Compagnie Marie Chouinard April 10, 2009

One of North America's most audacious and physical dance companies, Montreal's Compagnie Marie Chouinard, returns with a program of two works, "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" and "The Rite of Spring," presented by San Francisco Performances.
Set to Claude Debussy's famous music, "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" is a solo piece that was first performed in 1994 at the Taipei International Dance Festival in Taiwan. "The Rite of Spring" was created the year before, and was Marie Chouinard's first choreography based on a musical score. Unlike previous choreographers working with Stravinsky's piece, she constructs her "Rite" around solos.

"There is no story in my 'Rite' " Chouinard explains, "no development, no cause and effect. Only synchronicity. It is as if I were dealing with the very moment after the instant life first appeared. The performance is the unfolding of that moment. I have the feeling that before that moment there was an extraordinary burst of light, a flash of lightning."

Marie Chouinard has enjoyed more than 25 years as an important solo artist, choreographer and Artistic Director of Compagnie Marie Chouinard. In more than 50 dances, action performances, installations and vocal works since her first in 1978, she has earned her place among the world's most innovative, original and independent dance artists. The company has toured regularly throughout North America and Europe; San Francisco Performances presented its Bay Area debut in September 2005.

$39/$27.

Official Website: http://www.performances.org