Premiere Date(s): 05/02/2007

Four sax players, Four dancers, a sidewalk that turns into video, and an 80′s style boom box.

Fueled by the energy, power, and sounds of the big city, Pitch Black is a kinetic look at the dance of city life. From traffic patterns to playground games the work looks at the search for human connection in the hustle and alienation of the urban landscape. In collaboration with the renowned PRISM saxophone quartet, Pitch Black is performed to the live music of celebrated Dutch composer JacobTV (Jacob ter Veldhuis). The music, created for saxophone quartet and an 80′s style boombox, incorporate samples ranging from jazz singer Billie Holiday, to religious fanatics in Times Square.

Highlights from the Philadelphia Inquirer review of Pitch Black:

If there was a haven of lightness and softness in this abstract yet not oblique program, it was Amanda Miller’s choreography for the Miro dancers: Much of it was everyday movements with a level of synchronization not often found in nature, and a levity that came when dancers dueted with taped street scenes shown on four grainy video monitors. Eclectic in the spirit of composer TV, one Miller moment might suggest tai chi next to another that jitterbugged.

Highlights from the New York Times preview of Pitch Black:

The company directors, Amanda Miller, who danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet and studied choreography with Siobhan Davies, and Tobin Rothlein, a video artist and designer, do better than most at combining visuals and movement to make a third, poetically expressive form. Their new dance, “Pitch Black,” addresses human connections and disconnections in urban life.

Credits:
• Commissioned by PRISM Saxophone Quartet
• Concept and Direction: Miro Dance Theatre
• Choreography: Amanda Miller
• Video: Tobin Rothlein
• Music: Jacob ter Veldhuis
• Lighting: James Clotfelter
• Set and Costume: Miro Dance Theatre and The M-Lab
• Scenic painting courtesy of Nell Stifel
• Dramaturgy: Tobin Rothlein

Original Cast: Rick Callender, Amanda Miller, Jil Stifel, Paul Struck

Originally Premiered: May 2, 2007, Whitney Museum of American Art’s Altria Gallery, New York, NY

PITCH BLACK was commissioned by New Sounds Music, Inc., the nonprofit organization of the PRISM Quartet, with support from the William Penn Foundation.

Press
• Shapes, sights & sounds: A local company that fuses movement with visuals and music… : South Philly Review
• Provocative, eclectic ‘Pitch Black,’ with dance and sax
• Miro Dance, PRISM Quartet Debut Urban Fusion : The Bulletin
• Prism and Miro set to brighten MCCC with innovative ‘Pitch Black’ : Montgomery Ticket

Electronic Press Kits and other Supporting Materials
• Pitch Black technical rider

Photos related to the Pitch Black:

Video related to Pitch Black: