Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The MusicCenter Kicks Off Season in September

Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The MusicCenter will kick-off its 2012-2013 10th Anniversary season with its commission of the inaugural full-length program by L.A. Dance Project founded by acclaimed choreographer Benjamin Millepied. The L.A. Dance Project commission will have its premiere performances September 22 and 23, 2012 at The Music Center's Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The program will include Millepied's World Premiere specifically created for The Music Center in collaboration with composer Nico Muhly and artist Christopher Wool with costumes by Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte; "Quintett" (1993) by William Forsythe with music by Gavin Bryars; and "Winterbranch" (1964) by Merce Cunningham, music by La Monte Young and costumes and object conceived by Robert Rauschenberg. The program will be performed by Amanda Wells, Julia Eichten, Frances Chaverini, Charlie Hodge, Morgan Lugo, Nathan Makolandra and Benjamin Millepied, all of whom are now based in Los Angeles.

Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) was a leader of the American avant-garde throughout his seventy-year career and is considered one of the most important choreographers of our time. Through much of his life, he was also one of the greatest American dancers. With an artistic career distinguished by constant innovation, Cunningham expanded the frontiers not only of dance, but also of contemporary visual and performing arts. His collaborations with artistic innovators from every creative discipline have yielded an unparalleled body of American dance, music, and visual art. "Winterbranch" premiered in Hartford CT and was performed all over the world during the company's 1964 tour and caused a sensation wherever it was given. It remained in repertory until 1976.

William Forsythe (born in 1949 in New York) is recognized worldwide as a leading choreographer whose radical interpretation of contemporary ballet has re-defined the medium. Using the universal language of classical ballet as a foundation, Forsythe has created his own ingenious movement vocabulary. "Quintett" which Forsythe has called a waltz for five dancers, premiered in Frankfurt in 1993 at a time when his young wife was terminally ill. William Forsythe didn't exactly approach the creation of "Quintett" in 1993 as an elegy or even memento mori--. He planned it as a final love letter to her before she died.

Millepied – known for his acclaimed choreographies for the Paris Opera Ballet and NYC Ballet, as well as for his workon the award-winning film BLACK SWAN - is a leading dancer, choreographer, artist, and director.

Millepied's L.A. Dance Project is a curatorial collective, which includes composer Nico Muhly, art consultant Matthieu Humery, video producer Dimitri Chamblas and producer Charles Fabius. Together, they conceive, commission, and present original programs exploring new ways to promote dance. Different from a dance company, L.A. Dance Project fosters and curates artist collaborations for the theatre stage as well as for specific sites and promotes educational programs. It is the Collective's goal to create new work and to revive seminal collaborations from the past. Programs will include full-length evenings in traditional theater venues as well as various modular performances in non-traditional environments. L.A. Dance Project hopes to establish a new working model and to reach out to new audiences.

Each project is developed through preliminary think tanks and workshops in L.A. and subsequently presented throughout the world. Christopher Wool and Mark Bradford are the first artists to collaborate with L.A. Dance Project.

L.A. Dance Project has taken up residence in Downtown L.A. at Los Angeles Theatre Center, at the heart of a vibrant community, steps away from The Music Center's Walt Disney Concert Hall and MOCA, two institutions first to present the Collective's projects in 2012.

Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center commissions and premieres the initial full-length program on September 22, 2012 with L.A. Dance Project presenting partners Chatelet, Paris, Maison de la Danse, Lyon and Sadler's Wells, London. A worldwide tour, which includes works by Cunningham, Forsythe and Millepied, continues through 2013. The Paris Chatelet is Presenting Partner for The Music Center's Walt Disney Concert Hall World Premiere. L.A. Dance Project has established further International partnerships with Sadler's Wells, London and Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France.

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