Professional dance company to perform at Tabor Opera House July 26
By Stefanie Kilts
“This isn’t your typical dance production,” said the artistic director of the Zikr Dance Ensemble, Dave Taylor.
The Zikr Dance Ensemble, founded by Taylor in 2009, combines transcendent dance rituals from ancient world cultures with original and contemporary dance influences. The dances are supplemented by stunning slide projections and visual effects for a captivating multimedia experience.
Zikr (pronounced ZIK-er) means “the remembrance of God” in Arabic. The term is used frequently in religious literature, especially Sufi literature. According to the dance ensemble’s website, during Sufi devotions zikr represents both a solemn ritual and a spiritual state of mind or heart, in which the devotee seeks to realize the presence of God.
Taylor said the performances are theatrically engaging as well as educational, by promoting spiritual tolerance and multicultural understanding.
The professional dance company will perform at the historic Tabor Opera House in Leadville on Friday, July 26. The performance is presented by Colorado Mountain College’s ArtShare program and the CMC Foundation.
The Denver-based dance company is also unusual because of its small size, Taylor said, performing with eight to 14 dancers. The ensemble, which tours throughout Colorado, includes some of the finest ballet-trained professionals in the state.
Artistic director’s experience extraordinary
Taylor has been professionally involved in the Colorado dance community for 42 years. He began choreographing in 1976, and in 1979 he founded the David Taylor Dance Theatre, one of the Rocky Mountain region’s most highly acclaimed, well-known and respected dance organizations.
He has received three National Endowment for the Arts grant awards. In addition, he earned the City and County of Denver’s first Individual Artist Fellowship Award for Dance in 1987for his critically acclaimed collaborative work “Anasazi Dream,” the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1997 and The Carson-Brierly Dance Library’s “Living Legends of Dance” Award in 2006.
He has also been commissioned to stage ballets for the Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet, the Canyon Concert Ballet (Fort Collins), the Dayton Ballet (Ohio) and the Lone Star Ballet (Amarillo, Texas).
The Zikr Dance Ensemble’s performance in Leadville will honor the Leadville Trail 100 Legacy, Inc. A reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. on July 26, followed by the performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, and $5 for children up to 17 years. Advance ticket sales are available at 719-486-8409 or by visiting www.taboroperahouse.net.