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SEASON AT A GLANCE

 

 

 


Pilobolus (USA)
October 5, 7:30 PM
circulation: 3,000 Ad due: 9/23 Ad Due: 9/23

Named after a sun-loving fungus, Pilobolus is renowned for its astounding blend of humor and inventive movement. These dancers are gravity-defying shape-shifters, who can resemble plants, animals, multi-limbed creatures and human of all shapes, sizes and ages. After four long years, Pilobolus is returning to White Bird with masterful choreography by Co-Founders Jonathan Wolken, Robby Barnett, and Michael Tracy that will move you to laughter as well as to tears.

 

Vertigo Dance Company (Israel)
October 13-15, 7:30 PM
circulation: 1,500 Ad due: 10/3

Founded in 1992 in Jerusalem by Noa Wertheim and Adi Sha'ai, Vertigo is regarded as one of Israel's most revered and dynamic dance companies. Vertigo will make its long overdue West Coast debut with their breathtaking new work Mana, Vessel of Light , choreographed by Wertheim that has been already called a masterwork by critics in Israel and abroad. Performing against the huge silhouette of a moving house, Vertigo's gifted dancers will take you on a fascinating journey through light and dark, interior and exterior, quiet restraint and extreme physicality.

 

Chunky Move, Connected (Australia)
October 20-22, 8:00 PM
circulation: 3,000 Ad due: 10/11

We proudly launch our new Uncaged season with the North American premiere of Gideon Obarzanek's newest work Connected, a groundbreaking collaboration with California artist Reuben Margolin. Beginning with simple movements choreographed by Gideon and hundreds of tiny pieces fabricated by Reuben, the agile Chunky Move dancers will construct a kinetic sculpture in real time and, in so doing, simple physical connections will evolve into thrillingly complex relationships.

 

Trey McIntyre Project (USA)
December 1-3, 7:30 PM
circulation: 3,000 Ad due: 11/14

In six short years the Trey McIntyre Project has become one of the most in-demand, acclaimed dance companies in the United States. Trey McIntyre embraces all forms of movement, from ballet to modern to hip-hop, set to music ranging from classical, to jazz and rock. Connecting deeply with our audience three years ago , TMP will return with dancers who are exceptionally athletic, music that unpredictable, and choreography that is richly inventive and emotional.

 

Noche Flamenca (Spain)
January 12-14, 7:30 PM
circulation: 5,000 Ad due: 12/29

Hailed by critics everywhere for their transcendent and deeply emotional performances, Noche Flamenca is the most authentic flamenco touring company in the world today, and Soledad Barrio is its star. Co-founder with her husband Martin Santangelo, Barrio is the recipient of awards from 12 countries for her incendiary performances. The intimacy of the Newmark Theatre offers a rare opportunity to connect deeply with these magnificently expressive dancers, singers and musicians.

 

tEEth (USA)
January 26-28, 8:00 PM
circulation: 1,500 Ad due: 1/13

Founded in Portland by choreographer Angelle Hebert and composer Phillip Kraft in 2006, tEEth most recently won the prestigious A.W.A.R.D. Show at On the Boards (Seattle) for their spellbinding Home Made. Hebert's precise, distinctive phrases pushes gestural dance to its limits, while Kraft's music merges gritty sound with hypnotic melody. White Bird is thrilled to commission a new evening-length work from tEEth, embodying these artists' singular eye for life's beauty and dark absurdity.

 

Garth Fagan (USA), Griot New York
February 22, 7:30 PM
circulation: 3,000 Ad due: 2/14

Griot New York is the legendary collaboration between the Tony Award-winning choreographer Garth Fagan, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Wynton Marsalis and celebrated sculptor Martin Puryear. Set to Marsalis' melodic and haunting jazz score, Garth Fagan's kinetic movement blends African and Caribbean dance with ballet and modern into spellbinding choreography that, according to The New York Times, "moves with urban bustle and pastoral lyricism toward a celebration of life."

 

Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM (Canada)
Dark Matters, March 15-17, 8:00 PM
circulation: 3,000 Ad due: 3/6

Kidd Pivot's Lost Action launched White Bird Uncaged in Fall 2008 and Portland audiences discovered in Crystal Pite one of Canada's most exciting and inventive choreographers. Emerging out of Pite's fascination with the unseen forces at work on mind and body, Dark Matters is a brilliant combination of life-like puppetry and dynamic movement featuring a stunning original score from long-time collaborator Owen Belton. A haunting portrait of the unknown, it is a performance that pulls itself apart in an attempt to discover what it is made of.

 

Yasmeen Godder, Love Fire, (Israel)
March 29-31, 8:00 PM
circulation: 1,500 Ad due: 3/20

Award-winning Israeli-American choreographer Yasmeen Godder has received worldwide acclaim for her intensely physical, no- holds-barred approach to movement. Set entirely to recordings of well- known waltzes, Yasmeen's new work Love Fire is a visceral response to the desire to fall in love, to lose control, to be transformed and to be taken by passion. Love Fire gives an exhilarating new twist to stereotypes of male and female identity, and the roles they play within a relationship. Johann Strauss' Blue Danube Waltz will never be the same again!

 

Göteborg Ballet (Sweden)
April 12-14, 7:30 PM
circulation: 1,500 Ad due: 4/2

The Göteborg Ballet is the largest contemporary dance company in the Nordic countries and includes dancers from 17 countries. Under the direction of Johannes Öhman, the company has achieved international acclaim for its passionate commitment to performing the work of the most significant choreographers from Sweden, Norway and Finland. Making its West Coast debut with White Bird, Göteborg Ballet will perform a thrilling program showcasing talent from the latest hotbed of groundbreaking dance in Europe.

 

Lar Lubovitch (USA)
May 2, 7:30 PM
circulation: 1,500 Ad due: 4/20

Hailed by The New York Times as "one of the ten best choreographers in the world," Lar Lubovitch is renowned for his musicality, radiant choreography and deeply humanistic voice. In 2008-2009 the Company celebrated its 40th anniversary with a triumphant tour that included a memorable White Bird performance, eliciting non-stop cheers from our audience. What better way to end our 14th season than with an ensemble of supremely gifted dancers, joyfully performing the soaring movement of Lar Lubovitch, one of America's most treasured dance makers.

 

Compagnie Käfig, Agua (France)
May 9, 7:30 PM
circulation: 3,000 Ad due: 4/27

Mourad Merzouki is at the forefront of the French, and international, hip hop dance scene. Käfig's sensational double bill of Correria and Agwa derives from an encounter between Mourad and 11 young male dancers from Rio de Janeiro at the Lyon Dance Biennial in 2006. Their individual stories about their lives in the favelas (Brazilian slums) and how they were determined to make something of themselves inspired Mourad to create two heart-stopping works that showcase the young Brazilians' astonishing acrobatic skills and dazzling virtuosity.