MIAMI LIGHT PROJECT ANNOUNCES 15th ANNIVERSARY SEASON

Miami's leading indepedent presenter of culture announces its 15th Anniversary Seasoin line up.

(PRWEB) November 9, 2003 --Miami Light Project is proud to announce our 15th anniversary season. For 15 years, Miami Light Project has been the leading independent presenter of contemporary performance in South Florida, spearheading cultural projects that have contributed to positive community development in neighborhoods throughout Miami-Dade county, and positioning South Florida as a fast growing area for the development of new work.

Miami Light Project has presented some of the most memorable and important cultural events in this community for the past 15 years including a moving performance by of the legendary Nina Simone and the site-specific commission, UnderEden, about the South Florida landmark Eden Roc Hotel by Heidi Duckler. In 2000 we successfully challenged the countys Cuba ordinance and pioneered the way for the presentation of Cuban artists in South Florida, effectively contributing to the building of a more tolerant South Florida community. In 1998, we created a new program, Here & Now, to foster the artistic and professional development of South Florida artists; through this program we have commissioned over 30 new works, and has grown to include a touring component that has resulted the premiere of this work in countrys around the world. The tours have included Gustavo Matamoras and Ricky Martinez in Bavaria, Giovanni Luquini and Dancers in Hollywood, Florida and the Fringe First award winning presentation of Teo Castellanos NE 2nd Avenue at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

It has been our firm commitment to culture and our belief in promoting and supporting arts in and throughout the South Florida community that has allowed us to celebrate 15 triumphant seasons this year. We are proud to announce the line up of our 2003-2004 season.

October 10 & 11, 2003, 8:00pm
Cie Felix Ruckert Deluxe Joy Pilot
Miami City Ballet, 2200 Liberty Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139, 305.929.7000
$25, $12 students & seniors (Restrictions apply)
www.felixruckert.de
Europes most cutting-edge dance company stages its most daring work yet, a deeply engaging performance where the best seats in the house are beds and inflatable club chairs, and dancers coax reclining guests into doffing inhibitions and establishing intimate contact in an exhilirating group event. Felix Ruckerts latest choreographic effort challenges traditional theater dance performance, erasing the split between stage and auditorium, dancers and spectators, active and passive. Troupe members shift between structured, disciplined movement among themselves and spontaneous contact with the public. It is interactive dance theatre at its most captivating, one where audiences linger afterwards, unwilling to break the bonds forged during this seductive and unusual piece. Brilliant work. Felix Ruckert has definitely found an area of performance that demands more investigation."- Live Art Magazine, London

November 7, 2003, 8:00pm
Marianela Boáns DanzAbierta Chorus Perpetuus
Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, 174 E Flagler Street
$18/ $28, $12 students and seniors (restrictions apply)
What starts out as an acappella chorus, voices perfectly attuned, soon startles as one voice goes atonal, then shrieks. Thats individual freedom struggling for separation from the collective, the theme of Chorus Perpetuus, internationally acclaimed choreographer Marianela Boáns latest piece for DanzAbierta (Open Dance), Cubas best contemporary dance company. In an artistic discourse which Boán has labeled contaminated dance (as opposed to pure dance) because it contains everything: song, theatre, dance," the troupe of six plays out a metaphor: the group can move, sing, dance as one, while the individual pops out following its own cadence, a breaking out that affects the whole group. The performance is both chaplinesque and intellectual, tropically rhythmic and elegantly classical: earthy and sublime."...They are a truly delightful group, full of energy, versatile talent, and expressive personality - by the end, you would probably give them the shirt off your back, because they've earned it!" -Mary Brennan, The Herald (Australia)
http://www.nyu.edu/its/ftc/danzabierta/animation.html

December 5 & 6 2003, 8:00pm
December 7, 2003, 1:00pm
Ros Warby SOLOS
Miami City Ballet, 2200 Liberty Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139, 305.929.7000
$25, $12 students & seniors (Restrictions apply)
The South Florida debut of Ros Warbys universally acclaimed SOLOS provides a masterful showcase of the dancer-choreographers talent in using movement to give substance to abstract ideas. The three-piece program, choreographed by Warby, fellow Australian Lucy Guerin and American choreography legend Deborah Hay, starts with Eve, a sinuous exploration of womans many roles-some simultaneous-as mother, daughter, lover, sister, adult and child. The second, Living With Surfaces, is as angular as Eve is feminine: the amazingly long-limbed Warby struggles to become comfortable in a concrete world. The closing piece, FIRE, is the weirdest, full of gymnastic movements interrupted by a white-leotard-clad Warby asking questions of the audience, or maybe of herself. Marvelously supple, Ros Warby is a dancer of quiet charisma and penetrating directness." --Lee Christofis, Dance Australia
www.miamilightproject.com

March 3-13, 2004, 8:00pm
Here & Now: 2004
The Light Box, 3000 Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 100, Miami, FL 33137, 305.576.4350
$20, $12 students & seniors (Restrictions apply)
The premier artistic coming-out party of Miamis spring season, Here & Now: 2004 features the top picks from South Floridas up-and-coming performance artists and independent filmmakers, underscoring Miami Light Projects mission to seek out and support the best and brightest. This is the regions foremost talent incubator, one that propels local artists onto the higher prominence of the national or international stage. The MLP-commissioned performance and film series is showcased at The Light Box Studio, Miami Light Projects intimate venue on trendy Biscayne Boulevard, in the citys emerging Performing Arts District. The 2004 commissioned performing artists are Nancy Garcia, Alonso Menendez, Rafael Roig and Natasha Tsakos. Commissioned filmmakers are David Cirone, Nathan Rausch and Maria Silvina Soto. ...Here & Now...has made a difference in Miamis cultural life in a way very few events have." --Jordan Levin, Miami Herald www.miamilightproject.com

May 16, 2004, 8:00pm
Rennie Harris Facing Mekka
Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, 174 E Flagler Street, Downtown Miami
$28 & $18, $12 students & seniors (Restrictions apply)
Facing Mekka is a spiritual pilgrimage for pioneering hip hop choreographer Rennie Harris, one where he explores this thoroughly American dance forms global lineage. Turkish whirling dervishes, African dances of possession, Brazilian capoeira moves, all find a voice in this exciting new production. This is Hip Hop not as in-your-face urban drama, but as an expression of human dialogue with the gods, in an attempt to transcend the human condition. Harris also brings for the first time female dancers to his ensemble, with making up half of his 10-dancer troupe. With striking video footage and a forceful score, Facing Mekka takes the audience on an electrifying spiritual quest, an exploration of dance as dynamic prayer. There are moments of high-voltage virtuosity in "Facing Mekka,"...sinewy bodies in spine-twisting head spins, pop-lock robotic waves, back-flipping capoeira gainers and windmill pirouettes." Catherine Thomas, The Oregonian
http://www.puremovement.net

May 20-23, 2004 - Various dates, times and locations (check MLPs website)
International Hip Hop Exchange/Miami
$18/ $28 individual tickets
Various Locations, 305.576.4350
MLP presents the 2nd Annual International Hip Hop Exchange/Miami (IHX: Miami 2004), a celebration of hip hop music, dance, theater, spoken word, visual art, film and video featuring works by national and international hip hop artists at venues throughout Miami-Dade County. This year the festival focuses on Brazilian and Mexican hip hop artists, art forms and culture. IHX: Miami provides opportunities for interaction and learning through classes, workshops, seminars, lectures, demonstrations, panel discussions, meet-the-artist events and performances. As last weeks International Hip Hop Exchange in Miami showed...Hip Hop is definitely a global affair these days." Cary Darling, Miami Herald http://www.miamilightproject,com

**For images of any of the programs please email rlengel@miamilightproject.com**

About Miami Light Project
Founded in 1989, Miami Light Project is a not-for-profit cultural organization which presents live performances by innovative dance, music and theater artists from around the world; supports the development of new work by Miami-based artists; and offers educational for students of every age. Since our inception, we have reached a diverse cross-section of communities throughout Miami-Dade County with an extensive outreach effort that includes partnerships with other arts organizations, universities and social service agencies. Miami Light Project is a cultural forum to explore some of the issues that define contemporary society.

Miami Light Project receives operating support from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Arts Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the State of Florida, Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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