NW Dance Project presents: STRAVINSKY – 2 World Premieres
Stravinsky Gets Contemporary! Wrapping up NW Dance Project’s 20th year with two new works and new company dancers!
Experience two world premiere works that wildly reimagine classic Stravinsky ballets – The Rite of Spring from Resident Choreographer Ihsan Rustem (sponsored by Martin Christoph Müller), and Petrushka from Associate Choreographer Joseph Hernandez (sponsored by Ronni Lacroute).
The premiere of The Rite of Spring, over 100 years ago, which caused public outcry and a riot, is arguably the most famous scandal in the history of the performing arts. The work is bold, powerful, challenging, polarising even. After Bolero and Carmen, Resident Choreographer Ihsan Rustem looks at Stravinsky’s most known work through the lens of The Chosen One…a fiercely rebellious nature who wishes to shape the course of their own destiny. Expect the unexpected from Rustem and the cast of nine dancers, including NW Dance Project alum Anthony Pucci.
Petrushka: A Contemporary Fantasia on Classical Themes is a dance piece for eight dancers with music (mostly) by Igor Stravinsky. Incorporating self-aware spoken text and epic theatre’s (1920s Germany) concern with the retelling of a story over the story’s narrative itself, this Petrushka takes aim at tradition from a place of criticism but also a place of love. The piece asks the questions, “What remains when we try to separate beloved art pieces from their problematic nature?” “Is this even possible?” Hernandez and his collaborators at NW Dance Project are devoted acolytes of beauty and connection, wherever they can find it. Through the course of this piece, they hope to uncover a realm of humanity and empathy, beneath layers of history, politics, and the machinations of power.
Please be advised this production involves spoken text, references to suicide, and a dancing bear.
Performances will be on June 2 & 3 at the Newmark Theatre. Tickets are $29+ and are available here.