Itutu

Part of the 2009 Next Wave Festival

Nov 4, 6 & 7 at 7:30pm

Armitage Gone! Dance
Choreographed by Karole Armitage

"[Armitage] is always pushing the limits of possibility, spectacularly deconstructing the body with a diabolic flair." —Le Nouvel Observateur (France)

Whether choreographing works for Mikhail Baryshnikov or Michael Jackson; for the Paris Opera Ballet or Broadway (Hair, Passing Strange), former “punk ballerina” Karole Armitage is known for her edgy, unbridled energy and hyper-kinetic take on the contemporary zeitgeist.

For the US premiere of Itutu, Armitage collaborates with African pop band Burkina Electric and band member/composer Lukas Ligeti to create a haunting yet unabashedly festive fusion of dance and live music. Club electronica and ancient Burkinabé rhythms combine with off-kilter ballet and traditional African dance as Burkina Electric performs onstage with the Armitage Gone! Dance company, creating a world in which the modern and the traditional, the pop and the spiritual co-exist in a celebratory meeting ground.


BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
70min, no intermission
Tickets: $20, 30, 35, 45


With live music by Burkina Electric and band member Lukas Ligeti
Costumes designed by Peter Speliopoulos
Set design by Philip Taaffe


Itutu was created with lead commissioning support from the L’ E. A. R. Teatro Massimo Vincenzo Bellini di Catania in Catania, Italy. The work received its World Premiere with the title Summer of Love on May 21, 2009 at Teatro Bellini. Additional commissioning support was provided by the BAM 2009 Next Wave Festival and Lincoln Center for Lincoln Center Out of Doors.

NY Times on Armitage’s collaboration with Ligeti and Burkina Electric
“To me, cool does mean grace under pressure…It is an attitude of behavior in the world, of a kind of dignity and rigor in the face of whatever you come up against.”
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NY Mag Profiles Karole Armitage
“Seek beauty. Show mutability. Move like a blaze of consciousness. Perfection is the devil. Express the eroticism of gravity.”
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WNYC features Lukas Ligeti and Burkina Electric on Soundcheck
The Itutu artists play live in the WNYC Soundcheck studio.
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Deborah Jowitt’s Village Voice review of Armitage Gone! Dance’s in this dream that dogs me
“Fiercely pure….Armitage follows a path cleared by George Balanchine…she presents the performers as molten steel cooling into stunning shapes, yet also reminds us that they are not clones of a technique but individuals, with minds, moods, and imperfections of their own”
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Joan Acocella’s New Yorker feature on Karole Armitage
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Vanity Fair’s 1986 feature on “punk ballerina” Karole Armitage“There’s a new star in the dance firmament. Karole Armitage, punk princess of the downtown scene, catapults uptown next month when her ballet for Baryshnikov and American Ballet Theatre premieres…”
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Official Website: Armitage Gone! Dance
Visit the official website of Karol Armitage’s company for photos and video of the dancers in action
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Official Myspace Page: Lukas Ligeti
Visit the official Myspace page of composer/musician Lukas Ligeti
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Official Website: Burkina Electric
Visit the official website of Burkina Faso’s first electronica band
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Audio: KadmusArts Interviews Lukas Ligeti
Lukas Ligeti, bandleader of Burkina Electric, speaks with KadmusArts about cultural fusion, integrating electronics into his music, and collaborating with Karole Armitage on Itutu.