Stephen Petronio Company March 4, 2011

March 4 & 5, 8pm

San Francisco Performances' presents New York-based Stephen Petronio Company's central 25th anniversary work, I Drink the Air Before Me. This piece expands his troupe from nine dancers to 12 and unleashes a storm of movement evoking Shakespeare's Tempest to a score by Nico Muhly at YBCA's Novellus Theater Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5 at 8 p.m. The company will also present a Family Matinee 2 p.m. March 5.

SF Performances first brought Stephen Petronio Company to the city in 1995, and two years later Petronio became SF Performances' first resident choreographer to work in Bay Area schools. In this time span, he has performed seven runs in San Francisco, and his "risky" artistic vision has continued to morph as it has since his one-night shows in 1980's downtown New York. (Landmark pieces include the whimsical Adrift (With Clifford Arnell), the overtly sexual statement from the AIDS crisis days, Middlesex Gorge, and the moving Broken Man.)

Rather than looking back in this important anniversary season, Petronio creates something new, with the touches of the multi-media collaboration that drew figures such as Andy Warhol and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to his performances. I Drink the Air Before Me features Petronio's costume by visual artist Cindy Sherman, lighting by Ken Tabachnick and a score mixing electronics, acoustic instruments and chorus by Muhly.

"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. "It's nice to dream big."

"Dreaming big" is a phrase that comes to mind not only for the inspiration of this work but also the 25-year landmark. Tickets start at just $30. For tickets and more information, call (415) 392-2545 or visit sfperformances.org.

Official Website: http://sfperformances.org/performances/1011/StephenPetronio.html