FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 13, 2010
Washington, DC—After a remarkable run of concert appearances in its first full season—including the Goose Route Dance Festival, MetroDC Dances, on the south lawn of the White House, and as a featured artist at the Earth Day celebration on the National Mall—CityDance2 presents Contact, a concert of new choreography and classic CityDance favorites. The world music ensemble Bottomland will make a special appearance with live accompaniment and musical interludes. The concert is presented in partnership with Dance/MetroDC’s Dance Is The Answer,a two-week celebration of dance in the DC metro area.
The concert takes place Saturday, May 1 at 8pm and Sunday, May 2 at 4pm in Room 405 at the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Maryland. Tickets are priced at $20 and seating is general admission. Tickets are available in person at the Music Center at Strathmore Ticket Office (5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD), online at www.strathmore.org, or by phone at 301.581.5100. Seating is limited, so audience members are encouraged to purchase tickets early.
Press and patrons are invited to attend the Dance Is The Answer closing night reception following the Sunday performance. The reception features some of Dance Is The Answer’s Flash Mobs—including the debut of Dhoonya Dance’s Bollywood Flash Mob—plus an opportunity to mix and mingle with local dance artists over refreshments.
CityDance2 (CD2) was founded in September 2008 as the second company of CityDance Ensemble, functioning as both a professional dance company and the main performance group in CityDance’s extensive community outreach programs.
"CD2 is an exceptional and gifted group of artists. They have that rare ability to work across generations, transforming children's concerts into art that informs and entertains and at the same
time retains its artistry, and to dance full concert repertory at a level that always amazes,” comments CityDance Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson. “To have the opportunity to present them in their own concert, and to have them showcase some of my favorite repertory from CityDance's past and present, is the ideal way to complete a great season.”
CD2 will re-stage many of CityDance's all-time classic dances for Contact, including Emerson’s Peregrine, a high-powered ensemble piece celebrating flight and the power of nature. Other celebrates favorites returning to the stage include Eric Hampton's beloved Girlfriends and Adrain Bolton's timeless Givin' Up—two pieces that remain as fresh today as they were when they were made 15 years ago. CD2 will premiere CityDance company member Delphina Parenti’s False Front,a duet depicting the dichotomy between the persona presented in public and the gritty, behind-the-scenes perspective.Also on the program is an adaptation of The Bicycle Project by CD2 company member Kate Jordan, inspired by bicycles’ ability to create different communities and enable freedom. The final piece on the program is Limbo, created for CD2 by the New York based choreographer Leslie Scott.
Bottomland musicians Matt Jones, Amikaeyla Gaston, Anderson Allen, Saleem Wayne Waters, and Wendy Lanxner join CD2 for Peregrine, a collaboration with Emerson that launched a new era for CityDance in early 2000. Jones and Allen wrote the music for Peregrine for Emerson's first concert as Artistic Director, kicking off CityDance's signature “Original Series" of live and original music.
"Bottomland was my original source of inspiration and collaboration when I became CityDance's Artistic Director in 2000,” reflects Emerson. “We came together in the dance studio and created Peregrine, the first dance in CityDance’s ‘Originals Series.’ To have the opportunity to restage that dance, and to do it on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with the original musicians performing it live for the first time in a decade, is something that will really bring this concert alive."
About CityDance2
CityDance2 is the second company of CityDance Ensemble. Founded in September 2008, CD2 is both a professional dance company and the main performance group in CityDance’s extensive community outreach programs. Since September 2008, CD2 has performed for more than 10,000 students around the DC metro area. CD2 also works regularly with the first company. In its first season, CityDance2 was selected for the Goose Route Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia; the MetroDC Dances Festival at Carter Baron in Washington, DC; Yes! Virginia Dance in Richmond, VA; the White House Easter Egg Roll; and the Dance is the Answer Festival in DC. The Company shared the stage with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on two occasions. The company dances both the classic repertory of CityDance Ensemble and dances commissioned specially for CD2.
About Dance is the Answer
Dance Is The Answer celebrates dance for all with over 275 dance classes, workshops, lectures, open rehearsals, performances and special events combusting across the metro region by over 55 artists, organizations and venues partnering with Dance/MetroDC—many of them free! The Dance Is The Answer website serves as a portal for dance between April 15 and May 2, and includes related events happening before and after. For a list of all events and more information about Dance Is The Answer 2010, visit www.danceistheanswer.org.
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