Sean Curran Company Dances At Debartolo
By Leigh Hayden
Director of External Relations, Debartolo Performing Arts Center
NOTRE DAME — From Thursday to Saturday, Oct. 1–3, Seán Curran Company will lead audiences on a journey to Walt Whitman’s “City of Friends” in a lyrical quest for common ground over three nights of cutting-edge contemporary dance. Curran unites for the third time with the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center for the world premiere of a commissioned work in dance.
This time Curran showcases his New York-based company’s distinct style paired with live music from Central Asia’s Silk Road in a unique dance concert. The traditional Kyrgyz music ensemble Ustatshakirt Plus enriches themes about dreams and the ideal of harmony inspired by American poet’s short but powerful poem “I Dream’d in a Dream” from Leaves of Grass.
“I couldn’t be more excited to share the stage with this remarkable group of musicians,” said Curran, artistic director and choreographer. “Whitman’s poem is about people coming together, a dream that there be peaceful, loving communities in the world. In a way this project is a dream come true for me—making a piece with an international ensemble like Ustatshakirt Plus, and having its lead commissioner be Notre Dame.”
One of today’s most refreshing choreographers, Curran, according to The New York Times, is a “breathtaking tour de force.” An artist with a background in Irish step dance, postmodern experimental and Broadway hoofing, Curran is known for having the “sharp intelligence of a conceptualist and the raw physicality of an athlete.”
As part of its audience development program, the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center is offering regular tickets to the Thursday world premiere of Dream’d In a Dream at a reduced price of $22. Regular tickets on Friday and Saturday night are $28. Tickets for youth and students are $15 all three nights. This performance is part of the Robert M. and Ricki Conway Dance Series and features a week of community engagement and arts education activities led by Curran. Curran will also participate in post-performance “talk backs” immediately following the Thursday and Friday performances.