The NAC Dance season opens with Babel ^(words), on October 5 and 6, 2011 in the NAC Theatre with the anticipated conclusion to an epic trilogy that began with Foi in 2003, followed by Myth in 2007. Babel ^(words) honours a decade of collaboration with co-choreographer Damien Jalet, while reuniting Cherkaoui with UK visual artist Antony Gormley.

With a cast that is a veritable chorus of nations and a microcosm of language and culture – 13 dancers and five musicians from 13 countries - Babel ^(words) illustrates the quest for personal identity with remarkable humor and imagination.

Taking the tale of ‘The Tower of Babel’ as its starting point, Babel ^(words) is at once poetic and powerful, sensual and stirring, with movements and gestures shared, scrutinized, and repeated at rapid speed - delivered like punches amongst a manic theatrical interplay. What takes shape is a space dissected and transformed using Gormley’s huge, towering three-dimensional cuboid frames to create territories, axes, and borders that hint at the boundaries and limitations often self-imposed by society. The action flows from private to public, intimate to extroverted, and from individual to collective - while choices of faith, space, and community are made. Throughout this compelling work the audience is reminded that to some, the tale of Babel represents the gates to enlightenment, to others, chaos, confusion, and conflict.

As in Cherkaoui and Jalet’s previous collaborations, the work is informed by a profound ‘belief in the belief that something matters’. Babel ^(words) searches for what that something might be, telling both a bold and tender story of personal, physical, cultural, political, and linguistic boundaries, while guessing at what it is that unites rather than divides us.

Babel ^(words) is also a tower of throbbing rhythms, the live soundscape playing a significant role in Cherkaoui’s work, ranging from Japanese percussion to harp, by way of polyphonic Medieval chants (from the superb Patrizia Bovi and Christine Leboutte) coupled with a vocal fusion of east and west.

" Cherkaoui and his co-choreographer Damien Jalet contain their material within the most fiercely resonant dance theatre of the decade.”
-           Judith Mackrell, The Guardian, May 2010

Babel ^(words)
Choreography: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet
Visual Design: Antony Gormley
Assistant Choreography: Nienke Reehorst
Costume Design: Alexandra Gilbert
Light Design: Adam Carrée
Dramaturge: Lou Cope 

Performed by: Navala Chaudhari, Francis Ducharme, Darryl E. Woods, Damien Fournier, Ben Fury, Paea Leach, Christine Leboutte, Ulrika Kinn Svensson, Kazutomi Kozuki, Sandra Delgadillo Porcel (Moya Michael), Leif Federico Firnhaber (Helder Seabra), Mohamed Toukabri (Jon Filip Fahlstrom), Paul Zivkovich (James O'Hara).

Music by: Patrizia Bovi, Mahabub Khan, Sattar Khan, Gabriele Miracle and Kazunari Abe (Shogo Yoshii).

Traditional Turkish musical counsellor: Fahrettin Yarkin

Production: Eastman vzw and Théâtre royal de la Monnaie
Co-Producers: Fondation d'entreprise Hermès, Établissement Public du Parc et de la Grande Halle de la Villette (Paris), Sadler’s Wells (London), Theaterfestival Boulevard (Den Bosch, the Netherlands), Festspielhaus (St. Pölten), Grand Théâtre of Luxembourg, International Dance Festival Switzerland - Migros Culture Percentage, Fondazione Musica per Roma (Rome) and the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele (Allemagne).
Co-commissioned by Dash Arts for the Dash Arabic Series and supported by the Garrick Charitable Trust.

Eastman vzw is resident company in Toneelhuis, Antwerp and project partner at deSingel Art City Antwerp, in association with international arts campus deSingel.  

Duration: 100 minutes, no intermission

Babel ^(words) runs in the NAC Theatre on Wednesday, October 5 and Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $37.67, $46.28 and $50.58 for adults and $20.34, $24.64 and $26.79 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card).

Groups of 10 or more save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices; to reserve your seats, call 613-947-7000, ext. 634 or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca.

Tickets are available for purchase:

• In person at the NAC Box Office
• At all Ticketmaster outlets
• By telephone from Ticketmaster, 1-888-991-2787 (ARTS)
• Online through the Ticketmaster link on the NAC’s website (www.nac-cna.ca)
• A service charge applies on all purchases made through Ticketmaster

This production is eligible for the Live Rush program. Full-time students aged 13-29 with a valid Live Rush membership may buy up to two tickets per performance at the discounted price of only $12 per ticket. Live Rush tickets are available from 10 a.m. on the day before the performance until 6 p.m. on the day of the performance. This includes all available seats, including the best seats in the house. Check out liverush.ca for information on the Live Rush program.

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For more information, please call:
Eleri Evans
Marketing and Communications Officer, Dance
National Arts Centre
613-947-7000 ext. 379; e-mail: eleri.evans@nac-cna.ca
or visit the NAC website at www.nac-cna.ca