Originally a visual artist, choreographer Lar Lubovitch "paints the music in space" so that the stage acts as a vibrant canvas and his ensemble often coheres in a single robust or mesmerizing gesture.
North Star, the 1978 masterpiece recently brought back into active repertory thanks in part to special funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, was the first concert dance piece choreographed to the subtly shifting minimalism of Philip Glass, and it set a standard for organic, kinetic motion that has rarely been surpassed. For the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company's upcoming Celebrity Series engagement, the luscious undulations of
North Star are matched with more recent work, the playful male trio
Little Rhapsodies (2007),
The Legend of Ten (2010) to Brahms, and the emotionally violent 2011
Crisis Variations (with a commissioned instrumental score by Yevgeniy Sharlat based on Franz Liszt's "Transcendental Etudes"), which Lubovitch has described as "an action painting of the sensations." As former Lubovitch principal dancer Peggy Baker once explained, "Lar is not afraid of beauty, and he's not afraid of ecstasy."
LAR LUBOVITCH DANCE COMPANY Citi Shubert Theatre, 270 Tremont St, Boston. October 19 [7:30 pm] + 20 [8 pm], $60-$75. 866.348.9738 or celebrityseries.org