Month: August 2017

Illumination of Imagination

On October 14, the Lincoln Center stage goes dark for a family friendly performance that combines theater and technology like no other. From out of the darkness, glow-in-the-dark characters will come to life and wordlessly spin a tale that will captivate even the youngest audience member.

Featured as semi-finalists on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, Lightwire Theater returns to The Lincoln Center to present a new show titled Moon Mouse about celebrating differences. Following up their blockbuster performance of Dino-Light, this cutting-edge, internationally-recognized group will deliver their signature visually dazzling effects in a new heart-warming cosmic tale.

More than just an eye-popping spectacle, Moon Mouse deals with the issue of bullying, and even without words, still manages to deliver positive messages to children. The show features Marvin the mouse who retreats to a world of fantasy after being picked on by the “cool” rats where he embarks on a space adventure filled with a strange cast of misfit creatures.

“It came from personal experience,” said Ian Carney of Lightwire Theater in an interview with AXS. “As a kid, I was made fun of for taking ballet class. I understood what it felt like to be an outsider and not part of the group. We hope that Marvin will encourage everyone to embrace being different and not be afraid to walk to the beat of their own drum.”

Lightwire Theater was born when co-creators Ian Carney and Corbin Popp met in New York City while dancing in the Broadway hit Movin’ Out. After learning they had a mutual love of art, theater, and technology, they came across something called “el wire” — electroluminescent wire — and the proverbial “light” came on. Together with their wives Eleanor and Whitney, they began to experiment with shapes and designs and develop puppetry-based neon creatures.

“Our productions are all underdog stories, about characters that are able to achieve more than what people expect of them,” Carney continues. “Everyone loves an underdog, and you can do things with non-human characters that are not possible with actors. Our shows are almost entirely wordless so that the stories are told through movement, light, and music. People all over the world are able to enjoy them.”

But this isn’t just a fun show for kids; adults are guaranteed to enjoy it too.

 “We go through great pains to create shows that are for all humans to enjoy; they’re not just for kids,” says Carney.  “Our shows offer a little more than what is exactly right in front of you.”

Moon Mouse plays The Lincoln Center on October 14 at 2 & 6 p.m. Tickets are available for only $15.

Fun Facts
– Each character takes nearly 200 hours to create
– Each character can use up to 16 AA batteries per performance
– The characters are built from the ground up — utilizing recyclable materials like dryer ducting, plumbing supplies, duct tape and zip ties

Nothing is More Revealing Than Movement

The company that changed the landscape of modern dance for the past century, The Martha Graham Dance Company, will be at the Lincoln Center October 3, 2017.

Created by Martha Graham in 1926, The Martha Graham Dance Company is the longest running dance company in North America, and its style is so ingrained in our modern narrative of dance that its impact on art is often understated.

In the days that Graham first began to dance, the most popular form was ballet. Her movements, angles, and use of “contract and release” was not a part of any company’s repertoire, nor were her complex displays of the human psychological condition. For that alone, she was a pioneer.

Though Martha Graham initially trained at Denishawn with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn and used her classical techniques to become a star in vaudeville, she changed her course by creating innovative choreography unlike anyone had ever seen.

 

Graham famously said that “nothing is more revealing than movement,” and it was through dance that she showed the intricacy and beauty of the human soul.

The passion and power of her dancing not only created compelling music (composer Louis Horst made music to match her dancing and not the other way around), but actors flocked to her to learn how to connect their movements to their emotions.

But Graham’s relevance did not stop there. Not only did she run the longest-lived dance company in America, she produced some of the greatest dancers and choreographers of our generation — such as Anna Sokolow and Merce Cunningham.

Although Graham passed away in 1991, the company she founded remains vibrant and relevant. Today the company embraces a new vision that showcases masterpieces by Graham alongside newly commissioned works by contemporary artists. With programs that offer a rich thematic narrative, the company creates new platforms for contemporary dance and multiple points of access for audiences.

The Lincoln Center is proud to bring a dance company with such a rich history to the Fort Collins community. Experience the art that only the illustrious Martha Graham Dance Company can create on October 3. Seats from $15.

 

Banjo with Heart

Opening our 2017/18 season on September 7th is the amazing banjo duo Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn. Heralded by Paste Magazine as “the king and queen of the banjo,” they took home the 2016 Grammy Award of Best Folk Album. Individually, they are both world-class artists in their own right — Fleck is a 16-time Grammy winner and Washburn is a critically acclaimed musical innovator. However, when they come together, the music they create becomes nothing short of phenomenal — with haunting beauty and deep meaning reflected in what they play.

The couple met in 2007 at a square dance, where Béla was taken by the way Abigail danced and lit up the room. Though they married in 2010, it was some time before they began playing together. Once they did, they found that Béla’s traditional banjo picking really complemented Abigail’s clawhammer style.

“We discovered,” said Béla to The Mercury News, “we could put together a really banjo-centric program. There was nothing like that out there, just a couple of banjos — a lot of different kinds of banjos, but just a couple of musicians playing together — showing how much sound is there, how much color and tonal possibilities there are, how diverse it can be.”

When people think of two banjos, they usually think of “Dueling Banjos”, but their collaboration resulted in something soulful, layered, and ultimately touching.

They aren’t just partners in music but also in life. After the birth of their son Juno, they collaborated on their first album, which they will be performing at the Lincoln Center. The album features American roots music, including the blues, Appalachian ballads, and a “gorgeous rendition” (Mikael Wood, LA Times) of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”, which was inspired by an impromptu lullaby session with Juno.

Last time the pair was here, they donated some of their proceeds from their merchandise to a local charity that is near and dear to our hearts — The Lincoln Center Support League. The Lincoln Center Support League’s mission is to excite, enlighten, and educate through the arts, and has sponsored master classes and free concerts for children in Larimer County to enjoy.

As such, we are very pleased to bring back Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn September 7th, 2017. Tickets go on sale, August 9th, 2017.

Black Violin Turns the Tables on Classical Music

The Lincoln Center is excited to welcome back the popular Black Violin to open for our Classical Convergence Series September 30th, 2017.

Some would think that a classically-trained violinist and violist would focus their career on performing in quartets, but Black Violin doesn’t pay attention to those arbitrary divides in music. Instead, along with turntable whiz DJ SPS, they are inclusive and fuse classical with hip-hop, rock, bluegrass, and R&B. For over 10 years, Black Violin has used their music to empower people of all ages, ethnic groups, and socioeconomic backgrounds to discover what connects us all.

For Black Violin, “every opportunity to connect [to their] diverse fans is an opportunity to break down the barriers that separate us, empower individuality and encourage progress”, and they have done so by playing with artists like Alicia Keys, Wu-Tang Clan and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park. They also played for the kids celebration at former-President Obama’s 2013 inaugural festivities.

According to an interview with NPR, their thoughts behind blending such disparate genres as classical and hip-hop is not that unusual.

“They had little shindigs going on back in the days, right? They needed music,” says violist, Wil Baptiste. “So just think of it that way. Like, I’m this guy, I own this big palace — ‘Mozart, listen, what can you whip up, man? I need some new tunes.'”

“So it’s the same kind of thing with hip-hop, ” adds violinist, Kev Marcus. “It’s just like, I need Grandmaster Flash to DJ my party. You know, hip-hop and classical, in a lot of ways, are both party music for different eras.”

Black Violin will be bringing their unique perspective on classical music to the Lincoln Center on September 30th, 2017.

Tickets go on sale August 9th, 2017.