Luna Negra Dance Theater announces 2011 Spring Program

Luna Negra Dance Theater, Chicago's premier Latino contemporary dance company, presents a spring program featuring the North American Premieres of two works by Spanish choreographer Fernando Hernando Magadan and by Venezuelan choreographer Luis Eduardo Sayago Alonso. The program also features the reprise of Director Gustavo RamÃrez Sansano's critically acclaimed Flabbergast, originally commissioned by Luna Negra in 2001. The 2011 spring program takes place at the Harris Theater at Millennium Park, 205 E. Randolph Drive, Chicago, in one performance only on Saturday, March 12 at 8 p.m.
"Spring is all about what is fresh and new, so it is a perfect season to bring the work of two young, bright, up-and-coming choreographers to the American stage for the first time," said RamÃrez Sansano. "I am excited to be able to share their unique voices with the Chicago audience, further realizing Luna Negra's mission by introducing and supporting works by emerging Latino choreographers from diverse backgrounds."
Luna Negra's 2011 spring program features the North American Premiere of Naked Ape by Fernando Hernando Magadan. In this work for five dancers created in collaboration with multi-media artist Harmen Straatman, Hernando Magadan explores how the human capacity and need for physical interaction may be challenged by the insensitivity of new media and technology. Naked Ape is set to music by Erik Truffaz Murcof, Johann Sebastian Bach and Jonsi & Alex, and was originally created in 2009 for Nederlands Dans Theater I as a part of the TODAYSART Festival.
Also a highlight of the spring program will be the North American Premiere of Solo una Vez ("Only One Time") by Luis Eduardo Sayago Alonso. Originally created in 2004 for Germany's Kevin O'Day Ballett Mannheim, Solo una Vez is a work for six dancers set to Latin-American bolero songs by Antonio Machin, Trio los Panchos and Felix Mendelssohn. Set elements including a chalk board, fresh oranges, a juicer and wheeled carts lend an absurdist air to this romantic and energetic piece about the universal search for one's other half.
Luna Negra Artistic Director Gustavo RamÃrez Sansano's Flabbergast completes the spring program. Since its commission and premiere by Luna Negra in 2001, Flabbergast has gone on to be included in the repertory of five different companies around the world, including Luna Negra Dance Theater, IT Dansa in Barcelona, Ballet Junior of Geneve, Budapest Dance Theater and proyecto titoyaya. For the tenth anniversary of this work, RamÃrez Sansano has expanded it from the original version with additional choreography. Set to music by Juan Garcia Esquivel, Flabbergast depicts in a funny and exuberant way the bewilderment of experiencing a foreign culture for the first time, inspired by RamÃrez Sansano's own first visit to America.
Tickets for Luna Negra Dance Theater's 2011 spring program range in price from $25 to $65 and are available by calling the Harris Theater Box Office at 312-334-7777 or online at www.harristheaterchicago.org.