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PHILADELPHIA, PA: Many non-profit arts organizations face anxious times in the current financial crisis, but the Rebecca Davis Dance Company chooses to find its inspiration. Philadelphia entrepreneur and choreographer Rebecca Davis brings one of the country’s most explosive corporate scandals to the stage in a world premiere performance unlike anything else dance patrons will see this season: GREED: The Tale of Enron, coming to the Prince Music Theatre on January 30th and 31st, 2009.
Last April, Philadelphia’s Broad Street Review lauded Rebecca Davis’s DARFUR as combining “the best qualities of expressionist dance movement” with her ability to “powerfully capture” her story and theme. This winter, Ms. Davis turns her talents to another real-life contemporary tale a bit closer to home: the $50 billion rise and fall of the American energy giant Enron.
GREED: The Tale of Enron follows the careers of Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling and other real-life players like Ken Lay, Andrew Fastow and Cliff Baxter. Set to the edgy and evocative sounds of contemporary alternative rock, the performance explores the rivalries, ambitions, deceptions, and greed that powered Enron’s meteoric ascent. Enron lobbyists ensured the deregulation to allow lucrative years of sky-high mark-to-market “profits” and stock manipulations…until the world demanded the real balance sheet. The resulting turmoil juxtaposes the poignant scruple and bold avarice behind a modern tale whose echoes grow louder and louder in the US economy’s current chaos.
“I’m always looking for the important stories that can be elevated to new awareness through dance performance,” Rebecca Davis says of her unusual choice of topics for her ballets. “Dance and the performing arts can be a powerful instigator for audiences to become more involved in real-life issues, and the lessons of the Enron story are so relevant to everyone’s concerns right now, today.” As founder and Artistic Director of her own professional non-profit, Rebecca Davis knows firsthand the challenges facing American businesspeople this year, but also sees the opportunities of the controversy.
For her second full-scale production on the Prince Music Theatre’s mainstage, Rebecca Davis welcomes back dancers from last spring’s DARFUR, including Kyle DuPree of New Jersey, New York’s Brent Whitney, and Philadelphia native Lauren Putty. Joining the Company for the first time is California native Troy Macklin, and Jillian Mitchell arrives from Michigan. Other new cast members include Cedric Greene, Allison Sale, Charles Russell, Vanessa Wood and Danielle Grimm. Also new to the Company is Set Designer Curtis Coyote, whom Rebecca Davis welcomes along with Philadelphia Lighting Designer Joshua Shulman, who is designing his third show for the Company.
GREED: The Tale of Enron comes to the Prince Music Theatre on Friday, January 30th and Saturday, January 31st at 8pm. Tickets, $25-$30, go on sale through the Upstages Box Office November 15th, with a special $20 price available through December 15th on advance purchase of tickets to the two-show season.
JUST THE FACTS:
Who: The Rebecca Davis Dance Company
What: GREED: The Tale of Enron, a world premiere ballet based on the Enron scandal
Where:
The Prince Music Theatre
The Avenue of the Arts
1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
When: Friday, January 30th and Saturday, January 31st at 8pm
Tickets: $30 General Admission,
$25 for dance professionals and students with valid ID
On sale November 15th at the Prince Box Office and by phone at 215-569-9700
Contact: Alaina Mabaso, Public Relations Trustee
215-605-9985; Ajj1ao@aol.com |
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