Monday September 12, 2011
Tags for: New Multimedia Dance Work by Maureen Fleming Opens Museum's 2011-12 VIVA! & Gala Performing Arts Season
  • Press Release

New Multimedia Dance Work by Maureen Fleming Opens Museum's 2011-12 VIVA! & Gala Performing Arts Season

exterior of the CMA building

Fleming explores universal themes of loss and rejuvenation in <em>Black Madonna,</em> her response to 9/11

CLEVELAND (Sept. 12, 2011) — The Cleveland Museum of Art's VIVA! & Gala performing arts series presents Maureen Fleming: Black Madonna, the artist's mystical response to the 10th anniversary of the tragedy of September 11th, on Friday, September 30, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. in the museum's Gartner Auditorium.

Crossing cultures and art forms, Maureen Fleming invents surreal and dreamlike movement poetry that transforms how we think of the human body. Fleming's evening-length Black Madonna is a meditation on the possibilities of loss when seen within the context of the world's inner traditions, a world beyond rationality and nationality. Black Madonna is a work that embodies the five stages of the mystical cycle common to the world's inner traditions: awakening, fulfillment, loss, mourning and reunification with the divine. In her performance, Fleming juxtaposes her singular movement with three-dimensional video projections, created by longtime collaborator, artist and designer Christopher Odo, to a mesmerizing effect. Fleming's living sculptures and the three dimensional projected images are realized with music composed by Philip Glass and Kim Young Dong, performed live by pianist Bruce Brubaker and drummer Joongwon Lee.

About Maureen Fleming
Maureen Fleming is an American dancer, choreographer and performance artist. She is known for her meditative and interpretive solo dances, in which she includes elements of ballet and butoh, a Japanese style of movement that typically involves playful and bizarre imagery and is traditionally performed in white body makeup with slow hyper-controlled motion.

Fleming has performed in North America, Europe and Asia, and collaborated with playwright David Henry Hwang, composer Philip Glass, photographer Lois Greenfield and ikebana artist Gaho Taniguchi. She directs the Maureen Fleming Company and has taught at the Julliard School and New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Tickets to Black Madonna are $43, $38; museum members $42, $37. Group and student rates are available. Pending availability, students may purchase "Pay What You Can" tickets at the door for any VIVA! & Gala performance. Tickets are available through the museum's online box office at www.ClevelandArt.org or by phone at 216 421-7350 or 888-CMA-0033.

VIVA! & Gala 2011-12 Season
VIVA & Gala has built a reputation among regional audiences for bringing one-of-a-kind artists to Cleveland.

The VIVA! & Gala 2011-12 season is made possible in part by the Ernest L. and Louise M. Gartner Fund, the P. J. McMyler Musical Endowment Fund and the Anton and Rose Zverina Music Fund. Season Sponsor: Glidden, an AkzoNobel brand. Additional support provided by the Musart Society. Gallery concerts are made possible in part by an anonymous donor. Subscribers can save up to 15 percent off single ticket prices through packages that include all concerts ($440-$494 non-members; $428-$482 for museum members) or select programs ($158-$347 non-members; $154-$338 for museum members). Individuals may also choose to create their own, custom packages by selecting four or more concerts at a savings of 5 percent. Details can be found at www.ClevelandArt.org/VivaGala.

Single tickets are available by calling the Cleveland Museum of Art box office at 888-CMA-0033 or online at www.ClevelandArt.org.

Editor's Note: Music and/or video samples as well as photographs of artists are available upon request. Programs subject to change.

Contact the Museum's Media Relations Team:
(216) 707-2261
marketingandcommunications@clevelandart.org