Wednesday, November 29, 2017 – 7:30pm Thursday, November 30, 2017 – 7:30pm

WOLF-IN-SKINS   excerpts from the dance opera

NOVEMBER 29 & 30  at 7:30PM
SEI Innovation Studio, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad Street
Tickets $10 at the Kimmel Box Office

Philadelphia Dance Projects in partnership with American Opera Projects will present an “Informance” with Choreographer, Christopher Williams and Composer, Gregory Spears as the culmination of a creative artist residency to further develop their original dance opera, WOLF-IN-SKINS.

An “Informance” is a work-in-progress showing, where the artists are in conversation with the audience about the content of the work, their ideas and inspiration.  Dancers, singers and musicians will perform sections from the work.

Wolves, hounds, fay milkmaids and other mythical characters fill this dance opera that draws inspiration from a cycle of Welsh romance tales that preserve pre-Celtic and pre-Christian elements. It views marginalized or outmoded cultural relics, celebrating the “otherness” inherent in early Welsh literature, through a contemporary lens.

Christopher Williams, hailed as “one of the most exciting choreographic voices out there” in The New York Times and “the downtown prodigy” in The New Yorker, is a choreographer, dancer and puppeteer who has been devoted to crafting and performing choreographic works in New York City and abroad since 1999 including recent collaborations choreographing operas directed by Peter Sellars and Michel Fau.

Gregory Spears writes instrumental and vocal music that blends together stylistic aspects of romanticism, minimalism and early music. The Chicago Tribune hailed the music of Spears’ “Fellow Travelers” (premiered in 2016) as one of the “most accomplished new American operas in recent years …his setting of words to music is masterly.”

This project is supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, the William Penn Foundation, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, PA Arts Council Project Stream grant administered by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and Individual Donors.

Operatic elements tell the story while dance explores the dreaminess of the mythology…it’s a visual feast.”  – Merilyn Jackson, Philadelphia Inquirer

If you were one of the lucky audience to see the Philadelphia Dance Projects’ sold out performances of Wolf-In-Skins, Act 1 in 2013 you know how exciting this work is! 
A PDP special residency will begin in 2017 and culminate with a script in hand presentation in the Fall when some of those marvelous singers, wolves and hounds, along with new puppets will return.
PDP has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a creative residency with choreographer, Christopher Williams and composer Gregory Spears to work towards finishing this wonderful dance opera.  

“Dance and opera certainly have been blended over the centuries, but not often with the sort of intensive interaction demanded by [choreographer] Williams and composer Gregory Spears, both seemingly fearless about striking out in new direction.” David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia InquirerLocation: SEI Innovation Studio, Kimmel Center300 S. Broad StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19102See map: Google Maps

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