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01.14.09

Contacts: Jessica Moore, Communications Coordinator, jkmoore@emory.edu, 404-727-1687; Sally Corbett, Director, Communications & Marketing, sacorbe@emory.edu, 404-727-6678

GENRE-BREAKING COLLABORATIVE PERFORMANCES BY VEGA STRING QUARTET, CHOREOGRAPHER GEORGE STAIB, AND 22 METRO DANCERS  

Dinner-and-a-Show Promotion by Café Lily Celebrates Opening Night Feb. 12 and Valentine’s Day Reception with the Artists Follows Feb. 14 Performance

“Contemporary Dance – Vintage Music: George Staib and the Vega Quartet in Concert” features a fluid evening of new dances to live musical accompaniment of works from the last two-and-a-half centuries beginning with a lively Bach suite, continuing through classic works by Stravinsky and Bartok and finishing with a riveting score by contemporary composer Richard Einhorn. The Vega String Quartet, Emory University’s quartet-in-residence, and choreographer George Staib of the Emory Dance Program faculty produced this exciting evening running Feb. 12-14, 2009 at 8 p.m. in Emory’s Performing Arts Studio, 1804 N. Decatur Rd., Atlanta, GA, 30322. Staib's inventive, witty choreography takes the dancers – 22 Atlanta-based professionals – behind, below and around the musicians often creating surprising moments of interaction. Tickets ($20 public; $15 discount category members; Emory students free) can be purchased from the Arts at Emory box office by calling 404-727-5050 or online at www.arts.emory.edu.

This unique artistic collaboration seeks to celebrate the musicians and dancers equally. Rather than being sequestered to an orchestra pit, Vega will display their technical prowess alongside the virtuosic dancers. “The musicality and humility of these musicians are the most inspirational aspects of this project,” says Staib.

The dances range from solos to larger group works, and they explore themes of discovery, community and individuality. From a curatorial collaboration with Vega, Staib created dances with an ear towards both the historical and emotional contexts derived from the musical selections. The result is a rare, genre-breaking joint venture of like-minded artists to fill the performance space with the energy of live music and dance.   

This project has involved many people from Emory and the metro-Atlanta arts community. Anthony Pitillo, Chef of Decatur’s Café Lily, has jumped in the mix by offering a prix fixe menu on opening night, Thurs., Feb. 12, 2009. Diners enjoy a three-course dinner, chauffeured ride to the Performing Arts Studio performance and a return ride to Café Lily for drinks and desserts. Reservations for the dinner-and-a-show package can be made by calling 404-371-9119.

Ticketholders for the final performance on Sat., Feb. 14, are invited to stay afterwards for a special Valentine’s Day reception with the artists featuring champagne, dessert, music and dancing.

More information about the artists and a calendar listing follow.

About George Staib
As a choreographer, Staib has been honored with awards and citations both nationally and internationally for his work. He received top honors for choreography in the Prague Dance and Theatre Prize 2000, held in the Czech Republic; was awarded the Governor’s Prize from the Philadelphia Council on the Arts in 1994 while still a student; and was the recipient of the Walkley Prize and the Weiss Prize for the Arts, both for his choreography. His work has been extensively commissioned and produced in over 20 states. With an eye for detail and an ear bent toward sublime musicality, Staib’s work effortlessly intertwines dancers, intricately moves them through space and creates physical dynamics that not only stir but satisfy.

Critical Acclaim for George Staib

“Fascinating movement nuances, a mastery of spatial techniques, surprising theatricality coupled with intense depth of expression.” – Eric Matherson, Philadelphia Inquirer

“Sensitive, stylish and imaginative.” – Eric Matherson, Las Vegas Review Journal

“Dance with integrity is not seen often enough…Encore, encore, Mr. Staib.” – Hal DeBecker, Las Vegas Review Journal

“A stand-out performer.” - Susan Elliot, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

About the Vega String Quartet
Quartet-in-Residence at Emory University, the Vega String Quartet is on the cutting edge of the new generation of chamber music ensembles. After the Vega made its Lincoln Center debut in 2001 the New York Times raved "playing that had a kind of clean intoxication to it, pulling the listener along…the musicians took real risks in their music making…" and the Los Angeles Times praised their "Triumphant L.A. Debut” in 2002. Other recent engagements include performances in Paris, Cologne, Mexico City, New York, Tokyo, Vancouver and Atlanta. They have appeared at numerous music festivals including Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Rockport, Highlands-Cashiers, Musicorda, Kingston and SummerFest La Jolla among others.

The Vega Quartet has won numerous international competitions including four of the top six prizes at the 1999 Bordeaux String Quartet Competition (including the international music critics' prize), the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition, the Carmel Chamber Music Competition, and the National Society of Arts and Letters String Quartet Competition.  

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EDITORS NOTE: Photographs available upon request.

CALENDAR LISTING

“Contemporary Dance-Vintage Music: George Staib and the Vega Quartet in Concert,” Feb. 12-14, 8 p.m., Performing Arts Studio, 1804 N. Decatur Rd., public $20; patrons under 18 and over 65 and other discount category members $15; Emory students free, 404-727-5050, www.arts.emory.edu. Post-concert reception on Sat., Feb. 14. Boundaries are broken and relationships are forged in this collaborative performance by the Vega String Quartet and choreographer George Staib. This event will bring the music audience to dance and the dance audience to incomparably played live music as it honors this all-too-rare opportunity. Staib presents new work that escorts the music to the foreground and delivers visceral connections to the surface while the Vega plays music by Bela Bartok, Richard Einhorn, Ben Johnston and others. The evening will seamlessly integrate the Vega Quartet into the visual landscape of dance and features Atlanta-area dance professionals. It's like two performances in one! This project is sponsored in part in by a grant from the Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts.

ABOUT EMORY UNIVERSITY CREATIVITY & ARTS
Launched in fall 2008, the Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts (CCA) celebrates, nurtures, and inspires the act of making and studying art, and the intellectual creativity everywhere evident in a vibrant university community. CCA seeks to make creativity, and the arts, central to Emory as a liberal arts institution, and to what it most values. This department and campus arts consortium encourages artistic and scholarly inquiry; collaboration across disciplines; support and resources for Emory artists and scholars; passion for artistic excellence that allows for risk taking, originality, vision and revision. The CCA works closely with the Emory University Creativity & Arts Strategic Initiative on interdisciplinary collaborations, audience development activities, grantmaking and special programs exploring creativity.

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