The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at California Institute of the Arts presents its annual Winter Concert featuring choreography by faculty and acclaimed guest artists.

This year’s concert celebrates the extraordinary range of dance with three world premieres by School of Dance faculty and co-founder of The Flying Mammoth company Julie Bour; guest choreographer and Camille A. Brown & Dancers member Juel D. Lane; and alumnus and founder of The Guangdong Dance Company Douglas Nielsen. Neilsen is Artist-in-Residence in The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance for Fall 2016. A special restaging of Pigs and Fishes from the repertoire of Elisa Monte, as commissioned by the legendary Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, revives an essential work of dance for concert.

Performances are on December 1 and 2, at 8 pm, in the Sharon Disney Lund Dance Theater on the CalArts campus, and December 9 and 10, at 8:30 pm, at REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney / CalArts Theater) located in downtown Los Angeles.

The concert includes the premiere of Nielsen’s The Nearest Useable Exit May Be Behind You, which takes its inspiration from various forms of identity, airport surveillance, truth and lies, and the popularity of coffee. Guest choreographer Juel D. Lane, who has been called one of the most gifted dance talents in the country, premieres his new work Lavender. With inspirations drawn from the ever-changing alchemy created by the exposure of the Self to Others, Bour will premiere a new work The Scent of a Mémoire’.

In 1982, Alvin Ailey commissioned Monte to create Pigs and Fishesfor his renowned troupe. This powerful, driving piece focuses on the coming together of forces in a communal triumph over society and culture. Pigs and Fishes is one of the most popular works from Monte’s repertoire of over 40 works.

About the artists

Faculty Julie Bour is a native French choreographer and graduate of the Conservatoire National of Paris. In 2006, Bour co-founded The Flying Mammoth, a dance company designed to bridge the gap between artistic disciplines. Her travels across the globe influence by her distinct choreographic style, described as international, contemporary, and unorthodox. Bour currently creates works for the The Flying Mammoth among others, which are presented in theaters across America and Europe.

Juel D. Lane is credited as the first local independent Black choreographer to be commissioned by the Atlanta Ballet, and was recently selected to participate in the 2015-2016 Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation New Directions Choreography Lab. A graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, the nationally renowned choreographer has worked with various dance companies and has released three dance-film projects: “Just Another Day,” “How to Kill a Ghost,” and “When the Beat Drops.”

Douglas Nielsen has been a guest instructor and choreographer at more than 40 universities throughout the United States and abroad. The CalArts alumnus established his own dance company, Douglas Nielsen Dances, in 1982, and founded The Guangdong Dance Company, Mainland China’s first modern dance company, in 1988. Nielsen was the recipient of the Lester Horton Dance Educator Award in 2003, among various other fellowships throughout his career.

Elisa Monte made her professional dancing debut with Agnes DeMille, and has since become a principal dancer with various companies, such as Pilobolus and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Monte, noted for her energetic yet classical style, was among the first choreographers to be commissioned by the National Choreography Project, for which she created VI for VIII for the Boston Ballet. Now into her third decade of choreography, Monte boasts over 50 works performed by her own company and others around the world.

Calendar Editors Please Note:

What:
The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) presents its annual evening of dance featuring work by faculty members and acclaimed guest artists.

CalArts – Sharon Disney Lund Dance Theater
24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355-2340
Thursday & Friday, December 1-2, 8 pm

Tickets:
General $10, CalArts Students/Faculty/Staff/Alumni $2

REDCAT
631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Friday & Saturday, December 9-10, 8:30 pm

Tickets:
General $20, Members/Students $16, CalArts Faculty/Staff $10

The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance is one of the nation’s premiere colleges for the professional training of contemporary dance artists. Technical excellence and innovative artistry are the hallmarks of the undergraduate and graduate programs. Concentrated production seasons of aesthetically diverse work thrive in an atmosphere of creative exchange between professionally motivated students and a faculty of practicing artists. Personal creativity combined with mastery of traditional and contemporary styles prepare students for exciting careers in the field of dance.

Ranked as America’s top college for students in the arts by Newsweek/The Daily Beast, California Institute of the Arts has set the pace for educating professional artists since 1970. Offering rigorous undergraduate and graduate degree programs through six schools–Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music, and Theater–CalArts has championed creative excellence, critical reflection, and the development of new forms and expressions. As successive generations of faculty and alumni have helped shape the landscape of contemporary arts, the Institute first envisioned by Walt Disney encompasses a vibrant, eclectic community with global reach, inviting experimentation, independent inquiry, and active collaboration and exchange among artists, artistic disciplines and cultural traditions.