FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Media Contact: Karen Hershenson
(415) 677-0328 or Karen@performances.org

[Editors: For a copy of this release and downloadable, high-resolution
photos, go to www.performances.org and click on the Pressroom link.]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AVANT-GARDE CANADIAN COMPAGNIE MARIE CHOUINARD RETURNS TO BAY AREA

Program for April performances includes works set to music by Stravinsky,
Debussy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
San Francisco, CA – One of North America’s most audacious and physical dance
companies, Montreal’s Compagnie Marie Chouinard, returns with a program of
two works, “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” and “The Rite of Spring,” at
8 p.m. Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11 at Novellus Theater at Yerba
Buena Center for the Arts, presented by San Francisco Performances.

Set to Claude Debussy’s famous music, “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”
is a solo piece that was first performed in 1994 at the Taipei International
Dance Festival in Taiwan. “The Rite of Spring” was created the year before,
and was Marie Chouinard’s first choreography based on a musical score.
Unlike previous choreographers working with Stravinsky´s piece, she
constructs her “Rite” around solos.

“There is no story in my ‘Rite’ ” Chouinard explains, “no development, no
cause and effect. Only synchronicity. It is as if I were dealing with the
very moment after the instant life first appeared. The performance is the
unfolding of that moment. I have the feeling that before that moment there
was an extraordinary burst of light, a flash of lightning.”

Marie Chouinard's career spans 30 years as an important solo artist,
choreographer and Artistic Director of Compagnie Marie Chouinard. In more
than 50 dances, action performances, installations and vocal works since her
first in 1978, she has earned her place among the world’s most innovative,
original and independent dance artists. The company has toured regularly
throughout North America and Europe; San Francisco Performances presented
its Bay Area debut in September 2005.

Tickets to the April performances are $39 and $27. For more information call
(415) 392-2545, or visit www.performances.org.

About San Francisco Performances
San Francisco Performances is recognized as one of the leading presenters in
the world. Founded by Ruth Felt in 1979 with a season of seven concerts, the
organization is now in its 29th season and proudly features more than 60
mainstage performances of chamber music, recitals, contemporary dance and
jazz. Through the years, SFP has presented more than 100 premieres and San
Francisco debuts, introducing such acclaimed artists in recital as pianist
Thomas Adès, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, as well as
presenting international dance companies such as Israel’s Batsheva and
Spain’s Compañía Nacional de Danza.


CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:

SAN FRANCISCO PERFORMANCES PRESENTS
COMPAGNIE MARIE CHOUINARD

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11
WHERE: Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St.,
San Francisco
PROGRAM: “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” and “The Rite of Spring”
TICKETS: $39/$27
CONTACT: (415) 392-2545, www.performances.org

############