Cendrillon (Cinderella) by Ballet Biarritz. Photo by Olivier Houeix.

What’s going to be on Dallas stages next year? This week, several North Texas arts organizations are announcing their news seasons. KERA’s Jerome Weeks caught up with two: Theatre 3 and TITAS, the music and dance presenter at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

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TITAS’ next season is classic TITAS, a mix of dance and music, a mix of returning favorites and five North Texas debuts. One debut example: the great Senegalese musician and singer Youssou N’Dour. But TITAS’ mix has changed in recent years. It used to be equally balanced, five offerings in music, five in dance. Now, it’s weighted more toward dance, eight events to only two for music.

Charles Santos is executive director of TITAS. He says now that TITAS is at home in the AT&T Performing Arts Center, it needs to stand out from all the other programming. So … what does TITAS offer that’s unique?

Parsons Dance Company

Santos points out the AT&T Performing Arts Center has its own music series, just as TITAS did, “and there was no differentiation between the series. And so I said, we’re going to pull back. You do the music. The only music that we’re going to do are very world-music – like Youssou N’Dour – or a spectacle like Scrap Arts from Canada. And we’re going to focus on what we do best, which is present dance.”

That’s why, in addition to Youssou N’Dour, there’s only one other music performer, Maya Beiser, the classical cellist who plays things like Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” — and who performs live with video projections. In contrast, TITAS is presenting a whole range of contemporary dance innovators – with old faves Momix, Diavolo and Parsons Dance Company to the North Texas newbies, Spectrum Dance Company, Brian Books Moving Company, Ballet West and the French group, Ballet Biarritz. It’ll make its Dallas debut with an unconventional Cinderella.

Meanwhile, at Theatre Three, producer-director Jac Alder says their new season will be full of Texas connections. It opens in August with a new play by Dallas writer Ronnie Claire Edwards. Candy Barr’s Last Dance is based on the infamous Dallas stripper in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Another Dallas playwright wrote the (unfortunately short-lived) Broadway musical, Hands on a Hard Body. It’s based on the celebrated 1997 film documentary about a marketing gimmick-contest to win a pickup truck. Not only was the real-life contest held in Longview, the musical’s book was written by Dallas native Doug Wright.

Which is why Alder says Hands on a Hard Body is “real special” to them. “As soon as we learned that it might be possible for us to do it,” he says, “we jumped right on it and Doug’s promised to come back. And so there’s going to be a homecoming of one of our Pulitzer Prize-winning authors.”

Texas writer-performer Jaston Williams will also be coming to Theatre 3. He’s one of the creators of  Greater Tuna. He’ll be starring in the one-man show, Tru, based on the life of Truman Capote — the production had been staged to great acclaim at the Zach Scott Theatre in Austin. And what would Theatre Three be without a classic French comedy? But instead of Moliere, this one will be the area premiere of The Liar, David Ives’ translation-adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s farcical Le Menteur from 1644. And speaking of adaptations, Theatre Three will also present Hot Mikado, the famous “jazz” version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta, The Mikado.

Subscriptions for Theatre 3’s season are already on sale. TITAS’s subscriptions go on sale June 21.
Cendrillon by Ballet Biarritz

“Kashmir” by Maya Beiser

Grace by Ronald K. Brown

Full releases:

2014-2015 TITAS PRESENTS SEASON

TITAS Presents lineup to feature a diverse and exciting roster of international artists:

 

MOMIX

Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour in Concert (Debut)

Spectrum Dance Company (Debut)

Brian Brooks Moving Company(Debut)

Ronald K Brown/Evidence Dance Company

Maya Beiser in Concert (Debut)

Diavolo

Parsons Dance Company

France’s Malandain’s Ballet Biarritz

TITAS Presents Command Performance Gala

Ballet West (Debut)

 

Dallas (May 5, 2014) – With a defining theme of Architecture in Motion, TITAS Presents, in association with the AT&T Performing Arts Center, announces the 2014-2015 TITAS Presents Season featuring an exciting and diverse array of artists ranging from France’s Ballet Biarritz to Senegal’s famed Youssou N’Dour in Concert.

“This TITAS Presents 14/15 Season focuses on what we do best, innovation, collaboration and presenting dance. This amazing lineup features an unprecedented level of artistic innovators that both TITAS Presents and the Center are excited to bring to Dallas. Innovation and Exploration continue to be the hallmark of our artistic profile.” Charles Santos, TITAS Presents executive director/artistic director.

TITAS Presents in association with the AT&T Performing Arts Center

2014-2015 Series

 

MOMIX

Alchemia is based on building, and effectively proving, theories around alchemy as an art form, and then demonstrating them through interpretive dance. Alchemy, by definition, can be anything. MOMIX is alchemy.” Moses Pendleton

Invention and Innovation barely begin to define the creativity that is MOMIX. More than any other company, MOMIX reinvents themselves with every new work. Alchemia, MOMIX’s newest work, is no exception and again redefines modern dance. “Dance-illusionist,” MOMIX conjures a magical and surrealistic world using light, shadow, props and the human body.

Spectacular, breath-taking and awe-inspiring – MOMIX’s Alchemia promises to be another
YOUSSOU N’DOUR

Youssou N’Dour and The Super Etoile is Africa’s most popular live band. N’Dour is a singer endowed with remarkable range and poise. The New York Times described his voice as an “arresting tenor, a supple weapon deployed with prophetic authority.” N’Dour absorbs the entire Senegalese musical spectrum in his work. Named “African Artist of the Century” by the England’s Folk Roots, N’Dour and his band, The Super Etoile, has made his musical style “Mbalax” famous throughout the world. The Village Voice’s Robert Christgau, dean of American rock critics, has boldly called N’Dour “the world’s greatest pop vocalist” and finds him “the one African moving inexorably toward the world-pop fusion everyone else theorizes about.” Peter Gabriel has proclaimed N’Dour simply as “one of the best alive.” It goes without saying Youssou N’Dour is a great addition to the international artists TITAS Presents brings to Dallas.

 

DONALD BYRD

“The final duet…was remarkable, mirroring almost every possible emotion the two characters might have felt, from love, of course, to anger to maternal dependency to death…” –The New York Times

“Donald Byrd’s Love…is magnificent… an ever-shifting tableau of connections, dissolutions, stirrings, recognitions, yearnings and submissions…The result is a work of stunning beauty.”

—The Seattle Times

One of the dance world’s most important contemporary choreographers, TITAS Presents is thrilled to bring Donald Byrd’s new company into our new season. Beautiful dancers, well trained, and intricate, subtle choreography makes Spectrum Dance a stunning addition to the season.

 

BRIAN BROOKS MOVING COMPANY

Brian Brooks Moving Company is a perpetual motion machine…Yes to virtuosity with edge.” -Eva Yaa Asantewaa, Infinite Body

“Brooks loves to shatter conventional notions of the human capacity for strength and endurance.” —Susan Yung, Dance Magazine

“He shows us that what is simple can be miraculous…I think that is choreographic genius.” -Christine Jowers, The Dance Enthusiast

Recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, Brian Brooks has become a force to be reckoned with on the international dance landscape. Innovative, risky and wildly imaginative, Brian Brooks Movement Company is a breath of fresh air in the dance world. Whether in New York’s famed Joyce Theater or the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Brian Brooks has established himself as one of the most interesting dance makers in New York. TITAS Presents is thrilled to present their Texas debut in our season.

 

RONALD K BROWN/EVIDENCE

Profound, soulful and absolutely moving, Ron Brown’s choreography is to be experienced not watched. His stories and movement express traditional themes of community, ritual and collective experience. In Brown’s words, he wants his work to represent “all the information that has gone into us – the stories, the history. It is really the human experience.” Ron Brown’s brilliant choreography, Grace, was recently seen in Dallas with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company. Ronald K Brown/Evidence returns to Dallas with an evening of dance celebrating the music of Stevie Wonder.

 

MAYA BEISER

“Maya Beiser has striking, powerful presence… she is an exceptional cellist… A virtuoso. Her deeptoned, concentrated playing can always be counted on to enhance the mystical effect of whatever she performs.” The Los Angeles Times

“Sensual…with rock-star magnetism… It was an important night!” The Philadelphia Inquirer

“She is hip, adventuresome and, yes, talented….Her playing is astonishing –amazingly rich, evocative and remarkably beautiful.” The Seattle Post

“With virtuoso chops, rock-star charisma and an appetite for pushing her instrument to the edge of avant-garde adventurousness, Maya Beiser is the post-modern diva of the cello.” The Boston Globe

Maya Beiser has captivated audiences worldwide with her virtuosity, eclectic repertoire and relentless quest to redefine her instrument’s boundaries. Maya has created new repertoire for the cello, commissioning many works written for her by and collaborating with composers such as Tan Dun, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, Steve Reich, David Lang, Louis Andriessen, and Mark O’Connor. Maya makes her Dallas Debut with TITAS Presents, and is sure to become an instant favorite with the TITAS Presents audience.

In Dallas, Maya will feature her new evening, All Vows. Inspired by the Jewish tradition of atoning for one’s sins by asking God for forgiveness, her new program, All Vows, goes to that juncture where spiritual and traditional culture meet contemporary, urban and popular culture. With Maya on cello, accompanied by bass and drums, the first half is a reflection of what excites her musically from the rock and indie pop world. Works include new commissions as well as arrangements of songs by Nirvana and Led Zeppelin among others which will be released next year on an album called Uncovered. In contrast, the second half is a meditation on the more spiritual world that fortifies her. These works will feature original films by acclaimed artist Bill Morrison who uses archival footage, chemical process and animation to create stunning visual tapestries.

 

DIAVOLO

“World class: exacting choreography. Elegance, power, beauty with the thrill of danger, a special way of dancing…” –Hannoversche Allgemeine, Germany

“Heim puts his feel for props, his knack for kinetic drama and his taste for danger in the service of a metaphor, and the result is dazzling.” –Newsday, New York

“Fearless performers…brilliant at making precisely coordinated feats look improvisational, even reckless.” Lewis Segal, Los Angeles Times

Absolutely architecture in motion, Diavolo, known for large interactive sets and stunning acrobatics, returns to Dallas with the final work, Fluid Infinities, of a trilogy of works. Over the years, TITAS Presents has presented all the works of this trilogy. Known for large interactive sets and stunning acrobatics, Diavolo is always a TITAS Presents favorite. Daring and ground-breaking, Diavolo goes where no other company dares. This highly anticipated return engagement is sure t

 

PARSONS DANCE EXPERIENCE

“They attack the audience and stage like gangbusters.” —Clive Barnes, New York Post

“It does not take long to see why [Parsons Dance] is one of the hottest tickets in contemporary American dance.” —Michael Crabb, The Toronto Star

Exuberant, Virtuosic, Sexy barely begin to describe the Parsons Dance Experience. An exciting American modern dance company, their bold, athletic, exuberant personality and joyous movement style has solidified them as one of the world’s leading dance companies. Always a TITAS Presents favorite, their stunning works, like Parsons’ iconic Caught, exemplifies this company’s innovation and huge audience appeal. We welcome them back to Dallas!

Note: Please note that a strobe light will be used during this performance.

Parsons Dance is an internationally renowned contemporary dance company based in New York City. Under the artistic direction of David Parsons, the company presents uplifting, family-friendly contemporary dance to audiences around the world.

Parsons Dance is a company of 8 full-time dancers and maintains a repertory of more than 70 works by David Parsons, as well as commissions by emerging choreographers and collaborations with some of the greatest artists of our time, including Steely Dan, Dave Matthews, Michael Gordon, Milton Nascimento, William Ivey Long, Annie Leibovitz, Donna Karan and Alex Katz, among many others.

In addition to choreography and performance, Parsons Dance engages audiences of all ages through education and outreach programs. The company hosts post-show discussions, open rehearsals, studio showcases and open company classes, as well as three weeks of summer workshops in dance and choreography. In spring 2014, Parsons Dance will partner with Democracy Prep Public Schools to incorporate contemporary dance into the full-time curricula of K-12 students.

Parsons Dance was founded in 1985 and has performed in more than 350 cities, 30 countries and 5 continents for the most prestigious theaters, festivals and presenters worldwide, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Maison de la Danse, Teatro La Fenice and Teatro Muncipal.

 

BALLET BIARRITZ

“Thierry Malandain, choreographer of Ballet Biarritz, is a paradoxical artist. Scholar creator who knows music and ballet history by heart, he composes a wordless dance. He’s the spring from where the movement runs out.”

Philippe Noisette, Les Echos

Malandain Ballet Biarritz is one of the most important companies on the French choreographic landscape and has forged a solid reputation around the world. A visionary if there ever was once, Malandain has taken hold of this ballet monument, Cinderella, score by Prokofiev, to provide us with a very fresh personal vision of the story ballet. Flowing, brilliant, ethereal, sometimes gossamery, often inventive and always spiritual choreography, the remarkable dancers of Ballet Biarritz brilliantly capture Malandain’s magical and inventive vision of this ballet classic. TITAS Presents is thrilled to present this full length ballet in the beautiful Dallas City Performance Hall.

COMMAND PERFORMANCE

Innovative and Awe-Inspiring

“…. mesmerized the sold-out house with Superb Performances” – Marilee Vergati, Dallas Dance Examiner

“Ballet was stripped down to its rawest form…contemporary and progressive movements.” –Danielle Georgiou, Art & Seek

“A mix of classical and modern dance…awe inspring, powerful and dazzling.” – The Dallas Morning News

Stunning, remarkable and breath-taking, Command Performance is the definitive Dance Event of the Year. From classic pas de deux to amazing contemporary works, TITAS Presents’ annual gala performance is simply not to be missed. Ten artists from leading companies light up the stage with the pyrotechnics of dance – the most exciting, innovative and beautiful works being performed today.

Command Performance has also become a platform for newly commissioned works by some of the dance world’s brightest stars such as Dwight Rhoden, Mia Michaels, Jessica Lang and Twyla Tharp.

Year after year, Command Performance brings thrilled audiences to their feet with one of the most dynamic and unforgettable evenings of truly “world-class” dance.

 

BALLET WEST

 

Alastair Macaulay, of The New York Times stated that Ballet West, First Soloist, Rex Tilton “may well be one of the most versatile young male dancers in America.”

From Balanchine to Bournonville and Petipa to Tharp, Ballet West boasts a rich and varied repertoire, elegant and versatile artists and an American style and legacy that is as dynamic, expansive and unexpected as the Rocky Mountain region it represents. Ballet West has toured the world several times over presenting the very best in American classical ballet. A company of gifted dancers, the company gained instant fame as the focus of the reality TV series Breaking Pointe. Ballet West’s dancers have become household names across the country. TITAS Presents is thrilled to debut this remarkable company of stunning dancers in our 2014-2015 Season.

Ten Regular Season Shows and one Special Event, a spectacular season of innovative and awe-inspiring performances!

 

Tickets for TITAS Presents regular season performances begin at $12.

Performance tickets to TITAS Presents Command Performance begin at $12.

 

TITAS Presents subscribers receive discounted pricing depending on the number of shows they purchase and priority seating.

 

Currently, patrons may purchase either the full season subscription or a minimum of five titles on a flex-subscription plan. Individual tickets, should they remain available after subscription sales, will be made available at a later date.

 

TITAS Presents Official Hotel Sponsor: Sheraton Dallas

Season Sponsors include: Heritage Auctions, American Airlines, TACA, Texas Commission on the Arts, City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts

 

Tickets can be purchased online at www.attpac.org/titas, by phone at 214-880-0202 or in person at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Information Center, 2353 Flora Street (Monday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Tuesday thru Saturday 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.).

 

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Theatre Three’s 2014-2015 Season Announced!

During Theatre Three’s 53rd season, Theatre Three celebrates the differences and those making a difference. This new season on the Norma Young Arena Stage is full of characters who are never afraid to be a little different: former strippers share secrets at a funeral, down-and-out Texans’ hopes are rekindled by a chance to win a truck, a torn nation at war finds joy at Christmas, a celebrated writer reveals his insecurities, doomed lovers thwart cruel laws to be together, and a compulsive liar gets tangled into his own deceptive web. The 53rd season on the Norma Young Arena Stage begins August 7, 2014 with Candy Barr’s Last Dance and the final show of the subscription season, The Liar, begins June 25, 2015.

Two shows are currently scheduled to be produced during the 2014-2015 season. The run of Shear Madness bridges Theatre Three’s 2013-2014 season and 2014-2015 season and is currently scheduled to close July 20, 2014. The perennial favorite, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, will open January 8, 2015. Additionally, Theatre Three may produce special artist projects in Theatre Too.

On the Norma Young Arena Stage:

 

Candy Barr’s Last Dance

A world premiere comedy by Ronnie Claire Edwards

August 7 – 31, 2014

Candy Barr was the colorful celebrity stripper; THE favorite of Dallas’ power brokers in the ‘40s and ‘50s. On the day of Candy’s funeral, three fellow strippers rendez-vous to go to the services together and gaily uncover more than Candy used to take off.

 

Hands on a Hardbody

A musical by Doug Wright, Amanda Green, & Trey Anastasio

September 25 – October 19, 2014

For 10 hard-luck Texans, a new lease on life is so close they can touch it. Under a scorching sun for days on end, armed with nothing but hope, humor and ambition, they’ll fight to keep at least one hand on a brand-new truck in order to win it. In the hilarious, hard-fought contest that is Hands on a Hardbody only one winner can drive away with the American Dream.

 

Civil War Christmas

A musical by Paula Vogel

November 20 – December 14, 2014

It’s a bitterly cold Christmas Eve in 1864 and all along the Potomac, from the White House to the battlefields, friends and foes alike find their lives strangely and poetically intertwined. This holiday musical inspiringly weaves together carols and folk songs, beautifully portraying a uniquely moving moment of our American heritage.

 

Tru

A play by Jay Presson Allen

January 8 – February 8, 2015

This tour-de-force one-man show performed by Greater Tuna’s Jaston Williams reveals a lonely Truman Capote soothing himself with pills, vodka, cocaine, and chocolate truffles as he muses about his checkered life and career.

 

Hot Mikado

A musical adapted from Gilbert & Sullivan by David H. Bell and Rob Bowman

March 12 – April 5, 2015

In a land where outlandish laws sentence people to death for almost any indiscretion (like flirting!), jazz, and the blues, and gospel are spoken fluently. Hot Mikado weaves a tale of hilarious proportions and despite the life or death stakes, characters still find time to tap their toes and do their fair share of scatting.

 

TBA

May 7 – 31, 2015

A scintillating addition to the season will be announced at a later date.

 

The Liar

A classic comedy adapted by David Ives

June 25 – July 19, 2015

Paris, 1643. Dorante is a charming young man newly arrived in the capital, and he has but a single flaw: He cannot tell the truth. In quick succession he meets Cliton, a manservant who cannot tell a lie, and falls in love with Clarice, a charming young woman whom he unfortunately mistakes for her friend Lucrece. What our hero regrettably does not know is that Clarice is secretly engaged to his best friend Alcippe. Nor is he aware that his father is trying to get him married to Clarice, whom he thinks is Lucrece, who actually is in love with him. From all these misunderstandings and a series of breathtakingly intricate lies springs one of the Western world’s greatest comedies, a sparkling urban romance as fresh as the day Pierre Corneille wrote it, brilliantly adapted for today by All in the Timing‘s David Ives.

 

In Theatre Too:

Shear Madness

A whodunnit by Paul Pörtner

Currently scheduled to close on July 20, 2014

Paul Pörtner’s hit comedy has been running at the Kennedy Center for over 25 years and starting May 16, 2014, Shear Madness will charm Dallas audiences in Theatre Too. This unique comedy-whodunit takes place today in the “Shear Madness” hairstyling salon and is chock full of up-to-the-minute spontaneous humor. During the course of the action, a murder is committed and the audience gets to spot the clues, question the suspects, and solve the funniest mystery in the annals of crime. The outcome is never the same, which is why many audience members return again and again to the scene of the mayhem. Over 10.6 million people worldwide have joined in the fun, and while no one has actually died laughing, some are still rolling in the aisles.

 

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change

A musical by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts

January 8 – February 15, 2015

It’s a hugely entertaining show that Theatre Three revives every year around Valentine’s Day — and it sells out! It’s the perfect revue of courtship and marriage that has earned its place as a signature piece by Theatre Three, and featuring gifted sketch comedy players who sing and dance their way through all the phases of romance and marriage.

For information about purchase subscriptions or single tickets to these shows, please call Theatre Three’s box office at 214-871-3300.