DIAVOLO | Architecture in Motion,® founded by Jacques Heim and acclaimed for its thrilling heart-stopping performances, presents two remarkable dance pieces, the world premiere of S.O.S. – Signs of Strength, featuring an extraordinary cast that includes nine military veterans, and Trajectoire on Friday and Saturday, March 18 and 19, 2022, 7:30 pm, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts’ Bram Goldsmith Theater. Combining contemporary dance with martial arts, acrobatics, gymnastics and hip-hop and using meticulously designed architectural structures as the central inspiration for its gravity-defying work, DIAVOLO incorporates storytelling and movement to create socially relevant productions that celebrate the diversity and complexities of humankind. DIAVOLO’s stylistically varied and intensely physical choreography has become the hallmark of this truly original world-class company, which earned a Top 10 place in the 12th season of “America’s Got Talent,” attracting more than 90 million television viewers. A talk-back with the company will be held after each performance.
S.O.S. – SIGNS OF STRENGTH retraces the epic journey of a group of soldiers advancing through a landscape of battlegrounds, revealing how they face danger and meet adversity through individual feats of strength and resilience, and find unity and belonging that gives meaning to their personal sacrifice and service for the greater good. In the quintessential “no-holds-barred” style of DIAVOLO, the piece is performed by a remarkable cast of actual military veterans and dancers and incorporates dramatic architectural structures that create a surrealistic setting for powerful storytelling. In a commentary about a recent workshop performance of the new work, one critic stated that the troupe “put an unremitting pedal to the metal, propelled by acrobatics of such high caliber and interwoven with voiced testimonials evincing human vulnerability, courage and sensitivity…that…I cried” (ArtsMeme).
S.O.S. was created as part of DIAVOLO’s Veterans Project, which works with veterans of the armed forces through movement workshops and public performances in communities across the country, utilizing the company’s unique style of dance as a tool to help restore veterans' physical, mental and emotional strengths.
TRAJECTOIRE takes the audience on a visceral and emotional journey through the ebb and flow of the human experience. As the performers struggle to find their balance on a voyage of destiny and destination, the work shows the transcendence of the human soul against all odds.
The Wallis will continue to exceed state and local covid safety protocols.
Tickets, $39-$99, are on sale now. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills. To purchase tickets and for more information, please call 310-746-4000 or visit TheWallis.org/Diavolo.