DANCE

Society for the Performing Arts (SPA), bringing the world’s best to Houston, presents Aszure Barton & Artists, as part of the SPA Dance Series. 8:00 pm, Friday, April 23, 2010, in Wortham Center's Cullen Theater.

Brilliant Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton has burst on the scene with “works that are quirky, deep, cheeky, and poignant,” says The Globe and Mail. Mikhail Baryshnikov calls her dances “extraordinary” and “uncompromising.” She has choreographed for Sydney Dance Company, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, The Juilliard School, films, and the Broadway stage. Now she brings her own company of consummate, dazzling dancers to Houston in her latest work Busk, set to Russian composer Ljova’s gypsy-inspired score, and Blue Soup, a collage of highlights from recent works, including A Travelling Show, Mais Oui, and Come In.

Aszure Barton and Artists is an organization dedicated to the growth of artists and production of contemporary dance performance. Since its founding in 2002, the company has developed its activities as an international contemporary dance project based in New York City. With her intimate ensemble, Aszure Barton continues to develop critically acclaimed productions around the globe. These works have toured to Europe, Brazil, Argentina, Asia, Africa, Canada, and the United States.

Her creative process is rooted in a celebration of music and movement, and a love for collaboration with dancers, filmmakers, designers, photographers and musicians. Her work explores the tragic and comic drives within the human body and psyche, often dramatizing inner thoughts and impulses, using idiosyncratic movements to paint a psychological portrait. Like a danced form of Commedia Dell’arte, the work looks at how our natural peculiarity, gestures and ways of moving can conjure up humor, cacophony, suspense and pathos – revealing a rich, dynamic landscape.

Born and raised in Alberta, Canada, where she studied with Cathy Hauptman, Sandra Gray, and Deborah Morgan, Barton has been dancing and making dances since early childhood. She received her formal training at the National Ballet School in Toronto, where, as a student, she helped originate the ongoing Stephen Godfrey Choreographic Showcase. She also studied at The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Alberta Ballet School, and the John Cranko Schule in Stuttgart, Germany. She has performed internationally with many celebrated dance companies including The National Ballet of Canada, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal [bjm_danse], Mikhail Baryshnikov's Hell's Kitchen Dance, Wendy Osserman Dance Company, and her own, Aszure Barton & Artists. She is the Resident Choreographer for Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal [bjm_danse], and has been an Artist-in-Residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center/BAC for 2005, 2006, and 2008.

Ms. Barton has been commissioned to choreograph new works for Mikhail Baryshnikov, Fang-Yi Sheu, Sydney Dance Company, The National Ballet of Canada, The Juilliard School, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal [bjm_danse], The Martha Graham Dance Company, American Ballet Theatre II, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and the UK Laban Institute, among others. Barton choreographed the Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera starring Alan Cumming, Jim Dale, Nellie Mackay, and Cyndi Lauper (in a new translation by Wallace Shawn, directed by Scott Elliott). She also choreographed an excerpt for the production of Salome starring Al Pacino, Kevin Anderson, and Jessica Chastain, directed by Estelle Parsons.

This performance is followed by a NiteSPA party. Only $50 for both! Call 713.632.8113 to reserve your spot!