By Steve Sucato

After two Covid-related cancellations, Pittsburgh audiences will finally experience the U.S. premiere of contemporary flamenco artist Rocio Molina’s Caída del Cielo (Fallen from Heaven). The one-woman, full-length, multimedia dance-theater piece kicks off the Pittsburgh Dance Council’s 2023-24 season on Saturday, September 23, at the Byham Theater.

In it, Molina contrasts light and darkness, celestial and savage. Accompanied by a live band, Caída del Cielo (Contains partial nudity) “is the journey, descent or transit of a woman who goes from having a body which is in balance to having a body that celebrates being a woman, a body which is immersed in the tragic sense of the celebration.”

Pittsburgh Dance Council Director Randal Miller says he saw the work in Norway in 2017 and has been working on bringing Molina and the work to Pittsburgh since. “It is really special,” says Miller. “It is not a traditional flamenco work. Molina is a seasoned artist renowned worldwide but has appeared very little in the United States.”

The Spanish choreographer has coined her artistic language based on a reinvented traditional flamenco style that respects its essence but embraces the avant-garde. Her pieces combine technical virtuosity and conceptual risk. In 2022, she was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Silver Lion Award for Dance at the Venice Biennale—more at rociomolina.net.

“It is bonkers,” says Miller of the one-woman full-length, multimedia dance-theater piece. “It is like a Pina Bausch piece if flamenco was her movement language. I think it will be one of the strongest pieces we have had artistically in the last decade.” 

Here’s a look at the rest of the Pittsburgh Dance Council’s exciting season at the Byham Theater:

Saturday, October 14, 2023
Grupo Corpo (Brazil)
Gil Refazendo and Gira 
grupocorpo.com.br

Treasured Brazilian dance theatre company Grupo Corpo returns to Pittsburgh with one impactful evening, sharing their works Gil Refazendo (2022) and Gira (2017). Led by duo Paulo & Rodrigo Pederneiras, this contemporary company has performed worldwide with its rhythmic, modern, cerebral, and distinct cultural works.

Gil Refazendo (Portuguese for Gil Redoing) is set to and inspired by the music of one of the godfathers of Brazilian music, Gilberto Gil. Conceived and then fully reconceived by choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras because of the global pandemic, the work contains themes of renewal, rebuilding, and revitalization.

Gira (Portuguese for Spin) responds to the universe of Afro-Brazilian religions. Set to music by Metá Metá, the work (Contains partial nudity) is fueled by choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras’ experiences in the Candomblé and Umbanda celebration rites.

Miller says the company will employ new set designs featuring video projections for both works.

Saturday, February 10, 2023
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (United States)
50^th Anniversary Program
 trockadero.org

One of the Dance Council’s most frequently booked touring companies, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, returns with its internationally beloved company of male dancers to brilliantly parody classical ballet as only they can.

The retrospective repertory program will revisit many Trock favorites, including their hilariously irreverent version of Mikhail Fokine’s iconic “The Dying Swan.”

Founded in New York City in 1974, the company, affectionately known as the Trocks, began by appearing in late-late shows in off-off Broadway lofts for small audiences who appreciated the iconoclastic humor of it all.  In the 50 years since then, the company has grown to achieve great appeal among more mainstream audiences who, each season, flock to theaters worldwide to see these skillful prima ballerinas perform. The Trocks are “a guaranteed hoot for people who know nothing of ballet and an absolute must for those who think they know the originals.” ─Star Observer. 

Saturday, March 2, 2024
Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, A Dance Company (United States)
The Equality of Night and Day and Open Door
 evidencedance.com 

Brooklyn, New York-based Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, A Dance Company returns to Pittsburgh with captivating new works. Led by acclaimed choreographer Ronald K. Brown, the repertory program features Brown’s latest work, The Equality of Night and Day, which examines concepts of balance, equity, and fairness in light of the conflicting present-day issues faced by young people, women, and people of color. Also on the program is Brown’s Open Door, a journey into Afro-Cuban social and traditional dance forms performed to the music of Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble.

For over 30 years, EVIDENCE has focused on the seamless integration of traditional African dance with contemporary choreography and spoken word—and has provided a unique view of human struggles, tragedies, and triumphs. “No major choreographer has worked harder to bring spiritual awareness to the human heart than Ronald K. Brown,” ─The Washington Post.

Saturday, April 20, 2024
Vertigo Dance Company (Israel)
Makom
Pittsburgh Debut
vertigo.org.il/en

Founded in 1992 by Noa Wertheim and Adi Shaal, Vertigo Dance Company has become a worldwide Ambassador for Israeli Art. The contemporary dance company is committed to expanding the boundaries of dance to raise social and environmental awareness.

In Makom (Hebrew for “Place”), co-choreographers Wertheim and Rina Wertheim-Koren channel “a world out of balance that unfolds in a movement language that strives from the center outwards to the extremities and to extremes.” Danced to music by Ran Bagno, the evening-length work “is a perpetual quest for the restoration of equilibrium.”

Friday, May 10* and Saturday, May 11, 2024
MOMIX (United States)
ALICE
momix.com

Founded in 1980 by former Pilobolus co-founder Moses Pendleton, dance-theater company MOMIX (which gets its name from a feed supplement for calving Holsteins) returns to the Steel City with Pendleton’s take Lewis Carroll’s familiar classic Alice in Wonderland. 

For his ALICE production, Sunflower King Pendleton says, “I don’t intend to retell the whole Alice story, but to use it as a taking off point for invention.”

With every MOMIX production, one never quite knows what you will get. Expect to see the story’s time-honored characters immersed in a plethora of props, illusions, lighting effects, circus fare, and the kind of theatrical magic that dance and non-dance audiences can revel in.

*Also part of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s 2023-2024 Dentons Cohen & Grigsby Trust Presents

For more information and to purchase tickets from $10, visit, TrustArts.org/DANCE or call 412-456-6666.