Mark Morris Dance Group to appear at the Quick Center Oct. 28 | Press Releases

The internationally acclaimed Mark Morris Dance Group will appear at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. This year marks the company's 25th Anniversary. Following the performance, the company will participate in an Art-to Heart question and answer with the audience.

Known for its innovative choreography and electrifying work, MMDG, as it is known, has risen from the 1980 modest beginning that was a group of friends with a passion for dance performing in a rented New York City studio to a formidable Brooklyn-based company of 18 full-time dancers, a repertoire that includes over 125 original dances, the MMDG Music Ensemble and a national and international itinerary of 100 performances during this celebratory Anniversary year.

The program features four original Mark Morris creations: "The Argument" with music by Robert Schumann focuses on three pairs of dancers in six vignettes; "Candleflowerdance" with music by Igor Stravinsky, is a dance created for the late writer and intellectual, Susan Sontag; "Rock of Ages," a commissioned piece, is danced to the accompaniment of violin, cello and piano playing Franz Schubert's Piano Trio in E Flat, Adagio, D897; and "Grand Duo" with music by Lou Harrison rounds out the evening with an extravagant creation that draws on the talent of a large part of the ensemble.

Mark Morris, who turned 50 years old in August, recently told a Los Angeles Times reporter, "I figured I would eventually be a successful choreographer ... I always intended to make up dances to music ... But I could never have imagined the ... scale of the work." Morris, noted for his musicality, has been described as "undeviating in his devotion to music and praised for his "ability to conjure so many contradictory styles and emotions."

Throughout his spectacular career, he has directed and choreographed for major opera companies in the U.S. and in Europe; he has created ballets for, among others, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Geneva Ballet, and New Zealand Ballet; in 1990 he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov with whom he still collaborates; he has been the subject of books and documentary films; still, he explores new ideas with collaborators that range from Yo-Yo Ma to Isaac Mizrahi. The Associated Press described his work as, "layered, humor-filled dances ... from quirky trios set to country music to grand ensemble pieces ... Morris probes the wonders, hopelessness and absurdities of the human condition, using music as his starting point."

The addition of live music for all performances began in 1996 when the MMDG Music Ensemble was formed. MMDG's commitment to live music enhances each program through artistic communication between choreographer, dancer and musician. The Ensemble is under the direction of Wolfram Koessel.

Single tickets are $40, $35, $30. Subscribers to the "Dance America" series save 20 percent. Call the Quick Center Box Office at (203) 254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396 to purchase tickets. For more information, visit the website, www.quickcenter.com.