Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Agnieszka Laska Dancers to take Rite of Spring to Chicago


The Chicago Philharmonic has invited Portland-based Agnieszka Laska Dancers to perform Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" (reviewed here) at its season opener on September 29 at at Pick-Staiger Hall in Evanston, Illinois. ALD was chosen from 30 different dance companies to perform with the Chicago Philharmonic, which is resident orchestra of the Joffrey Ballet. While in Chicago the ALD will also perform The Chopin Project with Polish pianist Igor Lipinski at Copernicus Center.

The total cost for the trip is $10,000, and most of it will be covered by the Chicago Philharmonic and the Copernicus Center. But ALD still needs $2,000 to pull it off. Ergo, ALD has started a Kickstarter campaign, which has raised $826 so far. Hopefully, the troupe will find some more donors to make their quest a reality. The two performances in Chicago are a terrific tribute to the talent of the company and its artistic director and choreographer Agnieszka Laska.

2 comments:

Agnieszka Laska Dancers said...

Thank you so much James for posting this!
And big thank you to all our wonderful Kickstarter backers: Llewellyn Rhoe, Jack Gabel, JoAn Sterr, Tom Swanson, Susan Fischer, Stacey, Rick Hug, Barbara Kite, Cynthia Gerdes, Gary Nelson, Holly Mosher, Cynthia Boelling, Kathy Tugman, Stephanie Spak, Drew, Chie Nagatani, Chris Leck, Anet Ris-Kelman.
Thank you!

Jack Gabel said...

thanks a bunch, James - it's a challenge in many ways - what you saw at Lincoln Hall was a Cadillac performance - big stage, great lighting, great acoustics - the dancers will be severely squeezed to the front of the classical concert-hall stage, between conductor and apron - but they're working hard to make it fly



great pre-flight for that small stage this weekend in Lincoln City at the LC Cultural Center where the stage is a close match to the space ALD will be working on in Evanston



article here: Oregon Coast Today