Date & Time: November 21 & 22, 2008
Choreography by Donald Byrd
In collaboration with guest choreographers Nir Ben Gal and Liat Dror
Co-commissioned and presented by Seattle Theater Group

( view Part 1 of this performance's VideoBlog)


A Chekhovian Resolution represents the first production of Spectrum Dance Theater’s groundbreaking new three year initiative: “Beyond Dance: Promoting Awareness and Mutual Understanding” (PAMU). American Donald Byrd will join forces with noted Israeli choreographers Nir Ben Gal and Liat Dror. Working closely with a Palestinian musician, these artists from differing cultural backgrounds and with distinctive creative approaches will collaborate to convey their different perspectives, while uncovering possible pathways to a Chekhovian Resolution for the seemingly endless Middle East crisis. The Israeli writer and philosopher Amos Oz sees this conflict as a "tragedy in the exact sense of the word"--a "collision between one very powerful claim and another no less powerful." Oz underscores that a “Chekhovian Resolution” (referencing one of Chekhov’s signature themes) might leave the antagonists embittered and in despair, but unlike the outcomes of typical Shakespearean tragedy, at least alive; with potential, therefore, for the return of hope and even redemption.

About the guest artists: Partners in both art and life, Nir Ben Gal and Liat dror have made the Ben Gal Dror Dance Company a great success, both in Israel and abroad. Shortly after debuting their first choreographic work in 1985 at the Tel Aviv Museum, their careers catapulted forward at full speed. The husband and wife team performed throughout Europe, North America and Israel and won local and international awards, including the Gertrud Krauss Prize, the Young Choreographers Contest, and the Grand Prize at the Recontres Choregraphiques Internationales de Bagnolet. In the late 90's the couple decided to extricate themselves from a high-pressure life of touring, and left Tel Aviv to create Adama (earth in Hebrew). Adama -- a dance center in the Israeli desert --has become a well-recognized place for Israeli choreographers and dancers to develop, with an eclectic choice of programs, workshops and festivals. Throughout the years, they have continued to produce and present works recently described in an interview by dance researcher Deborah Friedes as "intense portraits of human conflicts - between Israelis and Palestinians, between men and women, between dreams and reality… They (Ben Gal and Dror) have the artistic stature to attract rave reviews and harsh criticism."

2008 Community Engagements
- Speakers Series
As part of the PAMU initiative (Promoting Awareness and Mutual Understanding), Spectrum will partner with individuals and community organizations engaged in these issues, who are interested in exploring them with us in humanities panels and forums and pre- and post-performance discussions. We will collaborate with experts in the field to develop a conceptual framework for using the beauty and power of movement to inspire civic dialogue.
Speakers Series I:
Lecture presentation led by world acclaimed theater and opera director, Peter Sellars, who will speak on the transformative role of the artist in our times.
October 18 At Seattle University’s Piggott Auditorium (901-12th Ave. )
Admission: $15.00
Tickets: Call 206-325 4161 or go on line at
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/41273
Renowned theater, opera, and festival director Peter Sellars is one of the most innovative and powerful forces in the performing arts in America and abroad. A visionary artist, Mr. Sellars is known for ground-breaking interpretations of classic works. Whether it is Mozart, Handel, Shakespeare, Sophocles, or the 16th-century Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu, Mr.Sellars strikes a universal chord with audiences, engaging contemporary social and political issues. Mr. Sellars has staged operas at the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Netherlands Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, the Salzburg Festival, and the San Francisco Opera, among others. Following his iconic stagings of Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosi fan tutte in the 1980s, Mr. Sellars established a reputation for bringing 20th-century and contemporary operas to the stage, including works by Olivier Messiaen, Paul Hindemith, and György Ligeti. Inspired by the compositions of Kaija Saariaho, Osvaldo Golijov, and Tan Dun, he has guided the creation of productions of their work that have expanded the repertoire of modern opera. He has been a driving force in the creation of many new works with longtime collaborator John Adams, including Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, El Niño, Doctor Atomic, and, most recently, A Flowering Tree, which premiered in Vienna in 2006. Other Sellars projects have included a Chicano version of Stravinsky’s The Story of a Soldier; an Antonin Artaud radio play coupled with the poetry of the late June Jordan, For an End to the Judgment of God/Kissing God Goodbye, staged as a press conference on the war in Afghanistan; and a production of the Euripides play The Children of Herakles, focusing on contemporary immigration and refugee issues and experience. Mr. Sellars has led several major arts festivals, including the 1990 and 1993 Los Angeles Festivals, the 2002 Adelaide Festival in Australia; and the 2003 Venice Biennale International Festival of Theater in Italy. He was artistic director of New Crowned Hope, a month-long festival for which he invited international artists from diverse cultural backgrounds to create new work in the fields of music, theater, dance, film, the visual arts,and architecture for the city of Vienna’s 2006 Mozart Year, celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. Mr.Sellars is a professor in the department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA and a resident curator of the Telluride Film Festival. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the Erasmus Prize, the Sundance Institute Risk-Takers Award, the Gish Prize, and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Open Rehearsal Series: Dates announced in July

2009 Touring Engagements
Jan 5-10: Bristol Riverside Theater, PA
Feb 16-21: Duke University Durham, NC
Feb 23-28: DeBartolo Performing Arts Center Notre Dame University, IN
March 2-4: Richmond, VI
March 5-7: Ogden, UT