November 16, 2006 -

OTTAWA -- Russell Maliphant and his eponymous company present the North American premiere of a triple-bill consisting of Push, Transmission, and One Part II in the Theatre of the NAC on Thursday November 30, 2006 at 19:30. Maliphant’s award-winning contemporary dance has a unique thrust of flow and energy, with an enviable genius for swirling, expressive movement and dazzling lighting and music. Combining classical ballet, capoeira, Tai Chi, yoga, and contact improvisation, his language is elegant, articulate and resonant. The Russell Maliphant Company delivers crowd pleasing programmes consisting of beautiful movements sensitively delivered by excellent dancers. Maliphant has said that he is searching for “anatomical awareness, knowledge of freedom of movement in the joints, elongation, stretching your spine in both directions, articulated and intelligent body”.

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Russell Maliphant left London’s Royal Ballet after becoming dissatisfied with the number of modern works performed there. His work builds on this foundation in expanding dance grammar, creating mesmerising, joyful works. The Russell Maliphant Company (founded in 1996) has toured extensively and won numerous awards, including a TimeOut Live Award for ‘Outstanding Collaboration’ for Sheer (2002), the Peoples’ Choice Award from the Festival De La Nouvelle Danse in Montreal (2002), the South Bank Show Award for Dance (2003), the Olivier Award for best new dance production for Broken Fall (2003), and Best Choreography (Modern) at the UK’s 2005 National Dance Awards.

Push is a slow, sensual duet, almost as if it is being sculpted in zero gravity. Rolling, cascading, their bodies in freefall or pushing energy between them, the artists are captured by the intimacy of such richly physical language. Maliphant’s choreography has never felt so emotional. Transmission is a new work created for an ensemble of 5 performers taking Maliphant’s exploration of fluidity, dynamics and tensions into new territory -- marrying this with Michael Hulls’s brilliant lighting. The soundscape by Mukul is an evocative and sculptural audio element, a subtle foil to the choreography. One Part II is a highly effective 15-minute solo by Maliphant to the sounds of Glenn Gould playing Bach. Maliphant weaves, twists and bends in episodic fashion under the blaze of intermittent overhead search lights. He is both exposed and hidden, for, while his body and head are clearly visible, his face is not. He becomes an ‘Everyman’ figure, without personality and caged by his own humanity.

“Clarity of vision and incisive brilliance... charged and enigmatic work”

The Independent

“Superbly executed optical illusions which allow us to feel that the dancers have transcended gravity and are momentarily occupying a world with no constraints”

Dance Theatre Journal

“Light, shadow and distance were used enchantingly to create new spaces and make the 'stage' all but disappear. Can you imagine a live fairytale hologram floating in a black void? Very special.”

Live Art Magazine

“.. in a searching, yet grounded, state of grace… Maliphant doesn’t need to parade his technique under the banner of heavy-breathing art. He just does it, and with beautiful concentration.”

Donald Hutera , DanceEurope, June 2002

“Maliphant has a Bachian combination of powerful body yet consummate lightness of touch, and not a shred of self-absorption. He really is a sublime choreographer.”

Ismene Brown , The Daily Telegraph, May 2002

“The choreography unfolds like silk wrapping around a precious jewel, lightly touched, lovingly handled; lifts resonate with declarations of shared tenderness.”

Debra Craine ,The Times, April 2002

CHOREOGRAPHY Russell Maliphant

Push (2005)
MUSIC Andy Cowton

Transmission
LIGHTING Michael Hulls SOUNDSCAPE Mukul

One Part II (2002)
LIGHTING Michael Hulls PERFORMER Russell Maliphant MUSIC J.S. Bach

The Russell Maliphant Company performs Push, Transmission, and One Part II in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre on Thursday November 30, 2006 at 19:30. Tickets are $44.50, $42, and $32.50 for adults and $23.50, $22.25, and $17.50 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card). Tickets are available at the NAC Box Office (in person) and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at (613) 755-1111; Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’s website at www.nac-cna.ca. Same-day Live Rush tickets (subject to availability) for full-time students (aged 13-29) are $10 at the NAC Box Office between 14:00 and 18:00 on the day of performance only, upon presentation of a valid ‘Live Rush’ card. Groups of 10 or more save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices to all NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances; to reserve your seats, call 947-7000 ext. 384 or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca.

Photos for all dance events can be viewed and downloaded at: www.nac-cna.ca/media/

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Information:
Gerald Morris
Marketing and Media Relations
NAC Dance Department
(613) 947-7000, ext. 249
gmorris@nac-cna.ca

RUSSELL MALIPHANT
Russell Maliphant trained at the Royal Ballet School and graduated into Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet before leaving to pursue a career in independent dance, working with companies such as DV8 Physical Theatre, Michael Clark & Company, Laurie Booth Company, Rosemary Butcher, Kirsty Simson, and Peter Boneham (as choreographic mentor). He has studied anatomy, physiology, bio-mechanics, and the Rolfing Method of Structural Integration and has explored a diverse range of techniques including classical ballet, contact improvisation, yoga and capoeira.

Russell began creating and perfoming in his own works in 1991 and in April 2000 he received an Arts Council Fellowship. He has created over 20 pieces to date, collaborating closely with lighting designer Michael Hulls and has set works on the George Piper Dances, Lyon Opera Ballet, Ricochet Dance Company, The Batsheva Ensemble, and Ballet de Lorraine.

Russell Maliphant has developed a highly individual movement vocabulary, and has received a Dance Umbrella/Time Out Award for Dance Performance in 1991 for ‘raising improvisational dance to new heights’. In 2003, Russell Maliphant created Broken Fall with Sylvie Guillem and George Piper Dances, with music by Barry Adamson, which won an Olivier award for best New Dance Production. Russell was awarded a South Bank Show award for Dance in 2003.

He teaches regularly in the UK and abroad and maintains a private practice in the Rolfing Method of Structural Integration.

“A choreographer of persistent accomplishment and a performer of enduring fascination …mesmerizing”

The Times

“[Maliphant] is supremely present in everything he does, able to draw on resources of movement others can only dream about”

The Observer