Jessica Lang Dance Creates an Imaginative World of Virtuosic Dance

Jessica Lang seamlessly incorporates striking design elements and classical ballet vocabulary into artfully crafted, emotionally riveting contemporary works.

The program will feature three works not seen by southern California audiences: Solo Bach, Among the Stars and Thousand Yard Stare.

Irvine Barclay Theatre4242 Campus Drive, Irvine CAwww.thebarclay.org | 949.854.4646

Jessica Lang Dance Friday, February 19, 2016 at 8pmTickets: $38, $45, $100; students $20

Part of the 2016 Contemporary Dance Series

Hailed by Dance Magazine as “a master of visual composition,” Jessica Lang− formerly a member of Twyla Tharp's company − has created more than 80 works for companies worldwide. Since creating her own company in 2011, she has enjoyed rapid success, performing at renowned venues and festivals including Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, New York City Center'sFall for Dance Festival, the Kennedy Center, and the revered Joyce Theater in New York City. She is quite simply a choreographer whose time has come.

REVIEWS & INTERVIEWS

"Moving and masterful." — Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

“Beautiful to watch.”  — Philadelphia Inquirer

 “Fresh moves…fascinating.”— Washington Post

 “Sophisticated and intelligent.”— LA Times

 Washington Post 2015 | New York Times 2014 | LA Times 2014

 Interview with Jessica Lang

Artists Website | Facebook | Twitter

PROGRAM

Solo Bach*  (2008) Choreography: Jessica LangMusic: Johann Sebastian BachThe Six Sonatas & Partitas for Violin Solo PAUSE Among the Stars*  (2010)Choreography: Jessica LangMusic: Ryuichi Sakamoto PAUSE Thousand Yard Stare*  (2015)Choreography: Jessica LangMusic: Ludwig van Beethoven Program Notes: Created in June 2015, Thousand Yard Stare sheds light on the theme of war and those who have been affected by it, most specifically veterans. In preparation for the work, Lang talked with numerous soldiers to learn about their experiences as well as to gather their reactions to samples of music.  Her research included themes of injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and arts-based therapies for veterans, to name a few. The music used for this piece, Beethoven's late String Quartet No. 15, is an adagio written while the composer himself was battling a serious illness.

INTERMISISON The Calling (excerpt from Splendid Isolation II)  (2006)Choreography: Jessica LangMusic: Trio Mediaeval  White   A Dance on Film  (2011)Choreography and Direction: Jessica LangDirector of Photography: Shinichi MaruyamaMusic: Edward Grieg

i.n.k.   (2011)Choreography: Jessica LangOriginal Score: Jakub CiupinskiVideo Art KUSHO: Shinichi Maruyama 

JESSICA LANG DANCE

Founded in 2011, Jessica Lang Dance (JLD) is a New York City-based dance company dedicated to creating and performing the work of Jessica Lang. Jessica Lang Dance enriches and inspires global audiences by immersing them in the beauty of movement and music. Since the company's inception, marked by Lang's receipt of a Joyce Theater Artist Residency supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, JLD has made rapid success performing at renowned venues and festivals throughout the country, including Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival, the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, the Joyce Theater and the Winspear Opera House in Dallas, Texas where the company’s performance was chosen as the best dance event of 2013. In 2014, JLD received rave reviews for Scape, commissioned by The Kennedy Center and the National Symphony Orchestra to John Adams' Violin Concerto and played live by violinist Leila Josefowicz with the National Symphony Orchestra. Jessica Lang Dance has received numerous grants and funding from organizations, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the O'Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Japan Foundation New York, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In summer 2015, JLD performed a rare two-week run of The Wanderer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, marking the company’s third Pillow season since its company debut at Festival 2012. In November 2015, JLD made its Chicago debut with a world premiere by Lang, co-commissioned by the Harris Theater and the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial featuring a set by world-renowned architect Steven Holl.

Jessica Lang (Choreographer/Artistic Director) is a choreographer and the artistic director of Jessica Lang Dance. Hailed as "a master of visual composition" by Dance Magazine, Lang seamlessly incorporates striking design elements and transforms classical ballet language into artfully crafted, emotionally engaging contemporary works. Since 1999, Lang has created more than 90 works on companies worldwide, including Birmingham Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Japan at the New National Theatre Tokyo and Joffrey Ballet, among many others. American Ballet Theatre has presented her work at the Metropolitan Opera House, and she has received commissions from the Dallas Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum for its Works and Process series. For opera, Lang received outstanding acclaim for her directorial debut and choreography of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater at the 2013 Glimmerglass Opera Festival. Lang is a New York City Center Fellow for 2015 and the recipient of a prestigious 2014 Bessie Award. Her ballet, Lyric Pieces, commissioned and performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet, earned a nomination for a coveted 2013 Manchester Theatre Award in the U.K. Lang has received numerous grants for her work on ballet companies from organizations, including the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the NEA, and the Choo San Goh Foundation. Her receipt of a 2010 Joyce Theater Artist Residency supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation helped launch her own company, Jessica Lang Dance (JLD) in 2011. Since 2002, Lang has been a teaching artist at American Ballet Theatre for their Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, Summer Intensive Program in NYC and Make a Ballet program. Lang has also taught and choreographed for numerous educational institutions, including The Juilliard School, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and The Ailey/Fordham BFA Program. With her strong belief in the importance of education, Lang recently developed her own methodology called LANGuage, a unique creative curriculum that teaches individuals from all populations to cultivate the habit of creative thinking through exercise. Lang, a graduate of The Juilliard School under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy, is a former member of Twyla Tharp's company, THARP!

Clifton Brown (Choreographer's Assistant, Dancer and Rehearsal Director) began his professional career when he joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1999. There he was featured in many works, named assistant rehearsal director and served as Judith Jamison's choreographic assistant. While dancing with the Ailey company, he was nominated in the U.K. for a Critics Circle National Dance Award for best male dancer. Brown has received a Bessie Award in recognition of his work with the Ailey company, as well as a Black Theater Arts Award. He has had the privilege of performing at the White House and for President Obama. He has also danced with Earl Mosley's Diversity of Dance, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and as a guest artist with Miami City Ballet, Rome Opera Ballet, Nevada Ballet and Parsons Dance Company. He has made several television appearances, including performing as a guest artist on So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With The Stars. As a répétiteur, he has set the work of Alvin Ailey, Earl Mosley and Jessica Lang on various companies. He continues to assist Lang on her creations across the globe, most recently for Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Glimmerglass Opera Festival. Brown is a founding member of JLD.

Patrick Coker (Dancer) grew up in Chester, Virginia. He received his training from the Eastern Virginia School of the Performing Arts, the Richmond Ballet and Jessica Morgan’s School of Dance. He was awarded the American Ballet Theatre's National Trainee Scholarship from the years 2008 to 2010. In May 2014, Patrick graduated magna cum laude from the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. program, where he apprenticed with Ailey II in his senior year. He has danced professionally as an apprentice with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and has performed with the Mark Morris Dance Group in The Hard Nut. Patrick began working with JLD in 2015 and joined the company in 2016.

Julie Fiorenza (Dancer) was born in South Korea and grew up in Massachusetts where she trained at the Academy of Dance Arts and the Boston Ballet School. She earned a B.F.A. in Dance from The Ailey School/Fordham University, graduating with honors, and has performed throughout the country as a member of Ailey II, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company and Adams Company Dance. Fiorenza has danced at the Metropolitan Opera in its productions of Turandot and Mark Morris' Orfeo ed Euridice. She has performed with the Mark Morris Dance Group in Romeo & Juliet: On Motifs of Shakespeare, The Hard Nut, and L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, and appeared with MMDG in the television debut of L’Allegro which aired in March 2015 on Great Performances. Fiorenza is a founding member of JLD.

John Harnage (Dancer) is a native of Miami, Florida and studied dance with the Miami City Ballet School and New World School of the Arts. In May 2014, he graduated from The Juilliard School under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes, where he had the privilege of learning works by choreographers such as José Limón, Alexander Ekman, Pina Bausch and Lar Lubovitch. Harnage was also a modern dance finalist at the 2010 NFAA YoungArts competition, has worked professionally with Brice Mousset's Oui Danse, and performed internationally at the 2012 Edinburgh International Festival with the Juilliard Dance Ensemble. Harnage began working with JLD in 2014 and joined the company in 2015.

Eve Jacobs (Dancer) grew up in Wilmette, Illinois, and received her dance training at Dance Center Evanston and North Carolina School of the Arts. Upon earning a B.F.A. from The Juilliard School in 2014, Jacobs was recognized with the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreography. Throughout her training, Jacobs performed in works by Jerome Robbins, Lar Lubovitch, Ohad Naharin and Andrea Miller, and was featured in the revival of Pina Bausch’s Wind Von West. She has performed in schools and care centers throughout New York City, and worked professionally with Buglisi Dance Theater. In 2014, Jacobs was granted a residency at Brooklyn’s White Wave Dance, culminating in a dance-theater presentation. Her writing can be found in The Juilliard Journal, Musical America Worldwide, and on StageBuddy.com. Jacobs joined JLD in 2015.

Kana Kimura (Dancer) was born in Hiroshima, Japan, where she began her ballet training at the age of four and studied contemporary dance with Takako Asakawa. After graduating from The Juilliard School, Kimura worked with Wally Cardona Quartet. She also appeared in Nixon in China at The Metropolitan Opera, choreographed by Mark Morris, worked on a dance video performance for Shanghai Expo, and has also performed with Japanese Arts Organization J-­Collabo in NYC. She was in an Off­-Broadway show, The Nutcracker Rouge, with Company XIV. Kimura is a founding member of JLD.

Laura Mead (Dancer) grew up in Austin, Texas and Berkeley, California. She received a B.F.A. in Dance from The Juilliard School, where she performed works by Jessica Lang, Ronald K. Brown, Eliot Feld and Paul Taylor, among others. Mead originated the principal role of Betsy in Twyla Tharp's Broadway musical, Come Fly Away, for which she received an Astaire Award nomination. Mead served as dance captain on a national tour of Tharp's Movin' Out. She has also performed with American Repertory Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, Morphoses, Post:Ballet and Los Angeles Dance Project. Mead has been a member of JLD since the full company's debut in 2012.

Milan Misko (Dancer) was raised in Missouri, where he began his dance training with Jo Noth’s White Oak Dance Academy and the Kansas City Ballet School. He holds a B.F.A. from the Purchase College Conservatory of Dance. Misko has worked with Kansas City Ballet, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Merce Cunningham Dance Company RUG, Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater, Adams Company Dance and Setsuko Kawaguchi Ballet, Japan. He has created dances for Take Dance, Bucknell University and directed his first short dance film, Transportation, which was selected for Lincoln Center's Dance on Camera Festival 2013. Misko has been a member of JLD since the company’s debut in 2012.

Jammie Walker (Dancer) began his dance training at Western Arkansas Ballet under the direction of Melissa Schoenfeld. He earned his B.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma School of Dance under the direction of Mary Margaret Holt. Walker has had the honor of touring in China and Austria with Oklahoma Festival Ballet. He danced with the Dayton Ballet for three seasons, performing works by such choreographers as Septime Webre, Amy Seiwart, Jessica Lang and Stuart Sebastian. He has performed with Dance Grand Moultrie as well as with Clawson Dances. Walker joined JLD in 2015.

Nicole Pearce (Lighting Designer). Previously with Jessica Lang: ten works, including Escaping the Weight of Darkness (National Ballet of Japan); Crossed (Joffrey Ballet); Lyric Pieces (Birmingham Royal Ballet). Selected dance credits: Ten works with Mark Morris (Mark Morris Dance Group, Boston Ballet and Houston Ballet); Seven works with Aszure Barton (Nederlands Dans Theater and Hubbard Street Dance Company); Three works with Andrea Miller (Gallim & Jacoby & Pronk); Ten works with John Heginbotham (Dance Heginbotham and Atlanta Ballet); No Longer Silent with Robert Battle (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater); Episode 31 with Alexander Ekman (Joffrey Ballet); New Dances with choreographers Kyle Abraham, Monica Bill Barnes, Brain Brooks, Matthew Neenan and Pam Tanowitz (all at The Juilliard School); Selected New York theater credits includes work with directors: Edward Albee, Leigh Silverman, Trip Cullman, Pam MacKinnon, Jade King Carroll and Ed Sylvanus Iskandar. With companies including: The Cherry Lane, The Play Company and Labryinth Theater Company.  Visit: www.nicolepearcedesign.com

Bradon McDonald (Costume Designer) has had a diverse career in both the performing arts and design fields. Upon graduating from The Juilliard School in 1997, McDonald danced with José Limón Dance Company for three years and with Mark Morris Dance Group for 10 years. He has choreographed operas and taught movement to opera singers at companies, including LA Opera, Bolshoi Opera, Royal Academy of Music, Houston Grand Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, Wolftrap Opera and Tanglewood Music Festival. Twelve hours after retiring from the stage, McDonald began studying fashion design at LA's Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising where he earned two degrees in fashion design. McDonald was a top four finalist and showed a collection at New York Fashion Week on Project Runway Season 12. He was both costume designer and choreographer for the Kurt Weill opera The Protagonist, a Beth Morrison Projects production at Fire Island Opera Festival. As well as creating couture garments for private clients from his Los Angeles studio, his signature dancewear collection, Bradon@Capezio, is available worldwide.

Jakub Ciupinski (Composer), a Polish composer living in New York City, has collaborated with Lang on her works i.n.k. and Within the Space I Hold for JLD; Eighty One for Ballet San Jose; and Droplet for the NY Choreographic Institute. His concert music has been commissioned by the Metropolis Ensemble, the New Juilliard Ensemble, and violinists Anne Akiko-Meyers and Philippe Quint, among others. His works have been performed at prestigious venues such as Tonhalle in Zurich and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Ciupinski studied composition at The Juilliard School, the Cracow Academy of Music and the Birmingham Conservatoire. Visit: ciupinski.pl

Shinichi Maruyama (Visual Artist), born in Japan, studied at Chiba University and was a member of Hakuhodo Photo Creative as well as a freelance photographer from 1992 to 1998. In 2003 Maruyama moved to New York City and created his Kusho series, exhibited at Bruce Silverstein Gallery in 2009. His most recent series, Gardens, was also on exhibit there in 2011. The Peabody Essex Museum in Boston displayed Maruyama’s work from 2011 to 2012. Maruyama has collaborated with JLD on i.n.k. and White; and with Lang for his print and video series entitled Nude. Visit: shinichimaruyama.com