, KUWAIT. ALL OTHERS THIS SPREAD: MUSEUM ASSOCIATES/LACMA

IN TH E W I N G S

P

C o c

V T R

E A t Grammy Awardwinning bassist and BroadStage artist in residence Stanley Clark

D D

JAZZ

S

ONE OF THE most celebrated acoustic and electric bass players in the world—and new artist in residence at BroadStage—Stanley Clarke and his band N•4EVER present a night of jazz harmony, rock, funk, R&B, hip-hop, fusion and more on March 9. Clarke is a fourtime Grammy Award-winning jazz bassist, recording artist and composer. N•4EVER features Jeremiah Collier on drums, Beka Gochiashvili

on piano and keyboards, Colin Cook on guitar, Emilio Modeste on saxophone, and, of course, Stanley on acoustic and electric bass; together, they deliver electrifying performances that push the boundaries of their instruments. BroadStage’s three-year appointment of Clarke as artist in residence includes not only performances but also mentoring for Santa Monica College and local-school-district music students,

providing access to and training by Clarke for those on the cusp of professional careers. “There has never been a more important time to enliven the culture of creativity than the times we are living in,” Clarke says. “Technological advancement in the arts is taking people further away from the one-of-a-kind experience of being exposed to quality live music.” 1310 11th St., Santa Monica, 310.434.3200, broadstage.org

COURTESY THE ARTIST AND BROADSTAGE

RAUCOUS AND ROLLIN’

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FEATURE

BALANCING ACTS A musician’s career can mean performing with a classical orchestra at night then recording a movie soundtrack the next day. It’s a uniquely L.A. lifestyle. / BY S H E R RY ST E R N /

GIOVANNA MORAGA CLAYTON and her cello trek a myriad of miles to concert halls and to movie lots, often in the same week, sometimes on the same day.

Lara Wickes and her oboe traverse Southern California freeways to perform with symphonies

from Santa Barbara to Costa Mesa and to record with orchestras at Hollywood studios.

James Hayden’s instrument is easiest to commute with: It’s just he and his vocal cords, a bass singer traveling across the region to sing with classical ensembles, in recitals and for film and television scores.

Such is the working life of a musician in Los Angeles.

Unlike anywhere else in the country—arguably the world—innumerable players and vocalists maneuver careers in performance and studio work, where compositions can range from Beethoven to John Cage, from John Williams to Alan Menken, from Paul McCartney to Prince.

The differences in process and playing are many. Love of music drives the day.

Consider Hayden, who fresh out of USC in 2013 became a member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. He hadn’t planned on a career in music; the idea struck him when he was forced to declare a college major.

“I looked around and said, ‘Singing in a choir, collaborating with other people makes me feel something that nothing else does,” he recalls.

“If I can have a life that’s filled with that kind of emotion, it seems like it would be a life well-lived.’”

Well-lived, however, doesn’t necessarily pay the bills. “The stereotype of the starving artist is

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James Hayden sang at Jurassic Park recording session and, below, soloed with Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Opposite: cellist Giovanna Clayton with L.A. Chamber Orchestra.

something that is hard to escape in pop culture,” Hayden says.

“My parents had a family friend who was a fantastic piano player.

I remember talking with him and he said, ‘Making music and performing as a musician was not the most

money I ever made, but it was the best money I ever made.’

“So, I made peace with, you know, I may not be at the top of the food chain but it’s worth taking a shot.”

Similar to Hayden, when Wickes was young, she says, “the music really spoke to me.” She studied to be a teacher, never expecting that one day she would become the principal oboist of the Pasadena, Santa Barbara and New West symphonies.

But those jobs, as secure as they might be, are part-time gigs (unlike full-time positions with such orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony).

Studio work is a necessity for classical players who want to devote their life to performing without teaching or taking other day jobs.

And an orchestral job is a necessity for studio players who want stability, since film and TV work are freelance assignments that offer no

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guarantee of a next paycheck.

“My orchestra jobs, I love them, but they don’t really pay enough to actually have a decent living,” Wickes says. “And in the studios we have no job security.”

AS ONE MIGHT expect, juggling schedules can be a challenge. But Clayton is in a prime position to manage it well.

Her life as a musician started pretty much from the day she was born to musical parents in Toluca, Mexico. Upon seeing the newborn, her father’s first words to her mother: “Did you see her hands? She is going to be a cellist.”

Growing up in Oxnard, she saw both sides of the business first-hand: She’d sit in the studio to watch her father play viola at recording sessions and with audiences watching her mother play oboe for what is now New West Symphony.

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FEATURE

Giovanna Clayton next to Sir Paul McCartney at Beatles “Now and Then” session at Capitol Studios. Below: Laura Wickes has played on eight John Williams soundtracks.

recording industry, to achieve what founders called “pure artistic collaboration at the highest level.”

That institutional philosophy affords Clayton and other LACO players the flexibility to schedule studio sessions around concerts and rehearsals.

A highlight of studio work is to play the compositions of film’s most acclaimed composers, including John Williams, John Powell and James Horner. And that can mean with them literally on the podium.

Though most composers sit in the sound booth during recording sessions, Williams and Horner are two of the few who conduct their works.

Hayden vividly recounts when the Master Chorale was contracted to sing vocals for 2019’s Star Wars: Episode IX—The Rise of Skywalker.

“That was one of those moments where it was at least 80 of us in the chorale on the risers in Sony Studios with full orchestra,” he recalls. “And it was John Williams conducting!”

Williams eschews the click track —an audio metronome—generally

used to keep every musical beat tied to each cinematic moment. Instead, the composer watches the movie on a little screen and conducts it fresh, Hayden says in awe.

“He kind of crafts the interpretation with each pass we would do,” Hayden notes. “Standing there with him in the room with full orchestra, hearing the horn section start to play”—here Hayden sings the Star Wars theme—”we’re all just looking at each other and giggling, like, we get to be here, we get to do this.”

Wickes has played on eight Williams films, including the last Indiana Jones and three Star Wars movies. When they’re playing the classic tunes, she says, you’re sitting there and you’re pinching yourself going, ‘I cannot believe it.’

“If you want to turn adults into little kids again, all you need to do is play the Star Wars theme.”

Other pinch-me moments happen when the musicians share the stage with A-list entertainers. / CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

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Clayton began her career playing cello at weddings and religious services before winning a solo competition at 16 that earned her a spot onstage with singer Ricky Martin at a concert at Universal Amphitheatre.

Despite that early taste of the pop culture life, she always had her sights on being selected for a top U.S. orchestra, eyeing the stability, good pay and strong benefits.

“The trajectory was always to win a job at one of the top 10 orchestras in the United States. I never thought, ‘Oh, I’ll come to LA and do what my dad does,’ sort of cross over and do the Hollywood thing… The Hollywood life is very unstable.”

Though she wasn’t accepted when she auditioned for the L.A. Phil, other offers came her way.

“The nice consolation prize of losing that L.A. Phil job was winning both the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, which complement each other beautifully. Hollywood Bowl is a summer orchestra, L.A. Chamber is September to May.” Add to that, she points out, LACO’s unique history.

The chamber orchestra was created in 1968 as a creative outlet for musicians who worked in the

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FEB 24 THROUGH

MAR 17

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2023/2024 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS

Note from our President & CEO

RACHEL S. MOORE

A warm welcome back to the continuation of our 21st season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center with our presentation of two incredible works. Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring, one of the 20th century’s most significant works in dance. We will also witness the West Coast premiere of a new work, common ground[s], created and performed by two wonderfully talented, multi-dimensional choreographers, Germaine Acogny, who is considered the “mother of contemporary African dance” and Malou Airaudo, herself a lauded dancer who was once part of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. You are in for a real treat!

Bausch’s The Rite of Spring is a masterpiece with enduring power, which has had a profound impact on the evolution of contemporary dance.

What makes this production so special is the group of more than 30 dancers from 14 countries across Africa who were assembled into a company especially for this purpose. In many cases, these dancers have rarely had an opportunity to perform on a world-class stage in a major market such as Los Angeles.

Similarly, with common ground[s], we will witness the creativity, innovation and strength of two women whose lives inspired the piece. We are so proud to join with the producers at the Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables and Sadler’s Wells to shine the light on these extraordinary individuals as they bring their passion and skill to the interpretation of these pioneering works.

What a marvelous opportunity for The Music Center to be a part of the evolution both of the dance field and the arts as a whole; this will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. As a former dancer, I understand the profound impact the arts can have on individuals and communities. With our focus on deepening the cultural lives of all residents of Los Angeles County, we want to create spaces where diverse artistic voices and the contributions of the people we serve can flourish. I am very proud of the dedication and artistry displayed by the dancers, choreographers and the entire team who worked tirelessly to bring this production to life.

Up next is our presentation of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which has begun a multi-year residency at The Music Center. You will not see the Ailey company at any other venue in our region so I hope you will join us for what are bound to be rich, powerful performances by one of America’s most popular modern dance companies.

We are enormously grateful for the vision and support of our series namesake, Glorya Kaufman, and for the highly passionate dance champions at Center Dance Arts, all of whom share our passion for dance and dancing and who embrace what the arts do to contribute to the vibrant cultural tapestry of our community. Thanks, as well, to each of you for joining us and for making it possible for us to continue to explore and elevate dance in Los Angeles.

Enjoy the performance!

GENERAL COUNSEL

Cindy Miscikowski Chair

Rollin A. Ransom

Robert J. Abernethy Vice Chair

DIRECTORS EMERITI

Darrell R. Brown Vice Chair Rachel S. Moore President & CEO Diane G. Medina Secretary Susan M. Wegleitner Treasurer William Taylor Assistant Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer

MEMBERS AT LARGE

Charles F. Adams William H. Ahmanson Jill C. Baldauf Susan E. Baumgarten Phoebe Beasley Thomas L. Beckmen Kristin Burr Dannielle Campos Elizabeth Khuri Chandler Amy R. Forbes Greg T. Geyer Joan E. Herman Jeffrey M. Hill Mary Ann Hunt-Jacobsen Carl Jordan Richard B. Kendall Terri M. Kohl Lily Lee Cary J. Lefton Keith R. Leonard, Jr. David B. Lippman Susan M. Matt Elizabeth Michelson Darrell D. Miller Teresita Notkin Michael J. Pagano Cynthia M. Patton Karen Kay Platt Joseph J. Rice Melissa Romain Beverly P. Ryder Maria S. Salinas Corinne Jessie Sanchez Mimi Song Johnese Spisso Michael Stockton Philip A. Swan Timothy S. Wahl Jennifer M. Walske Jay S. Wintrob

Wallis Annenberg Peter K. Barker Judith Beckmen Ronald W. Burkle John B. Emerson ** Richard M. Ferry Brindell Gottlieb Bernard A. Greenberg Stephen F. Hinchliffe, Jr. Glen A. Holden Kent Kresa Edward J. McAniff Mattie McFaddenLawson Fredric M. Roberts Richard K. Roeder Claire L. Rothman Joni J. Smith Lisa Specht ** Cynthia A. Telles James A. Thomas Andrea L. Van de Kamp ** Thomas R. Weinberger Alyce de Roulet Williamson ** Chair Emeritus Current, as of January 25, 2024

Warmly,

Rachel S. Moore, President & CEO

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Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s Alysia Johnson and Abdiel Figueroa Reyes. Photo by Michelle Reid. Styling by Imani Sade.

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TMC ARTS Arts and Cultural Experiences for All

The Music Center is a cultural anchor in Los Angeles and home to some of the world’s greatest and most highly regarded artistic programs and events.

Rooted in a strong commitment to equity, excellence and access, TMC Arts, The Music Center’s programming engine, provides year-round programming inside The Music Center’s theatres, on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center, outside at Gloria Molina Grand Park — a 12-acre adjacent green space — and in schools and neighborhoods all over Los Angeles County. From Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center to free and low-cost concerts and events, to learning experiences for all ages and more, TMC Arts’ programs reflect the diverse voices and interests of the many communities in Los Angeles County, bringing Angelenos together in ways that enable them to discover their shared humanity. TMC Arts’ programs connect people, offering participatory and immersive experiences with the chance to get creative and learn.

The Music Center is truly a performing arts center for the 21st century, continually pushing the boundaries to engage communities and further inspire and contribute to the artistic voices of Los Angeles.

Summer SoundWaves featuring Oumou Sangaré.

Photo by Michelle Shiers.

Live at The Music Center: La Marisoul and Eliades Ochoa.

Photo by John McCoy.

Dance DTLA Bollywood.

Photo by Will Tee Yang.

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THE MUSIC CENTER STAFF

THE MUSIC CENTER EXECUTIVE TEAM Rachel S. Moore President & CEO

Howard Sherman Executive Vice President & COO, TMC Ops

Josephine Ramirez Executive Vice President, TMC Arts

Shelby D. Boagni Senior Vice President, People & Culture William Taylor Senior Vice President, Finance / CFO Bonnie Goodman Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications

Susan Avila Senior Vice President, Advancement

TMC OPS BUILDING SERVICES Carlos Acosta Engineer Eric Amaya Engineer Emmanuel Campos Engineer Ramon DeLeon Lead Engineer Erik Ekserjyan Mailroom Clerk Ruben Enriquez Mailroom Clerk Nick Garcia Engineer Jose Godinez Engineer Damon Joseph Apprentice Engineer Francisco Loayza Lead Engineer Delia Martin Office Services Manager Adrian Padilla Engineer Jorge Padilla Engineer Jose Quintero Landscaping Ismael Rodriguez Engineer Alex Romero Engineer Jose Santillan Engineer Edgar Vasquez Coordinator Brandon Villalobos Engineer FOUNDERS Daniel Cristante Coordinator Lisa King Manager Georgi Nikolov Director Elia Ortega Coordinator GUEST RELATIONS Peggy Alvarez Head Usher Alvin Broussard Senior Manager, Special Services Jenny Calvo Head Usher Christine Cox House Manager, Ahmanson Theatre Robert Devis House Manager, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Omar Garcia Head Usher Jose Agustin Garibaldi Head Usher Ruben Lopez Special Services Coordinator Alexander Mochizuki Event Staff Coordinator Seng Neth Head Usher Steve Olear Manager, Guest Services Courtney Rabena Head Usher Jose L. Rivas Head Usher Santa Roman-Garcia Head Usher Carolyn Van Brunt Vice President Linda Walker House Manager, Mark Taper Forum Jeanice Williams Coordinator, Tours & Special Events Demetra Willis Head Usher

OPERATIONS ADMINISTRATION Carol Zamora Executive Assistant PRODUCTION Shawn Anderson Head Carpenter, Ahmanson Theatre Shane Anderson Head Flyman, Ahmanson Theatre Jared Batty Head Electric, Ahmanson Theatre Jason Clark Director, Production Marcus Conroy Head Electrician, Walt Disney Concert Hall Timothy Conroy Head Carpenter, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Emmet Kaiser Head Carpenter, Mark Taper Forum Ryan Lebetsamer Head Electric, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Christian Lee Head Audio/Video, Mark Taper Forum Scott Lucas Head Property, Ahmanson Theatre Charlie Miledi Head Carpenter, Walt Disney Concert Hall Katie Miller Production Manager John Phillips Head Property, Walt Disney Concert Hall Lisa Quang Senior Production Coordinator Mary Romero Head Property, Mark Taper Forum Spencer Saccoman Production Project Manager Lee Smilek Head Wardrobe Robert Smith Head Audio/Video, Ahmanson Theatre Aaron Staubach Head Electrician, Ahmanson Theatre Kevin Wapner Head Audio/Video, Walt Disney Concert Hall SCHEDULING & EVENTS Liliana Gonzalez Senior Event Operations Manager Marisol Moro Garcia Scheduling & Lease Events Colin Perkins Lease Events Manager Sharon Stewart Director Ken Talley Senior Scheduling Administrator Jessica Vad Event Operations Coordinator SECURITY MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION Juan Macias Captain, Events Operations Group Bedros Ohanian Director Security & Life Safety Scott Pollack Commander, Events Operation Group Vivian Sanchez Adjutant Gonzalo Silvia Commander, Field Services Edward Too Captain, Administration Curtis Vanterpool Logistics and Scheduling Manager THE BLUE RIBBON Suzy Boyett Associate Director Cinda Rosenberg Senior Coordinator

TMC ARTS Julia Diamond Vice President CIVIC STRATEGIES, PARTNERSHIPS & IMPACT Caroline Chang Program Manager

Letitia Fernandez Ivins Senior Director Victoria Perera Rojas Associate Director, Evaluation & Learning DANCE & DANCING PROGRAMS Martin Wechsler Senior Advisor DIGITAL INNOVATION Jamie McMurry Associate Director Kamal Sinclair Senior Director EDUCATION/SCHOOLS AND NEIGHBORHOODS Keith Wyffels Associate Vice President Patrice Cantarelli Associate Director, School Programs Rada Jovicic Program and Events Manager Ebony Ruffin Manager, Professional Development Monk Turner Manager, The Music Center On Tour Sydney Ko Coordinator Vincent Lopez Coordinator Juan Sanchez School Programs Coordinator GRAND PARK Cristabel Campos Ruiz Marketing Manager Adam Epelbaum Senior Digital Marketing Coordinator Brian Foreman Production Manager Robert Gonzalez Director Cristina Lucio Associate Program Manager Anna Morrison Events Promotion Coordinator Dawn Robinson-Patrick Senior Programs Manager Angela Tsai Business Manager Carolina Xique Program Coordinator PRODUCING & CONCERTS Lily Alia General Manager Taylor Comen, Senior Director, Producing U-Jung Jung Coordinator Patrick Traylor Senior Production Manager Jasira Woods Senior Coordinator SPOTLIGHT & CREATIVE WORKFORCE READINESS Jeri Gaile Fredric Roberts Director, Spotlight Program Monique Carroll Program Manager Corisa Moreno Program Manager Jordan Adelman Coordinator

BUSINESS RESOURCES ADVANCEMENT Cheryl Brown Vice President, Advancement Belby Aguillon Manager, Advancement Business Operations Serena Bernolak Director, Events and Stewardship Katrina Bulay Membership Manager, Center Dance Arts Rob Carson Director of Individual Giving and Center Dance Arts Hillary Chisum Director of Board Relations Hannah Doerr Coordinator, Events and Stewardship Jason Frazier Assistant Director, Corporate Giving

Erica Goodrich Executive Assistant, Advancement Services Veronica Green Director, Annual Giving Rosalind Grush Assistant Director of Grants & Philanthropy Sarah V. Harnden Coordinator, Institutional Giving Mayra Medina Donor Records Clerk Traci Mueller Senior Director, Advancement Services Lorena Panfilo Prospect Research Analyst Laurie A. Selik Senior Director, Institutional Giving Melanye Taylor Assistant Director, Data and Analytics Scott Vandrick Senior Director, Advancement FINANCE Michelle Alfonso Controller Laura Canon Accounts Payable Specialist Jazmine Centeno Payroll Clerk Maria Justo Clerk, Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable Andrew Kayano Manager, General Accounting and Financial Systems Jane Lin Senior Payroll Specialist David Modisett Manager, Financial Planning Kirman Ng Staff Accountant Cindy Rauch Manager, Accounts Payable /Accounts Receivable Sandra Wright Director of Payroll Services PEOPLE & CULTURE Erin Jackson Generalist Victoria McElroy Director Aurora Nunez Coordinator MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Danielle Bliss Coordinator, Ticketing & Marketing Strategy Gil Diaz Manager, Media Relations Lisa Ducore Assistant Vice President, Marketing and Brand Communications Stephanie Kao Manager, Web Content and Digital Analytics Hillary Litherland Manager, Social Media & Content Creation Mike Mancillas Manager, Digital Programming Daniela Messarina Marketing & Communications Manager Sofia Saenz Coordinator, Marketing & Brand Communications Marielle Shrock Marketing Specialist Melissa Tan Assistant Vice President, Ticketing and Marketing Strategy PRESIDENT’S OFFICE Susan Hutcheon Executive Assistant to the President & CEO CREATIVE SUPPORT Keith & Co. Graphic Design The stage crew, wardrobe crew and box office staff are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States of America and Canada, AFL-CIO, CKC, Local Numbers 33, 768 and 857, respectively.

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PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P3

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OUR BOLDEST DANCE SEASON YET

The Music Center’s 2023–2024 Dance Season

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Sept. 29–Oct. 1, 2023 The Rite of Spring & common ground[s] Feb. 8–11, 2024

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater March 20–24, 2024 The Joffrey Ballet Anna Karenina June 21–23, 2024 Ballet Hispánico Doña Perón July 12–14, 2024

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Khalia Campbell. Photo by Dario Calmese.

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Glorya Kaufman (seventh from right) and The Music Center president & CEO Rachel S. Moore (far left) with CDA board members. Photo by Will Tee Yang for The Music Center.

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Pictured above: Meet the Artist Reception featuring Hubbard Street Dance Chicago by Will Tee Yang for The Music Center.

The Music Center Thanks Center Dance Arts

From all of us at The Music Center, we thank Center Dance Arts members for their unwavering support of dance. We welcome you and look forward to many seasons of dance ahead!

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Students strike a pose at The Super Villainz Tap Park on Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center. Photo by Will Tee Yang.

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P8 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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Support for this presentation is provided, in part, by: Glorya Kaufman Foundation Moss Foundation Center Dance Arts Dorothy Buffum Chandler Program Fund Elisabeth Katte Harris The Music Center Foundation The Music Center Annual Fund

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common ground[s]

&

THE RITE OF SPRING

by Germaine Acogny & Malou Airaudo

by Pina Bausch

Co-produced with: Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; Holland Festival, Amsterdam; Festspielhaus, St Pölten; Ludwigsburg Festival; Teatros del Canal de la Comunidad de Madrid, Adelaide Festival and Spoleto Festival dei 2Mondi.

The project is funded by: The German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the International Coproduction Fund of the GoetheInstitut, and kindly supported by the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

common ground[s] CO-CHOREOGRAPHERS AND DANCERS

Germaine Acogny, Malou Airaudo COMPOSER

Fabrice Bouillon LaForest

THE RITE OF SPRING CHOREOGRAPHY

Pina Bausch MUSIC

Igor Stravinsky

COSTUME DESIGNER

ORIGINAL SET AND COSTUME DESIGN

Petra Leidner

Rolf Borzik

LIGHTING DESIGNER

COLLABORATION

Zeynep Kepekli

Hans Pop

DRAMATURG

WORLD PREMIERE

Sophiatou Kossoko

December 3, 1975 Opera House Wuppertal

MUSICIANS

Bass Adam Davis, Carlota Margarida Ramos Cello Ana Catarina Pimentel Rodrigues, Mariana Silva Taipa Viola Wei-Chueh Chen, Alejandro Vega Sierra Violin Nicolas Lopez, Ana Maria Sandu, Alexandru-Adrian Semeniuc Keyboard Fabrice Bouillon LaForest CONDUCTOR

Prof. Werner Dickel

RESTAGING ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

Jo Ann Endicott Jorge Puerta Armenta Clémentine Deluy REHEARSAL DIRECTORS

Çağdaş Ermiş Ditta Miranda Jasjfi Barbara Kaufmann Julie Shanahan Kenji Takagi

DANCERS

Rodolphe Allui, Sahadatou Ami Touré, Anique Ayiboe, Gloria Ugwarelojo Biachi, Khadija Cisse, Sonia Zandile Constable, Rokhaya Coulibaly, Inas Dasylva, Astou Diop, Serge Arthur Dodo, Franne Christie Dossou, Estelle Foli, Aoufice Junior Gouri, Zadi Landry Kipre, Bazoumana Kouyaté, Profit Lucky, Babacar Mané, Vasco Pedro Mirine, Stéphanie Mwamba, Florent Nikiéma, Shelly Ohene-Nyako, Brian Otieno Oloo, Harivola Rakotondrasoa, Oliva Randrianasolo (Nanie), Tom Jules Samie, Amy Collé Seck, Pacôme Landry Seka, Gueassa Eva Sibi, Carmelita Siwa, Amadou Lamine Sow, Didja Kady Tiemanta, Aziz Zoundi WITH THANKS TO

Korotimi Barro, D’Aquin Evrard Élisée Bekoin, Luciény Kaabral, Vuyo Mahashe, Asanda Ruda, Armel Gnago Sosso-Ny

SOUND ENGINEER

Christoph Sapp

— 30 MIN. INTERMISSION — P10 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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An Exchange

BY SARAH CROMPTON Journalist and writer Sarah Crompton speaks to Germaine Acogny, Malou Airaudo, Salomon Bausch and Alistair Spalding about the ideas behind the double-bill It’s been 13 years since the death of Pina Bausch, yet this program is inspired by her pioneering spirit. It represents only the fourth time that any group of dancers outside her home company Tanztheater Wuppertal has danced her groundbreaking The Rite of Spring, the first occasion it has been performed by a specially recruited ensemble—and the first time it has been performed by dancers from African countries.

Yet, for Germaine Acogny, co-founder of the influential École des Sables in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal, a center for the teaching and development of traditional and contemporary African dance, this project also represents the culmination of her appreciation for Pina Bausch.

“I liked Pina, and I liked her work,” she says, today. “There is a synergy between what we both were doing. For me, ’Sacre’ [The Rite of Spring] should be danced by dancers from African countries because it is something universal.

When I first saw Pina’s Rite of Spring, I felt it was an African rite.”

The idea for this version of Sacre, however, came from the Pina Bausch Foundation, which is committed to keeping Bausch’s work alive, both by preserving an archive and by encouraging new companies to perform and explore the creations under the supervision of dancers who worked with the choreographer herself.

Salomon Bausch, Bausch’s son and chair of the Foundation, believes that these “transmission projects” will help increase understanding of one of the 20th century’s most significant and important bodies of work. “I am really curious to learn what is inside this heritage,” he says. “What is it? What does it mean to people today? We need these new projects where we try to provoke things and learn new things, to do things in ways we have not done before.”

This particular project was always ambitious, even before its planned premiere at the Théâtre National Daniel Sorano in Dakar was derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. A co-production between the Foundation, École des Sables, and Sadler’s Wells in London, it has recruited dancers from 13 African countries to perform the work.

More than 200 dancers submitted video audition tapes to Josephine Ann Endicott and Jorge Puerta Armenta, former dancers with Tanztheater Wuppertal who were in charge of this staging. Then, 137 were invited to workshops in Burkina Faso, Senegal, and the Ivory Coast where they were taught excerpts from the material, and a final cast of 38 were chosen.

Then, the rehearsal process began in earnest.

The dancers represent a range of backgrounds and techniques, which has made the project thrilling. “It will be different,” says Acogny. “But that’s what makes it exciting. These dancers will do what all dancers do; they will interpret the movement of Pina Bausch. The dance

common ground[s]. Photo by Maarten Vanden Abeel/Pina Bausch Foundation.

is always the same, but depending on what area you live in, there are different energies. The Chinese will dance it differently from the French, the Germans from the African Americans.” For Endicott, there were challenges in staging the work. “The many different backgrounds created a big soup that we had to bring together,” she says. “But the dancers had such spirit. We were all together in Pina’s world somehow.”

She noticed the way in which the dancers were particularly receptive to Stravinsky’s music, adapting to it more quickly and easily than some classically trained dancers do. In this, the collaboration reaches back to this version’s creation in 1975 when Bausch laid particular emphasis on the score. “She had this huge respect for the music,” remembers Endicott who was in the first cast. “It wasn’t easy finding the movements.

We tried this and that until she was content. She always followed her instinct. The dance is the music, the dancers are the music. That’s the key.”

The piece also relies less on technique and more on a total immersion in Bausch’s visceral response to the score and the theme. “How would you dance if you knew you were going to die?” she asked, when trying to find the right steps to match the elemental power of the music. Her answer to that question means that Sacre, with its earthy stage of peat, requires extraordinary commitment and exposure from its dancers. Endicott observes: “You run with your heart and forget all you have learned before and just come out and be yourself.

It has to be real. If you are not exhausted at the end, you haven’t danced it properly.”

Acogny, now 79, remembers the impact the piece had on her when she first saw it performed in 1996, when Bausch restaged it for the Paris Opera Ballet. “In her work, Pina works with the human being, but she also works with the depths of humanity,” she says. But her own first encounter with the score was through the version created by the French choreographer Maurice Béjart, with whom she worked in Brussels and who founded Mudra Afrique, where Germaine was director, the school from which she laid the basis for African contemporary dance. “It felt like a heathen rite, and there were even elements of traditional African dance in his production.”

“The dance is the music, the dancers are the music.

That’s the key.”

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PROGRAM NOTES

At the age of 70, the woman who is known as the mother of African contemporary dance, performed the solo Mon Élue Noire, choreographed by Olivier Dubois, to the score. “Whenever I danced it, I invoked the name of Béjart, and I invoked Pina. Before I danced, I used to ask them to give me the energy to dominate the music.

And I used to offer Stravinsky a cigar and a vodka as well,” she says.

Her close association with the piece means that it feels apt that the other work on this radical program is on common ground[s], a duet this legendary dancer has created with the equally legendary Malou Airaudo, one of the dancers who worked with Bausch from the beginning of her career. “I was very nervous to meet her because she was so close to Pina Bausch’s, but it has meshed together very easily,” Acogny says. “It has been very profound.”

The duet arose because Salomon Bausch wanted there to be something new in the program. “It has been the meeting of two women to find out where they are in their lives, what they have been, what they have to say to each other,” Acogny says. Airaudo, who is 74, agrees.

“We don’t know each other, but we find each other. We don’t have anything to prove. What we do is what we are. We were together, sharing together and what

came out is what we felt.” She says creating the piece was quite straightforward. “We didn’t speak about choreography. It just happened. She did a solo, and I did my solo and then we were doing it together; it was very soft, very calm somehow, maybe because of respect or love. It was very simple.

Respect and love fills this adventurous programme, which both looks back to Bausch’s heritage and puts down a marker for a way of presenting her work in the future. It also allows dancers from African countries to explore Bausch’s work for the first time, and lets European audiences see them at work.

As Alistair Spalding, artistic director and chief executive of Sadler’s Wells, remarks: “It really is an exchange. It takes this repertoire to a continent where it hasn’t been seen before. And we get a chance to see different dancers bring a different spirit to Pina’s choreography.

There is a very strong passion about this project. It’s not just dancing in a dance piece; there is more to it. It is an opportunity for these dancers to experience something they never had a chance to do before.”

Acogny agrees. “It gives these dancers an opening and a curiosity to do other things than they are used to doing.

It will make them grow.”

ABOUT COMMON GROUND[S] Renowned dancers and—before all—women, mothers, granddaughters… here they are today, in this place where reality, memories and imaginations answer each other, a place where in the end only the present counts. common ground[s] is a poem, a moving picture, lyrical, tender and humorous. Malou Airaudo and Germaine Acogny dance in a calm whirlwind in which moods and eras telescope.

— Germaine Acogny & Malou Airaudo

DANCING THE RITE with Profit Lucky & Gloria Ugwarelojo Biachi In between tours, the dancers of The Rite of Spring return to their home countries across Africa. We caught up with two of the dancers, Profit Lucky and Gloria Ugwarelojo Biachi, both from Nigeria, about their careers as dancers and what it’s like being part of The Rite of Spring.

GB: At first I attended auditions across Nigeria, which boosted my energy, confidence and kept me going.

I discovered a dance school called The Dance Deal Foundation where I did a three-year course, which helped me master the heart of choreography.

Tell us how you started dancing and where you dance today.

Now I’m a freelancer in Nigeria, working with dance directors across the country and internationally, and facilitate dance workshops and awareness programs.

This is a project that I think girls like me need and deserve, to share my experience and give back to the community that nurtured me.

PL: Dance has been my greatest means of communication, joy and freedom, and has been a part of me right from birth. I started dacing professionally dancing when I saw a post that said I could learn dance for a cheap cost, and I quickly grabbed the offer.

Later on I moved to Ghana to further my university studies and luckily I met Valerie Miquel, whom I consider my dance mom, and I worked, trained and danced with her in a company for some years before she moved to France. Currently, I’m not dancing with any dance company.

How did you get involved in The Rite of Spring?

PL: I got involved through Valarie Miquel and some dance friends I made in École des Sables in an exchange dance program in 2019. They all sent me the dance audition post for The Rite of Spring, and they asked me to give it a try. I sent my application, traveled to

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PROGRAM NOTES

Senegal and did my auditions, and luckily (just like my surname), I was selected.

I’ve come a long way. It speaks volumes on where I’ve come from and how much I can achieve.

GB: A friend whom I met in a dance workshop sent me the application, saying ’Gloria, I know you can do this. Go for it!’ After being selected to come for the auditions, leaving Lagos to go to Senegal was a challenge. I checked in on the Goethe-Institut in Nigeria, and they sponsored me with the costs.

What do you look forward to about touring?

The auditions lasted for four days, with hundreds of African dancers. At the end, 38 were selected, and I was among the few, not because I was perfect, or had the best dance movement, but I remember when someone asked why we were chosen, one of the restagers said it was a uniqueness in each of us.

How has your experience been? How does it feel to dance in Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring?

PL: My experience has been amazing, magical, intense, filled with lots of learning and growth, and humbling.

I got to know about Pina Bausch through my Ghanian friend, so it feels like a dream come true, and it feels very humbling to finally dance The Rite of Spring after so many years of watching videos.

PL: I am always looking forward to the physical challenges of the piece and how best it can help me progress and develop as an artist. I’m very much more open to different lifestyles, traditions, cultures, perceptions, communications, languages, foods and histories of the different theatres, venues, cities and countries we visit.

GB: I look forward to the wonderful audiences, the instant feedback we get from them and connecting to many professionals around the world who ordinarily wouldn’t see my work.

These are career-defining moments for a young girl from Nigeria; it does great things for me and resonates with the young dancers I mentored. This tour keeps inspiring me every moment and every minute. I can’t wait to go back.

GB: My experience has been a work of patience and trusting in the process. When the pandemic broke out, it was disappointing because we had done so much rehearsal to get ready for the tour. Now we’ve had performances around Europe. I take any opportunity to perform the work.

It takes a lot of tolerance and patience to be able to dance this piece, and it takes a lot of ’YOU.’ This project is a legacy, a way of showing my versatility, and that Germaine Acogny

Choreographer and Dancer, common ground[s]

Senegalese French dancer, teacher and choreographer Germaine Acogny is known as the “mother of contemporary African dance.” She studied at the École Simon Siegel in Paris and established her first dance studio in Dakar in 1968. There, she developed her own technique for modern African dance, combining the influence of dances she had inherited from her grandmother, Yoruba Priestess, with her knowledge of traditional African and occidental dance.

Between 1977 and 1982, Acogny was the artistic director of Mudra Afrique (Dakar), before moving to Toulouse in 1985, where she and her husband, Helmut Vogt, founded the “StudioÉcole-Ballet-Théâtre du 3è Monde.”

In 1995, she returned to Senegal and established an international education center for traditional and contemporary African dances, École des Sables.

Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring. Photo by Maarten Vanden Abeel/Pina Bausch Foundation.

In 1998, she started her own dance company, Jant-Bi, whose productions include Les écailles de la mémoire – Scales of Memory (2008), a collaboration with Urban Bush Women, and notably, Fagaala, based on the genocide in Rwanda and winner of a Bessie Award (2007).

Acogny’s other prominent works and credits include Sahel (1987), YE’OU (1988 – winner of the London Contemporary Dance and Performance Award 1991), Tchouraï (2001), Bintou Were - a Sahel Opera (2007), Songook Yaakaar (2010), Mon élue noire – Sacre no.2, choreography Olivier Dubois, (2014, based on the original music of The Rite of Spring, winner of a Bessie Award 2018) and À un endroit du début (2015).

Acogny is a respected emissary of African Dance and Culture and continues to collaborate with schools and dance centers and teach masterclasses worldwide.

Malou Airaudo

Choreographer and Dancer, common ground[s] Born in Marseille, France, in 1948, Malou Airaudo began dancing at the age of eight at the Opéra de Marseille. At 17, she joined the Ballet Russe de MonteCarlo, where she became a soloist working with Léonide Massine before joining Françoise Adret and her BalletThéâtre-Contemporain in 1968.

In the early 1970s, she moved to New York to work with Paul Sanasardo and Manuel Alum, the latter choreographing the solo Woman of a Mystic Body for Airaudo. It is there that she met Pina Bausch for the first time.

In 1973, she was invited by Pina Bausch to join her in Wuppertal, Germany, where the director of the city’s theatres Arno Wüstenhöfer had just appointed Pina the head of the Wuppertal Ballet, which she soon renamed the Tanztheater Wuppertal.

Airaudo became one of the key figures of the ensemble, creating

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BIOGRAPHIES

major roles in various productions, such as Iphigenie auf Tauris, Orpheus und Eurydike, Café Müller and dancing The Rite of Spring as well as in many other pieces.

She was also a founding member of the Parisian dance company, La Main, along with Jacques Patarozzi, Dominique Mercy, Helena Pikon and Dana Sapiro, and worked with choreographer Carolyn Carlson at the Teatrodanza La Fenice in Venice.

From 1984 until 2018, she taught dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen-Werden, and in 2012, she became the director of the university’s Institute of Contemporary Dance.

Her choreographic accomplishments include Le Jardin des Souvenirs, Jane, Je Voudrais Tant, Schwarze Katze and If You Knew, created from the mid-’90s onward for companies such as the Folkwang Tanz Studio, the Ballet de Nancy, the Ballet de Geneva, the Ballet du Nord and Venice Biennale. In the last decade, she has also worked with Pottporus Renegade Theatre creating work with breakdancers like Irgendwo and Verlorene Drachen.

Airaudo has also appeared in the films Talk To Me (2002, dir. Pedro Almodóvar) and Pina (2011, dir.

Wim Wenders).

In 2023, she received the German Dance Award together with three other former dancers of Pina Bausch.

Fabrice Bouillon-LaForest Composer, common ground[s] Musician, writer and composer, Fabrice BouillonLaforest is the artistic director of French FAUN(es) Collectif, alongside dancer Sébastien Cormier. He is a long-time collaborator of Germaine Acogny (Fagaala, Songook Yaakaar, A un Endroit du Début) and École des Sables. Familiar to the world of dance (original scores for Nora Chipaumire, Urban Bush Women, Pittsburgh’s Dance Alloy Theatre, Kota Yamazaki, Don’t Hit Mama, Patrick Acogny, Cie Virevolt), he is the co-founder of circus company Hors Surface with performer Damien Droin. He has created and performed several shows including Tetraktys, Boat and Fabulomania. His work spans from video games to pop and rock. Under the alias LaForest, he has released two albums, co-written the documentary film Rimanere (Alexandre Lopez), and created and led many art projects designed for

rural/remote environments. With Sébastien Cormier and musician Tristan Assant, he is touring Bouillon-LaForest as a singer and frontman of a multidisciplinary music/dance project.

Zeynep Kepekli Lighting Designer, common ground[s] Zeynep Kepekli is a London-based lighting designer who presents work in the U.K. and around the world across dance, theatre, opera, ballet as well as site-specific projects and installations.

Her work is influenced by nature, architecture and bodies in spaces. She continuously questions geography and belonging in her work. In her personal works, she researches the natural light and its transformative effects on the landscape, using film and photography to document.

Some of her recent credits include California Connections (Yorke Dance Project, The Royal Opera House), Festival of New Choreography (Royal Ballet - The Royal Opera House), How Did We Get Here (Julie Cunningham Co + Mel C - Sadler’s Wells Theatre), The Meaning of Zong (Tom Morris/Giles Terera – Bristol Old Vic), Neighbours ( Brigel Gjoka/ Rauf ’Rubberlegs’ Yasid – Sadler’s Wells), common ground[s] (Pina Bausch Foundation/Ecoles des Sables/Sadler’s Wells), Afternoon Conversations With Dancers (Robert Cohan/Yolande Yorke – Edgell -The Royal Opera House), Within Without with Limbic Cinema.

She was the technical manager of Sadler’s Wells Theatre and head of production and technical at Battersea Arts Centre. She is the technical director of Akram Khan Dance Company and a member of MENA Arts UK. Sophiatou Kossoko Dramaturg, common ground[s] Sophiatou Kossoko studied modern dance and ballet at the Doug Crutchfield Dance School in Copenhagen, Denmark. She completed her training by doing workshops with teachers, artists, and choreographers from various dance backgrounds. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts – Dance Path and continued her studies at the University of Paris 8ème in France. Kossoko founded the

company IGI, with a focus on creating, producing and presenting artistic projects that combine dance with other disciplines such as singing, music, theatre and visual arts to explore the relationships between the world’s cultural differences. IGI offers a range of educational activities on a regular basis in collaboration with institutions and artists. Kossoko choreographed Tchouraï, a solo for Germaine Acogny.

The choreographer Olivier Dubois also invited her to create a piece, Allégorie, for Danswindow. One of her poems is being published in présences by le Printemps des Poètes.

Petra Leidner Costume Designer, common ground[s] Costume Maker, The Rite of Spring Petra Leidner has been a costume director at Wuppertaler Bühnen und Sinfonieorchester GmbH since 2011. She has also been the costume director for Burgfestspiele Jagsthausen for over six seasons.

Since 1992, Leidner has been costume director at Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and has worked on all premieres and revivals of the company’s productions, in close collaboration with Marion Cito.

In recent years, she has supervised and been responsible for costume design and consultation for various productions by Pina Bausch, for the Pina Bausch Foundation. Leidner opened her own costume studio in 2013.

Pina Bausch Choreographer, The Rite of Spring Pina Bausch was born in 1940 in Solingen, Germany, and died in 2009 in Wuppertal. She received her dance training at the Folkwang School in Essen under Kurt Jooss, where she achieved technical excellence. After two years in New York, initially with a scholarship from the renowned Juilliard School of Music, then as a dancer at the New American Ballet and at the Metropolitan Opera House Ballet, she returned to Essen in 1962 on Jooss’ request as a soloist at the newly founded Folkwang Dance Studio. Soon after, the director of Wuppertal’s theatres, Arno Wüstenhöfer, engaged her as a choreographer in autumn 1973; she renamed the ensemble the

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Tanztheater Wuppertal. Under this name, although controversial at the beginning, the company gradually achieved international recognition. Its combination of poetic and everyday elements influenced the international development of dance. Awarded some of the greatest prizes and honours worldwide, Bausch is one of the most significant choreographers of our time.

Igor Stravinsky Music, The Rite of Spring Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) was acclaimed for his many stage works, including the original ballets Petrushka, Agon, The Firebird, Apollo, Scènes de ballet and The Rite of Spring, as well as the opera The Rake’s Progress. Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum, Russia, in 1882 and raised in St. Petersburg. He first gained his acclaim in the early 1900s for his compositions for the Ballets Russes, including The Rite of Spring. In Switzerland and subsequently France, he continued his work, composing such works as Persephone and Renard.

In 1939, Stravinsky moved to the United States and completed his Symphony in C. Stravinsky remained in the United States until his death in 1971 in New York City, at which point he had a repertoire of more than 100 works to his name. Stravinsky is revered as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century.

Rolf Börzik Original Set and Costume Design, The Rite of Spring Rolf Börzik was born in 1944 in Poznań, Poland, and initially studied drawing and painting in Haarlem, Amsterdam, and Paris from 1963 to 1966. Then, in 1967, he studied graphics and design at the Folkwang School in Essen. In 1970, he met Pina Bausch and, from 1973, created sets and costumes for her in Wuppertal, making a decisive contribution to the look of dance theatre. Börzik died in January 1980 at the age of 35.

Josephine Ann Endicott Artistic Director, The Rite of Spring Josephine Ann Endicott is a trained classical dancer of the Australian Ballet school and Australia Ballet company.

In 1973, she was chosen by Pina Bausch to join the Tanztheater Wuppertal as

a soloist where she danced until her last performance with the company in 2018, at the age of 69. Presently, she is a rehearsal director for many of the older Bausch productions, including The Rite of Spring and her restagings of Kontakthof. With Ladies and Gentlemen over 65 with Beatrice Libonati (1999/2000) and Kontakthof.

With Teenagers over 14 with Bénédicte Billiet (2009/2010) were major successes. She was responsible for several international restagings of Pina Bausch pieces, including The Rite of Spring and Orpheus und Eurydike at the Paris Opera. In 2023, she received the German Dance Award together with three other former dancers of Pina Bausch.

Jorge Puerta Armenta Artistic Director, The Rite of Spring Jorge Puerta Armenta became a member of the ensemble of Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal in 1997, where he danced in repertoire pieces and created eight pieces under Bausch’s direction. He had previously worked with Folkwang Tanzstudio. Since 2014, Puerta Armenta has worked as a freelance choreographer and dancer.

Credits include: works commissioned

by IDARTES in Colombia, a full co-production between the cultural center of Universidad del Pacífico and the Goethe Institute; and a production of Ivona directed by Omar Sangare in Massachusetts.

He was responsible for several international restagings of Pina Bausch’s pieces, including The Rite of Spring in Paris, London and Berlin and the restaging of Auf dem Gebirge hat man ein Geschrei gehört (On the Mountain a Cry Was Heard) in Lyon. In 2020, he participated in two projects online: a coaching video-dance workshop (La Factoría/ Colombia) and an experimental film dance workshop co-directed with Chrystel Guillebeaud for persons over 60 years old for the Festival Under Construction/Wuppertal. Film credits include: Pedro Almodóvar’s Talk to Her (2002) and Wim Wenders’ Pina (2011). He studied at the Cndc (Centre national de danse contemporaine), France.

Clémentine Deluy Artistic Director, The Rite of Spring After graduating from the Folkwang Universität der

Kunste in Essen-Werden, Clémentine Deluy joined the Company Sasha Waltz & Guests in 2002. In 2006, she became a member of Tanztheater Wuppertal and, since 2014, has been a guest artist of the company. Since 2015, she has worked on further collaborations with Sasha Waltz including Romeo & Juliet, Figure Humaine (Elbephillarmonie), Kreatur, Exodus and Rauschen.

Currently, Deluy is working on pieces by Pascal Merighi, Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola, and in 2019, supported by the Globe, Deluy explored theatrical forms of artistic research in collaboration with Thusnelda Mercy, Jack Laskey and Ben Wishaw. In the same year, she also co-directed the restaging of Iphigenia auf Tauris by Pina Bausch for the Semperoper Dresden, a project developed by the Pina Bausch Foundation. Deluy also teaches international dance workshops for professional and amateur dancers. Çağdaş Ermiş Rehearsal Director, The Rite of Spring Çağdaş Ermiş was born in Wuppertal and has a bachelor and master’s degree in dance from the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen, Germany.

He has been a member of Tanztheater Wuppertal since 2014. Over the course of his career, Ermiş has worked with Susanne Linke, Henrietta Horn, Malou Airaudo, Lutz Förster and David Hernandez, among others.

Ditta Miranda Jasjfi Rehearsal Director, The Rite of Spring Ditta Miranda Jasjfi was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. She began classical ballet training in Paris at the age of 5 before continuing her training back in Indonesia with Farida Oetoyo, and studying Indonesian traditional dances from Bali, West, Mid and East Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Jaipong with various teachers.

In 1989, she began studying dance at Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany, and, in 1993, became a member of the Folkwang Tanz Studio.

In 1994, she pursued an engagement in Tanztheater of the Stadttheater Bremen with Artistic Director Susanne Linke and Urs Dietrich.

Since 2000, Jasjfi has been a dancer with Tanztheater Wuppertal.

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Barbara Kaufmann Rehearsal Director, The Rite of Spring

Kenji Takagi Rehearsal Director, The Rite of Spring

Barbara Kaufmann trained at Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance in New York and Paris, Royal Ballet Academy Stockholm, Folkwang University of the Arts under Hans Züllig and Jean Cébron, and with Maestro Alfredo Corvino.

Kenji Takagi is from Berlin, Germany, and trained at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen. He was a permanent ensemble member of Tanztheater Wuppertal from 2001 to 2008, when he received the German Theatre Prize, Der Faust for Outstanding Performance in Dance for his solo in Pina Bausch’s Bamboo Blues.

She has danced with the Jessica Iwanson Dance Company, Tanzprojekt München with Birgitta Trommler, the Folkwang Tanzstudio with Susanne Linke and with Pina Bausch (since 1987).

Since 2002, Kaufmann has been working as rehearsal assistant for The Rite of Spring, Iphigenie auf Tauris, The Tannhäuser Bacchanal and as rehearsal director for Since She by Dimitris Papaioannou. She has also been a rehearsal director for the Pina Bausch Foundation at English National Ballet and Ballet Flanders for The Rite of Spring and at the Semperoper for Iphigenie auf Tauris.

Additional affiliations include her appearance in the Wim Wenders film Pina (2011) and collaborating on the development of video annotation, oral history projects and direction of documentation at the Pina Bausch Foundation. She was awarded the Isadora Tanzpreis in 2012.

Julie Shanahan Rehearsal Director, The Rite of Spring Julie Shanahan was born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1962. She completed all her RAD classical ballet examinations and a Bachelor of the Arts in contemporary dance and choreography.

She worked for two years at the Sydney-based One Extra Dance Company and Darwin Dance Mob before moving to Germany in 1984, working as a soloist dancer until 1988 with Reinhold Hoffmann’s Bremen Dance Theater and Schauspielhaus Bochum.

In 1988, she joined the Tanztheater Wuppertal as a soloist dancer.

Besides her role as dancer, she is also a rehearsal director for a number of Pina Bausch repertory pieces including The Rite of Spring.

From 2008 to 2018, he became a guest artist for the company, as both a dancer and rehearsal director. His work as a rehearsal director includes the restaging of The Rite of Spring at the Paris Opéra, the English National Ballet, Ballet Flanders and Staatsballett Berlin.

Additionally, in 2016, he contributed to the “transmission” project of Pina Bausch’s work, For the children of yesterday, today and tomorrow, in collaboration with the Bavarian State Ballet.

Recently, he has performed in various improvisation shows and interdisciplinary stage projects in Germany.

Rodolphe Allui Côte D’Ivoire Rodolphe Allui is a dancer and choreographer from the Ivory Coast who has been working in traditional and contemporary dance with Compagnie Dumanlé since 2012. Since completing his training at the National Superior Institute of Arts and Culture (INSAAC) in the Ivory Coast, where he obtained a master’s degree in dance, he has participated in several contemporary and traditional creations.

Sahadatou Ami Touré Benin Trained in Benin and the sub-region, Sahadatou Ami Touré promotes dance in schools and universities in Benin. She has created a brand, AmiFusion Clothing, which specializes in the making of Bombers and baby clothes in wax fabric to promote local clothing.

Anique Ayiboe Togo Anique Ayiboe is a Togolese professional dancer with a degree in dance from École Des Sables, Senegal.

Always in search of new horizons, her love for dance pushes her to participate in many artistic projects both nationally and internationally, including in Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Germany, Spain and France.

Gloria Ugwarelojo Biachi Nigeria Gloria Ugwarelojo Biachi, who hails from Delta state of Nigeria, is a Lagos-based dance artist, teacher, choreographer, fitness instructor, actor and costume designer.

Ugwarelojo Biachi’s training includes several national and international residencies/workshops with choreographers and companies around the world. She completed the AWA Dance mentorship program in the class of 2021. Her body of works include stints in theatre, television, motion pictures and working with children of all ages.

In 2021, at the Institut Français in Burkina Faso, her solo ILE made its performance debut at the Fido International Festival of Dance.

Her latest acting credit is recorded in the Netflix original Mystic River and many others, excluding her costuming background.

Biachi just concluded an Artistic Development Residency at Dance Base Studio in Edinburghin 2023.

Khadija Cisse Senegal Khadija Cisse, alias Belgique, started dancing as a teenager with dancehall. In 2016, she decided to strengthen her dance skills with École des Sables and several other teachers. Dancing became her profession, and she has since participated in several projects.

Sonia Zandile Constable South Africa From Cape Town, Sonia Zandile Constable started dancing at the age

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of 11 at Dance For All (NGO). After Matric in 2004, she went to the Ailey School in New York during winter for six months. After returning to South Africa, she joined Dance For All Youth Company until 2007. She has done numerous collaborations with Cape Town City Ballet, Free Flight and Jazzart. From 2008–2011, she was a member of Ikapa Dance Theatre, and, in 2012–2013, she joined Sean Bovim’s Bovim Ballet. In 2014, she joined The Dance Factory performing Dada Masilo’s Swan Lake, Carmen and Giselle, and touring internationally throughout Europe, America and Asia.

Rokhaya Coulibaly Senegal Born and raised in Pikine, Rokhaya Coulibaly started dancing at the age of 13 with Koutoubo Camara. She participates in several workshops and dance training in festivals. A member of the company Sunu Percu Danse since 2015, she joined the ballet of the National Theater Daniel Sorano in 2019.

Inas Dasylva Senegal Inas Dasylva was born in Dakar, Senegal, and started street dance when he was 13 years old. Six years later, he began to undertake the traditional Senegalese sabar dance in the company Senè Afrique. In 2015, he joined the Alvin Ailey Dance Academy in Dakar where he trained in contemporary dance, jazz and capoeira for three years. In 2016, he trained in traditional and contemporary African dance at the École des Sables in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal. In 2018, he was selected to perform in Boy Breaking Glass choreographed by Alessandra Seutin (Vocab Dance) for Sadler’s Wells in London.

Astou Diop (Tousa) Senegal Astou Diop (Tousa) was born in Dakar, Senegal, and started competing in hip-hop dance battles with group Attack Dance when she was 16. At 18, she started sabar and contemporary dance classes with the company Sene Africa.

She has been training in traditional

and contemporary African dances in Dakar since 2016 and is a member of École des Sables’ Jant-Bi II company.

Serge Arthur Dodo Côte d’Ivoire Serge Arthur Dodo is a choreographer and performer from the Ivory Coast.

He trained at the National School of Theatre and Dance (ENTD), where he obtained a Diploma of Artistic Advanced studies (DESA) and at École des Sables, Senegal. He has his own dance company King’Art and teaches contemporary dance at the AHK University of Art in Amsterdam.

Franne Christie Dossou Senegal A contemporary dancer, performer and Capoeirist from Benin, Franne Christie Dossou started dancing at the age of 24. She holds a master’s degree in project management and she is the mother to a 10-year-old boy. Since 2014, she has pursued various forms of training.

Today, she is ’creating value through the culture of art,’ as a dancer with the company ANIKAYA as her focus.

Estelle Foli Togo Estelle Foli is a professional contemporary dancer. She has honed her craft through a wide range of residency, training and performance experiences with choreographers, directors and dance companies throughout Africa and Europe. Her technique bears the mark of each of these experiences.

Aoufice Junior Gouri Côte d’Ivoire Ivorian dancerperformer Aoufice Junior Gouri graduated from the National Superior School of Arts and Culture in the Ivory Coast and continues to develop through further training, workshops and performances. His motto is: “Live my passion to the fullest by taking up challenges.”

Zadi Landry Kipre Côte d’Ivoire Born in Abidjan, dancer, choreographer, and acrobat Zadi Landry Kipre has participated in the 7th Jeux de la Francophonie in Nice and won third prize for Best Creation at the Algiers International Dance Festival.

Landry Kipre is currently the assistant choreographer of both the National Ballet of the Ivory Coast and the international circus AFRIKA AFRIKA. Bazoumana Kouyaté Mali Bazoumana Kouyaté , known as Tom, is a professional dancer-performer from Mali, who is trained in both traditional Malian and contemporary dance. He has choreographed various creations for the stage and has participated in numerous projects.

Profit Lucky Nigeria Profit Lucky is a Nigerian dancer who began his dance training in Nigeria before moved to Ghana to train with Ghana Theatre & Contemporary Dance under the artistic direction of Valerie Miquel.

There, he was a soloist in two productions for the company. Lucky was awarded a full scholarship to Eric Scott Underwood’s Online Summer Intensive Program and Alonzo King Lines Ballet Online Summer Program.

Outside of dance, Lucky also worked as a model and dance-model in Nigeria and Ghana, and completed an Exchange Dance Program with École Des Sables and Amsterdam University of the Arts.

Babacar Mané Senegal Babacar Mané has worked with multiple dance companies. He joined the National School of Arts of Senegal to train in choreography.

Mané was the winner of the Institut Français de Paris’ Visa Pour La Création 2020 program.

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Vasco Pedro Mirine Mozambique Vasco Pedro Mirine is Mozambican.

He graduated in sculpture (ADPP) and trained in performing arts (P.A.R.T.S.).

He spent 10 years working in the visual arts. During this time, he also worked with the municipal singing and African dance company Matola and collaborated with Culturarte Mozambique. Mirine is a multidisciplinary artist and freelancer trained in contemporary Afro and Afro-street dances at École des Sables.

Stêphanie Mwamba

Democratic Republic of the Congo Stêphanie Mwamba is a dancer and performer from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has been passionate about dance since 2015. Fascinated by the dance steps and rhythms of traditional dance, Mwamba has taken part in various dance training and has performed at festivals including Cairo International Festival for Contemporary Experimental Theatre, BataloEast Festival (Kampala) and Amani Festival (Goma).

Florent Nikiema Burkina Faso Florent Nikiema is a Burkinabé dancer-performer, graduate of EDIT and certified teacher from the École des Sables and CDC la Termitière. He has trained with dancers such as Salia Ni Seydou, Laurence Levasseur, Irène Tassembédo, Angélin Preljocaj and Germaine Acogny.

Shelly OheneNyako Ghana / Switzerland Shelly OheneNyako is Ghanaian and Swiss.

After completing her bachelor’s degree in performing arts, she worked as a freelance dancer. She moved to Ghana in 2018, where she started teaching ballet and fusing multiples styles together. Her aim is to help the performing arts scene in Africa grow.

Brian Otieno Oloo Kenya Brian Otieno Oloo is a Kenyan-born performer. He works with several organizations in East Africa such as Yawa dance company and Ibuka Dance Foundation as co-artistic director. Otieno Oloo’s most profound work was Mizani, a piece about gender equality, which toured 10 towns in Tanzania and impacted thousands of people.

Harivola Rakotondrasoa Madagascar Born in 1987, Harivola Rakotondrasoa is the artistic director of the DIHY Project, an association for dance training and outreach. Living in Madagascar, he organizes cultural events and works with companies such as Hetsika Madagascar, Asara, Anjorombala and Sasha Waltz and Guests through Zaratiana Randrianantenaina.

Oliva Randrianasolo (Nanie) Madagascar Madagascan dancer Oliva Randrianasolo has been working with the company Tahala, based in Tamatave (Madagascar) since 2011.

Randrianasolo often collaborates with local and international dance companies and is a member of dance association Dih’arajky. She graduated from École des Sables.

Tom Jules Samie Togo Tom Jules Samie began dancing with Dagbeneva, a traditional Togolese dance company, during which time he broadened his training through contemporary dance workshops and classes. At the Alvin Ailey Senegal Academy in Dakar, he studied traditional Senegalese dance, modern jazz, classic and contemporary. Samie then graduated from the Taf-Taf promotion of the École des Sables with a professional dance diploma.

currently tours with Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring. He has also taken part in numerous dance projects.

Amy Collé Seck Senegal Dancer and circus performer Amy Collé Seck began her career in breakdance. She has been practicing circus techniques with Sen’Cirk since 2016. In 2019, she performed at the Battle National and B2F festival in Dakar and Rufisque.

Collé Seck is a member of École des Sables’ Jant-Bi II company.

Pacôme Landry Seka Côte d’Ivoire Pacôme Landry Seka is a professional dancer from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Having been passionate about dance since his early childhood, he decided to enter art school after obtaining his baccalaureate.

Gueassa Eva Sibi Côte d’Ivoire Gueassa Eva Sibi joined the Moaye Ivoire company in 2015 and has participated in several festivals such as the Rind Dance festival (Massidi Adiatou, 2016), the opening of the eighth games of the Francophonie and the festival Danse Raum of Jennie Mezile. She is currently a dance student at the National Institute of Arts and Cultural Action (INSAAC).

Carmelita Siwa Benin Originally from Benin, Carmelita Siwa is a dancer and actress.

With a degree in project management, she is also now a graduate of École des Sables. She teaches Afro-urban, contemporary awakening and initiation dances at the Centre Chorégraphique Multicorps and at the French school of Cotonou. Now artistic director of Arts Ca’Danser, she has choreographed multiple works, including (in)secure with Didja Kady Tiemanta.

He created a piece entitled Hommage; he was a soloist in the opera NEHANDA

by Compagnie Nora Chipaumire and

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Amadou Lamine Sow Senegal Amadou Lamine Sow, known as Pim, is a dancer, performer and teacher, mainly focused on different traditional African dance but trained in several styles including contemporary, house, hip-hop and Afropop. He is member of the Senegalese National Ballet, La Linguére, and graduated from the Alvine Academy Ailey Senegal. He is also choreographer for the Sunu Percu dance company and artistic director of the Festival International Jakarlo.

Didja Kady Tiemanta Mali Born in Ivory Coast, Didja Kady Tiemanta is a dancer and actress who lives and works in Bamako, Mali.

Since receiving her master’s degree in dance from the Bamako Conservatory in 2017, she has trained at multiple dance schools including École des Sables and CCD la Termitière. She has choreographed multiple works, including (in)secure with Carmelita Siwa, and was an educational and artistic assistant for dance festival Fari Foni Waati in 2021.

Aziz Zoundi Burkina Faso Aziz Zoundi is a dancer, artist, and performer from Burkina Faso.

He is currently training through workshops in dance, theatre and music at the Bouamani Africa Centre. He is also part of the training program in contemporary dance at CDC La Termitière, Je Danse Don Je Suis et Yeleen don.

Sound Engineer

Dan Harmer

Wardrobe Manager

Anne-Marie Bigby

Production Electrician

Connor Sale

Stage Swing Technician

Stage Manager

Personal Assistant to Malou Airaudo

Annalisa Palmieri Costume Maker

Petra Leidner

Costume Assistants

Mariola Kopczynski (Dakar) Silvia Franco (Wuppertal) PRODUCERS For Pina Bausch Foundation Founder and Board of Directors

Salomon Bausch

Director of Archives

Ismaël Dia

Project Manager

Gertraud Johne

Communications

Ana Djokic

Education and Outreach

Kathrin Peters

For École des Sables Founders

Germaine Acogny and Helmut Vogt Manager

Helmut Vogt Technical Production Manager

Didier Delgado Production

Stan Mandef, Mame Bousso MBaye Coordinator

Paul Sagne

Casting/Adviser

Phillipe Bocandé Communications

Eleine de Graça-Sccientia For Sadler’s Wells London Artistic Director & Chief Executive

Alistair Spalding CBE

Head of Stage

Suzanne Walker

Ben O’Grady

Steven Lou SERVICES

Production Management

(in Senegal) Gacirah Diagne, Association Kaay Fecc (Papa Abdoulaye Faye, Mamadou Coumba Diouf, Francis S. Gomis, Jean Louis Junior Gomis, Ouleymatou Niang) Technical Production Management

(in Senegal) Abdou Diouf (for Les Ateliers Abdou Diouf)

Board of Directors

Simone Rust

The Rite of Spring Company Manager

Laye Kane

Media Campaigns Manager

Marketing & Communications Coordinator

Accounting

Emma Cameron

Marketing Manager

Jordan Archer

Osteopath

Alexandra Haydon

Head of Production

Isabel Patt

Tour Producer

Aristea Charalampidou

Freddie Todd Fordham

Patrick Acogny

Company Manager

Sophie Delahaye

Hex Emalia

TECHNICAL TEAM Adam Carrée

Assistant Producer

Executive Producer Head of Producing & Touring

Audition Partners

(in the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Senegal) Ange Aoussou (for Compagnie Ange Aoussou), Salamatou Diene (for CDC – La Termitière) and Gacirah Diagne (for Association Kaay Fecc) Filming Fontäne Film:

Florian Heinzen-Ziob (Director & Editor), Enno Endlicher (Cinematographer), Armin Badde (Sound Engineer) et Igor Novic (Additional Camera Operator) Photography

Maarten Vanden Abeele With thanks to

Petra Boettcher, Keyssi Bousso, Stephan Brinkmann, Ismaël Dia, S. E. M. Abdoulaye Diop, Denise Fertig, Hannah Gibbs, Theowen Gilmour, Dr. Massamba Guèye, Dirk Hesse, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (Wuppertal), Yingqian (Sahara) Huang, Lani Huens, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Daniel King, Nassy Konan, Abdoulaye Koundoul, Folkwang Universität der Künste, Claudia Lüttringhaus, Pascal Moulard, Abdoul Mujyambere, Balla Ndiaye,Birane Niang, Nicole Pieper, Gráinne Pollak, Madeline Ritter, Chelsea Robinson, Sahite Sarr Samb, Mohamed Y. Shika, Gabriel Smeets, Felicitas Willems, Laura-Inès Wilson, Wuppertaler Bühnen

Bia Oliveira

Senior Producer

Ghislaine Granger

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We invite you to consider a legacy gift that will create inclusive arts and cultural experiences that will champion the diverse voices and communities of Los Angeles for generations to come.

Imagine a child experiencing a live performance for the first time, a teacher discovering new ways to inspire students, a couple enjoying a world-renowned dance company and a family learning new dance moves together, and know it is your everlasting kindness that allows The Music Center to provide these meaningful experiences that enrich the lives of all Angelenos. Imagine the impact your legacy gift can make!

WAYS TO GIVE: • Include a gift in your will or living trust

• Designate The Music Center as a beneficiary of your retirement plan or life insurance policy

• Establish a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust • Create an estate note, which is an irrevocable pledge against one’s estate • Create an endowed fund

Dance DTLA Disco Night.

Photo by Will Tee Yang for The Music Center.

To learn more, contact Cheryl Brown at (213) 972-3316 or visit MusicCenterLegacy.org.

JOIN US THE MUSIC CENTER’S 36TH ANNUAL

Spotlight Grand Finale Performance TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2024 The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall

For more information, please contact us at (213) 972-4344 or spotlightsupport@musiccenter.org

Brooke Bailey, 2023 Spotlight Non Classical Voice Grand Prize Finalist, photographed by John McCoy for The Music Center.

Please join us at the Spotlight Grand Finale Performance and Dinner on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall and experience, firsthand, the next generation of talented artists who are making a lasting impact on the world around us.

Please scan to make a gift supporting the Spotlight program.

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Thank you for sustaining the arts!

OUR SUPPORTERS: ENDOWMENT AND PLANNED GIFTS The Music Center is grateful for the generosity and support of our contributors who have established endowments and planned gifts in their estate plans. Over the years, planned gifts have significantly impacted our programs, and we are thankful for the foresight of these dedicated individuals who have made legacy gifts.

PLANNED GIFTS AND ENDOWMENT GIFTS $1,000,000 AND ABOVE The Ahmanson Foundation The Ashkenas and Fabian Family Bank of America Foundation The Blue Ribbon Terri and Timothy Childs David Conlon Jill and Curtis Kaufman Diane and Leon Morton Merle and Peter Mullin National Endowment for the Arts Robert Olsen Fredric M. Roberts Frank J. Sherwood Dorothy C. Waugh PLANNED GIFTS AND ENDOWMENT GIFTS UP TO $999,999 Anonymous (4) Phyllis Abrams and Jules Smith Caroline L. Ahmanson The Annenberg Foundation Kathryn A. Ballsun Pamela and Dennis Beck

Judith and Thomas Beckmen Miriam Birch Judith Blumenthal Borden-Rozner Trust Linda and Maynard Brittan Maurice and Jane Cattani Club 100 Margaret Sheehy Collins Dorothy and Sherill Corwin Mary Levin Cutler James A. Doolittle Foundation Kimberly Marteau and John Emerson Sylvia Kunin Eben Carolyn Dirks/James B. Gould Foundation Thomas F. Grose William Randolph Hearst Foundation Joan E. Herman and Richard M. Rasiej Ann and Steve Hinchliffe Joan E. and John Hotchkis Freya and Mark Ivener Robert Jesberg and Michael J. Carmody Carrie and Stuart Ketchum Joyce and Kent Kresa Helen Lamm

Dr. Stephen Lee Mrs. J. Hart Lyon Rachel S. Moore and Robert Ryan Stephen D. Moses Robin and Gerald Parsky James B. Pendleton Foundation Barbara and Sheldon Pinchuk Nan Rae Lee and Larry Ramer Penelope C. Roeder Constance E. RoPolo Mimi Rotter Barbara & Charles Schneider Mary Shambra Howard Sherman and J. Gregg Houston Lisa Specht I.H. Sutnick Gretchen Valentine Andrea and John Van de Kamp Dietrich Eugene Wagner Washington Mutual

“I hope to see The Music Center grow and develop for generations to come."

— Shirley Ashkenas, Dorothy Chandler Society Member

Special thanks to our donors who wish to remain anonymous.

The Music Center strives to acknowledge all our supporters appropriately. If your name has been misspelled or omitted from this list in error, please contact the Advancement Office at (213) 972-3333.

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The Music Center Thanks Its Supporters INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILY FOUNDATIONS $1,000,000 AND ABOVE Robert J. Abernethy Terri and Timothy Childs Glorya Kaufman Foundation Cindy Miscikowski / The Ring-Miscikowski Foundation / The Ring Foundation Moss Foundation Fredric Roberts Mimi Song $100,000–$999,999 Helen and Peter Bing Dorothy Buffum Chandler Program Fund Tammy and Eric Gustavson The Herb Alpert Foundation Mary Ann Hunt-Jacobsen and Eric Jacobsen Freya and Mark Ivener Anita Mann Kohl and Allen D Kohl Terri and Jerry Kohl Lily Lee and Tom Chang Marie H. Song Estate of Roberta Turkat Alyce de Roulet Williamson $50,000–$99,999 Gregory Adams Edgerton Foundation Marcia Israel Foundation Teresita and Shelby Notkin Linda L. Pierce Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation Marc and Eva Stern Foundation Julia Strickland and Timothy Wahl Jennifer and Steven Walske Kurt and Susan Wegleitner $25,000–$49,999 Kathy and Charles Adams Jane Arnault-Factor Pamela and Dennis Beck Elizabeth and Otis Chandler Helen Funai Erickson Joan Herman and Richard Rasiej Erika and Jeff Hill Marla and Cary Lefton Susan and Steven Matt Beth and Leslie Michelson Darrell Miller Olivia and Anthony Neece The Estate of Robert W. Olsen Rose and Michael Pagano Melissa and Alex Romain LSMK Investments Wendy and Ken Ruby Lisa See and Richard Kendall Alexandra Seros and Bruno Ulloa

Johnese Spisso and Ross Hartling Hope Landis Warner Wendy and Jay Wintrob

$10,000–$24,999 Charlene Achki-Repko Donna Altmann Jill Baldauf and Steven Grossman Barnard College Susan Baumgarten Estate of Herbert Mayer Berk JoAnn and Wayland Bourne Joan A. Friedman, Ph.D. and Robert N. Braun, M.D. Claire and Brad Brian Louise and John Bryson Walter and Ruth Chameides Ana and Robert Cook Estate of Elizabeth H. Dailey Richard Ferry Dr. Debra Luftman and Dr. Harlan Gibbs Mira Hashmall, Esq. Liz Levitt Hirsch Jane Jelenko Sumi Jo Jill and Curtis Kaufman Dr. Susan Kendall Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall Carol and Patrick Kinsella Kent Kresa David Minning and Diane Wittenberg Muriel F. Siebert Foundation Chad Olsen and Brian Duck Ann A. Park The Albert Parvin Foundation Cynthia M. Patton Karen Kay Platt and Lawrence B. Platt Judith Reichman, M.D. Monica and Joseph Rice Koni and Geoff Rich Catharine and Jeffrey Soros Beverly Ryder Lisa Specht Cathy Stone Bradley Tabach-Bank and Dee Dee Dorskind Sue Tsao Ana Valdez Paul and Liza Wachter Seth Weingarten and Lynne Silbert Mary Ann Weisberg and Bryce Perry The Wetsman Foundation Janis and William Wetsman Keenan and Orna Wolens

Donors from 10-01-2022 through 11-08-2023

$5,000–$9,999 Maynard and Linda Brittan Traub-Brittan Family Foundation MaddocksBrown Foundation Margaret Sheehy Collins Michael Dreyer Elizabeth and Brack Duker Lisa Field Bobbi and Henry Fields Gerry Friedman Laura C. Guthman Jacqueline Kehle Edward Lazarus and Amanda Moose June Li Anita Lorber Diane G. Medina Renae Williams Niles and Greg Niles Iris M. Whiting Laura-Lee Woods $1,000–$4,999 Aileen Adams Barry Baker Howard Banchik Paul N. Barkopoulos, M.D. Josephine Baurac David Bender Bessemer Trust Company, N.A. Leigh Lindsey and Andrew Blaine Irene and Stuart Boyd Geri Brawerman Darrell R. Brown Burnand-Partridge Foundation Reynolds Cafferata Fanya Carter Rose Chan and Warren Loui Jane and Lawrence Cohen Nancy Cotton Aviva Covitz Sharon and Gray Davis Emmanuel and Christina Di Donna Jennifer Diener Mark Dipaola Laura Donnelley Dody Dorn and Kevin Hughes Malsi Doyle and Michael R. Forman Constance B. Elliot Don and Jackie Feinstein Ruth Flinkman-Marandy and Ben Marandy Susan Friedman Diane Futterman Leslie and Frederick Gaylord Patricia Glaser and Sam Mudie Larry Gold Roslyn and Abner Goldstine Kelly and Louis Gonda Helen Gordon

Paul Greenberg Cynthia Griffin Agnes Grohs Leonie Gross Marcy Gross Cornelia Haag-Molkenteller, M.D. Penny Haberman Lisa and Steven Hansen Ilene Schiowitz Harker Betty Hayman Claire and Robert Heron Christine M. Hessler Fritz Hoelscher AC Hoffing Katinka and Eugene Holt Bonnie Oda Homsey and Philip R. Homsey II Douglas Honig and Monique Gingold The Bob Hope Legacy Nancy Huang-Sommer Iger Bay Foundation Ana Iglesias William H. Isacoff, M.D. Tomoko Iwakawa Judith Jenkins Ruth Jervis Randi and Richard Jones Linda and David Kagel Natsuo Kawada James Kelly Barbara and Richard Kernochan Jay Kinn and Jules Vogel Michael and Patricia Klowden Sandra Krause and William Fitzgerald Vivian Krepack Kathleen and John Lacey Rosanne Lapan Carl W. Large Rhonda Leal Dr. Melvyn Lewis Anslyene Lloyd Marlene and Sandy Louchheim Maureen and Robert Lucas Paula Marcus Pauline Marks Brian H. Martin Julie McDonald Sara Jane McKernan Linda and Sheldon Mehr Kathy and Michael Moray Michael I. Nissman Frank O’Dea Alan Oppenheimer Ellen Pansky Michael and Susan Patzakis Lawrence Post Debbie Powell Travis Powers & Jeanne McDonald-Powers The Present Family Foundation David Richard Pullman Nan Rae

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Paula Reach Ellen Regenstreif Freddie and Kathleen Reiss Dr. Richard Rho and Mr. Steven DeMille Hadley and Lee Rierson Dr. Julia M. Ritter Robert Ronus Jaclyn Rosenberg Laura and James Rosenwald Mimi Rotter Linda and Tony Rubin Nancy Lee Ruyter Carol Saikhon Desiree and Joel Samuels Ariane & Lionel Sauvage Maxine Savitz Mariette and Alexander Sawchuk Bob and Helene Schacter Sherie and Alan Schneider Shelly and Mark Scott Stanley E. Sellers, Jr. David Shaw and Sheila Blackwell Joan Snyder Lev L Spiro Rick Stone I.H. Sutnick Kristan and Philip A. Swan Joanne Takahashi Barbara Augusta Teichert Charles and Geneva Thornton/ Thornton Foundation Roni Tunick William and Jessica Turner Andrea and John Van de Kamp Estevan Vasquez Laurie Vender and Stephen Halper Daniel and Janice Wallace Marcia and Charles Wasserman Thomas Weinberger and Leslie Vermut Karen and Les Weinstein Doris Weitz and Alexander Williams III Susan and Josh Wieder Hashim Williams Leilani J. Wilmore Beth McGlynn and James Zapp Donald Wing and Bonnie Nash Ellen and Arnold Zetcher Rosanne J. Ziering Susan Zolla

CORPORATIONS, FOUNDATIONS AND GOVERNMENT $1,000,000 AND ABOVE County of Los Angeles $100,000–$999,999 California Arts Council The Music Center Foundation The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation $50,000–$99,999 The Annenberg Foundation Genesis Inspiration Foundation Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture Max H. Gluck Foundation The Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Foundation The Hearst Foundation $25,000–$49,999 Bank of America CA Office of the Small Business Advocate Department of Cultural Affairs Dwight Stuart Youth Fund KPMG LLP / Greg Geyer National Endowment for the Arts Porsche Cars North America, Inc. Edward A. and Ai O. Shay Family Foundation Stichting Fond Voor PodiumKunsten The Robert Nelson Foundation U.S. Bank / Carl Jordan Van Cleef & Arpels I.N. and Susanna H. Van Nuys Foundation $10,000–$24,999 The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation The Capital Group Companies Colburn Foundation Edison International

David Geffen Foundation HUB International Insurance Services, Inc. The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers Los Angeles Dodgers The Lucille Ellis Simon Foundation The Louis and Harold Price Foundation Sony Pictures Entertainment The Sidley Austin Foundation UCLA Health

$5,000–$9,999 Central City Association of Los Angeles Consul General Kingdom of the Netherlands NY Downtown Works Kaiser Permanente Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts Sidney Stern Memorial Trust $1,000–$4,999 Anthem Blue Cross Barr Foundation Breslauer, Rutman & Anderson Inc. Friars Charitable Foundation IATSE - Local 33 Bill Hardesty/Justin Construction Macy’s M.J. Hellmuth Plumbing, Inc. Pro One Stage Productions SJM Industrial Radio Sunrise Window Cleaners, Inc. Whittier Trust Company of California

Special thanks to our donors who wish to remain anonymous.

The Music Center strives to acknowledge all our supporters appropriately. If your name has been misspelled or omitted from this list in error, please contact the Advancement Office at (213) 972-3333.

Photo by John McCoy for The Music Center.

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BOARD OF SUPERVISORS COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES

Support from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors plays an invaluable role in the successful operation of The Music Center.

Janice Hahn Supervisor, Fourth District Hilda L. Solis Supervisor, First District Lindsey P. Horvath Chair, Third District Kathryn Barger Supervisor, Fifth District Holly J. Mitchell Supervisor, Second District (From left to right)

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT As a steward of The Music Center of Los Angeles County, we recognize that we occupy land originally and still inhabited and cared for by the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh and Chumash Peoples. We honor and pay respect to their elders and descendants — past, present and emerging — as they continue their stewardship of these lands and waters. We acknowledge that settler colonization resulted in land seizure, disease, subjugation, slavery, relocation, broken promises, genocide and multigenerational trauma. This acknowledgment demonstrates our responsibility and commitment to truth, healing and reconciliation and to elevating the stories, culture and community of the original inhabitants of Los Angeles County.

We are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these ancestral lands. We are dedicated to growing and sustaining relationships with Native peoples and local tribal governments, including (in no particular order) the: • Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians • Gabrielino Tongva Indians of California Tribal Council • Gabrieleno/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians • Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians-Kizh Nation • San Manuel Band of Mission Indians • San Fernando Band of Mission Indians

This acknowledgment, however, is empty without our efforts to counter the effects of structures that have long enabled injustice against Native Americans. The Music Center is committed to working with First Peoples to build and sustain partnerships and grow collaborations that engage and respect the knowledge, expertise and agency of First Peoples, past, present and future. The Music Center strives to be a champion of the arts in Los Angeles for all people. We are listening, learning, unlearning, and will evolve in the work ahead.

To learn more about the First Peoples of Los Angeles County, please visit the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission website at lanaic.lacounty.gov

P24 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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After opening a 3,700-square-foot showroom at Pacific Design Center in 2022, the firm has acquired a keen appreciation for local sensibilities.

“I’d define New York as an urban, elegant and especially tailored market, London as a more quirky, colorful market," says Frederic Henry, CEO of Romo North America.

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The company’s Mark Alexander brand—one of six labels under the Romo umbrella—sells best in Southern California.

“Mark Alexander is synonymous with natural fibers, relaxed finishes, artisanal craftmanship, understated luxury, and a multicultural but pareddown design aesthetic,” says Henry, qualities that capture the essence of the California lifestyle.

Though each Romo brand addresses a distinct clientele, they share a

focus on natural textiles.

The Kirkby Design, Villa Nova and flagship Romo line offer solids that suit L.A.'s textural layering.

Romo presents Linara, a washable linen blend available in more than 360 colors, and the fanciful visions of British fashion designer Alice Temperley, expressed in tactile fabrics with saturated colors.

“Zinc is our ’70sinspired glamor brand, with a strong audience among movie industry execs,” Henry reports.

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a comeback, but not the floral or chinoiserie patterns homeowners recall from their childhoods.

“Natural, textured wallcoverings have ... become a way to dress walls organically, another natural layer of the home’s aesthetic,” says Henry.

They can provide a soothing, Zen-like minimalism that appeals to contemporary homeowners. “We’re not seeing a renaissance of the wallpapers from the 1980s … your pineapples, monkeys and all that stuff,” Henry adds.

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The Romo brand’s Pluma wallcovering collection presents nuanced, understated, nature-inspired designs, leafy motifs that make for elegant statements.

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“We’re designing textiles the hard way,” Henry states. “To be authentic, you need to originate artwork in-house and create a color palette that’s true to the core, never settling for less than perfect.”

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SOJOURN IN SEDONA From its majestic red sandstone buttes to its dense pine forests to its precipitous canyons—all havens for hikers and climbers—Sedona, Arizona, is both a natural wonder and sacred space.

The town itself is a charming campus of pueblo-style buildings housing more than 40 art galleries, New Age shops, spas, wellness retreats and dining destinations; wineries and vineyards are near-

by. With its 4,300-foot elevation and mild, highdesert climate, Sedona lends itself to activities centered on the outdoors and the arts year-round.

The cultural hub hosts top-notch festivals.

The 30th annual Sedona International Film Festival, Feb. 24-Mar. 3, celebrates independent films from across the globe: screenings of 160-plus movies at the Mary D. Fisher and Alice

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Arizona’s respite for art, culture and stunning scenery. / by SARAH DAOUST /

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COURTESY L'AUBERGE DE SEDONA

L'Auberge de Sedona

Gill-Sheldon theaters, plus filmmaker and celebrity appearances and parties (sedonafilmfestival.com).

The Sedona Film Festival also presents this season of “Met Live Opera: Live in HD,” with

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Nathalie Stutzmann

TRAVEL

Wet Beaver Wilderness, just outside Sedona. Below left: Sedona International Film Festival entries.

that, a staging ground for the Sheriff's Posse.

In October, the Sedona Arts Festival (sedonaartsfestival.org) showcases works by nearly 130 artists at Sedona Red Rock High School; there's also a kids' art zone and a gourmet food gallery.

Year-round attractions include the Sedona Arts Center gallery and store (sedonaartscenter.org). The center showcases local artists with paintings, sculpture, jewelry, fiber arts and photography; it also hosts classes, workshops, exhibitions and myriad special events.

The venue's signature event is the Sedona Plein

Air Festival in October (sedonapleinairfestival.org), presenting a juried art competition, lectures, workshops and lots more.

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Hiking, biking and equestrian mecca Red Rock State Park lives up to its name, delivering jaw-dropping views of red sandstone canyons and rock formations.

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EDWARD M. PRESTON. POSTERS COURTESY SEDONA FILM FESTIVAL

live productions screened via satellite and culminating with Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in May. Through April, Chamber Music Sedona (chambermusicsedona.org) begins its fifth decade with boutique concerts and salons at the Sedona Performing Arts Center.

The season concludes April 28 with a program featuring saxophonist Steven Banks and pianist Xak Bjerken.

Sedona Winefest (sedonawinefest.com) in September brings Arizona wines, cuisine from local restaurants and live music to historic Posse Grounds Park—in the 1960s the city's first park and, before

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Nathalie Stutzmann

Sat Mar 9 | 8pm

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

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The main lodge at L'Auberge de Sedona

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L’Auberge de Sedona (lauberge.com) is nestled in red-rock country on the banks of Oak Creek. Be pampered at the natureinspired L’Apothecary Spa; enjoy alfresco fine dining at Cress on Oak Creek. Many of its posh cottages have outdoor showers and fireplaces.

Striking Sedona scenery is, as always, steps away.

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THE FINAL CONCERTS FIERCE BEAUTY Part I February 25 – 4 pm

FIERCE BEAUTY Part II February 25 – 7 pm

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Scott Dunn and Mark Alan Hilt with Jacaranda Chamber Orchestra, Steven Vanhauwaert, piano, Kahil El’Zabar/Ethnic Heritage Dunn/Gloria Cheng, piano four hands, Ensemble, conductor – Five Piano Pieces, Op 23 by Arnold Movses Pogossian, violin – Chamber

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Next Steps March 2024

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Clayton, who also performs with her Latin Grammy-nominated group Quattrosound, has played the Oscars, Grammys and other highprofile pop gigs. In 2019, she joined the orchestra for Barbra Streisand’s concerts in London’s Hyde Park and Madison Square Garden. “It was just so glamorous,” she recalls.

In May 2022, she found herself in a secretive session at Capitol Records studio with Paul McCartney. Eighteen months later she discovered she had, in a sense, played with the Beatles.

It turned out that session was for the band’s “last” record, “Now and Then,” which she only realized when it was released in November and friends spotted her in the song’s music video.

“People kept texting, ‘Did you know you were on this Beatles tune?’ It was pretty mind blowing.”

Wickes has played on Streisand albums, and many others including Neil Young, Celine Dion and Leslie Odom, Jr. She occasionally plays live with pop stars. One stands out.

“I got to play with Prince once when he was on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,’” Wickes says, “a random L.A. freelance call. Just a few wind

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23/24 SEASON AT AMBASSADOR AUDITORIUM

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players got called to play.

I was walking out on stage with Prince like, ‘Oh my gosh, I love living in L.A.!’”

Goosebump moments aside, the musicians’ satisfaction with the performance styles varies.

Not all film scores are recorded by the entire orchestra at once. In a process called striping, filmmakers record one section at a time, say, the strings first, then the winds, then percussion, allowing more control when the music is mixed.

Whoever’s not playing sits quietly and waits. “It’s obviously much more fun to play together in a room,” Clayton says.

In an ensemble, a conductor such as LACO’s Jaime Martín drives the performance, creating his vision of what the work is supposed to sound like.

“It’s a very different experience,” Clayton says.

“You feel the music-making is much more intimate when you’re in an orchestral setting—especially the L.A. Chamber because we’re a smaller group. It’s vastly different, but both are equally satisfying.”

Wickes finds “playing in the orchestras keeps me in touch with my roots and makes me a better player.”

She feels that orchestral work, with its rehearsing requirements, goes slowly and involves more sitting around until the musicians actually play.

by GLORIA CALDERÓN KELLETT

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 29

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GREAT IDEAS!

“It’s more like a sprint, whereas playing in the studios is more like a marathon. I’m usually more tired at the end of a two-and-a-half-hour orchestra rehearsal than I am at the end of a sixhour recording session.”

There’s no universal outlook, though. Hayden sees the work the opposite of Wickes: “Film is more of a sprint and concert work is a marathon.

“Film, at least for vocalists, is like a pressure cooker,” he says. “You usually have a very small amount of time to lay down your whole vocal part for the soundtrack, for a film or a TV series, and sometimes for multiple episodes at once.”

The singer, whose studio work also has included a “Simpsons” episode and vocals for a release of the “Call of Duty” video game, finds fulfillment in the journey.

“What I love about both is this kind of dynamic for any given concert or any given project,” Hayden says. “When you walk into a recording studio, you don’t always know what’s going to be asked of you, which is a really thrilling way to live as an artist.”

Studio chorus members generally don’t see the music until they arrive, giving them little time to prepare, interpret

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the music, and craft a compelling version.

“It’s this high-wired tightrope act that occurs in a very compressed amount of time,” Hayden explains.

For live concert preparation, that ability to understand the music quickly is valuable, he says, because the faster the choristers learn notes and rhythms, the sooner they can find their interpretation as a group.

“Then you get to live with a piece over the course of several rehearsals, several weeks, which kind of facilitates this more intuitive understanding of the music,” Hayden says. “There’s a great joy to be found when you tackle something at the start of the rehearsal process and you go ‘What even is this? Why is this so hard? I don’t get it.’

“And then, by the end, some of this fiendishly difficult stuff just feels like it’s in your bones. It’s thrilling to go on that arc as an artist.”

As with so many jobs, what ultimately matters is how much you like your co-workers.

“What it really comes down to is who’s in the room and the personalities that you’re working with,” Clayton says.

“Because at the end of the day, we’re making music for a living—and that is just a blessing in itself.”

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PARTIN G TH O U G H T

reprogra mmed!

Performances Magazine unveils a digital program platform for shows and concerts

DROP DOWN MENU Table of app contents.

SEARCH Find whatever it is you want to know—easily.

REGISTER Stay arts-engaged, access past programs.

SIGN IN Link to your performing-arts companies and venues.

THE ESSENTIALS Acts, scenes, synopses, repertory and notes.

THE PLAYERS Bios and background for cast, crew and creators.

CONTRIBUTORS Donors and sponsors who make it all possible—you!

The touchless platform provides cast and player bios, donor and season updates and arts-centric features. Audiences receive a link and code word that instantly activate the app; QR codes are posted, too.

Screens go dark when curtains rise and return with the house lights.

Updates—repertory changes, understudy substitutions, significant donations—can be made right up to showtime, no inserts necessary.

Other features include video and audio streams, translations and expanded biographies.

For those who consider printed programs keepsakes, a limited number, as well as commemorative issues for special events, continue to be produced. Collectibles!

Meanwhile, there is less deforestation, consumption of petroleum inks and programs headed for landfills. For the ecologically minded, the platform gets a standing ovation.

Theaters and concert halls reopened after a long intermission.

Stages are live, the excitement is back. Activate your link and enjoy the shows. —CALEB WACHS

COURTESY L.A. PHIL

NO RUSTLING PAGES, no killing trees . . . Of all the innovations to have come out of the pandemic, the new Performances program platform, accessed on any digital device, may be least likely to disappear in the foreseeable future.

Not only had its time come—it had been long overdue.

Performances provides the programs for 20 SoCal performingarts organizations, from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Ahmanson to San Diego Opera, where the app made its debut.

WHAT’S ON What’s coming at a glance and ticket information.

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