CRESTONE — Denver’s nationally acclaimed Zikr Dance Ensemble will present their critically acclaimed 2018 program “Runes” at the Crestone Charter School on Thursday evening, September 27 at 7 pm. Tickets are $15 and are available at the door. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Please consider carpooling as parking is limited.

Several organizations and individuals helped bring this event to the community. A big thank you to Cristina Cabeza-Kinny on behalf of the Crestone Charter School, The Crestone Creative District, the Golden Light Sufi Circle of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Tariqat and Shumei International Institute.

The Zikr Dance Ensemble offers a spectrum of works that are based on dance rituals from many different ancient world cultures along with original and contemporary pieces. The Zikr Dance Ensemble’s presentation of both rare, historic and multi-cultural dances includes numerous dances from the Gurdjieff sacred movement repertoire. The dances in performance are supplemented stunning slide projections and visual effects, completing a multi-media experience that audiences and presenters alike have found to be both visually and artistically stimulating as well as intellectually captivating. The Zikr Dance Ensemble’s company members are some of the finest ballet-trained professionals in the nation.

“Runes” is also the title of the company’s critically acclaimed world premiere, which has as its focus the ancient magical northern European alphabet as it was used in its symbolic form for divination and prophecy. This stunning new work features the use of a cyr wheel along with a breathtaking set of monolithic structures. 

Also on the program is a major new work created by guest choreographer and internationally acclaimed Persian dance master Shahrzad Khorsandi, entitled “Atash” (“fire” in Farsi). This beautiful piece was created especially for the Zikr Dance Ensemble’s female dancers and features an original score performed on authentic Persian instruments by Denver’s Farabi Ensemble.

The program will also include one of the most intriguing and historic samples of The Gurdjieff Sacred Movements, a 2000 year-old work entitled “The Assyrian Women Mourners”, along with the Zikr Dance Ensemble’s signature work and audience favorite, “In Your Eyes.”

Artistic Director David Taylor has been professionally involved in the Colorado dance community for the past forty-eight years. During the course of a 12-year dance career, he began choreographing in 1976, and since then has created over 100 original works. In 1979, he founded the David Taylor Dance Theatre, which for 32 years was recognized as one of the Rocky Mountain region’s most acclaimed dance organizations, and Denver’s original contemporary ballet company. Taylor has received three National Endowment for the Arts grant awards along with the City and County of Denver’s first Individual Artist Fellowship award for dance, and in March of 1997, he and his company were proud recipients of the State of Colorado’s Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.  Currently, Taylor serves as the Artistic Director and upper level ballet program faculty member for Denver Ballet Theatre, a Vaganova-based pre-professional ballet academy in Centennial. His extensive background also includes a longtime involvement with metaphysical studies, sacred dance and ritual. In 2009 he founded the Zikr Dance Ensemble, a unique professional company that has its singular focus, dance as a medium for spiritual expression.

For more information visit www.zikrdance.com or contact David Taylor at 303.884.1910   [email protected].