Special retrospective season celebrates legacy of dance in Philadelphia while looking to its future
Ephrat Asherie Dance, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, MOMIX, Paul Taylor Dance Company, PHILADANCO, Pilobolus, Stars of American Ballet, Tania Pérez-Salas Compañia de Danza, and Trinity Irish Dance Company will perform at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania
(Philadelphia – March 1, 2019) — The Annenberg Center and NextMove Dance announce the 2019-20 dance season at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. The special retrospective season will celebrate the tradition of bringing the best in dance to Philadelphia while also looking to the future of the art form. Highlights include companies that have frequently graced the Annenberg Center stage, including MOMIX, Pilobolus, and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, and a celebration of the life’s work of dance icon Paul Taylor in a tribute to some of his greatest masterpieces. PHILADANCO comes home for the holidays with an original Annenberg Center commission, a local favorite for generations; while two troupes, Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza and Trinity Irish Dance Company, return to Philadelphia after long absences. And, the future of dance in all its forms will be showcased in the debuts of Stars of American Ballet and Ephrat Asherie Dance.
The 2019-20 Season
Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Dance Me / Music of Leonard Cohen, September 26-28, 2019
Dance Me pays homage to famed poet/singer/songwriter, Leonard Cohen. Using a soundtrack of Cohen’s most well-known songs, choreographers Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Andonis Foniadakis and Ihsan Rustem created a multidisciplinary work that evokes the cycles of human existence as described in Cohen’s deeply insightful music and poems. Dance Me paints a multifaceted portrait of the man who gave us “Hallelujah” and “So Long, Marianne,” his words finding profound, new meaning though dance.
Stars of American Ballet, October 18-19, 2019
Stars of American Ballet brings together today’s most remarkable ballet talents in “an unapologetic showcase of virtuosity.” (The Boston Globe) Led by Daniel Ulbricht, “one of the best male ballet dancers in New York,” (Dance Magazine) and featuring a cast of principal and soloist dancers from the New York City Ballet and other renowned companies, this collective makes its Philadelphia debut with masterpieces by Balanchine, Wheeldon, Frohlich and more in a captivating ode to ballet.
PHILADANCO, Xmas Philes, December 12-14, 2019
An Annenberg Center original commission and local dance treasure return home. Choreographed by Daniel Ezralow, Xmas Philes pairs PHILADANCO's colorful tapestry of movement with popular Christmas music in what has become an eagerly anticipated December tradition. This expanded Xmas Philes celebrates the holidays with humor, Christmas classics and the best in contemporary dance.
Paul Taylor Dance Company, January 24-25, 2020
The Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to Philadelphia to celebrate the extraordinary legacy of dance icon Paul Taylor. In honor of Taylor’s wide-ranging and expressive repertoire, “one of the most exciting, innovative, and delightful dance companies in the entire world” (The New York Times) will perform a program of his masterpieces, including Syzygy, Sunset and Piazzolla Caldera.
Ephrat Asherie Dance, Odeon, February 7-8, 2020
Ephrat Asherie brings her street and social dance company to Philadelphia for the first time to perform Odeon, a high-octane, full-length work set to the music of composer Ernesto Nazareth, played live. A recent Bessie and Dance Magazine award winner, Asherie layers breaking, hip hop, house, and vogue to a rich score melding classical Romantic music with Afro-Brazilian rhythms. This thrilling dance and music remix is truly “paving the way for something new.” (The New York Times)
Trinity Irish Dance Company, March 27-28, 2020
Trinity Irish Dance Company is the birthplace of progressive Irish dance, displaying "award-winning exactness with an experimental edge" (The Chicago Tribune). With hard-driving percussive power, lightning-fast agility, and aerial grace, this troupe fuses Ireland’s vibrant tradition with ever-evolving, American innovation.
Pilobolus, Come to Your Senses, April 16-18, 2020
Pilobolus mixes classic favorites and new works into an exploration of the senses and the connections between the human body and the natural world. “Acrobatics are liquefied into poetry” (The New York Times) in the wildly creative and amusing world of Pilobolus, as bodies merge and part, roll and fly, creating seemingly impossible imagery that sparks absolute wonder.
Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza, May 29-30, 2020
Mexico’s leading contemporary troupe returns to Philadelphia for the first time in 14 years. Known for “imagery that stays with the viewer long after the movement fades,” (The Boston Globe) Pérez-Salas’ intense theatricality and surrealist choreography is embraced around the world. Superb technique and artistic passion abound in the U.S. premiere of Religare, which, from atop a dirt-filled dancefloor, examines the power of dance as a ritual between the body and spirit, as well as Anabiosis and 3. Fourteen Sixteen, both vivid feasts for the senses.
MOMIX, Alice, June 11-13, 2020
In the U.S. premiere of Alice, the wildly imaginative Moses Pendleton creates a uniquely MOMIX, fantastical Wonderland where the human body has no limits and nothing is what it appears. The vivid imagery, vibrant costumes and awe-inspiring movement take audiences down the rabbit hole in this “curiouser and curiouser” universe.
Subscriptions are on sale now at AnnenbergCenter.org or 215.898.3900. Single tickets go on sale in mid-July.
The rest of The Annenberg Center’s 2019-20 season will be announced in April.
