Tag Archives: Pam Tanowitz

FOUR QUARTETS — TANOWITZ, MARDEN, SAARIAHO

If I am right to think this is the greatest creation of dance theater so far this century, we’re fortunate that FOUR QUARTETS will travel to other stages. I long to become more deeply acquainted with the many layers of its stage poetry.Alastair Macaulay

In great demand and at the height of her powers, Pam Tanowitz creates work that bridges contemporary dance and ballet. Her FOUR QUARTETS—the most acclaimed dance work of the past two decades—is a collaboration with Brice Marden, who created the set images, and composer Kaija Saariaho.

The title refers to T. S. Eliot’s poetry cycle, which provided the inspiration and text for the work, read in performance by Kathleen Chalfant.

This weekend, CAP UCLA presents two performances of FOUR QUARTETS at Royce Hall. Dancers include Kara Chan, Jason Collins, Dylan Crossman, Christine Flores, Zachary Gonder, Lindsey Jones, Victor Lozano, Maile Okamura, and Melissa Toogood.

The scenic and lighting design is by Clifton Taylor, the costume design by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung, and the sound design by Jean-Baptiste Barriére. Saariaho’s music will be performed by The Knights.

PAM TANOWITZ, BRICE MARDEN, and KAIJA SAARIAHO—FOUR QUARTETS

Saturday, February 15, at 8 pm.

Sunday, February 16, at 3 pm.

Royce Hall, UCLA

10745 Dickson Court, Los Angeles.

Pam Tanowitz, Brice Marden, Kaija Saariaho, Four Quartets, in performance. Photographs by Maria Baranova. Images courtesy and © the artists, the dancers, the photographer, and CAP UCLA.

CAP UCLA DANCE SEASON 2019–2020

Alastair Macaulay was unambiguous. Closing his 2018 review of the world premiere of FOUR QUARTETS—a collaboration between choreographer Pam Tanowitz, artist Brice Marden, and composer Kaija Saariaho—with the following paragraph, the former New York Times dance critic made its case for posterity:

If I am right to think this is the greatest creation of dance theater so far this century, we’re fortunate that FOUR QUARTETS will travel to other stages. I long to become more deeply acquainted with the many layers of its stage poetry.

The drawback for Los Angeles audiences is that this landmark work will be performed at Royce Hall in early 2020 only twice—a highlight of a remarkably strong CAP UCLA 2019–2020 dance season.

The season begins at Redcat, where Adam Linder presents THE WANT—a contemporary opera/performance piece based on a play by Bernard-Marie Koltès, with music by Ethan Braun.

Sankai JukuUshio Amagatsu’s all-male troupe of Butoh dancers, performing MEGURI—will be at Royce for one night only, as will Michael Keegan-Dolan’s Teaċ Daṁsa (House of Dance) in a new interpretation of SWAN LAKE, featuring a score by Slow Moving Clouds.

The great ballerina Wendy Whelan will dance at Royce, for two nights, in THE DAY. Choreographed by Lucinda Childs with a score by David Lang, Whelan will be joined onstage by cellist Maya Beiser.

The dance season closes in April 2020 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with the Dance at the Music Center co-presentation of PALERMO PALERMO, a 1989 work by dance legend Pina Bausch and Tanztheater Wuppertal.

See link below for details.

CAP UCLA 2019–2020 SEASON OF DANCE

From top: Sankai Juku, Meguri; Adam Linder, The Want, photograph by Shahryar Nashat; Michael Keegan-Dolan, Teaċ Daṁsa, Swan Lake, photograph by Colm Hogan; Maya Beiser, Wendy Whelan, Lucinda Childs, and David Lang, The Day; Pina Bausch, Palermo Palermo, photograph by Jochen Viehoff; Pam Tanowitz, Brice Marden, and Kaija Saariaho, Four Quartets, photograph by Maria Baranova. Images courtesy and © the artists and photographers.

MERCE CUNNINGHAM — NIGHT OF 100 SOLOS

On Tuesday, in celebration of what would have been Merce Cunningham‘s 100th birthday, the Merce Cunningham Trust will present NIGHT OF 100 SOLOS—A CENTENNIAL EVENT.

In three venues—first at London’s Barbican, then at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and finally at UCLA—an 80-minute performance of 100 overlapping solos will be overseen by Merce Cunningham Dance Company alumni as the work of the late, great choreographer continues to invigorate the canon and astonish new generations.

“This Event, and the longstanding, continuing partnerships with these three premier organizations, are true signs that the Cunningham legacy is alive and well ten years after his passing.” — Ken Tabachnick, executive director of the trust

In Los Angeles, the event will be staged by Andrea Weber—a dancer with the company from 2004 to 2011—with Dylan Crossman. Jennifer Steinkamp designed the set at Royce Hall, and Jessica Wodinsky is the lighting designer.

Madison Greenstone, Bethan Kellough, Stephan Moore, Stephanie Richards, and Suzanne Thorpe will provide live musical accompaniment, organized by Stephan Moore.

The dancers for the Los Angeles section are Paige Amicon, Barry Brannum, Lorrin Brubaker, Rena Butler, Tamsin Carlson, Erin Dowd, Katherine Helen Fisher, Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson, Casey Hess, Thomas House, Laurel Jenkins, Burr Johnson, Vanessa Knouse, Cori Kresge, Brian Lawson, Jessica Liu, Victor Lozano, Daniel McCusker, Polly Motley, Jermaine Maurice Spivey, Savannah Spratt, Pam Tanowitz, Ros WarbyRiley Watts, and Sam Wentz, with Cemiyon Barber and Una Ludviksen as understudies.

NIGHT OF 100 SOLOS—A CENTENNIAL EVENT

Tuesday, April 16, at 8 pm.

Royce Hall, UCLA

10745 Dickson Court, Los Angeles.

From top: Gerda Peterich, Merce Cunningham in Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three (detail), 1952; Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled [Merce (III)] , 1953, courtesy of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; Andrea Weber at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2012, dancing Cunningham as part of the exhibition Dancing Around the Bride, photograph by Constance Mensh; Cunningham (2).