For the last 25 years, Stephen Petronio’s company has performed his unpredictable brand of dance in 26 countries to music by collaborators like Fischerspooner, Rufus Wainwright, and Lou Reed. Petronio has choreographed works for companies in London, Berlin, and Paris, and drawn people like Andy Warhol and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to his shows. What we’re saying is, the man has charisma.
Considered one of the leading dance makers of his generation, Stephen Petronio mixes a potent blend of new music, visual art, and fashion - and is constantly trying to top himself. “My job is to make things that are just beyond my grasp from last year,” Petronio said in an interview with Dance magazine in 2009.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the company performs I Drink the Air Before Me at Yerba Buena Center, a deeply kinesthetic piece inspired by Shakespeare’s Tempest. Twelve dancers storm across the stage at a lightning quick pace to a score by Nico Muhly, mixing electronics, acoustics and chorus.
March 4-5. Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center. Tickets are $30-50 at sfperformances.org.
