BAY AREA EMBRACES NATIONAL DANCE WEEK."The dancer is the art," said Mark Morris. "Oh God, we're having a National Dance Week minute." Morris's onstage interview, conducted by San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden Ballet's Julia Adam and Christopher Stowell (below), was one of many such moments during the Bay Area's expansive and multifaceted celebration of National Dance Week, April 24 to May 2. It took a twelve-page brochure to list the week's free dance classes, open rehearsals, showings, and conversations. There were also world premieres by heavy hitters: Merce Cunningham's company performed the world premiere of his Biped at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, April 23; Alonzo King's Lines Contemporary Ballet Contemporary ballet is a form of dance influenced by both classical ballet and modern dance. It takes its technique and use of pointework from classical ballet, although it permits a greater range of movement that may not adhere to the strict body lines set forth by schools of premiered his Shostakovich String Quartet, April 23; and San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet, or SFB, is a San Francisco, USA based ballet company, founded in 1933 as part of San Francisco Opera Ballet. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, where it is directed by Helgi Tomasson. danced the world premiere of Morris's Sandpaper sandpaper, abrasive originally made by gluing grains of sand to heavy paper sheets. Today sandpaper is made primarily with quartz, aluminum oxide, or silicon carbide grains, and is graded according to the size of the grains. Ballet April 27, and Stanton Welch's Taiko
Morris also turned up as a presenter at the Isadora Duncan Awards and was on hand to present a lifetime achievement award to Cunningham prior to the Cunningham company's April 24 performance. "I'm delighted to receive this here," said Cunningham, whose company has performed at the theater annually since 1994. "It's not so much that you're an audience, but that you are friends." |
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