Elisa Monte Dance Comes To Pullman

Sat., Nov. 15, 1997

By Susan English susane@spokesman.com

Elisa Monte Dance company Sunday, 7:30 p.m., Beasley Coliseum in Pullman

The Elisa Monte Dance company is nothing if not provocative. The New York-based troupe combines eroticism with athleticism and lights up the stage with what The New York Times calls “gusto and stamina.”

The modern dance company will perform Sunday night at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman as part of the Festival Dance and Performing Arts series.

Elisa Monte Dance tours extensively and has performed repertory that includes 20 original works in more than 30 countries.

In Pullman, the troupe will dance “Feu Follet,” a modern dance set to Cajun music, as well as two other pieces.

Choreographers Elisa Monte and David Brown framed “Feu Follet” around the history and culture of the Acadian people in their travels from France to Canada to Louisiana. The title, “Feu Follet,” means “crazy fire,” referring to the strange marsh lights often seen on the Louisiana bayous.

Also on the program are “Treading,” the first work choreographed by Monte, and a new work just premiered in France, “Senso Unico.” The Pullman performance will be the U.S. premiere of “Senso Unico,” which is set to the music of Prokofiev.

Monte and Brown, her husband, formed the troupe in 1981, and a year later the company won the Best Company award at the International Dance Festival of Paris.

New York critics heap praise on the troupe. Of a performance last year, New York Magazine said: “The company is physically intense and sensual. It echoes classical style without losing sight of the modern erotic impulses that are its signature.”

The review called the dancing “emotional, passionate and beautifully athletic.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Tickets are $25, $20 and $16 for adults; $25, $16 and $10 for students, and $25, $12 and $8 for children, available at the Beasley box office and The Depot in Pullman, the UI Ticket Office in Moscow, Albertson’s stores in Lewiston, all G&B outlets or call (800) 325-SEAT.

Tickets are $25, $20 and $16 for adults; $25, $16 and $10 for students, and $25, $12 and $8 for children, available at the Beasley box office and The Depot in Pullman, the UI Ticket Office in Moscow, Albertson’s stores in Lewiston, all G&B; outlets or call (800) 325-SEAT.

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