In March, the New York-based Mark Morris Dance Group returns to its Midwest home at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Over the course of its one-week residency, the company will conduct public engagement work with the Champaign, Urbana and U. of I. community and present two ticketed performances of “Pepperland.”
“Pepperland” pays tribute to the iconic Beatles album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” featuring a score by Ethan Iverson that fuses arrangements of the classic Beatles tunes with six original pieces. Alongside the dancers, a live chamber music ensemble helps bring this work to life in the Tryon Festival Theatre on Friday, March 8, and Saturday, March 9.
Through workshops, master classes and other outreach programs, the members of the group and the MMDG Music Ensemble will work with groups at Cunningham Children’s Home, Lincoln’s ChalleNGe Academy, Clark-Lindsey Village, Champaign Park District and Urbana Fine Arts Center, students of Dance at Illinois, Lyric Theatre@Illinois, Illinois Theatre and the School of Music. Two of the group’s events will be free and open to thepublic–the Dance for People with Parkinson’s Disease workshopFriday, March 8, at 10 a.m.in the Drama Rehearsal Room and the Family Fun intergenerational dance fitness classSaturday, March 9, at 10 a.m. in the Orchestra Rehearsal Room.
For tickets and more information, visit KrannertCenter.com or call 217-333-6280.