2017-2018 JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT MASTERWORKS DANCE SEASON ANNOUNCED

The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County proudly announces eight new programs including the best dance companies from around the country, the world and our own community. The 2017-2018 JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT MASTERWORKS SEASON – DANCE SERIES will include the return of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with its residency of performances and arts education activities; the Arsht Center debut of L.A. Dance Project with new choreography by its brilliant founding artistic director Benjamin Millepied; and the 11th annual Flamenco Festivial Miami featuring Spain’s premier flamenco dance company Ballet Nacional de España.

Flamenco Festival Miami 2018 will also include Andalusian Voices, starring flamenco’s best singers in a showcase of the musical side of flamenco.  In addition, Dance at Arsht will also include the return of the beloved and fabulously talented all-male ballet troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo with an all-new program for Miami and the return of “Hip Hop Nutcracker,” a re-imagined version of the holiday favorite performed by Brooklyn’s Decadancetheatre – both in the Knight Concert Hall. An opportunity to experience dance up close in the 200-seat Carnival Studio Theater, James McGinn’s “Ing an Die” tells a love story through modern dance while Peter London Global Dance Company performs “Rhythmic Atlantic,” an ode to the sounds and movements of the African continent.

“As diverse as Miami itself, the Center’s dance programs for its 12th season bring a taste of dance styles from coast to coast and from around the world. We are committed to sharing the greatest work of this discipline on our stages and this season we offer options for many audiences,” said Liz Wallace, vice president of programming for the Arsht Center.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
February 22, 23, 24 @ 8 p.m.
February 24, 25 @ 2 p.m.
Tickets: $29-$119

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, renowned for celebrating the human spirit through the African-American cultural experience and the American modern dance tradition, returns by popular demand to Miami for the 10th consecutive year. Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle and featuring Company star Jamar Roberts, both Miami natives, Ailey’s extraordinary dancers will move audiences with exciting premieres including Roberts’ first work for the Company – Members Don’t Get Weary – an abstract look at what it means to have the blues, set to music by John Coltrane. Alvin Ailey’s signature masterpiece Revelations – an American classic acclaimed as a must-see – will provide the inspiring finale at each of the five performances. Ailey’s 2018 Miami visit is the only South Florida engagement on a 21-city coast-to-coast North American Tour.

L.A. DANCE PROJECT
February 16 and 17, 2018 @ 8 p.m.
Ziff Ballet Opera House
Tickets: $35-$90

Bursting onto the dance scene in 2012, L.A. Dance Project has been turning heads with its fresh, contemporary vision of dance and stylistically diverse repertory. Performing a powerful triple bill including a ballet by Benjamin Millepied, Founding Artistic Director of L.A. Dance Project, the program is highlighted by bold musicality and dynamic movement. Experience the innovative collaborations with influential composers, designers, and visual artists! The New York Times says “[…] everything is unexpected, and everything feels serendipitously right.”

FLAMENCO FESTIVAL MIAMI 2018: BALLET NACIONAL DE ESPAÑA SUITE SEVILLA
Antonio Najarro, Director Suite Sevilla
March 8, 9 and 10, 2018 @ 8 p.m.
March 10 @ 3 p.m.
Knight Concert Hall
Tickets: $35-$100

The biggest festival of flamenco dance and music in the Southeast returns for its 11th season with the world’s greatest exponent of Spanish dance – Ballet Nacional de España. The company’s famed director, Antonio Najarro, brings a new choreographic creation to life with the spectacular “Suite Sevilla.” Najarro blends classic Spanish dance with cutting-edge trends in music and dance, displaying that artful language so characteristic of his personal style as a creator. Rafael Riqueni’s score calls to mind a sense of longing and homesickness and the traditions and scents of Andalusia, the home of flamenco. Flamenco guitars join forces with the other flamenco instruments to paint an aural picture of southern Spain. A Miami audience favorite, Ballet Nacional de España promises to deliver feverish footwork, beloved flamenco sounds and the best of Spain’s greatest art form for one weekend only!

FLAMENCO FESTIVAL MIAMI 2018: ANDALUSIAN VOICES TEMPO OF LIGHT
Carmen Linares, Arcángel and Marina Heredia
March 11, 2018 @ 7 p.m.
Knight Concert Hall
Tickets $35-$100

Showcasing the musical side of flamenco’s storied history, Andalusian Voices is an all-star show featuring the leading flamenco vocalists in Spain today in a virtuosic display ranging from the gypsy roots of flamenco to modern innovations. Carmen Linares, the legendary grand female voice of flamenco cante jondo (deep song), has been celebrated over the world for the extraordinary expressive power of her voice. As described by The New York Times, Marina Heredia’s “mercurial, impassioned voice, moves between clarity and rasp, sorrow and rage, tragedy and exultation.” Versatile singer Arcángel, a tenor with all the dark tension that characterizes the best flamenco singers, transcends flamenco borders with a rich imagination, always grasping the genre’s roots. Under the musical direction of Isidro Muñoz, composer and producer of flamenco legends like Camarón or Enrique Morente, this special evening will include the outstanding dancer Ana Morales, former principal dancer of Ballet Flamenco de Andalucia.

JAMES McGINN’s ING AN DIE
October 13 & 14, 2017 @ 7:30 p.m.
Carnival Studio Theater
Tickets: $40

Dance is both medium and message in this three-act, 70-minute exploration of 21st-century life. A shape-shifting love story, “Ing an Die” weaves choreographic languages with symbolic imagery to disrupt binary structures found within art and society at large: traditional vs. contemporary, masculine vs. feminine, organic human vs. synthetic robot. McGinn returns home to his native Florida from Paris for his operatic debut after a decade of global touring with contemporary performance’s leading choreographers: Jonah Bokaer, Miguel Gutierrez, John Jasperse, & Ryan McNamara, among others. This work is brought to you in part by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

DECADANCETHEATRE HIP HOP NUTCRACKER
December 2, 2017 @ 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Knight Concert Hall
Tickets: $25-$75

A holiday mash-up for the entire family, “The Hip Hop Nutcracker,” a contemporary work set to Tchaikovsky’s timeless music, is an evening-length production performed by a supercharged cast of a dozen all-star dancers from, an on-stage DJ, an electric violinist and rap legend Kurtis Blow as MC. Through the spells cast by the mysterious Drosselmeyer, Maria-Clara and her prince travel back in time to the moment when her parents first meet in a nightclub. Digital scenery transforms E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story of a palace of sugarplums into a romance set in 1980’s New York. The dance work celebrates love, community and the magic of New Year’s Eve. The “Hip Hop Nutcracker” is directed and choreographed by Jennifer Weber. It is adapted to today’s New York by Mike Fitelson, executive director of UPCA – the work’s original producer – and includes hip-hop interludes remixed and reimagined by DJ Boo and an on-stage electric violinist.

PETER LONDON GLOBAL DANCE COMPANY RHYTHMIC ATLANTIC
December 29 & 30, 2017 @ 7:30 p.m.
December 31, 2017 @ 5 p.m.
Carnival Studio Theater
Tickets: $40

“Rhythmic Atlantic” celebrates the influence of the African drum and instruments on the music of the new world and American popular music,particularly jazz, spirituals, R&B, salsa, reggae, and calypso. The program will feature world premiere choreography by four Miami natives – Jamar Roberts (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater), Gentry Isaiah George (Zest Collective), Melissa Fernandez (Ballet Hispanico) and Justin Rapaport (Ballet BC) and Miami resident Peter London in collaboration with internationally-renowned artist Joel Gresham’s phenomenal new art collection series.

LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO
March 4, 2018 @ 8 p.m.
Knight Concert Hall
Tickets: $30-$100

Returning to the Arsht Center with a Miami premire, the impeccable all-male Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo has delighted and amused audiences around the world for 40 years. With performances that feature the male body delicately balancing on toes as swans, romantic princesses, or angst-ridden Victorian ladies, the troupe has charmed audiences and critics around the world time and time again with faithful (and humorous) renditions of classical ballet and modern dance. Founded in 1974 by a group of ballet enthusiasts for the purpose of presenting a playful, entertaining view of traditional, classical ballet in parody form, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo has performed in more than 30 countries and 600 cities worldwide.

The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is made possible by the public support of the Miami-Dade County Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council and the City of Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, as well as the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. The Adrienne Arsht Center also receives generous support from individuals, corporations and local, state and national foundations.

Set in the heart of downtown Miami and designed by world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is one of the world’s leading performing arts organizations and venues. Since opening in 2006, the Arsht Center, a 501C3 non-profit organization, has emerged as a leader in presenting innovative programming that mirrors South Florida’s diversity as well as a catalyst for billions of dollars in new development in the downtown area. Spotlighting legends and serving as a launch pad for local artists to make their mark on the international stage, the Center presents nearly 400 events each year across its flexible, state-of-the-art performance spaces. The Center programs several Signature Series, including the largest jazz series in South Florida, a major annual Flamenco Festival, and a robust program of new theatrical works as well as free programming for the community and an arts education program that serves nearly 30,000 children each year. As Miami’s new Town Square, the Arsht Center also houses BRAVA by Brad Kilgore, a fine dining restaurant; the Café at Books & Books in the historic Carnival Tower and a weekly Farmers Market. Visit www.arshtcenter.org for more information.

Tickets to all of these performances are available to Arsht Center Culturist members beginning August 21 and to the general public beginning September 9. Tickets may be purchased through the Adrienne Arsht Center Box Office by calling (305) 949-6722, or online at www.arshtcenter.org. Save on fees! Join us at the Center’s free ArtLaunch2017 event on Saturday, September 9 to get first general public access to tickets with NO TICKET FEES* (in person only). *No Ticket Fee offer applies to tickets purchased in person at the Box Office on Sept. 9. Restrictions may apply. All programs, artists, ticket prices, availability, dates and times are subject to change without notice. Visit www.arshtcenter.org for up-to-date information. Details at arshtcener.org/artslaunch.

*All programs, artists, ticket prices, availability, dates and times are subject to change without notice. Visit www.arshtcenter.org for up-to-date information.