No upcoming perfomances found for this event.
“Mark Morris is a genius. His best dances…tug at us powerfully. He can align steps and music in a way that transports.”
HuffPost
Join the Charleston Gaillard Center for an incredible celebration of dance and music! On Sunday, April 10, we will present Mark Morris Dance Group’s Pepperland, a unique tribute to the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This explosion of color, music, and dance will fill the Martha & John M. Rivers Performance Hall and energize the entire Gaillard Center, including the stunning outdoor lawn and gardens. The Gaillard Center will host events throughout the day, including a free movement class for people with Parkinson’s and an open class for all ages led by a member of the Mark Morris Dance Group Artistic Team. Prior to the show, the Gaillard lawn will be alive with colorful cocktails and The Battery Brass Band performing Beatles hits. The evening will culminate with world-class dance from Mark Morris Dance Group.
Featuring an original score by Ethan Iverson, Mark Morris Dance Group’s Pepperland intersperses arrangements of
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
“With a Little Help From My Friends”
“A Day in the Life”
“When I’m Sixty-Four”
“Within You Without You”
“Penny Lane”
with six Pepper-inspired original pieces intended especially for Mark Morris’ profound understanding of classical forms: Allegro, Scherzo, Adagio, and the blues. This colorful piece resounds with the ingenuity, musicality, wit, and humanity for which the company is known.
Experience premier dance and create unforgettable memories at the Gaillard Center.
*Each ticket purchase includes one complimentary signature cocktail, beer, wine, bottled water, or soda. Ticket Holders, if you purchased prior to March 28, your drink voucher was mailed to you. If you purchased March 28 or later, please pick up your complimentary drink voucher at Will Call.
Support for this program is made possible by generous donors who have committed time and resources to the Charleston Gaillard Center’s Dance Initiative.
Youth Modern Dance Master Class
Saturday, April 9 | 2pm-3:30pm
Ages 12 years and older
College of Charleston’s CATO Center for the Arts
Taught by Mark Morris Dance Group dancer, Aaron Loux, for intermediate and advanced dancers, the class includes modern warm-up, exercises, and rep from Pepperland.
Dance for PD®
Sunday, April 10 | 11am-12pm
Charleston Gaillard Center
Charleston Gaillard Center and Mark Morris Dance Group, in partnership with Parkinson Association of the Carolinas, present Dance for PD from 11am to 12pm at the Charleston Gaillard Center. A free movement class for persons with Parkinson’s, their families, friends and care partners, this class will be offered free of charge. Registration is required. Please register here.
Dance for PD®, a program of Mark Morris Dance Group, was born from the idea that people with Parkinson’s disease could benefit from the insight and specific techniques and methods used by dancers to guide their own bodies and minds. This award-winning, research-backed program strives to increase coordination, balance, flexibility and strength through music and movement from a broad range of dance styles. Taught by Dance for PD-trained teaching artists from Mark Morris Dance Group and including excerpts from Pepperland, no experience is necessary and all levels of ability and mobility are welcome.
Dance with Mark Morris Dance Group Open Dance Class
Sunday, April 10 | 5:45pm-6:15pm
All ages and abilities
Taught by Domingo Estrada, Jr. and assisted by Taína Lyons
Outdoors at the Charleston Gaillard Center
Public. No registration required.
About Domingo Estradra, Jr.
Domingo Estrada, Jr., a native of Victoria, Texas, studied martial arts and earned his black belt in 1994. He danced ballet folklorico through his church for 11 years. Estrada earned his B.F.A. in ballet and modern dance from Texas Christian University and had the honor of working with the late Fernando Bujones. During his undergraduate studies, he attended the American Dance Festival where he had the privilege of performing Skylight, a classic work by choreographer Laura Dean. He debuted with MMDG in 2007 and became a company member in 2009. Estrada would like to thank God, his family and all who support his passion.
About Taína Lyons
Taína Lyons is a San Pedro, California, native who began her dance training at the San Pedro Ballet School at the age of four. Her professional dance training started at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, eventually being mentored by Debbie Allen herself. She graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a B.F.A. in dance and a minor in Spanish in 2020. There she performed in guest works by Ronald K. Brown, Wayne McGregor, and Lar Lubovitch. In the spring of 2019, she also had the pleasure of studying abroad at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic. Since graduating, she has had the honor of being a founding member of the Limón Dance Company’s Limón2 (L2) company, an apprentice with Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, as well as performing and touring with Kyle Marshall Choreography. She joined MMDG as an apprentice in 2022.
The Battery Brass Band
Sunday, April 10 | 6:15pm-7:15pm
Charleston Gaillard Center’s Portico
Public.
The Battery Brass Band is Charleston’s premier ‘Street Beat’ style brass band, stirring listeners through the melting pot that is Lowcountry music. Battery Brass mixes influences from the birth of Jazz that happened right here in the streets of Charleston with flavors of Mardi Gras from New Orleans, adding a dash of Caribbean seasoning. You’ll surely move to the beat with a song selection ranging from traditional New Orleans tunes to modern popular songs. The band is a diverse mix of local music educators, performers, and members of popular local bands including the Charleston Jazz Orchestra.
Choreographer Mark Morris, praised as the “the most successful and influential choreographer alive, and indisputably the most musical,” (New York Times) returns to Charleston with Pepperland, a unique tribute to the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Kicking off Liverpool’s season-long festivities in 2017, Pepperland features an original score by Ethan Iverson, interspersing arrangements of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, “With a Little Help From My Friends”, “A Day in the Life”, “When I’m Sixty-Four”, “Within You Without You”, and “Penny Lane” with six Pepper-inspired original pieces intended especially for Mark Morris’ profound understanding of classical forms: Allegro, Scherzo, Adagio, and the blues.
An unprecedented chamber music ensemble of voice, theremin, soprano sax, trombone, two keyboards, and percussion teases out and elaborates on Sgt. Pepper’s non-rock and roll influences. This colorful new piece resounds with the ingenuity, musicality, wit, and humanity for which the company is known.
Commissioned by American Dance Festival, Durham, North Carolina; BAM, Brooklyn, New York; Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity with the Sony Centre, Toronto, Canada; Cal Performances, UC Berkeley, California; The City of Liverpool, England, U.K.; Dance Consortium UK; Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; International Festival of Arts & Ideas, New Haven, Connecticut; The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; La Jolla Music Society, La Jolla, California; Meyer Sound, Berkeley, California; Seattle Theatre Group, Seattle, Washington; Segerstrom Center for The Arts, Costa Mesa, California; UCSB Arts & Lectures, Santa Barbara, California; White Bird, Portland, Oregon.
Photo Credit: Robbie Jack