November 15, 2007
Washington, DC— CityDance Ensemble breathes
life into Rudyard Kipling’s literary masterpiece Jungle
Books this December at the Lansburgh
Theatre in an enchanting new production for the young
and young at heart. Telling the timeless stories of Mowgli,
Shere Khan, Baloo, and other characters from the classic tales,
CityDance Ensemble mixes original choreography with an original
score to create a performance full of surprises, humor, and
magic that will leave no doubt that it’s a jungle
in there….
The concert, presented by Washington Performing Arts
Society, takes place Saturday, December
15 and Sunday, December 16 at 1pm
and 4:30pm in the Lansburgh Theatre, 450
7th Street NW, Washington, DC. Tickets are $37 for adults
and $15 for youth 12 and under. Groups of 15 or more receive
a 15% discount. Tickets are available in person at the Harman
Center for the Arts Ticket Office (610 F Street
NW, Washington, DC), online at www.wpas.org, or
by phone at 202.547.1122. (A
$5.50 handling fee applies on phone and web orders).
“Creating this new production of Jungle Books has
been a true highlight of CityDance’s
2007-2008 season,” comments CityDance Artistic
Director Paul Gordon Emerson. “The powerful
ideas and themes of Kipling’s stories lend themselves
beautifully to being re-told through dance, music, and movement.
Animals relate to each other through movement, and pairing
Kipling’s tales with choreography has been a natural,
organic fit.”
Jungle Books will feature original choreography by Paul
Gordon Emerson, Rehearsal Director Christopher
K. Morgan, former company member Kyra Jean
Green, Washington Ballet dancer Jason Hartley, and
DC-based dancers and choreographers Joseph Nontanovan (Artistic
Director of Culture Shock DC) and Meisha
Bosma (Artistic Director of BosmaDance). Composers Matthew
Jones, Clifton Brockington, and Saleem Wayne
Waters created the original score and will perform
live on drums, wind synthesizer, and keyboard.
New sets and drops created in partnership with Washington,
DC’s Ford’s Theatre will transform
the stage into an Indian jungle and original costumes and masks
will mold the dancers into Kipling’s characters they
leap, pounce, and prance their way through several segments
of the original novel in this hour-long adaptation.
Making their premiere alongside CityDance Ensemble are students
of CityDance Select, the company’s pre-professional
program for serious dancers ages 12-19. In this program, students
study technique and performance, as well as dance history,
multimedia arts, anatomy, and other related field. Fourteen
young dancers from the Select program will play the role of
monkeys in Jungle Books.
“The collaborative aspect of this production has made
the show incredibly rich and well-rounded,” notes Mr.
Emerson. “Because we have had the good fortune of working
with so many talented artists and organizations in Washington,
DC, Jungle Books has developed into a truly multi-faceted,
multi-disciplinary production.”
A family show in every sense, Jungle Books will appeal
to audiences young and old, with Kipling’s themes of
morality and perseverance woven throughout. Children will also
find excitement before and after the show with free face painting
in the Lansburgh Theatre lobby from 12 – 12:45pm and
3:30 – 4:15pm and photographs with the characters from
2:15 – 2:45pm on each performance day.
Additional information about Jungle Books can be
found online at Washington Performing Arts Society’s
press room (www.wpas.org).
The creation of Jungle Books was made possible in part
by funding from the DC Commission on the
Arts & Humanities, an agency supported
in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional
support from Washington Performing Arts Society and Ford’s
Theatre.
About CityDance Ensemble, Inc.
CityDance Ensemble, Inc. is the parent organization to CityDance
Ensemble, an award-winning contemporary repertory
dance company; Early Arts, an arts outreach
program for youth serving more than 25,000 students each year; CityDance
Centers, two facilities committed to excellence in
studio dance education for youth and adults; and FilmWORKS, a
creator and presenter of dance-on-camera. The mission of CityDance
Ensemble, Inc. is to advance the appreciation for and participation
in the art of dance through excellence in performance, education,
film, and artistic innovation.
