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Cal Performances presents the Trisha Brown Dance Company in Berkeley next week.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Dance lovers, you are in luck. Double luck even, because next weekend you can experience simultaneous dance premieres by two international giants, Trisha Brown Dance Company and Richard Alston Dance Company.
To what do you owe this exquisite double pleasure? To the eternal rivalry between Berkeley and Stanford, which spurs these great institutions to bring the best of the art world to our shores.
Brown’s modern company of nine dancers, created by the legendary choreographer in 1970, returns to Berkeley’s Cal Performances Friday and Jan. 27 with two West Coast premieres and a classic from its repertoire. Brown’s newest work, “I love my robots,” is set to music by Laurie Anderson, with whom she has collaborated over the last two decades, and the stage set designed by well-known Japanese artist and architect Kenjiro Okazaki.
The New York-based company is also bringing “how long does the subject linger on the edge of the volume,” an innovative piece that uses motion-capture technology to create a relationship between dancers, music and moving graphics. The score and the images were recorded during the dance’s premiere in 2005. The third work, “Geometry of Quiet,” is set to avant-garde composer Salvatore Sciarrino’s music for one flute. The sets — two white sails — were created by Brown herself.
Is it possible to beat such a dazzling program? Well, Stanford thinks it can.
For its part, Stanford Lively Arts is presenting a two-night (Friday and Jan. 27) introduction to Richard Alston Dance Company, a famous British troupe that has never been seen in the Bay Area. Alston, who studied with Merce Cunningham and choreographed for the London School of Contemporary Dance, created his dance company in 1994.
“What drew me to his company was actually the music,” explains Stanford Lively Arts’ artistic director, Jenny Bilfield. “He has tackled some very dramatic and very outstanding music whereas a number of other choreographers look for a more neutral score. He picks music that’s as strong as his choreography.”
Alston describes his work as “lyrical dancing that’s very much about the music rather than drama.” The choreographer calls his company “dancey” because his works contain a lot of movement and a lot of steps.
The company is showing three exciting works: Heiner Goebbels’ “Red Run,” commissioned for the Holland Dance Festival; “Volumina,” which features an organ score; and his latest work, “The Devil in the Detail,” set to a live performance of Scott Joplin’s ragtime music.
Alston is looking forward to his trip here. “The Bay Area has a lot of dance and it’s very cultured,” he says on the phone from Philadelphia. “It’s a part of the country I am very happy to visit.” Not only for dance, he adds, but also for the wine.
Trisha Brown Dance Company
Presented by: Cal Performances
Where: Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Avenue, UC Berkeley campus
When: 8 p.m. Jan. 26-27
Tickets: $26 to $46
Contact: (510) 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu
Richard Alston Dance Company
Presented by: Stanford Lively Arts
Where: Memorial Auditorium, 551 Serra Mall, Stanford University
When: 8 p.m. Jan. 26-27
Tickets: $26 to $44
Contact: (650) 725-2787 or http://livelyarts.stanford.edu
Comments from Examiner Readers
11:19 AM MST on Sun., Sep. 28, 2008 re: "Skinny Puppy is back, making myths"
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ironlungcorp said:
Skinny Puppy did pave the way for NIN though, in the sense that they were essentially THE pioneering industrial act.
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Gnome said:
Why is everyone obsessed with comparing Nine Inch Nails and Skinny Puppy? Who the hell cares if one was influenced by the other? They're completely different by now.
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Concerning Truth my A**! said:
Let's clear up this NIN "conspiracy" before this "genius" goes out and blows up his school: the phrase at issue is "putting this Puppy right back at the head of the Nine Inch Nails pack it originally whelped." Look up any dictionary and you will see that "whelped" means "gave birth to" or slight variations thereof. You therefore are railing against the writer who you agree with. Good job!
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Truth my A**! said:
Get your facts right! All Reznor did was glamorise industrial music by making it more accessible (which Puppy weren't out to do). NIN opened FOR Skinny Puppy in 1988, Skinny Puppy had already formed in 1982, and if you were such a big fan of NIN you would already know that they released "Pretty Hate Machine" in 1989...AFTER Puppy released their first Album "Back & Forth" in 1984! It doesn't take a genius to work out who came first!
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TRUTH said:
If this comment is implying that "Skinny Puppy" helped create/start NIN then this article is a "Mythmaker". The one and only member of NIN, from the beginning, is Trent Reznor. He was/is a fan of Skinny Puppy, leave it at that!
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