Event Pick: Masters of Dance

The Long Center
February 16 & 17, 8 P.M. & February 18, 3 P.M.

As Ballet Austin’s Artistic Director, Stephen Mills beautifully tells age-old stories onstage and builds fantasies from light and color. Dance is the medium, and through its expression we’ve come to know concepts and characters, like Hamlet, Beauty and the Beast, and Romeo and Juliet, in an entirely new way.

“Masters of Dance,” coming to the Long Center February 16 through 18, is a departure from this tradition. The title here is broad, but contains all you need to know. For this work, Mills is accompanied by the extraordinary New York choreographers Justin Peck and Pam Tanowitz in presenting three pieces of modern dance wherein no subject is necessary. This is dance about dance — art for its own sake. And the accompanying music couldn’t be more fitting. Philip Glass piano music performed live. John Cage’s rambling percussion. It’s music that is minimal yet offers much, and for which the inspiration is simply the music that came before it.

This show is a rare and brief opportunity to see the work of some of the country’s best choreographers together as part of one program. Shows are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday.

_{Read more from the Community Issue | February 2018}