Joffrey Ballet Launches 2012-13 Season with HUMAN LANDSCAPES, Now thru 10/28

The fall program closes with Kurt Jooss' THE GREEN TABLE, an international dance classic and a pure example of Jooss' individual style and German Expressionism. Originally choreographed in 1932, the Joffrey is proud to present this work in honor of its 80th Anniversary. The Joffrey Ballet was the first American company to dance THE GREEN TABLE, a Company Premiere in 1967. Subtitled "A Dance of Death in Eight Scenes" and set to music by Frederick A. Cohen, THE GREEN TABLE is a commentary on the futility of war and the horrors it causes. It opens with a group of diplomats (the "Gentlemen in Black") having a discussion around a rectangular table covered with a green cloth. They end up pulling guns from their pockets and shooting in the air, thus symbolizing the declaration of war. The next six scenes portray different aspects of wartime: the separation from loved ones in The Farewells, war itself in The Battle and The Partisan, loneliness and misery in The Refugees, the emotional void and forced entertainment in The Brothel, and, finally, the psychologically beaten and wounded survivors in The Aftermath. The ballet then ends as it began, with the "Gentlemen in Black" around the green table. Throughout these episodes the figure of "Death" is triumphant, portrayed as a skeleton moving in a forceful and robotic way, relentlessly claiming its victims.

Single tickets for HUMAN LANDSCAPES range from $31 to $152 and are available for purchase at The Joffrey Ballet's official Box Office located in the lobby of Joffrey Tower, 10 E. Randolph Street, as well as the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University Box Office, all Ticketmaster Ticket Centers, by telephone at (800) 982-2787, or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

The complete performance schedule for HUMAN LANDSCAPES is as follows: Tonight, October 17th at 7:30 pm; Friday, October 19th at 7:30 pm; Saturday, October 20th at 2 pm and 7:30 pm; Sunday, October 21st at 2 pm; Thursday, October 25th at 7:30 pm; Friday, October 26th at 7:30 pm; Saturday, October 27th at 2 pm and 7:30 pm; Sunday, October 28th at 2 pm.