Alonzo King LINES Ballet to Present Celebration of Alonzo King and Zakir Hussain in October

Alonzo King LINES Ballet, the internationally celebrated contemporary ballet company, has announced the program for its 40th Fall Season, October 12-16, 2022. This Fall LINES Ballet will celebrate Alonzo King's 25-year collaboration with tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain.

Since their first collaboration two and a half decades ago, King and Hussain have been pushing the boundaries of creative expression together. Hussain, a classical tabla virtuoso from India, is widely considered a chief architect of the contemporary world music movement. His complex rhythmic systems naturally partner with King's choreography and illustrate the continuity between transcendental Eastern thinking and Western ballet's classical forms and techniques. This season honors the evolution of their long and fruitful partnership and will feature excerpts from three of their seminal works: Who Dressed You Like a Foreigner, Rasa, and Sutra. Hussain will perform live alongside the LINES Ballet dancers at all performances.

King and Hussain's relationship began in 1998 with Who Dressed you Like a Foreigner. Two years later they collaborated on Following the Subtle Current Upstream, which premiered in 2000 in the repertory of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and was brought into LINES Ballet's repertory in 2006. They collaborated on Rasa in 2007, Scheherazade in 2009, and created Sutra in honor of LINES Ballet's 35th Anniversary.

Other special events include a Post-performance Q&A with Alonzo King and Zakir Hussain on Thursday, October 13 and Saturday, October 15; and a Family Experience on Sunday, October 16 at 2:30pm. Geared for families and children ages 4-12 the Family Experience features an immersive dance workshop for the whole family, guided by LINES Ballet Teaching Artists. Participants will also get a sneak peek of the LINES Ballet Company dancers in rehearsal before the show and a rare behind-the-scenes tour of the theater. The cost is $20.

ABOUT ALONZO KING

Alonzo King, Founder and Artistic Director of Alonzo King LINES Ballet, has been called a visionary choreographer, who is altering the way we look and think about movement. King calls his works 'thought structures', created by the manipulation of energies that exist in matter through laws which govern the shapes and movement directions of everything that exists. Named as a choreographer with "astonishing originality" by the New York Times, Alonzo King has guided LINES Ballet with his unique artistic vision since 1982. King has works in the repertories of the world's leading ballet and modern companies and has collaborated with distinguished visual artists, musicians, and composers across the globe. His work has been recognized for its impact on the cultural fabric of the company's home in San Francisco, as well as internationally by the dance world's most prestigious institutions. Named a Master of Choreography by the Kennedy Center in 2005, King is the recipient of the NEA Choreographer's Fellowship, the Jacob's Pillow Creativity Award, the US Artist Award in Dance, NY Bessie Award, and the National Dance Project's Residency and Touring Awards. In 2015, he received the Doris Duke Artist Award in recognition of his ongoing contributions to the advancement of contemporary dance. Joining historic icons in the field, King was named one of America's "Irreplaceable Dance Treasures" by the Dance Heritage Coalition. He is a former San Francisco commissioner and a writer and lecturer on humanity and art. He holds an honorary Doctorate from Dominican University of California, California Institute of the Arts, and The Juilliard School.

ABOUT ALONZO KING LINES BALLET

Alonzo King LINES Ballet is a celebrated contemporary ballet company that has been guided since 1982 by the artistic vision of acclaimed choreographer Alonzo King. Collaborating with noted composers, musicians, writers, and visual artists from around the world, King draws on a diverse set of deeply rooted cultural traditions, imbuing classical ballet with new expressive potential. He has been heralded as a visionary and thought leader on topics that reach far beyond dance, receiving numerous accolades such as a 2020 Dance Magazine Award. The company brings new works of illuminating beauty to Bay Area audiences in bi-annual home seasons. LINES Ballet's national and international tours allow the company to share its vision of transformative, revelatory dance through performances worldwide.

LINES Ballet is dedicated to training the next generation of artists through its pre-professional Summer Program, Training Program, and Bachelor of Fine Arts Program with Dominican University of California. LINES also makes dance accessible to Bay Area adults and youth through world-class, affordable classes open to the community and free in-school education programs.

After San Francisco's stay-at-home order began in March 2020, all of LINES Ballet's programs transitioned into the online space. The company also produced a new film series, There Is No Standing Still, which The New York Times and The Guardian included in their respective "Best Dance of 2020" lists.

ABOUT ZAKIR HUSSAIN

The pre-eminent classical tabla virtuoso of our time, Zakir Hussain is appreciated both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon. A national treasure in his native India, he is one of the world's most esteemed and influential musicians, renowned for his genre-defying collaborations.

Widely considered a chief architect of the contemporary world music movement, Zakir's contribution has been unique, with many historic and groundbreaking collaborations, including Shakti, Remember Shakti, Masters of Percussion, the Diga Rhythm Band, Planet Drum, Tabla Beat Science, Sangam with Charles Lloyd and Eric Harland, in trio with Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer and, most recently, with Herbie Hancock. The foremost disciple of his father, the legendary Ustad Allarakha, Zakir was a child prodigy who began his professional career at the age of twelve, touring internationally with great success by the age of eighteen.

As a composer, he has scored music for numerous feature films, major events and productions. He has composed two concertos, and his third, the first-ever concerto for tabla and orchestra, was premiered in India in September, 2015, premiered in Europe and the UK in 2016, and received its North American premiere in April, 2017, by the National Symphony Orchestra at Washington DC's Kennedy Center. A Grammy award winner, he is the recipient of countless awards and honors, including Padma Bhushan, National Heritage Fellowship and Officier in France's Order of Arts and Letters. In 2015, he was voted "Best Percussionist" by both the Downbeat Critics' Poll and Modern Drummer's Reader's Poll.

As an educator, he conducts many workshops and lectures each year, has been in residence at Princeton University and Stanford University, and, in 2015, was appointed Regents Lecturer at UCBerkeley. He is the founder and president of Moment Records, an independent record label presenting rare live concert recordings of Indian classical music and world music. Zakir was resident artistic director at SFJazz from 2013 until 2016.

On January 15, 2018, HarperCollins India released Zakir's oral memoir, A Life in Music, by Nasreen Munni Kabir, the distinguished British television producer, director, and author.

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