FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 21, 2010
North Bethesda, MD—Presented by the Music Center at Strathmore, CityDance Ensemble and the Levine School Jazz Quintet come together for Take Five, an evening of dance and live music in celebration of Strathmore’s 5th Anniversary. Presented February 6 & 7 in the Music Center at Strathmore’s intimate Room 405, the concert features choreography set to tunes such as Dave Brubeck’s Take Five and Miles Davis’ Blue in Green played live by the Levine School Jazz Quintet. CityDance will also perform a special preview of Paul Taylor’s Images, the second of Mr. Taylor’s pieces that CityDance has added to its repertory.
The concert takes place Saturday, February 6 at 8pm and Sunday, February 7 at 7pm in Room 405 at the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD. Tickets are $20 (general admission) and are available in person at the Music Center at Strathmore Box Office, by phone at 301.581.5100, or online at www.strathmore.org. Capacity is limited, so patrons are encouraged to buy tickets early.
“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Strathmore’s 5th anniversary than in a joint concert of live music and dance,” comments CityDance Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson. “Since Strathmore opened in February 2005, partnership and collaboration has been at the foundation of all the resident organizations’ missions. For CityDance and Levine to join forces in this concert is an exciting—and fitting—tribute to the success stories we’ve seen unfolding out of Strathmore these past five years.”
Mr. Emerson showcases two selections of choreography in the concert, both male/female duets with musical accompaniment by the Levine Jazz Quintet. The duet Take Five, set toDave Brubeck’s musical score by the same name, is an adaptation of Mr. Emerson’s duet Entangled that CityDance toured to the Middle East and Chile in Spring 2009. The second duet pairs with Miles Davis’ Blue in Green as it challenges traditional partnering to move away from traditional lifts while emphasizing a deep connection between two bodies in space.
CityDance’s preview of Paul Taylor’s 1977 work Images comes after a two-week rehearsal process in January 2010 with former Paul Taylor Dance Company member Patrick Corbin. A native to the DC area, Mr. Corbin won critical acclaim for his lead performances in many of Taylor’s most popular works. Images, set to Claude Debussy's piano suites Children’s Corner, alludes to ancient Greek imagery as it patterns the dancers in almost two-dimensional shapes and friezes. Joining Last Look as the second of Mr. Taylor’s works in CityDance’s repertory, Images illustrates both the diversity of Mr. Taylor’s choreographic style and showcases the CityDance company members in a different approach to technique and artistry.
CityDance Rehearsal Director and Choreographer-in-Residence Christopher K. Morgan will preview excerpts from a new duet Pheasants. With live accompaniment by pianist Kathryn Brake, Pheasants will make its official premiere at the National Gallery of Art on February 28, 2010.
The Levine School Jazz Quintet—a faculty performing ensemble from the Levine School of Music, the DC region’s preeminent center for music education and a partner at the Music Center at Strathmore—will complete the program with a special musical set of celebrated jazz favorites.
Take Five is supported by a grant given to the Music Center at Strathmore from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive.
About CityDance Ensemble, Inc.
CityDance Ensemble, Inc. is the parent organization to CityDance Ensemble, a professional contemporary dance company that performs locally and around the world; CityDance Early Arts, an outreach program that provides free dance classes and performances to children in underserved neighborhoods; CityDance Centers at Strathmore and Tenleytown, two dance schools committed to excellence in dance education for youth and adults; and CityDance FilmWORKS, a creator of original dance-on-camera productions. The mission of CityDance Ensemble, Inc. is to advance the appreciation for and participation in the art of dance through excellence in performance, education, film, and artistic innovation.
About Levine School of Music
Levine School of Music, based in Washington, DC, is one of the nation's leading nonprofit community music schools, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, certified as exemplary by the National Guild, and is the largest "All-Steinway" community music school in this country. Founded in 1976, Levine serves more than 3,500 students on campuses in Northwest and Southeast DC, Maryland and Virginia, with 900 of these students receiving subsidized music instruction through Levine’s scholarship and outreach programs. Levine offers individual and ensemble instruction in more than 20 instruments and voice taught by an international roster of more than 150 faculty-artists.
About Strathmore
Strathmore is a 26-year-old established arts presenter and cultural destination that nurtures art, artists and community through creative and diverse programming of the highest quality and is home to the Music Center at Strathmore, a 1,976-seat concert hall and education complex. Strathmore, located at in North Bethesda, MD, is immediately adjacent to the Grosvenor-Strathmore station on Metro’s Red Line and a half-mile from the Capital Beltway.
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