Rosas Opens Irvine Barclay Dance Series

An exclusive Southern California appearance by Rosas, a company based in Belgium, will begin the Irvine Barclay Theatre’s 1997-98 contemporary dance series Oct. 14.

Rosas has been the company-in-residence at the Thea^tre de la Monnaie, Belgium’s national opera house in Brussels, since 1992. Founded by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in 1983, the company succeeded the Mark Morris Dance Group after its three-year residency at the theater.

The Morris company will close the Irvine series.

Rosas will dance the Southern California premiere of “Woud” (The Woods), a full-evening work set to Berg’s Lyric Suite,n Schoenberg’s “Verklarte Nacht” and one of Wagner’s five “Wesendonck” Songs as rescored for soprano and string sextet.

Ursula Hesse will be the soloist. The music will be played live by the British Duke Quartet and two guest artists (the Berg piece was written for string quartet; Schoenberg’s was written for string sextet). “Woud” will start with a film segment choreographed and danced by De Keersmaeker, directed by Thierry De Mey.

Elizabeth Streb’s Streb/Ringside company will dance “PopAction” on Feb. 3. Streb’s work typically puts great physical demands on the dancers, who often are required to bounce and crash off walls and other surfaces. The program’s 10 pieces will include “Wall/Line,” “Bounce,” “Little Ease” and “Surface.”

The Batsheva Dance Company from Tel Aviv, founded in 1963, will bring a program of mixed repertory by the company’s artistic director, Ohad Naharin, on March 11. The Batsheva’s tour is in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

The series will conclude May 7-9, 1998, with a return engagement of the Morris group in a series of shorter works by Morris, including a work to be created, “Instruments of Grace.” The company, founded in 1984, last appeared at the Irvine Barclay in 1994.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

CONTEMPORARY DANCE

The 1997-98 series:

* Oct. 14: Rosas

* Feb. 3: Streb/Ringside

* March 11: The Batsheva Dance Company

* May 7-9: The Mark Morris Dance Group

All performances at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. Curtain: 8 p.m. Series tickets: $95. Single ticket prices will be announced later. (714) 854-4646.