Nazareth College Arts Center presents Jessica Lang Dance – led by 2014 Bessie Award winner – on March 7

ROCHESTER, NY (02/05/2015)(readMedia)-- The Nazareth College Arts Center is proud to present Jessica Lang Dance on Saturday, March 7, 2015, at 8 p.m. in the Callahan Theater. Jessica Lang Dance (JLD) is dedicated to creating and performing the artfully crafted, contemporary works of 2014 Bessie Award-winning choreographer, Jessica Lang.

Ticket holders may attend a free pre-performance lecture with members of the company at 7 p.m. in the Peace Theater (room A14), located in the lower level of the Arts Center.

Visit http://artscenter.naz.edu/newsroom/media-resources for photos.

ABOUT JESSICA LANG

"With a long list of commissioned works to her name, as well as a stint dancing with Twyla Tharp, Jessica Lang finally has a canvas of her own to work on. Lang, whose New York City-based troupe made its full-company debut at Jacob's Pillow on July 25, (2012) is a master of visual composition." -Dance Magazine

"Lang was formerly a dancer with Twyla Tharp, and like Tharp she has the gift of cramming together an eclectic range of colours and ideas without losing thought with her individual sensibility." -The Guardian

Jessica Lang is a choreographer and the artistic director of Jessica Lang Dance. Hailed as "a master of visual composition" by Dance Magazine, Lang seamlessly incorporates striking design elements and transforms classical ballet language into artfully crafted, emotionally engaging contemporary works.

Lang is the recipient of a prestigious 2014 Bessie Award for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer. Her ballet Lyric Pieces earned a nomination for a 2013 Manchester Theatre Award, and her receipt of a 2010 Joyce Theater Artist Residency helped launch her company, Jessica Lang Dance, in 2011.

Since 1999, Lang has set more than 80 works on companies worldwide including Birmingham Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Japan, Joffrey Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Ballet San Jose, Richmond Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Ailey II, American Ballet Theatre II, Hubbard Street 2, and New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute. American Ballet Theatre has presented her work at the Metropolitan Opera House, and she has received commissions from the Dallas Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum.

Lang is on faculty of American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, is a teaching artist for the Make A Ballet program, and her work has been performed by numerous educational institutions. With her strong belief in the importance of education, Lang recently developed her own methodology called LANGuage, which teaches individuals from all populations to cultivate the habit of creative thinking through exercise.

A graduate of The Juilliard School under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy, Lang is a former member of Twyla Tharp's company, THARP!

ABOUT JESSICA LANG DANCE

Founded in 2011, JLD is a New York City-based company dedicated to creating and performing the work of Jessica Lang. According to the company's website, "JLD enriches and inspires global audiences by immersing them in the beauty of movement and music."

Since the company's inception, marked by Lang's receipt of a Joyce Theater Artist Residency supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, JLD has enjoyed rapid success performing at renowned venues and festivals throughout the country, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival, the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, the Joyce Theater, and the Winspear Opera House in Dallas, where the company's performance was chosen as the best dance event of 2013.

In 2014, JLD received rave reviews for Scape, commissioned by the Kennedy Center and the National Symphony Orchestra to John Adams' Violin Concerto, and played live by violinist Leila Josefowicz with the National Symphony Orchestra.

In 2015, JLD will tour to eight cities, including an international engagement in Istanbul, Turkey and the company's first-ever performances in its home base of Queens, as well as perform a two-week run at Jacob's Pillow, marking the company's third Pillow season since its debut there in 2012.

TICKETS

Tickets to Jessica Lang Dance are $35-$65. For tickets, call – or visit – the Box Office: 585-389-2170; or order tickets online: artscenter.naz.edu.

The Nazareth College Arts Center Box Office is located on campus, at 4245 East Avenue, Rochester, New York, 14618. Regular box office hours are Monday- Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and 11 a.m. until curtain time on performance days.

SPONSOR INFORMATION

The Nazareth College Arts Center's 2014-2015 subscription series is sponsored by M&T Bank; Wendy's Restaurants of Rochester; and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Jessica Lang Dance is sponsored by Sponsored by Susan and Steven Eisinger and Helga and Paul Morgan.

ABOUT THE NAZARETH COLLEGE ARTS CENTER

Since 1967, the Nazareth College Arts Center has served as a venue and educational resource for students, educators, artists, and audiences of all ages to create, study, and experience the visual and performing arts. These cultural programs support the College's curriculum in music, art, and theatre arts, and provide area residents with opportunities to experience exceptional dance, international entertainment, family programming, music, musical theatre, and special events.

The Nazareth College Arts Center

• is a nonprofit institution.
• is the premier presenter of world-class dance, children's theatre, and international entertainment in Rochester.
• attracts approximately 70,000 adults and children annually.
• houses the Nazareth College departments of art, music, and theatre arts, which present exceptional theatre productions, musicals, recitals, and art exhibitions each year (events are open to the public), while preparing students for successful careers in fields such as art, music, and drama education; visual communication design; studio art; film; creative arts therapy; acting; musical theatre; dance; technical theatre and design; music performance; and music business.
• serves as a venue for auditions, art classes, music lessons, recitals, fundraisers, lectures, community theater productions, camps, workshops, and graduations.
• offers a School Performance Series which serves thousands of area K-12 students/teachers each year.
• is the performance home of Rochester City Ballet and world-renowned Garth Fagan Dance, as well as the home of the Bach Children's Chorus.
• is a state-of-the-art performing Arts Center located on a College campus.

For more information, visit artscenter.naz.edu.

###