Experience an irresistible surge of rhythm, motion, and playful theatricality that revels in the sheer exhilaration of being alive.
Nine dancers accompanied by nine drummers on nine drum kits perform in front of a towering watermelon-pink velvet curtain.
Direct from Australia, Stephanie Lake Company brings a high-energy evening of joyful movement and vibrant percussion with the U.S. premiere of “Manifesto” at the Center for the Arts Saturday, Mar. 28, at 7:30 p.m.
With all-out dancing and electrifying sound described by choreographer, dancer, and artistic director Stephanie Lake as a “tattoo to optimism,” “Manifesto” features a gutsy, original choreographic style and striking visual aesthetic revealing moments of unexpected humor and wit. Situated on a grand elevated set reminiscent of Busby Berkeley, the show starts with a bang, becoming more complex and thrilling as it builds toward a wildly powerful danced crescendo.
Created in collaboration with internationally renowned audio-visual artist and composer Robin Fox and a team of designers and performers, “Manifesto” unleashes youthful rebellion, radiates wonder, shows tenderness, and overflows with joyousness, as the audience is immersed in sound, light, and movement.
“Since my earliest choreographies, I have been drawn to rhythm,” Lake said. “’Manifesto’ strips performance back to its most basic elements — rhythm and movement, drumming and dancing. It is primal. The show covers wildly varied terrain, from ecstatic joyfulness to sorrow, to chaos, to order, and back again. But ultimately it is optimistic — a rallying cry for solidarity.”
Founded in 2014, Stephanie Lake Company is one of Australia’s most celebrated and prolific dance companies. Its highly acclaimed works are renowned for their explosive physicality, poetic imagery, and razor-sharp precision. The company has performed across Australia and toured in over 16 countries worldwide. An award-winning choreographer, dancer, and artistic director, Lake also serves as the resident choreographer of the Australian Ballet and artist-in-residence of Semperoper Ballet, Dresden. Lake’s major works — including “Manifesto,” “Colossus,” “Replica,” “Pile of Bones,” “Double Blind,” “DUAL,” “A Small Prometheus,” “AORTA,” and “Mix Tape” — have been performed across Australia and toured internationally. She also collaborates across theatre, film, music video, opera, and visual art.
Lake has been awarded the Helpmann Award, two Australian Dance Awards, two Green Room Awards, and the Melbourne Fringe Award for Most Outstanding Choreography. In 2013 she was appointed inaugural resident director of Lucy Guerin Inc, which included working as Guerin’s choreographic assistant at Lyon Opera Ballet. She received a prestigious Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship in the same year and the Dame Peggy Van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship in 2012. She was the recipient of the Australia Council Fellowship for Dance for 2018-19 and Chloe Munro AO Fellowship in 2022.
This performance is supported in part by gifts from Ms. Sherwood Payne Quillen and David and Judie Reemsnyder.
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