WASHINGTON, DC: Moveius Contemporary Ballet performs on Opening Night of Atlas Intersections Festival
Company:
MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet
MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet (MOVEIUS), pushing the boundaries of ballet to tackle policy issues affecting society, has been invited to be the opening performance of the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival. MOVEIUS’ evening of repertoire at the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival will take place on February 21, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. at the Atlas Performing Arts Center and will continue creating a path for ballet to speak to social issues. With Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall the company looks back at the 2008 recession with 10-years of hindsight. Glacier: A Climate Change Ballet uses modern and ballet choreography as a medium that transports audiences to the artic, making the threat of polar ice cap collapse palpable.
Set to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring score, Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall employs Stravinsky’s storyline—along with pedestrian props drawn from every day spaces such as corporate offices—as the company of dancers inhabits the stage in an examination of power and accountability. In GLACIER: A Climate Change Ballet MOVEIUS’ dancers ripple, crack and plunge amidst live video projections by renowned filmmaker Robin Bell, creating movement that connects the audience-member to the impact of global warming.
“Whether about the immediate threat of global warming, or the effects of a financial crisis, ballet provides a unique opportunity to lend emotion to these challenging political and social issues,” says climate-change policy expert and MOVEIUS’ Artistic Director Diana Movius. “I want audience members to leave with a desire to take action.”
The missions of both MOVEIUS and The Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival also intersect—as both present impactful art works that take-on issues affecting culture and society. Most recently Glacier: A Climate Change Ballet had its West Coast premiere at the Global Climate Action Summit, where it became the first ballet ever presented at an international climate conference. Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall was commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as part of the 2018 Local Dance Commissioning Project.
EVENT AND VENUE DETAILS
Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall and Glacier: A Climate Change Ballet at the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival will run Thursday, February 21st at 8:00 p.m. The performance will take place at Lang Theatre, located at 1333 H St., NE Washington, DC. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased here.
REPERTORY DETAILS
Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall (2018)
Choreography: Diana Movius
Composer: Igor Stravinsky
A dance-theater piece underpinned by contemporary ballet technique, Rite of Spring, Crash of Fall borrows its storyline from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and features Stravinsky’s full score to revisit the financial crisis of 2008. As in the traditional Rite of Spring storyline, an ancient tribe chooses a victim—The Chosen One—to sacrifice to the gods. With an eye back to 2008, and with our current political environment in mind, the ballet will prompt audiences to ask the question: who will be The Chosen One in this modern take on a classic story?
Glacier: A Climate Change Ballet (2015)
Choreography: Diana Movius
Music: Max Richter, David Lang, Andrew Thomas
GLACIER creates an onstage arctic environment where the threat of polar icecap collapse is set to movement by dancers who ripple, crack and plunge amidst live video projections by filmmaker Robin Bell.
ABOUT MOVEIUS
Founded in 2010 by dancer and climate policy expert Diana Movius, MOVEIUS creates diverse ballet-based choreography working with local D.C. area professional ballet dancers and choreographers. MOVEIUS incorporates innovative multimedia elements and draws from founder Movius’ classical ballet background to tell modern-day and socially relevant stories. MOVEIUS has received critical acclaim for its performances throughout the DC Metro area, appearing at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Dance Place, Atlas Performing Arts Center, and the Woolly Mammoth. MOVEIUS won a 2018 local dance commissioning project from the Kennedy Center.
ABOUT DIANA MOVIUS
Diana Movius is a choreographer, dancer and climate policy experts with a passion for both the environment and dance. As a dancer Movius trained with Charlotte Ballet’s Patricia McBride and later danced principal roles in Balanchine’s Who Cares?, The Four Temperaments, and Stars and Stripes at Stanford University. As a climate policy expert Movius has developed policies, authored climate finance papers, and led climate finance regional training at organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Center for Clean Air Policy. She is the founder of DC-based MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet, a critically acclaimed dance company in residence at Dance Loft on 14—a rehearsal and performance space founded by Movius to address the need for affordable and accessible rehearsal and performance space for dancers and choreographers in the D.C. Metro area.
ABOUT the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival
The Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival is a performing arts festival that presents work that impacts our society, culture, and world by informing, inspiring, educating, and entertaining. INTERSECTIONS is about presenting excellent art that inspires a connected community, engaged artists and audiences alike, and creates a vibrant neighborhood, city, and world. We are interested in unique perspectives and art that connects us to the many facets of our humanity.
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