The Walker Art Center released its 2004–2005 performing arts season schedule today, announcing a dynamic array of innovative dance, theater, and new and world music programs. The upcoming season encompasses the continuation of Walker without Walls, a vibrant spectrum of events presented at venues throughout the Twin Cities while the Walker expands its facility, as well as the opening events of the McGuire Theater, a dramatic new space marking a new era for performance at the Walker. The expanded Walker will open in April 2005.
Highlights of the 2004–2005 season include Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault’s JOE, a massive dance-theater spectacle featuring a rhythmic mass of 32 regular “Joes” in trench coats and fedoras (November), and an ambitious partnership with the Historic Pantages Theatre presenting three generations of dance innovators— David Gordon/Pick-Up Performance Company’s Dancing Henry Five (February), Ralph Lemon’s Come home Charley Patton (March), and Jérôme Bel’s The Show Must Go On (April). A three-day festival inaugurating the McGuire Theater pays tribute to the life and music of Ornette Coleman, highlighted by a rare public performance by this jazz pioneer in celebration of his 75th birthday (April).
Commenting on the Walker’s upcoming performing arts season, Senior Curator Philip Bither stated:
“Poised on the edge of a historic new era, our Walker without Walls performing arts season allows us to invite leading innovators in dance, music, and theater to animate unique spaces throughout the Twin Cities. It’s a season of surprises, newly completed works, and Twin Cities firsts. We are also thrilled to announce a landmark series of festivals, commissions, and large-scale performance projects running from April–June 2005, which will open the Walker’s beautiful new McGuire Theater. These programs offer just a taste of the innovation and artistry that will fill this major new space for years to come.”
Unless otherwise noted, advance tickets are on sale by phone (612.375.7622) and online at http://calendar.walkerart.org.
THE WALKER ART CENTER’S 2004-2005 PERFORMING ARTS SEASON
SEPTEMBER
Ragamala Music and Dance Theater, I Dewa Putu Berata, and The Schubert Club Gamelan
_Sethu (Bridge) _
Saturday–Sunday, September 11-12, 7:30 pm Free
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
In times of cross-border conflict and religious strife, the world needs bridges that connect cultures and ways of understanding. In Sethu, an international cast comes together with spiritual energy for a powerful retelling of the epic Hindu myth, the Ramayana. Combining Indian Bharatanatyam dance, Javanese gamelan, and Balinese Kecak (the famous “Balinese monkey chant” rarely heard outside of Indonesia), this enchanting outdoor spectacle features 70 performers from across the Twin Cities and around the globe. Commissioned by the Walker Art Center.
Rain date: Sethu will be presented on Monday, September 13, at 7:30 pm if the Sunday performance or both Saturday and Sunday are canceled due to weather.
Boban Markovic Orkestar
Wednesday, September 15, 8 pm
Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Avenue South, Minneapolis
$20 ($16 Walker and Cedar Cultural Center members)
Pure propulsion: drumbeats as relentless as a machine and horn arrangements that could sound like a silver-toned chorale, a soul horn section, or a choreographed brawl.
—The New York Times
Legendary Serbian trumpeter Markovic and his potent 10-piece band reinvent “traditional” folk music with high-octane injections of fevered Gypsy dance tunes, Eastern European jazz, and the sharp, sweet sounds of Balkan brass. A superstar in his homeland for his technical virtuosity and innovative arrangements, Markovic gained international renown as one of today’s most dynamic and exciting musicians. Copresented with the Cedar Cultural Center.
OCTOBER
Akira Kasai
Pollen Revolution
Thursday–Saturday, October 7–9, 8 pm
Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis
$20 ($16)
Nobody dances like him, and nobody can dance like him. The revolution of life takes place in his body. —The Asahi, Japan
Heralded as the “Nijinsky of Butoh,” Japan’s Akira Kasai marks his first visit to the Walker in nearly a decade with a tour-de-force solo performance. This acclaimed master of butoh (the most influential style of contemporary Japanese dance) floats the audience on a surreal and startling journey through time, cultures, and states of being. Kasai’s striking personae morph through kabuki drama, street dancer, and solitary actor while his movement shifts between classical Japanese, hip-hop, and the soulful otherworlds of butoh.
Rokia Traoré
Sunday, October 10, 7 pm
Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Avenue South, Minneapolis
$25 ($21 Walker and Cedar Cultural Center members)
Rokia Traoré will sing for those lucky enough to gain entry into paradise. —Daily Mail and Guardian (Johannesburg)
Rising West African star Rokia Traoré stuns listeners with the delicacy and power of her voice, creating a sound that’s utterly contemporary yet deeply rooted in the soil of her homeland. The Daily Mail and Guardian notes she’s “left Angelique Kidjo, Youssou N’Dour, and Salif Keita gasping for breath.” Hard on the heels of her internationally acclaimed release Boumboi, Traoré visits the Twin Cities with an eight-member ensemble playing traditional acoustic instruments of Mali. Copresented with the Cedar Cultural Center.
Catalyst, Dances by Emily Johnson
Heat and Life
Thursday–Saturday, October 28–30, 8 pm
No Name Exhibitions @ The Soap Factory
518 2nd Street SE, Minneapolis (Enter via loading dock)
$15 ($12)
A fresh, vital presence on the Twin Cities dance scene.
—Star Tribune
Frenetic. Anxious. Energized. In Heat and Life Minneapolis dancemaker Emily Johnson takes on the highly charged issue of global warming and its implications. Through fiercely intuitive, minimalist choreography, she invokes the concerns of a society on the edge, transforming the Soap Factory’s raw gallery space into a microcosm of global terrain, complete with simulated weather conditions, emergency workers, and a soundscape of natural and industrial noise by James Everest. Commissioned by the Walker Art Center with funds from the Jerome Foundation. Copresented with No Name Exhibitions @ The Soap Factory.
NOVEMBER
Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault
JOE
Saturday, November 13, 8 pm
Northrop Auditorium, East Bank Campus, University of Minnesota
$34 ($27.25), $29 ($23.25), $25 ($20)
Joe is justifiably famous . . . a brilliant work. —The Village Voice
Despite its “average” title, JOE is a massive, breathtaking dance-theater spectacle. Celebrating the individual’s fight for survival in a conformist culture, the work features a rhythmic mass of 32 regular “Joes” in trench coats and fedoras, their unified breathing and thunderous footfalls are amplified to thrilling effect. Now celebrating its 2oth anniversary, JOE reveals the ambition, scale, and power of a timeless masterpiece in its Midwest debut. Copresented with Northrop Auditorium.
DECEMBER
Burnt Sugar, the Arkestra Chamber
Saturday, December 4, 8 pm
Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Avenue South, Minneapolis
$20 ($16 Walker and Cedar Cultural Center members)
. . . overlapping echoes of George Clinton, the electric Miles Davis of Get Up With It, Lee Perry’s dark magic at Black Ark Studios, plantation blues, and gangsta hip-hop. —Rolling Stone
Conceived as a contemporary version of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew band, Burnt Sugar is led by writer-guitarist Greg Tate and composed of virtuosic players from Ethiopia, Egypt, New York, and other parts of the globe. A living, breathing testament to all that is right in the worlds of rock, jazz, African beats, modern composition, and more, this improvisational orchestra creates unpredictable mutations in every live performance—it’s border crossing at its musical best. Copresented with the Cedar Cultural Center.
JANUARY
Out There 17
January 6–23
Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Avenue South
In its 17th season, this series of boundary-crossing performances features new works by an international array of today’s most innovative artists. Copresented with the Southern Theater.
Out There, and Then Some . . .
Thursdays: Free, meet-the-artists post-show receptions.
Half-price for members.
Fridays: Post-show artist chats.
Saturdays: Inside Out There—get the inside scoop in free interactive workshops, discussions, and master classes.
Richard Maxwell
Joe
Thursday–Sunday, January 6–9
Thursday–Saturday, 8 pm; Sunday, 2 pm
$20 ($16)
One of the most gratifyingly original talents in experimental theater. —The New York Times
Launching Out There with a Walker-commissioned work, Richard Maxwell (Boxing 2000, Out There 2000) presents a touching look at one man’s life, from childhood to old age, told by five actors. Maxwell’s pathologically circular dialogue is boosted by quizzical monologues and off-kilter, Maxwell-penned pop tunes sung by the Joes in a surreal lounge set, complete with white piano and a ceiling of twinkling stars. Poetically deadpan, Joe offers a glimpse into one man’s engagingly ordinary life while encouraging audience members to locate the magic in their own.
The Universes
Slanguage
Thursday–Sunday, January 13–16
Thursday–Saturday, 8 pm; Sunday, 2 pm
$20 ($16)
Exuberant, insightful . . . a work of heart and soul that distills the essence of [New York] city.
—The New York Times
For their Minnesota debut, the Universes take the stage with their unclassifiable mix of spoken-word, hip-hop, jazz, down-home blues, theater, and street politics. Assembled as 30 vignettes, Slanguage conjures New York City’s multiethnic culture at its finest—and most joyous—moments. The five eclectic personalities creating the Universes’ brand of street theater find their heroes in “Chinese shoes at a Latin house party/Playing spoons to disco toons/With a knish in my left hand/And the blues in my heart.”
Lisa D’Amour
Nita and Zita
Thursday-Sunday, January 20-23
Thursday-Saturday, 8 pm; Sunday, 2 pm
$20 ($16)
Mr. Interviewer, what do you want? A moldy story filled with boring facts, or a show? —Nita
The Southern will transform into a vaudeville-style theater as playwright Lisa D’Amour presents her OBIE-winning biography of “International Dancers” Nita and Zita. Real-life sisters, the pair emigrated from Romania in the 1920s and became legend among the eccentrics and outsiders that make up New Orleans’ mystique. This enchanting evening captures the spirit of their performances, combining burlesque, contortionism, and pure visual fantasy, all set against a backdrop of meticulously handmade sets and costumes. Questioning what is real and what is myth, this surreal cabaret searches for what matters in the personal quest for artistic freedom.
Cynthia Hopkins
Accidental Nostalgia
Thursday–Sunday, January 27–30
Thursday–Saturday, 8 pm; Sunday, 2 pm
$20 ($16)
Part alt-country, part Lou Reed, part Patti Smith, part performance artist. —The Washington Post
Tragicomic alt-country music-theater? Of course. This wry tale of intrigue and memories lost and found (and perhaps better suppressed) is by OBIE and Bessie Award–winning singer Cynthia Hopkins and her six-member band Gloria Deluxe. Charming yet disturbing, this piece of personal storytelling revolves around the travels and travails of a woman suffering from severe memory loss and cleverly unfolds through live music, movement, and ingenious videos and sets designed by the Wooster Group’s Jim Findlay and Jeff Sugg.
Mark Morris Dance Group
V and Other New Works
Saturday, January 22, 8 pm
Northrop Auditorium, East Bank Campus, University of Minnesota
$38 ($30.50), $33 ($26.50), $29 ($23.25)
One of the great choreographers of our time. —Mikhail Baryshnikov
In this program of new works presented for his much-anticipated return to the Walker, Morris again demonstrates his genius for creating formally exquisite dance infused with his keen wit. The evening includes V, a joyful pairing of Morris’ trademark exultant movement and Schumann’s powerful Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Strings, performed live. Experience why the New York Times praised V as “one of the few great works that modern dance has produced in a decade.” Copresented with Northrop Auditorium.
Walker Dance at the Pantages:
Three Generations of Dance Innovators
The Walker and the Historic Pantages Theatre join forces to present an ambitious three-part showcase of some of the freshest, most provocative new dance being made in the U.S. and Europe. The diverse mix of styles by three visionary choreographer-directors—David Gordon, Ralph Lemon, and Jérôme Bel—shares a large-scale theatricality and a rigor of invention that promises to intrigue, challenge, and delight.
FEBRUARY
David Gordon/Pick-Up Performance Company
Dancing Henry Five
Friday–Saturday, February 18–19, 8 pm
Historic Pantages Theatre, 700 Hennepin Avenue
$29 ($25), $23 ($20)
Thrilling. — The New York Times
Ever-inventive choreographer and Judson Dance Theater veteran David Gordon wittily transforms Shakespeare’s five-act, four-hour epic into an hourlong romp. In one of the most enjoyable works of his 35-year career, Gordon injects snippets of Shakespeare’s dialogue into an inventive mix of rhythmic precision, masterful minimalism, and ingeniously simple sets and props. Rich with all the grace, ingenuity, and postmodern irreverence he can muster, Dancing Henry Five is a timely reminder of the perils of war and the arrogance of power.
MARCH
Ralph Lemon
Come home Charley Patton (Geography Trilogy: Part III)
Friday–Saturday, March 11-12, 8 pm
Historic Pantages Theatre, 700 Hennepin Avenue
$29 ($25), $23 ($20)
Moving delight. —The Village Voice
In his nine-year dance-theater odyssey The Geography Trilogy, Ralph Lemon made his way through Africa and Asia exploring the intimate and expansive dimensions of identity, race, and culture. At the project’s conclusion, this Minneapolis-born choreographer returns to his hometown and to his roots. This deeply layered work arose from Lemon’s travels through rural America where he visited historically charged sites from the Civil Rights movement and the origins of Mississippi Delta blues, drawing inspiration from the likes of James Baldwin and Bruce Nauman. This multisensory collaboration includes sets by artist Nari Ward, a score by visual artist and experimental musician Christian Marclay, and a cast of actors and dancers from Africa, New York, and across the deep South. Co-commissioned by the Walker Art Center and Krannert Center, Urbana, Illinois.
APRIL
Jérôme Bel
The Show Must Go On
Historic Pantages Theatre, 700 Hennepin Avenue
Friday–Saturday, April 1–2, 8 pm
$29 ($25), $23 ($20)
Bel’s work is genuine . . . exciting, smart and great, great fun.
—Dance Europe
Notorious for his hotly debated conceptual dance work that took Europe by storm in the 1990s and is influencing dancemakers around the world today, Parisian provocateur Jérôme Bel tours the U.S. for the first time. Using a visually captivating and physically impressive company of 18, Bel plays off a wide range of pop songs, from Queen to the Beatles, Edith Piaf to The Police (spun live by an onstage DJ), to outwit audience expectations with radicalism and humor. “Minimalist in his propositions, maximalist in his radicality spiced with humor, with which he eludes the expectations of performing art” (Theatre de la Ville). See where dance/performance art is taking us in the 21st century. Presented in association with Alliance Française de Minneapolis/St. Paul. This work contains nudity.
Grand-Opening Weekend
April 16-17
As part of its opening festivities, the Walker will welcome back faces from the its past and introduce figures from its future for a program of performances, including an inaugural concert of solo piano works by composer Philip Glass, who opened the Walker’s Edward Larrabee Barnes building in 1971. Additional performers to be announced.
The Festival Dancing in Your Head: Ornette at 75
Thursday–Saturday, April 21–23
One of the towering creative figures of our time, Ornette Coleman changed how we think about music, what is beautiful and what is possible. This three-day festival celebrates the life and sounds of a true jazz pioneer. The Walker and Headwaters Music, led by Artistic Director Anthony Gatto, copresent this weekend of world premieres, compelling juxtapositions, and intimate views of a legend.
The Music of Ornette Coleman
Thursday, April 21, 8 pm
McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center
$20 ($16)
National and local jazz, classical, world, and pop musicians play the expansive, rigorous, beautiful music of Ornette Coleman.
Ornette Coleman Quartet
Friday, April 22, 8 pm
Ted Mann Concert Hall, 2128 Fourth Street South, Minneapolis
$47 ($37.50), $37 ($29.50), $27 ($27.50)
Coleman’s music remains so singular that, forty years after his debut recordings, I still can’t hear it without marveling anew. —The Village Voice
In jazz, Ornette Coleman’s importance is rivaled by few; he set American music on a new path, transforming the possibilities available to creative artists of every style. Today, his live U.S. performances are rare—this concert, in celebration of his 75th birthday, promises to be the local jazz event of the decade. Featuring Coleman (alto sax), Denardo Coleman (drums), Greg Cohen (bass), and Tony Falanga (bass). Copresented with the Northrop Jazz Season.
The Festival Dancing in Your Head Marathon
Saturday, April 23, 4 pm–12 midnight
McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center
$14 ($7)
Just as Coleman’s innovations ignore the boundaries between musical styles, this eight-hour aural sampler of work by Minnesota’s finest and most daring musicmakers features a range of national guests. Join Headwaters Music and the Walker for another wonderful ride through vital music from near and far, including a host of new Headwaters-commissioned works.
MAY
SITI Company
bobrauschenbergamerica
Tuesday, May 3, 8 pm
$25 ($12.50)
Wednesday–Saturday, May 4–7, 8 pm
McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center
Wednesday-Thursday, $25 ($20); Friday-Saturday, $30 ($24)
A liberating, life-giving work of art. —The Chicago Tribune
Take a wild ride through the American landscape as Robert Rauschenberg might see it if he created plays instead of paintings. A prismatic tribute to one artist’s singular vision is presented through vivid theatrical snapshots that “combine[s] exuberance of performance, vigor of imagination, and boldness of innovation” (The Chicago Tribune). Written by OBIE Award-winning playwright Charles Mee and directed by Anne Bogart, this massive production (featuring writing by Ginsberg, Burroughs, Whitman, and others) creates a tapestry of moments in time that provide us not only with a window on our past, but a glimpse into our future.
Jason Moran and The Bandwagon
Milestone (World Premiere)
Friday–Saturday, May 20–21, 8 pm
McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center
$24 ($19.25)
One of the most ear-catching piano trios working today. Moran tempts fate with every solo. —Jazziz
A leading force in new jazz, composer-pianist Jason Moran plays with an unmistakable sense of funk, fluidity, and freedom. Commissioned to inaugurate the Walker’s new theater, this theatrical jazz suite was inspired by works from the Walker’s collection by artists such as Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Motherwell, Alice Neel, Louise Nevelson, and Adrian Piper. Moran’s arresting, clean attack tempers jazz’s traditions with an innate understanding of hip-hop, pop, and new production technologies. His acclaimed group The Bandwagon—Nasheet Waits (drums) and Tarus Mateen (bass)—is joined by guests Marvin Sewell (guitar) and Alicia Hall (voice). Copresented with the Northrop Jazz Season. Commission supported by the Bill and Nadine McGuire Commission Fund.
JUNE
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
New Solo Works (World Premiere)
Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, June 2, 4, 5, 8 pm
McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center
$35 ($28)
[A] dancer abundantly blessed with musicality . . . he appears to find the best movement for the right moment. —Boston Herald
Renowned for creating emotionally resonant works that bridge personal and social concerns, choreographic icon Bill T. Jones presents the world premiere of his new solo evening. Featuring two works by the award-winning digital-design team of Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar—the acclaimed Chaconne, an uncanny synthesis of the physical and the digital set to Bach paired with stunning motion-capture animation; and a very different visual universe of digital images mixed live and set to an electronic score by Roger Reynolds. The third solo work, commissioned by the Walker to inaugurate the new McGuire Theater and celebrate its decades-long relationship with Jones, will be set to the signature be-bop monologue/rap by the 50s proto-hipster poet Lord Buckley. The evening will also include a mix of transitional musical, text, and media elements, sure to combine for an unforgettable performance experience. Copresented with the Northrop Jazz Season. Commission supported by the Bill and Nadine McGuire Commission Fund.
($)= ticket prices for Walker Art Center members
THE MCGUIRE THEATER, A NEW HOME FOR WALKER PERFORMING ARTS
The new 385-seat McGuire Theater will be equipped with the size, stage, and technological capacity normally found in a performance space twice its size. This unusual design will enable performers to present ambitious and technically complex works in an intimate setting, while providing the audience an intimate and up-close performance experience. The theater will also serve as a “research and development” space for new pieces, expanding the Walker’s ability to commission new works, support the development of groundbreaking performances, and foster mutual inspiration between film/video, new media, visual, and performing artists. Visitors will be able to attend rehearsals of works in development, take master classes from visiting performers, and take part in workshops with artists, giving them the opportunity to step into the creative process.
