October 14-15, 2011
Tickets $25 to $90
Ziff Ballet Opera House
Marking the opening performance of the DANCE AT THE ARSHT season, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County proudly announces a special two-night-only engagement of one of the most innovative and revered modern dance companies in the United States – MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP (MMDG). The troupe will perform in Miami for the first time in 15 years, making its Arsht Center debut on October 14-15, 2011 at 8 p.m., in the Ziff Ballet Opera House as part of the Knight Masterworks Season, Sanford and Beatrice Ziff Dance Series.
Over the past three decades, the brilliant and inventive MARK MORRIS has infused American modern dance with an unparalleled freshness and originality. Currently celebrating its landmark 30th Anniversary Season, MORRIS’ powerhouse MMDG opens the Sanford and Beatrice Ziff Dance Series with a critically acclaimed repertory program, featuring Miami premieres of three modern dance masterpieces: Festival Dance, one of Morris’ greatest new works, with music by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Piano Trio No.5; the austere and intense All Fours, set to Béla Bartók’s Fourth String Quartet; and for an unforgettable grand finale, the master choreographer’s V, a dance that exults in things profoundly mortal as well as divine, whose title references the music — Robert Schumann’s great Quintet in E-flat for piano and strings.
Tickets range from $25 to $90 and are on sale now. Tickets may be purchased through the Adrienne Arsht Center box office by calling (305) 949-6722, or online at www.arshtcenter.org.
MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP is a vibrantly eclectic, always impressive modern dance troupe. MORRIS’ choreography combines ballet, modern dance and folk dance structure while showcasing the best dancers from around the world. The dance wizard is renowned for his imaginative scene and costume design, as well as for his emphasis on live musical accompaniment at every engagement, performed by the MMDG MUSIC ENSEMBLE. In addition, MMDG regularly collaborates with leading orchestras, opera companies, and other artists, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and dancer/choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov, among others.
“In its highly-anticipated Arsht Center debut, Mark Morris Dance Group brings its unique brand of ingenuity, musicality, and sophisticated wit to our stage for two performances, guaranteed to enthrall South Florida audiences,” said M. John Richard, president and CEO of the Adrienne Arsht Center. “We are honored to present the first Miami performance in 15 years of one of the most influential choreographers of our time, as part of our Dance at the Arsht program,” Richard added. “The opportunity to see the work of the phenomenally gifted Mark Morris is a grand occasion on this season’s arts calendar not to be missed.”
MARK MORRIS has been hailed as “the most important choreographer since George Balanchine” (The Boston Globe). The incredibly inventive dancer-choreographer MARK MORRIS formed the MMDG in 1980, and has since created more than 150 works for his famed dance company. From 1988-1991, he was Director of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. Among the works created during his time there were three evening-length dances: L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; Dido and Aeneas; and The Hard Nut. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. MORRIS is also a ballet choreographer and has created seven works for the San Francisco Ballet and received commissions from many others. MORRIS is noted for his musicality and has been described as “undeviating in his devotion to music.” He has worked extensively in opera, directing and choreographing productions for The Metropolitan Opera, among others. In 2010, MORRIS was honored with the prestigious Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society.
A pre-eminent modern dance company formed in 1980 and based in Brooklyn, New York, Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) was founded by acclaimed American dancer, choreographer and director Mark Morris and is known as one of the world’s leading dance companies. Noted for its inclusion of live music in every performance since 1996, the choreography combines ballet, modern dance and folk dance while showcasing the best dance professionals from diverse backgrounds. MMDG collaborates with leading orchestras, opera companies, and musicians, among others. After being featured on the nationally televised “Great Performances – Dance in America” series on PBS in 1986, the company was invited to become the national dance company of Belgium and spent three years in residence at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. MMDG made its debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in 2002 and at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2003 and has since been invited to both festivals annually. From the company’s many London seasons, it has garnered two Laurence Olivier Awards. The company has been featured in film and television projects which include Dido and Aeneas, The Hard Nut, two documentaries for the U.K.’s “South Bank Show,” and PBS’ “Live From Lincoln Center,” among others. In September of 2001, the MARK MORRIS Dance Center opened in Brooklyn, NY, to provide a home for the company, rehearsal space for the dance community, outreach programs for local children, and a school offering dance classes to students of all ages.
MARK MORRIS is noted for his commitment to live music and his MMDG MUSIC ENSEMBLE has become a feature of every performance on its full international touring schedule since 1996, making it integral to the company’s creative life. The MMDG MUSIC ENSEMBLE performs with the Dance Group throughout the season at home and on tour. The core group of accomplished musicians is sometimes supplemented by a large roster of regular guests, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax. Most recently, the ensemble traveled with the company to Moscow to perform MORRIS’ evening length Dido & Aeneas.
MMDG’s Miami engagement also includes outreach activities and educational workshops for the local South Florida community at the Adrienne Arsht Center. The troupe will offer a 90-minute community MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP MASTER CLASS, open to the public, on Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 2 p.m. in the Arsht Center’s Peacock Foundation Studio. The master class in modern dance technique and Mark Morris repertory is designed for dancers at the intermediate level and above, ages 16 and older. A master class for dance students from New World School of the Arts College will also be offered at the Center’s Peacock Foundation Studio. For further information visit www.arshtcenter.org/educate.
Additionally, a private DANCE FOR PARKINSON’s DISEASE program will be offered by MMDG company members on Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 11 a.m. in the Arsht Center’s Peacock Foundation Studio. The Arsht Center has partnered with Miami-Dade’s Park-Optimist Parkinson Support Group (a chapter of the National Parkinson’s Foundation), which is comprised of nearly 200 local members from Miami, Coral Gables, South Miami and Homestead. While some of the support group’s members will attend the DANCE FOR PARKINSON’s DISEASE program, a limited number of spaces are open to members of the general public who have Parkinson’s. Based upon the fundamental premise that professional dancers are movement experts whose knowledge is useful to persons with Parkinson’s Disease, participants will explore movement and music in ways that are enjoyable, stimulating, and creative. No prior dance experience is necessary, and participants will learn elements of modern dance, ballet, tap, folk and social dancing and Mark Morris company repertory in a social environment designed to enrich and empower their lives.
The DANCE FOR PD® program offers dance classes for people with Parkinson’s disease at the MARK MORRIS DANCE CENTER in Brooklyn, New York, The Juilliard School in Manhattan, in more than 40 other communities around the world. An on-going collaboration between MMDG and the Brooklyn Parkinson Group, the program also provides teacher training, offers master classes in other cities as part of MMDG‘s touring outreach program, and nurtures relationships among other organizations so that classes based on the MMDG model are widely available.
Following the thrilling season opener, the Sanford and Beatrice Ziff Dance Series 2011-2012, part of DANCE AT THE ARSHT, will continue with an incredible lineup of some of the most spectacular dance companies on the scene today. ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER returns to the Center, February 23-26, 2012, with new Artistic Director Robert Battle, a Miami native, leading the company in their extraordinary signature works; and the dare-devil dancers of PILOBOLUS DANCE THEATRE will bring their unique cross-pollination of concert, dance and acrobatics to the Adrienne Arsht Center on March 2-3, 2012.
The 2011-2012 Knight Masterworks Season is generously supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.