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Maya Beiser
WORLD TO COME
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Saturday, February 12, 8 p.m.
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Expanding both the definition and repertoire of the solo cello, Maya Beiser explores beyond the boundaries of the solo instrumentalist, both physical and musical. She is, in fact, a live ensemble of one, and the result is pure genius. Incorporating evocative imagery through the addition of video projection and voice, Maya Beiser performs multilayered pieces, many written specifically for her, including works by such master contemporary composers as Steve Reich and Bang On a Can's David Lang.
Raised in Israel, the child of a French mother and Argentinean father, the Bach she practiced intermingled with the singing voices of Muslim prayers and the sounds of Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday and tango music creeping in the windows of her Argentinean community.
"It all became music to me. I didn't hear the boundaries." — Maya Beiser
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Hiroshima Maiden
DAN HURLIN
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Friday, April 22, 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 23, 8 p.m.
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Performance artist and puppeteer, Dan Hurlin centers his newest theatrical endeavor on the true story of the Hiroshima Maidens ? a group of 25 women disfigured by the nuclear blast at Hiroshima ? and their infamous visit to the U.S. in 1955 to undergo reconstructive surgery. The climax of their bizarre odyssey occurred when they met face-to-face with the pilot of the Enola Gay on the television program This is Your Life. Performed in the style of Japanese Bunraku puppetry, Hiroshima Maiden involves nine puppets and set pieces manipulated by four puppeteers and five dancers. The gorgeous life-like puppets, created by Hurlin, possess an astonishing range of emotion. Composer Robert Een's original score borrows from Haiku poetry.
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Mystical Arts of Tibet
SACRED MUSIC SACRED DANCE
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Friday, April 29, 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 30, 8 p.m.
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The Mystical Arts of Tibet has taken the world by gentle, compassionate and melodic storm. Since the Middle Ages, when a Tibetan monastery celebrated a spiritual festival, people from surrounding villages and nomadic tribes would assemble in the monastery's courtyard for the three or four days of sacred music and dance. Now, these same rites are presented by monk artists from the Drepung Loseling Monastery for whom these rituals are still a way of life. The performance boasts magnificent costumes, traditional Tibetan instruments, multiphonic chanting (known as kokkay or "complete chord") and ancient temple music and dance ? all toward the goal of world healing.
www.mysticalartsoftibet.org
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The Passing Zone
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Friday, May 6, 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 7, 8 p.m.
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Take two guys with chainsaws. Put them in tights, throw in flaming torches, a Garden Weasel and People-Juggling (maybe not all at the same time). What do you get? No one is sure, but they're called the Passing Zone, and they'll amaze you and make you laugh.
The LA Times called them "classy" and added "edgy, jaw-dropping and hilarious." They have enough class to have performed a Royal Command Performance for Prince Charles in London.
But they do break things - like five Guinness World Records. And they've won eighteen gold medals from the International Jugglers' Association ? more than any other team in the world.
www.passingzone.com
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Amazones
WOMEN MASTER DRUMMERS OF GUINEA
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Saturday, October 23, 8 p.m.
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Les Percussions de Guinee from West Africa, widely recognized as one of the most extraordinary drumming ensembles in the world, and featured in the new IMAX film, Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey, has always been, as custom dictates, all male. In fact, until now, women were forbidden from playing the djembe, the traditional African drum.
For the first time ever, these famous drummers will share the stage with the Women Master Drummers of Guinea. With Amazones, an original program by Les Percussions de Guinee, the women not only participate, they stand proudly right up front and are featured in a spirited and impressive new program of music, song and dance. The result is a powerful, energetic and grandiose spectacle in celebration of the company?s message of peace, optimism and serenity.
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The Invisible Man
AQUILA THEATRE COMPANY
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Friday, October 29, 8 p.m.
Saturday, October 30, 8 p.m.
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"Using puppets, mime, music and movement, [an] Aquila Theatre Company?s production is simply magical." The New Yorker.
The Professional Company-in-Residence at the Center for Ancient Studies at New York University, Aquila has earned an international reputation as one of the foremost producers of touring classical theatre. Reviewers the world over have called their work "truly innovative and potent," "hugely enjoyable and very funny" and "exhilarating, inventive theater." Imagine what they can do with this classic science fiction thriller by H.G. Wells.
www.aquilatheatre.com
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Kansas City Ballet
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Friday, November 12, 8 p.m.
Saturday, November 13, 8 p.m.
Sunday, November 14, 2 p.m.
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This program of solos and ensemble works showcases the artistry of some of the world?s master choreographers ? Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp and Agnes DeMille, to mention only a few. The featured piece of the evening, Nine Sinatra Songs, has been performed by the company on Broadway, at the White House and abroad. This elegant, yet cheeky piece views several generations of social dances against a backdrop of familiar Frank Sinatra masterpieces. Songs include "Strangers in the Night," "One for My Baby," "My Way" and more. Oscar De La Renta designed the costumes and Twyla Tharp the choreography.
Co-presented by Dance St. Louis
www.kcballet.org
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Reduced Shakespeare Company
All the Great Books (abridged)
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Friday, November 19, 8 p.m.
Saturday, November 20, 8 p.m.
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Charge through Chaucer! Dash through Dickens! Enjoy the world?s great literature ? 83 books of it, anyway ? in 98 minutes. From Jane Austen to Jeffrey Archer, the Reduced Shakespeare Company rifles through your bookshelves and hilariously condenses everything you ever wanted to read but, frankly, couldn?t be bothered to do so. Originating in the California Renaissance circuit, this RSC?s productions are now the longest-running comedies in London?s West End. They have broken box-office records at the Kennedy Center and Seattle Repertory Theatre; and now they bring their madcap mayhem back to the Edison.
www.reducedshakespeare.com
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Liz Callaway & Jason Graae
Backstage Broadway Buddies
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Saturday, January 15, 8 p.m.
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It's glamorous, mysterious and lascivious ? It's Cabaret. It emerged from a Paris nightclub in 1881 and spread quickly throughout Europe and America. It's been embraced by Marlene Dietrich, Billie Holiday and Rosemary Clooney, to name a few. It's an entertainment genre unlike any other before or since and it's coming to the Edison in unprecedented glory.
Music great Liz Callaway returns to the Edison and brings along musical pal, the incomparable Jason Graae. With 11 Broadway shows, 60 recordings/cast albums, and 35 movies and TV shows between them, they join their powerful talents for an unforgettable evening of standards and sentiments.
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Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal
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Friday, January 21, 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 22, 8 p.m.
Sunday, January 23, 2 p.m.
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Solidly established on the international dance scene, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal continues to evolve with the vitality and openness that have been the company's hallmark since its inception in 1972. This dance troupe has long been known for defying the conventions of traditional ballet, especially since the 1998 arrival of Artistic Director, Louis Robitaille, former principal dancer of the Grands Ballets Canadians. The vocabulary of the new repertoire is a direct outgrowth of ballet, nourished by other more contemporary currents.
A truly international company, Les Ballets' artists hail from across the U.S. and Canada and from the more distant locales of Jamaica, Mexico and France.
*Co-presented by Dance St. Louis
www.bjmdanse.ca
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