Here’s the press release from Mordine & Co. Dance:
MORDINE & CO. DANCE THEATER ANNOUNCES 2009-2010 SEASON
SEASON FEATURES A SERIES OF COLLABORATIONS WITH INNOVATIVE MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTISTS IN UNEXPECTED SPACES, CULMINATING IN A WORLD PREMIERE, PLUS THE SECOND ANNUAL “NEXT” FESTIVAL
CHICAGO—Mordine & Company Dance Theater, the longest running contemporary dance company in the Midwest, celebrates “40 Years of Moving Dance Forward” with its 2009-2010 Season. The season highlights Artistic Director Shirley Mordine’s renewed interest in creating greater intimacy with audiences, in a series of events that explore boundary breaking techniques as found in commedia del arte, to provide a fresh direction for the Company. In the year ahead, Mordine & Co. will work with a variety of innovative collaborators, including the development of a new piece with experimental jazz musician Doug Lofstrom and the New Quartet. The season lineup includes performances at experimental dance venues this fall, and a push to take dance out of the traditional concert stage and into a jazz club and a church during the spring. The culminating NEXT Festival in May 2010 offers the premiere of the year long collaboration between Lofstrom and Mordine, plus works created by the recipients of the 2010 Mordine & Company Emerging Artists Mentoring Project Awards.
2009/2010 EVENTS INCLUDE:
The Other Dance Festival
September 24 and 25, 2009: Hamlin Park, 3035 N Hoyne Ave., Chicago; 7:30pm
Mordine & Co. will once again perform during this festival that provides a platform for experimental work in dance in Chicago. The company will remount New Ground, an innovative real-time video and dance collaboration by videographer John Boesche and Shirley Mordine, featuring Emma Draves and Meghann Wilkinson.
Links Hall’s 30th Anniversary Celebration
October 3, 2009: Links Hall, 3435 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago;
Mordine & Company will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Links Hall in a program that includes 30 hours of non-stop programming by guest artists from many points in the organization’s history.
Galaxie
December 4, 5, 6, 2009: 2603 W. Barry Ave., Chicago; 8:00pm on Friday & Sat, 3:00pm on Sunday
Mordine & Co. will present its first stage of collaboration with the Doug Lofstrom New Quartet. In dialogue with these versatile jazz artists, this new collaboration will include set and improvised movement and sound. Featuring seven dancers, the work is based on the spirit of Commedia del Arte, overlaid with moments of humor and satire.
Space
February 24, 2010: Evanston Space 1245 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL; 8:00 pm
The Space is a new venue in Evanston that is quickly becoming a hotbed for the jazz music scene. With an open format, and audiences in a three-dimensional setting, Mordine & Co will present the next stage of our collaboration with the Doug Lofstrom Quartet.
NEXT at Epiphany
May 7, 8, 9, 2010: Epiphany Church, 201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago; 8:00pm on Friday & Sat, 3:00pm on Sunday
Tickets: $18 general, $15 students; available at the door or on www.brownpapertickets.com after December 1
Mordine & Co’s final performances of the 2009-2010 Chicago season build upon the model the company established this past season, with the presentation of the second annual NEXT festival in this glorious Romanesque church in the West Loop. Using a multi dimensional, site specific approach, NEXT will once again include works by young choreographers from the Company’s Emerging Artists Mentoring Project, other invited guest artists, plus the final presentation of our collaboration with The Doug Lofstrom New Quartet. Mentoring Project Awardees for 2010 will be announced later this fall.
ABOUT THE COMPANY: Under the direction of Shirley Mordine, who serves as Artistic Director and principal choreographer for the company, Mordine & Co. has been active in the Chicago dance community since 1968. Mordine’s extensive and diverse choreography has earned consistent critical acclaim for unique vision and experimentation. Her works are assertive, provocative, richly textured, and ultimately appealing. Frequently collaborating with guest artists, Mordine and her company often present works that are striking, unified multimedia presentations of theater. Outside of the Chicago area, Mordine and her company have performed extensively at more than 50 performing arts centers, colleges, and universities throughout the United States, as well as internationally at numerous festivals, including tours to Australia, Israel, Mexico, and Yugoslavia. Mordine was the founder of The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, and served as its chair for thirty years. The company and Ms. Mordine have been the recipients of many honors and awards. Most recently, in honor of the Mordine & Co Dance Theater’s 40th Anniversary and to recognize the company’s significant contribution to the city’s performing arts, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, proclaim February 28, 2009, to be “Mordine & Co. Dance Theater Day in Chicago.”
Learn more about about the company and all of these events at www.mordine.org
Programs of Mordine & Company Dance Theater are supported, in part, by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, as well as a City Arts Program I Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, The Ruth Page Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Irving B. Harris Foundation, The Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development, The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, The Weasel Fund, and many individual supporters.
