SF Modern Ballet Troupe Alonzo King Lines at SMDCA
Alonzo King LINES Ballet is a San Francisco contemporary ballet troupe renowned for its superb, diverse dancers and for artistic leader Alonzo King’s distinctive blend of expressive, cutting-edge choreography with classical beauty.
They’ll perform Common Ground, a 2018 work set to new music commissioned by renowned modern string ensemble Kronos Quartet; and Handel, where the rich elegance of Baroque music comes to life in a graceful, complex composition of bodies. Part of LINES’ 35th anniversary season, the double bill of Handel and Common Ground provided remarkable insight into the connection between movement and sound.
With Common Ground, Alonzo King joined the famous Kronos Quartet to create an ode to the city of San Francisco. Two of the most influential cultural ambassadors of this artistic capital, King and Kronos created a visionary collaboration. The musicians explored the string quartet in a permanent conversation with the dancers. Together they invented the vocabulary of a new classical dance… one of fluidity, technicality and grace.
Handel, which premiered in 2005 at the Swedish Royal Ballet, is a work set to fragments from various Handel works, primarily for organ, and augmented by electronic music by Leslie Stuck into nine short sections. In 1741, Handel said of his last composition: “Whether I was in my body or outside of it when I wrote it, I do not know …”. By exploring his work in Handel, Alonzo King is in turn touched by grace: a messenger of the celestial harmony of bodies, he restores the dramatic elegance of baroque expression in an evocative choreography that resonates deeply with the nobility of the music.
Prior to the performance there will be a FREE “Dance Talk” moderated by former Miami Herald Dance Critic Jordan Levin and artists associated with the performance at 6:30 in the Lab Theater. A post show discussion will also take place immediately following the performance in the Main Stage also moderated by Levine.
Saturday, January 18, 8pm at South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center. Learn more at SMDCAC.org. Brought to you by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.
