The Running Show" created by Monica Bill Barnes & Robbie Saenz de Viteri
Company:
MONICA BILL BARNES & COMPANY
THE RUNNING SHOW
New York City Center
Fall For Dance October 12-13
A 7-year-old falls in love with dance at her first recital. 40 years later, she works everyday to stay in the game. At 70 she keeps moving.
The Running Show documents the life of a dancer through movement, interviews, and stories. The show features a large cast of local performers in every city. Dancers from each community ranging in age from 12 years old to 84, join Monica Bill Barnes on stage, learning their parts over the course of one week. Robbie Saenz de Viteri interviews each cast, incorporating their voices and stories into the show giving the audience an unprecedented look into the life of a dancer as a new kind of sports hero, one that keeps moving against all odds.
The Running Show is the newest touring production by Monica Bill Barnes & Company. In anticipation of The Running Show’s touring premiere in 2020 the company was asked to make an excerpt for the 16th Annual Fall for Dance. The Running Show is remade in each city with a cast of 20 local performers on stage alongside creators Monica Bill Barnes, and Robbie Saenz de Viteri in each tour city. After a week of intensive rehearsals, and interviews with the cast the culminating performance uniquely reflects each new community of performers.
Monica Bill Barnes says, “We are honored to be back at Fall for Dance. The company first performed in the festival in 2009. It was such a meaningful moment to be on the same stage where I saw so many companies that have profoundly influenced me perform. In this new work, we attempt to create a physical documentary of what it means to pursue dance throughout a lifetime and Fall for Dance feels like the perfect festival to celebrate this pursuit.”
With the support of the Hunter College Dance Department, and Jody and John Arnhold the company is partnering with students from Hunter College to put on this performance. The company will adapt The Running Show specifically for Fall For Dance.
Fall For Dance
The notion seemed radical: a dance festival that mingled legends and emerging artists from every conceivable genre of dance, with all seats going for the price of a movie ticket. But City Center’s inaugural Fall for Dance Festival was an instant smash in 2004. Since then, Fall for Dance has become an irreplaceable fixture in the city’s cultural landscape, known for its eclectic programming and its success in introducing new audiences to the power of dance.
Fall for Dance has presented over 200 companies and artists to a cumulative audience of nearly 300,000 newcomers and dance buffs. In 2013, City Center began commissioning new works for Fall for Dance, and the past four seasons have featured world premieres from some of today’s leading choreographers, including Michelle Dorrance, Mark Morris, Wayne McGregor, and Justin Peck.
Share Your Audience Review. Your Words Are Valuable to Dance.
Are you going to see this show, or have you seen it? Share "your" review here on The Dance Enthusiast. Your words are valuable. They help artists, educate audiences, and support the dance field in general. There is no need to be a professional critic. Just click through to our Audience Review Section and you will have the option to write free-form, or answer our helpful Enthusiast Review Questionnaire, or if you feel creative, even write a haiku review. So join the conversation.