Jade Payette by Steve Vaccariello - The Washington Ballet - Click to enlarge
The Washington Ballet (TWB) will present Septime Webre’s The Nutcracker at the Warner Theatre, December 2-26. The one-of-a-kind production will feature TWB’s Company and Studio Company artists, with over 350 dancers from TWB’s three school campuses in NW and SE Washington, as well as Alexandria. There will be special guest stars on select days. The production will be previewed at THEARC Theatre in Southeast DC on November 27 & 28. Mr. Webre’s take on The Nutcracker is set in “an A-list party” in historic Washington. George Washington stars as the heroic Nutcracker and King George III is the villainous Rat King. The setting includes “swirling snowflakes and shimmering cherry blossoms.” Unique gifts - such as specialty Nutcrackers - will be available for purchase at the TWB Sugar Plum Shoppe.
The Moscow Ballet will perform the Nutcracker at the Music Center at Strathmore on Wednesday & Thursday, December 8 & 9. The production features larger-than-life puppets, dazzling sets and costumes and has been called “ the defining holiday experience.”
The Furia Flamenca Dance Company, under the direction of Estela Velez, will present Pasión Gitana - an evening of Spanish dance and music - at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on Wednesday, November 17. The program, featuring guitarists Torcuato Zamora and Guillermo Christie and singer Jorge Porta, will offer “a showcase of fiery footwork, passionate rhythms, and intoxicating music.” To read more about the company, which is based in Washington, visit www.furia-flamenca.com/home.cfm
Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company will perform a site-specific dance piece, America’s Cloud, on Sunday, December 5 in the Rotunda of The Corcoran Gallery of Art. The dance was inspired by the large-scale cloud sculpture suspended in the Rotunda as part of the exhibition of works by Spencer Finch: My Business, With the Cloud. Before the performance, Corcoran Docents will give a tour of the exhibition. To read more about Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company, visit www.dtsbco.com/bios/danasbio.html Visit http://programs.corcoran.org/products/product-1
CityDance Ensemble will perform the classic Jungle Books on Saturday, December 4 at the Montgomery College Performing Arts Center - Takoma Park/Silver Spring. It’s Rudyard Kipling’s timeless tale of Mowgli, Shere Khan, Kaa and all the madcap creatures of the Seeone Hills. Visit www.citydance.net/season.cfm
The Suzanne Farrell Ballet will perform two mixed-repertory programs featuring works by Ms. Farrell's mentors and contemporaries Balanchine, Robbins, Béjart, and Mejia in the Eisenhower Theater, November 17-21. The Joffrey Ballet, with the Norwood Middle School Choir, the National Cathedral School Choir and St. Alban's Choir, will perform The Nutcracker in the Kennedy Center Opera House, November 24-28. The company will perform Gerald Arpino's version of Tchaikovsky's family classic, featuring Victorian scenery, costumes and dozens of dancing children. AGIS Center will present the China Shanxi Performing Arts Academy in a performances of the Chinese dance drama titled Forbidden Fruit Under the Great Wall in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater, December 10-12. It’s the story of a prosperous widow, her disabled son, the widow's evil butler and the butler’s kind-hearted daughter.
Photo by Steve Vaccariello - The Washington Ballet - Click to enlarge
Carla & Co. - Tony Powell - June 9, 2010 Courtesy of Dance Place - Click to enlarge
Dance Place will present Carla & Company on Saturday & Sunday, December 4 & 5. The performances will include the premiere of Nothing Stays The Same, which was inspired by the demolition of the Brookland Studios and creation of the Brookland Artspace Lofts. The Dance Place Repertory class will join the company in performing a new work by guest choreographer Nkosinathi Mncube and the Dance Place Step Team. The program is directed by Carla Perlo, the founding director of Dance Place. Dance Place will present the Eureka Dance Festival 2010 on Saturday & Sunday, December 11 & 12. The program will include premiers by DC-area choreographers and international guests: Nathan Andary, Glade Dance Collective, Keira Hart-Mendoza, Kate Jordan, Orit Sherman, Roxie Thomas and Jose Ruiz-Subauste. Visit www.danceplace.org/performancesMain.aspx
Two views of the Eureka Dance Festival. Photos by Maggie Picard - Courtesy of Dance Place - Click to enlarge
