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ISHIDA Dance Company, the only company named in Dance Magazine’s “25 to watch” for 2023, in collaboration with The Hobby Center presents “keepsake” featuring works choreographed by ISHIDA, French choreographer Jeremy Galdeano commissioned by Les Grands Ballets and Mannheim National Theater, and Swedish dancer and choreographer formerly with tanzmainz John Wannehag. “Keepsake” will play Houston January 12-13, 2024 at The Hobby Center. The program includes two world premieres of original ISHIDA poetic narratives: an arresting men’s duet referencing the Greek tragedy “Seven against Thebes” called “warm my bones”; and the feature work “keepsake”, which explores a dissociative fugue state and what might have provoked it. The program also features works by two respected but rarely seen in the US, European choreographers: the critically acclaimed work “If the world was ending, would you hold me tight?” by Swedish choreographer John Wannehag and the world premiere “You look strange—you look happy” by French choreographer Jeremy Galdeano whose work has been presented in Canada, Germany, Italy and Mexico. The evening promises to be a unique opportunity to see some of best and most interesting choreography from Europe, Canada, and the US.
World Premiere of keepsake | HOUSTON, TX
January 12-13, 2024 | Friday – Saturday at 7:30 pm
Hobby Center for the Performing Arts | 800 Bagby St. Houston, TX 77002
Tickets: $40-$75/VIP $105
*VIP tickets include premium seating and access to post performance reception to meet the dancers and choreographers with complimentary wine.
Website: www.ishidadance.org
About ISHIDA Dance Company
ISHIDA is a new world-class contemporary dance company based in Austin and Houston, Texas and the only company in the US to be nationally recognized in Dance Magazine’s prestigious “25 to watch” list for 2023. ISHIDA features venerated dancers from many of the top companies in the world (Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, English National Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, LA Dance Project, Ballet BC, Netherlands Dance Theater, GöteborgsOperan, tanzmainz, Les Ballets Jazz, Marie Chouinard, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch). ISHIDA blends contemporary dance with theatrical elements while retaining the physicality and beauty of the human form from traditional ballet. ISHIDA presents unique poetic narratives relevant to a modern audience that invite existential questions. The work explores archetypal patterns and themes of our psyche such as betrayal, belonging, love and loss, to encourage a tender kindness towards ourselves that extends to others.
About Brett Ishida – Artistic Director
Brett Ishida is Japanese American and grew up on a citrus farm in California’s Central Valley. Brett’s love for dance inspired her to move away from home at age fifteen when she received a full scholarship to the Kirov Academy and later to the School of American Ballet in NYC. She then danced with Boston Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, where she first choreographed on the company, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montréal where she toured around the world. At Les Grands Ballets, she collaborated in new creations with choreographers and performed principal and soloist roles in repertoire by Nacho Duato, George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Jirí Kylián, Didy Veldman and Ohad Naharin, among others.
She later graduated from UCLA earning a BA in Literature with emphasis in Creative Writing (Poetry), and MA in Montessori Education from St. Mary’s. She felt by combining those two worlds from her past, she could be a new voice in contemporary dance and started ISHIDA in 2019.
Already a sought-out choreographer for her work, Ishida was commissioned by venerated ballerina and Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet now Co-Artistic Director of Houston Ballet, Julie Kent, to create a ballet for their NEXTsteps program held in June 2022 and was performed again in November 2022 at The Kennedy Center. Pulitzer-prize winning dance critic Sarah L. Kaufman from The Washington Post deemed Ishida’s piece homecoming which “tackled a deeply poignant, poetic theme” to be “remarkable.”
Brett Ishida’s work intertwines reflections of ancient timeless themes of Greek philosophy and poetry with subconscious memories which shape who we are and where we are going. Her company, ISHIDA, creates 'memory houses' for audiences where themes and characters build relationships and familiarity in imitation of life’s enigma.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby Street, Ste. 300,Houston,TX,United States
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