Koresh Dance Company returns to the Rose Lehrman Arts Center for a poignant and playful performance
March 4, 2010
HARRISBURG - Ronen Koresh and his dance company, Koresh, return for another powerful performance at HACC. The Koresh Company will present “Theater of Public Secrets” at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 27, in HACC’s Live at Rose Lehrman series on the Harrisburg Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College.
The emotional and comical performance received rave reviews in 2008. It consists of 20 brief segments, divided by an intermission, that examine the complexity of human relationships. The theatrical and prop-heavy piece begins as a dance party and eventually evolves into behind-the-scenes peeks of the private homes and private lives of the 11 partygoers. Each dancer’s distinct character runs the gamut from savage to slapstick to create dark and sensual scenes as well as laugh-out-loud comedy.
Both playful and poignant, this work reveals life and its complexity whether dramatic, painful, or comical. Set to music by more than a dozen composers including Astor Piazzolla, Erik Satie, Yo-Yo Ma & Bobby McFerrin, Frederic Chopin, and Nick Kendall, the work shows some of the most inventive ways of dancing on, above and below a table, a bench, a portable mirror, and an overstuffed red velvet armchair.
Renowned for their powerful stage presence and high-energy style, Koresh Dance Company was founded by Israeli-born Ronen Koresh in 1991 in Philadelphia. The dance company, known for its technically superb dancers presents its audiences with a blend of ballet, modern, and jazz into a style of choreography that ranges from explosive and passionate to intimate and restrained. The company features an eclectic repertoire of work by Ronen Koresh as well as works by Robert Battle, Donald Byrd and Itzik Galili.
The company presents biannual home season concerts, and performs on tour at various national festivals, performing arts centers, university performance venues, and charity benefits. The company recently increased its touring to perform internationally in Seoul, Korea; Israel; and Istanbul, Turkey; in addition to its national touring in Pennsylvania, Oregon, North Carolina and everywhere in between. The company has been honored to receive the Philadelphia City Paper's Reader's Choice Award for Best Dance Company for consecutive years, most recently in 2007 and it remains on the roster of Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour.
In addition to its performances, the company is also very involved in education and community outreach. The company offers pre-performance discussions, in-house residencies, introductory and master classes, and lecture demonstrations at public and private schools, performing arts high schools, universities, and professional dance companies in Philadelphia and throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Through the company’s local outreach program, Koresh Kids Dance, it also promotes arts education to underserved youth in Philadelphia by offering free lecture/demonstration performances and free dance classes. The program also offers selected students low cost training at Koresh Children’s Studio, part of the Koresh School of Dance.
Support for this Live at Rose Lehrman event comes from the Lois Lehrman Grass Foundation. Media sponsor for the event is abc27-WHTM. This project is partially supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performings Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by The Heinz Endowments; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and The Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. Additional funding was provide through a grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program.
Live at Rose Lehrman will present Koresh Dance Company at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 27, at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center on HACC’s Harrisburg Campus. Tickets are $32 for adults, $30 senior citizens, and $15 students. Live at Rose Lehrman Box Office phone is 231-ROSE (7673). Ticket also are available online at www.LiveatRoseLehrman.org.
