Peak Performances @ Montclair is gearing up for an all-premiere season highlighted by the American debut of Robyn Orlin’s City Theatre & Dance Group from Johannesburg, South Africa, the first American performances by Carolyn Carlson after five years, a tri-state premiere by the Washington, DC-based Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and a U.S. premiere by the Frankfurt-based Kidd Pivot.

DOUBLE VISION
October 14–17
Carolyn Carlson, one of America’s great artist expats, returns home for the first time since 2005 to present “Double Vision,” a magical use of multimedia to create a new world. The work was created in collaboration with Electronic Shadow (architect Naziha Mestaoui and media artist Yacine Aït Kaci). Former Alwin Nikolais principal, Carlson, who has lived in France since 1971, is director of the Centre Chorégraphique National Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais and the Atelier de Paris-Carolyn Carlson.

DARK MATTERS
October 21–24
Crystal Pite’s “Dark Matters” begins with a conversation between a Bunraku puppet and its creator before careening into explorations of creation vs. destruction and free will vs. manipulation, using the mysterious qualities of dark matter as inspiration. Pite is a Canadian choreographer whose company, Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM, is now based in Frankfurt, Germany.

WALKING NEXT TO OUR SHOES…INTOXICATED BY STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM, WE ENTER CONTINENTS WITHOUT KNOCKING…
February 10-13 and 17-20
Choreographed and directed by Robyn Orlin and performed by City Theatre & Dance Group, “Walking next to our shoes…intoxicated by strawberries and cream, we enter continents without knocking…” is a powerful example of dance serving as social commentary. The title is a poetic Zulu expression referring to poverty. The cast features an opera singer, two dancers, a “swanker” (a Zulu man who competes in fancy-dress competitions) and Phuphuma Love Minus, ten singers from a South African isicathamiya choir, a Zulu form of a cappella. A huge hit throughout Europe, the work will be next seen in October at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris as part of city’s prestigious Festival d’Automne.

THE MATTER OF ORIGINS
March 24–27
Like Crystal Pite’s “Dark Matters,” Liz Lerman’s “The Matter of Origins,” commissioned by Peak Performances and created in collaboration with members of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, takes inspiration from science. The work is the result of Lerman’s fascination with the origins of matter, stimulated by her visits to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The second half of the performance segues into an interactive experience for the audience during which conversations about the origin of ideas are shared over tea and chocolate cake as they had been between J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Los Alamos scientists working on the Manhattan Project.

Performance Schedule:

“Double Vision,” Carolyn Carlson Company | Electronic Shadow
Oct. 14, 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 16 at 8 p.m.
Oct. 17 at 3 p.m.

“Dark Matters,” Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM
Oct. 21, 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 23 at 8 p.m.
Oct. 24 at 3 p.m.

“Walking next to our shoes…” City Theatre & Dance Group | Robyn Orlin
Feb. 10, 11, 17, 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 12, 19 at 8 p.m.
Feb .13, 20 at 3 p.m.

“The Matter of Origins,” Liz Lerman Dance Exchange
Mar. 24, 25 at 7:30 pm
Mar. 26 at 8 pm
Mar. 27 at 3 pm

Tickets are only $15 and may be purchased at the Alexander Kasser Theater box office, by phone at 973-655-5112, or on the Web at www.peakperfs.org. There is no charge for Montclair State University undergraduate students with Valid ID. Please arrive at least 30 minutes before curtain to claim your PAF ticket.

Peak Performances acknowledges the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Discover Jersey Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, The Jim Henson Foundation, Meet The Composer, Chamber Music America, The Honorable Mary Mochary and Alison and James T. Cirenza.

Released: July 27, 2010