Every evening from September 18 to 26, 2007 Music Center Plaza

Beginning September 18, The Music Center will present the West Coast premiere of David Michalek's Slow Dancing, an outdoor installation of larger-than-life, hyper-slow-motion video portraits of extraordinary dance artists and choreographers from around the world. High-speed - 1,000 frames per second -- high-definition cameras recorded sequences with major figures that include Trisha Brown, Bill T. Jones, famed krumper Christopher "Lil' C" Toler, William Forsythe, Shen Wei, Wendy Whelan, Eiko and Koma, Allegra Kent, and Judith Jamison as well as dancers who are considered national treasures from Southeast Asia, the Pacific Rim and Africa. This combination of cutting-edge imaging technology and dance artistry gives viewers a unique glimpse into a secret world. This is an evening event taking place daily on the Music Center Plaza September 18-26, and is free to the public. Slow Dancing was commissioned by the Music Center.

Each subject's movement (approximately 5 seconds) was shot on a specially constructed set with a high-speed, high-definition camera recording at 1,000 frames per second. The result is approximately 10-minutes of extreme slow movement-a motion portrait in which the dancer's unique artistic expression and technique are revealed as never before. According to The New York Sun, "The result is movement so slow that if you glance at the video, your eye initially perceives a photograph. But look at the image longer and it moves at a rate that allows you to watch the minutia of each step breath by breath... The slowness of the moving image allows us to see the steps with detail that is impossible to see in real time."

David Michalek creates works that are marked by the personalizing power of portraiture, storytelling techniques, unique framing devices and a resolve to present these compounds in formally innovative ways. He has worked on his own and collaboratively for ten years, combining aspects of performance, gallery exhibitions and temporary public art projects that gather together diverse participants. In the development of these projects, thought, speech and discussion are as important to artistic practice as craft and technique. These works emphasize the possibility of people with diverse histories working together and have been combined with public education such as seminars and discussions, organizing, partnering and activism.

Michalek's work of the last several years has incorporated relational aesthetics, installation, photography, film, video, existing architecture, sound design, light and darkness. He has endeavored to unify ethics and aesthetics as well as to create work that stimulates imagination, empathy and compassion.

Beginning this spring, David will be an artist in residence with the Yale World Performance Project. He is on faculty at Yale Divinity School in the graduate program of religion and the arts. He lives in New York City with his wife, Wendy Whelan, principal dancer, NYCB.

Dance at the Music Center presents some of the world's most renowned ballet and contemporary artists on stage at the Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre and Walt Disney Concert Hall. At Dance at the Music Center, the audience can experience compelling, sensual, and provocative dance events with works by some of the world's greatest choreographers. This season includes The Mark Morris Dance Group, American Ballet Theatre, COMPLEXIONS Contemporary Ballet, and the Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company.

Dance at the Music Center tickets are priced from $25 to $115 and are available at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Box Office, 135 North Grand Avenue. Tickets are also available through Ticketmaster Phone Charge at 213/365-3500 or 714/740-7878, and at all Ticketmaster Outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.com. For groups of 15 or more, call Connie Nelson at (310) 831-1022.

For more information about Slow Dancing and all Dance at the Music Center engagements, visit musiccenter.org.

Calendar Listing Slow Dancing by David Michalek

Venue:	Music Center Plaza 135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
Performance:	nightly from 6:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m., September 18th through the 26th.
Tickets:	Free to the public, no tickets required
Information:	Online - Dance at the Music Center Phone - Dance at the Music Center information line (213) 972-0711