The Mourners Come to Life

July 22, 2011

This Sunday, award-winning choreographer Jamal and his performing ensemble, Jamal Dance Theater, will present a second performance of "Mourners Are Dancing Too," a piece which was specially commissioned by LACMA in connection with the exhibition The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy, which closes next weekend.



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Jamal Dance Theater, The Mourners are Dancing Too

The subject of the dance was inspired by an episode in the history of the mourners: the disappearance of some of the sculptures during the French Revolution and their replacement in the nineteenth century by statuettes bearing the features of the sculptor and architect who took on the project of rebuilding the tombs of the Duke of Burgundy.



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Jamal Dance Theater, The Mourners are Dancing Too

This is the second time during the exhibition’s run that Jamal is staging this performance. Jamal's choreography—and exactingly reproduced costumes—suggest through movements accompanied by the original music of famed Persian composer Ahmad Pejman the emotional power of the sculptures. Both whimsical and serious, this beautiful performance is not to be missed!



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Jamal Dance Theater, The Mourners are Dancing Too

J. Patrice Marandel, the Robert Ahmanson Chief Curator of European Art