dancers

Lar's Summer Dance Card!

Take a road trip -- or two -- with Lar!

First call for Chicago Dancing Festival

Marcelo's prize & Joffrey's premiere

Hold the date: 40th anniversary Gala on November 5

Take a road trip -- or two -- with Lar!

The Lubovitch company performing Concerto in 1986. Photo: Jack Mitchell.

The Lubovitch company performing Concerto in 1986. Photo: Jack Mitchell. 

Looking for a great summer getaway?  We've got TWO for friends of the Lubovitch company.  First, you are invited to join us for a special patrons' event at Jacob's Pillow over the 4th of July holiday. 

Set on 163 acres in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts, Jacob's Pillow is America's longest-running dance festival -- and the official first stop on the Lubovitch company's 40th anniversary tour.  For our Pillow homecoming, Lar is reviving Concerto Six Twenty-Two, his acclaimed 1986 Mozart work, last performed by the company in 1995.  The company is taking the dance on the road (for the first time in 13 years) with touring support from "American Masterpieces: Dance" (AMD) -- a major initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts that was established "to acquaint Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy." AMD is administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts.

Our Pillow performances run July 2-6.  On the afternoon of Saturday, July 5, friends of Lar will gather for a private tour of this important summer home for dance (and registered National Historic Landmark), followed by a tented dinner, and then the company's performance in the historic Ted Shawn Theater.  We would love to have you join us!

Tickets for our Pillow party are $250 per person, and can be reserved by sending  an e-mail to Dan Feinstein or calling 212.221.7909.  For friends interested in spending more time in the Berkshires, our office is also arranging other optional events over the weekend (a Sunday brunch, side trips to the art collections at MassMOCA and Edith Wharton's estate on Saturday or Sunday), and can help you with travel planning.  Click here for more information about Jacob's Pillow.

First call for Chicago Dancing Festival

Mass appeal: a view of the audience at Chicago Dancing Festival 2007.

Mass appeal: a view of the audience at Chicago Dancing Festival 2007.

Then in August, you can travel with the Lubovitch company for our appearances at the second annual Chicago Dancing Festival.  This important new summer dance event -- founded by Lar and our dancer Jay Franke -- debuted last year with a spectacular outdoor dance concert for 8,500 people in Millennium Park.  For this year's edition, the Festival is coming back for  three full nights, with programs at the Harris Theater (Monday, Aug. 18) and Museum of Contemporary Art (Tuesday, Aug. 19) leading up to the finale dancing "under the stars" in Millennium Park on Wednesday evening (Aug. 20). 

The Lubovitch company is scheduled to perform on both the Monday and Wednesday programs, and we'll be joined by many more dancers from such acclaimed companies as American Ballet Theatre, the Joffrey Ballet, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Limon Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company and Oregon Ballet Theatre.

We're pulling together Festival packages that will include VIP seating for performances, insider tours to Chicago attractions and the chance to mix-and-mingle at exclusive events for Festival participants and patrons.  Festival packages are priced at $900 per person for 2 days of events (including ONE performance on either Monday OR Wednesday), or $1,200 per person for 3 days of events (including performances on BOTH Monday AND Wednesday); packages are exclusive of air travel and accomodations, though we will arrange special pricing at the Palmer House Hilton, the Festival's official hotel sponsor.  The tax-deductible portion of each package is $500.  To join our Chicago contingent, e-mail Dan Feinstein or call 212.221.7909.

Marcelo's prize & Joffrey's premiere

Marcelo Gomes and Julie Kent in Lar Lubovitch's Othello.  Photo courtesy of American Ballet Theatre.

Marcelo Gomes and Julie Kent in Lar Lubovitch's Othello.  Photo courtesy of American Ballet Theatre.

May brought more good news from Chicago -- and from as far afield as Moscow.  The Russian capital is where American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Marcelo Gomes was awarded this year's "Benois de la Danse" prize for his portrayal of the title role in Lar's full-length Othello. Marcelo accepted his prize in person during an awards ceremony and Charity Gala at the Bolshoi Theatre on May 6-7. The "Benois de la Danse" prizes were established in 1992 by the International Dance Association and UNESCO.

Meanwhile, back in the Windy City, Joffrey Ballet's new artistic director Ashley Wheater featured a company premiere of Lar's "...smile with my heart" in his first season program of "American Moderns" last month.  The Chicago Tribune called the work "a sly, soaring response to Marvin Laird's jazzy take on Richard Rodgers," and "a sublime celebration of romance for three couples, with smooth, lush, sweeping moves and rapturous phrasing dotted by jarring intrusions."  Joffrey's "...smile" is the latest in a series of Lubovitch dances premiered this year by our partner companies.  Other debuts were staged this season at Ballet Britsh Columbia, Headwaters Dance, Colorado Ballet and Ballet Florida.  A dozen companies now have Lar's dances currently active in their repertoires.

 

Hold the date: 40th anniversary Gala on November 5

As we head towards the heart of our 40th anniversary celebration this fall, there will be plenty of dates and places to keep in mind: the Chicago Dancing Festival, tour stops in 22 cities, our Minimalist retrospective at Dance Theater Workshop (Sept. 30-Oct. 4) and a string of other performances and special events. 

But the most special of all will be on November 5 -- OPENING NIGHT of our season at NY City Center.  To mark this 40th anniversary milestone, Lar is creating a one-night-only Gala program of dances to be performed by our company, along with special guests.  The evening will culminate in a Gala dinner.

Our Gala Committee is now in formation, and we welcome participation by friends of the company. (Committee members agree to purchase at least two Gala tickets, and are given the opportunity to extend invitations to their friends and colleagues.) 

The deadline for Committee members to be listed on the Gala invitation is Monday, August 4. Gala tickets will go on sale after Labor Day, with individual tickets priced from $750 (Patron) and $1,250 (Benefactor).  To join our 40th anniversary Gala Committee, or for more information, please e-mail Dan Feinstein or call 212.221.7909. 


Lar Lubovitch Dance Company

Mission:  The Lubovitch company was created to realize the artistic vision of Lar Lubovitch, one of the foremost contemporary choreographers in the United States.  The company exists: (1) to create new work; (2) to perform those works (and facilitate the performance of those works by others) both in our home base of New York City and around the world; and (3) to teach people of all ages, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds, in order to increase awareness and appreciation of dance.

History:  Over the past 40 years, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company has gained a reputation as one of the world's leading modern dance companies and has performed in virtually every state of the US and in more than 30 foreign countries.  Lar Lubovitch has been cited by The New York Times as "one of the ten best choreographers in the world," and the company has been called a "national treasure" by Variety.  The company is primarily focused on the creation of new dances, sometimes in collaboration with other top companies.

Contact:  The Lubovitch company is located at 229 West 42nd Street, New York NY 10036.  You can reach us at (212) 221-7909 or Lubovitch@aol.com.  Or visit our website at www.lubovitch.org.

Support:  Programs of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company are funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as by Altria, American Mastepieces: Dance, Irene Diamond Fund, Brooke Garber & Daniel Neidich Fund, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Joyce Theater Foundation, McMullan Family Foundation, National Dance Project, Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation, A. Woodner Fund and numerous additional generous individuals, corporations and foundations.

Memberships:  The Lubovitch company is a member of Dance/USA, Dance/NYC, ART/NY, Americans for the Arts and the Arts & Business Council of New York.