2014 FALL FOR DANCE FESTIVAL

New York City Center’s FALL FOR DANCE FESTIVAL

Kicks Off with

FREE Dance in Central Park

September 12 & 13

In Association with The Public Theater

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company presents Bill T. Jones’s D-Man in the Waters (Part I)
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago presents Gnawa, choreographed by Nacho Duato
World Premiere of Damian Woetzel’s Bend in the Road, starringLil Buck

New York City Ballet presentsWilliam Forsythe’s Herman Schmerman (Pas de Deux)

New York, NY, August 20, 2014 – New York City Center’s 2014 Fall for Dance Festival will kick off with two FREE evenings of dance at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, in association with The Public Theater, on September 12 and 13 at 8 p.m. (rain date, September 14).

The performances at The Public’s Delacorte Theater will feature: Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Lil Buck, and New York City Ballet, each performing both nights. Free tickets will be distributed, two per person, at The Public’s Delacorte Theater on the day of the show and through virtual ticketing.

“We are delighted that our Fall for Dance season will once again open with two free performances at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Last year’s performances at the Delacorte demonstrated how glorious dance looks at this special venue, and we are so pleased that The Public Theater is partnering with us again to provide great dance to all New Yorkers,”said New York City Center President & CEO Arlene Shuler.

“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Fall for Dance back to the Delacorte again this year,” said Public Theater Associate Artistic Director Mandy Hackett. “Partnering with Fall for Dance is a beautiful collaboration as our organizations share common goals and vision of making the arts and culture accessible to all New Yorkers.  Experiencing such extraordinary work from the world of dance on the Delacorte stage is utterly thrilling.”

The Fall for Dance Festival has received international acclaim for its quality, innovation and success in introducing new and younger audiences to the world of dance. Since its inception, the Festival has presented 189 companies and introduced more than 250,000 newcomers and dance enthusiasts to an eclectic mix of choreographers and performers.

The Festival will continue at City Center from October 8 – October 19 and will featuremany free pre-show events will include dance lessons and panels by choreographers, artists and dance educators.All tickets are $15 and will go on sale Sunday, September 14 at 11 a.m.

The two-week Festival at City Center will consist of five unique programs (each program is repeated twice) and will include performances by Aakash Odedra Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Australian Ballet, BJM – Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Black Grace, Brian Brooks Moving Company with Juilliard Dance, Company Sébastien Ramirez & Honji Wang, Lucinda Childs Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble, National Ballet of China, Pontus Lidberg Dance, Rennie Harris Puremovement, Russell Maliphant/Sadler’s Wells London,San Francisco Ballet, Sara Mearns & Company, The Sarasota Ballet, Semperoper Ballett Dresden, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Vuyani Dance Theatre, and Wayne McGregor | Random Dance.

FREE Performances at The Public Theater’s Delacorte Theater

September 12 and 13, 2014 at 8 p.m. (Rain Date: September 14)

HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO

Gnawa(2005),choreographed byNacho Duato for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago,is a vibrant ensemble work that taps the Mediterranean spirit of North Africa and Duato’s native Spain.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s core purpose is to bring artists, art and audiences together to enrich, engage, educate, transform and change lives through the experience of dance. Celebrating its 37th season in 2014–15, Hubbard Street continues to be an innovative force, supporting its creative talent while presenting repertory by the field’s internationally recognized living artists. Founded and directed for its first 23 years by Lou Conte, Hubbard Street has grown through the establishment of multiple platforms: The Lou Conte Dance Studio provides a wide range of public classes and pre-professional training; extensive youth, education, community, adaptive dance and family programs keep the organization deeply connected to its hometown; the Choreographic Development Initiative is aimed at being a national model for artistic development while proactively diversifying contemporary concert dance; Hubbard Street 2 stewards early-career artists and the International Commissioning Project (formerly the National Choreographic Competition). The main company’s 18 members comprise one of the only ensembles in the U.S. to perform all year long, domestically and around the world. www.hubbardstreetdance.com

NEW YORK CITY BALLET

Herman Schmerman (Pas de Deux) (1992), choreographed by William Forsythe, was created as part of NYCB’s 1992 Diamond Project. Forsythe’s angular, contemporary choreography for this striking and inventive pas de deux is paired with an electronic score by his longtime collaborator, Thom Willems. Originally choreographed for five dancers, the piece was reworked to include a pas de deux in 1993. When NYCB revived the ballet in 1999, Forsythe decided to present just the pas de deux. It has been performed that way ever since.

New York City Ballet is one of the foremost dance companies in the world, with a roster of over 90 dancers and an unparalleled repertory of modern masterpieces. The Company was founded in 1948 by the legendary choreographer George Balanchine and arts patron Lincoln Kirstein, and quickly became world-renowned for its athletic, contemporary style, and a repertory of original ballets that has forever changed the face of classical dance. Now under the artistic direction of Peter Martins, NYCB is committed to promoting creative excellence and nurturing a new generation of dancers and choreographers. www.nycballet.com

BILL T. JONES/ARNIE ZANE DANCE COMPANY (Live Music)

D-Man in the Waters (Part I) (1989, revised 1998), choreographed by Bill T. Jones, is a joyful tour de force set to Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major for Strings, Op. 20. The Bessie Award–winning classic is a celebration of life and the resiliency of the human spirit that embodies loss, hope and triumph.

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company has shaped the evolution of contemporary dance through the creation and performance of over 140 works. Founded as a multicultural dance company in 1982, the company was born of an 11-year artistic collaboration between Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane. Today, the company is recognized as one of the most innovative and powerful forces in the modern dance world, and has performed its ever-enlarging repertoire worldwide in over 200 cities in 30 countries on every major continent. In 2011, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company merged with Dance Theater Workshop to form New York Live Arts, of which Bill T. Jones is the Artistic Director. newyorklivearts.org

LIL BUCK (Live Music)

Bend in the Road, a world premiere choreographedby Damian Woetzel and Charles “Lil Buck” Riley, is a scene from a new project conceived and directed by Woetzel, starring Lil Buck with dancer Ron Myles and musicians including Jon Batiste, Edmar Castaneda and Marcus Printup. Bend in the Roadfollows the Pied Piper of dance, Lil Buck, as he jooks across America discovering what brings our cities to life. First stop: New Orleans…

Lil Buck is known for his Memphis jookin’, a street dance that originated in Memphis, and he is the founder of his own dance group, New Styles Krew. At age 16, he began ballet training at the New Ballet Ensemble, where he performed and choreographed until moving to Los Angeles in 2009. Lil Buck co-choreographed and starred in the video for recording artist Janelle Monae’s Grammy-nominated hit song “Tightrope” and danced with Madonna on tour and during the 2012 Super Bowl XCLVI halftime show. He has performed on numerous television shows, including an appearance as a performer and guest judge on “Dancing with the Stars,” “The Colbert Report,” “Tavis Smiley,” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Recently, he appeared with New York City Ballet as a star soloist in the debut of a ballet by the French artist JR. In 2011, Lil Buck collaborated with cellist Yo-Yo Ma in performances of The Swan, directed by Damian Woetzel as part of Ma and Woetzel’s Arts Strike initiative. Director Spike Jonze captured this collaboration in a video that went viral on YouTube, garnering more than 2.5 million views. Also directed by Woetzel, Lil Buck has appeared with Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble at SummerStage in Central Park, at the 2011 U.S.–China Forum in Beijing, and as the star of Lil Buck @ Le Poisson Rouge in 2013, for which he won a Bessie Award for outstanding performance. Lil Buck was the 2011 Artist-in-Residence of the Vail International Dance Festival and is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Aspen Institute.

FALL FOR DANCE FESTIVAL SPONSORS

New York City Center gratefully acknowledges the Ford Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Barbara and David Zalaznick, Elizabeth and Dean Kehler, and Lisa and Richard Witten for their generous support of the Delacorte performances.

City Center also gratefully acknowledges the Fall for Dance Festival Leadership Sponsor, Bloomberg Philanthropies, its Principal Sponsor, MetLife Foundation, its Sustaining Sponsor, The Howard Gilman Foundation, and its Presenting Partners including Jody and John Arnhold, Barbara and David Zalaznick, Perry and Marty Granoff, and Caroline Howard Hyman. Special thanks also go to The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation for commissioning support. City Center is especially grateful for the extraordinary leadership support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Marjorie S. Isaac Fund for Fall for Dance, and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and the generous contributions of The Irene Diamond Fund, the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation for the Fall for Dance Endowment.

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NEW YORK CITY CENTER

New York City Center (Arlene Shuler, President & CEO) has played a defining role in the cultural life of the city since 1943. It was Manhattan’s first performing arts center, dedicated by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia with a mission to make the best in music, theater and dance accessible to all audiences. Today, City Center is home to many distinguished companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, City Center’s Principal Dance Company, as well as Manhattan Theatre Club; a roster of renowned national and international visiting artists; and its own critically acclaimed and popular programs. The Tony-honored Encores! musical theater series has been hailed as “one of the very best reasons to be alive in New York.” In summer 2013, City Center launched Encores! Off-Center,a new series featuring landmark musicals filtered through the lens of today’s most innovative artists. Dance has been integral to the theater’s mission from the start, and dance programs, including the annual Fall for Dance Festival, remain central to City Center’s identity. Vital partnerships with arts organizations including Jazz at Lincoln Center and London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre enhance City Center’s programmatic offerings. City Center is dedicated to providing educational opportunities to New York City students and teachers with programs such as Encores! In Schools and the Young People’s Dance Series. Special workshops cater to families, seniors and other groups, while events such as the Fall for Dance DanceTalk series offer learning opportunities to the general public. In October 2011, City Center completed an extensive renovation project to revitalize and modernize its historic theater.

TICKETS AND SCHEDULE

Free tickets for the two performances at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park on September 12 and 13 (rain date, September 14) will be distributed, two per person, at The Public’s Delacorte Theater on the day of the show and through virtual ticketing at www.shakespeareinthepark.org.The Public’s Delacorte Theater can be reached by entering Central Park at81st Street and Central Park West.

The 2014 Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center (West55th Street between6th and7th Avenues) runs October 8 – October 19. All tickets are $15 and go on sale on Sunday, September 14 at 11 a.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.NYCityCenter.org, by calling CityTix at 212.581.1212, or at the City Center Box Office.