COMPANY HISTORY
Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet (www.linesballet.org) of San Francisco is a celebrated contemporary ballet company that has been guided since 1982 by its uniquely global artistic vision. Collaborating with noted composers, musicians, and visual artists, Alonzo King creates works that draw on a diverse set of deeply rooted cultural traditions and imbue classical ballet with new expressive potential. Alonzo King’s visionary choreography is renowned for its ability to connect audiences to a profound sense of shared humanity—of vulnerability and tenderness, but also of furious abandon and exhilarating freedom. In June 2008, Alonzo King was honoured with the Jacob’s Pillow Creativity Award, in recognition of his contribution to “moving ballet in a very 21st-century direction.” This is the third major award bestowed upon Mr. King in three years, following the US Artists Fellowship (given to the 50 finest artists currently creating work in America in all disciplines), and the Bessie Award for Choreographer/ Creator. He is the recipient of the NEA Choreographer’s Fellowship, the Irvine Dance Fellowship, five Isadora Duncan awards, two honorary doctorates, and the 2007 Community Leadership Award. In 2001, the LINES Ballet School was established in order to develop the potential of young dancers. LINES Ballet has collaborated with legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders; India’s national treasure, tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain; Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock; actor Danny Glover; Japanese classical composer Somei Satoh; celebrated Polish composer Pavel Syzmanski; and Nubian oud master Hamza El Din. One of the Company’s great successes was bringing sixteen musicians and dancers from the Lobaye Forest of Central African Republic— the BaAka—for the People of the Forest project. LINES Ballet has also received accolades for its collaborative project with the Shaolin monks, an unprecedented synthesis of Eastern and Western classical forms that intertwines martial arts and ballet. VIDF STAFF Executive Director: Jay Hirabayashi Artistic Director: Barbara Bourget Publicist: Sabrina Mehra Director of Development: Kate Pattison Executive Assistant: Nicolette Little Bookkeeper: Carolyn Chan
CENTENNIAL THEATRE STAFF Cultural Services Coord.: Margo Gram Theatre Ops/Publicity: Kristin Fraser Technical Supervisor: Blaine Rittinger Technical Supervisor: Paul Davis FOH Supervisor: Agnes Mendoza
Vancouver International Dance Festival: tel. 604.662.4966; web. www.vidf.ca Centennial Theatre: tel. 604.984.4484; web. www.centennialtheatre.com
Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet 8:00pm, October 9-10, 2008
IRREGULAR PEARL
Choreography by Alonzo King Music composed by Arcangelo Corelli, George Frederich Handel, Marin Marais, Augustin Dautrecourt Sainte-Colombe, Domenico Scarlatti and Antonio Vivaldi Interludes composed and arranged by Roy Whelden Lighting design by Alain Lortie Costume design by Robert Rosenwasser and Colleen Quen Musical score recorded by members of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra LINES Ballet Performers: Brett Conway, Corey Scott-Gilbert, David Harvey, Ashley Jackson, Laurel Keen, Caroline Rocher, Meredith Webster, Keelan Whitmore and Ricardo Zayas I. Corey Scott-Gilbert and Keelan Whitmore Roy Whelden: Interlude 1 II. Brett Conway, David Harvey and Corey Scott-Gilbert Roy Whelden: End of Interlude I III. Brett Conway, David Harvey and Corey Scott-Gilbert Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto Grosso No. 8 in G Minor, “Christmas Concerto” IV Allegro IV. Meredith Webster and Corey Scott-Gilbert Roy Whelden: Interlude 2 V. Corey Scott-Gilbert Antonio Vivaldi: Trio Sonata Opus 1 No. I IV Allegro VI. Corey Scott-Gilbert with David Harvey and Keelan Whitmore Roy Whelden: Interlude 3 VII. Ashley Jackson and Laurel Keen – Oct 9 Caroline Rocher and Meredith Webster – Oct 10 Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto Grosso No. 8 in G Minor, “Christmas Concerto” IV Allegro VIII. Brett Conway with Ricardo Zayas Roy Whelden: Interlude 4 Antonio Vivaldi: Trio Sonata Opus 1 No. I III Adagio IX. Corey Scott-Gilbert – Oct 9 David Harvey – Oct 10 Marin Marais: Pièces de Viole, Livre 2—Improvisation sur les Folies d’Espagne X. Ricardo Zayas – Oct 9 Ashley Jackson - Oct 10 Marin Marais: Pièces de Viole, Livre 4—Musettes No. 1 & 2 XI. Meredith Webster with Brett Conway Roy Whelden: Interlude 5 Augustin Dautrecort Sainte-Colombe: Les Pleurs (Version à 2 violes) Continued...
XII. Caroline Rocher and Keelan Whitmore with Ashley Jackson Augustin Dautrecort Sainte-Colombe: Les Pleurs (Version à 2 violes) XIII. Laurel Keen with Ashley Jackson, David Harvey and Keelan Whitmore Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in D, RV 562-Grave XIV. Caroline Rocher, Ricardo Zayas and Keelan Whitmore Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata K. 238 XV. Meredith Webster and Corey Scott-Gilbert Roy Whelden: Interlude 6 George Friderich Handel: Sonata Op 2 No. I in B minor III Largo XVI. Brett Conway with Laurel Keen, David Harvey, Keelan Whitmore and Ricardo Zayas George Friderich Handel: Sonata Op 2 No. I in B minor IV Allegro This work was made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the Fleishhacker Foundation.
Irregular Pearl was the original meaning of the word Baroque: a form of beauty made in layers of iridescence, completely and uniquely itself. Baroque music finds its expression in complex harmonies--beyond the linear polyphony of Renaissance music--and encourages a surprising freedom within its structure. In the Baroque period (c. 1600-1750), for the first time, musicality meant that performers would draw on their own dynamic creativity in order to improvise around the bass line. Not until the advent of jazz would this demanding and inspiring openness, called figured bass, be so closely bound to the act of musical creation. The process of embellishing and filling out a musical line is a kind of dance in itself: artist and music move together in counterpoint, finding moments of contrast and convergence, building a luminescence and singularity into the piece. Working outwards from the center, the artists of the Baroque immersed themselves in the harmonic structure of the music, and gave back to it something of themselves. Baroque aesthetics tend to privilege exuberance and exploration over the lifelessly correct work of art, and thus its artists seek to imbue each creation with their own spirits. The choreography of Alonzo King, with its natural affinity for complex musicality, engages the same dynamism and openness we find in Baroque music. Infusing the classical form of ballet with new vibrancy, Alonzo King uncovers the freedom that lies inside of the form itself. His choreography gives the dancers of LINES Ballet a way of transcending virtuosity to achieve a unique beauty, a sense of unforced artistry, and a luminescence that comes from within
There will be a 15-minute intermission between Irregular Pearl and Rasa.
AFTER THE SHOW... Join us at Deuce Restaurant for free tapas. Special three-course menu for $19.00 available before or after the show. 1617 Lonsdale Ave 604.988.8180
Variations in Love by Motus O 8:00pm, October 18, 2008 Centennial Theatre Fresh, funny and full of passion, MOTUS O dance theatre’s Variations in Love is a must see for anyone who has ever been, is or will be in love. Tickets: $20 or pay what you can. 604.984.4484
RASA
Choreography by Alonzo King Music composed and arranged by Zakir Hussein Lighting design by Alain Lortie Costume design by Robert Rosenwasser Musical score recorded by Zakir Hussain and Kala Ramnath LINES Ballet Performers: Brett Conway, Corey Scott-Gilbert, David Harvey, Ashley Jackson, Laurel Keen, Caroline Rocher, Meredith Webster, Keelan Whitmore and Ricardo Zayas I. Company II.Laurel Keen with Meredith Webster, Keelan Whitmore and Ricardo Zayas III.Company IV. Laurel Keen and Brett Conway V.Company VI.Ricardo Zayas, Keelan Whitmore, Brett Conway, David Harvey, Corey Scott-Gilbert, Ashley Jackson, Meredith Webster and Laurel Keen VII. Ricardo Zayas, Keelan Whitmore, Brett Conway, David Harvey, Corey Scott-Gilbert, Laurel Keen and Meredith Webster VIII. Company IX. Company This work was made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation.
Zakir Hussain, son of the legendary tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha, belongs to the Punjab Gharana, but has chosen to create music with an array of artists from the Karnatic tradition of Southern India, the international Silk Road Project, and Western drummers such as Mickey Hart. He is the preferred accompanist for many of India’s classical musicians and dancers, including noted Kathak dancer Antonia Minnecola, to whom he is married. Zakir Hussain began touring before he was twelve years old, and has received numerous awards over the course of his illustrious career in world music, including a Grammy for his collaborative album, Planet Drum. This is his third collaboration with Alonzo King, following Who Dressed You Like A Foreigner in 1998 and Following the Subtle Current Upstream, which premiered in 2000 in the repertory of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and was brought into LINES Ballet’s repertory in 2006. The tabla, with its rich texture of rhythmic patterns, is the main form of percussion in the Hindustani music of North India, but its origins also reveal the interconnections of musical history. In fact, the Hindi and Urdu word tabla is derived from an Arabic word for drum, and even further back from Aramaic and Middle Persian roots. The tabla bridges folk, semi-classical, and classical Hindustani music genres, and was intrinsic to the lost dances of the tawaif-s, who performed in 18th-century courts.This collaboration between Alonzo King and Zakir Hussain is thus both a continuation of a deep tradition--the interdependence of dance and tabla music as art forms-and an expression of the contemporary global vision of both artists. The complex rhythmic systems of tabla, like the technique of western classical ballet, demand the devotion and utter concentration of the artists who practice them; and yet, at the heart of the music and the dance, there is a sense of openness, of arising in joy, of soaring beyond the structures and being held there, aloft. THERE WILL BE A POST-SHOW CHAT WITH ALONZO KING IN THE THEATRE.