ARTS . Arts Picks

Inbal Pinto

Tue.-Wed., Oct. 28-29, 7:30 p.m., $38-$48, Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St., 215-898-3900, pennpresents.org.


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Published: Oct 21, 2008

dance

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"As Cirque du Soleil is to the circus, Inbal Pinto is to dance," says Randy Swartz, artistic director of Dance Celebration, the annual series that lights up the Annenberg Center's stage.

The Inbal Pinto company will be presenting the full-length piece Shaker, inspired by snow globes. "It's a very different kind of aesthetic," Swartz says. "It's high-concept. ... There are characters and there are vignettes, but not necessarily a story." Instead, Shaker embarks on a fanciful journey of atmospheres, attitudes and emotions. Rather than depicting the serene, nostalgic scenes of traditional snow globes, this Shaker stirs up a strange world that, while charming and beautiful, is also dark and somber.

Swartz is more excited than usual (and that's saying a lot) to present this work, and he's equally elated to have the opportunity to turn Philadelphia dance fans on to the Israeli-based Pinto, whom Swartz calls "a novel and exciting new voice on the international scene." Pinto's pieces are known to possess a potent "wow" factor; that's especially so with Shaker, which Swartz claims is "something that people will walk away from with a sustained memory."

Tue.-Wed., Oct. 28-29, 7:30 p.m., $38-$48, Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St., 215-898-3900, pennpresents.org.