PHILADELPHIA – The 15th annual Philadelphia Live Arts Festival enters its final week with four Festival premieres – the spectacular all ages acrobatic show Traces by Montreal’s 7 Fingers; the U.S. premiere of Play, a duet created and performed by celebrated choreographers Shantala Shivalingappa and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui; the U.S. premiere of Xavier Le Roy’s expressive multi-disciplinary work More Mouvements für Lachenmann; and the Philadelphia premiere of The Radio Show, the Bessie Award-winning dance by choreographer Kyle Abraham and his company Abraham.In.Motion.

The 16-day Festival, which runs in conjunction with the Philly Fringe, opened on September 2 to enthusiastic audiences and rave reviews, and features cutting-edge dance, theater, visual art, music and interdisciplinary works in venues throughout the city through Saturday, September 17.

The Live Arts Festival’s largest presentation to date is the Philadelphia premiere of Traces by the high-energy urban acrobatic troupe 7 Fingers. The show opens this week at the Merriam Theater (250 S Broad St), Sept. 15-18, in a co-presentation with the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts. The Montreal-based contemporary circus troupe threads a narrative through circus arts by integrating every mode of expression into each performance, which The Chicago Tribune called “a gorgeously pure, loose, and personal circus.” The family-friendly, suitable for all ages show includes traditional Chinese acrobatics, tumbling through hoops, leaping between giant poles, combined with skateboarding and parkour, and mixed with theater, music and contemporary dance. Tickets for Traces are available by calling the Kimmel Center Box Office at 215-893-1999.

The U.S. premiere of Play, a duet commissioned by Live Arts, created and performed by celebrated French choreographer Shantala Shivalingappa and Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (in its only U.S. engagement) kicks off at the Prince Music Theater (1412 Chestnut St), Sept. 15-17. Playis an intercultural dance dialogue, a celebration of aesthetic and form. The performance features a live ensemble and interaction with musicians and other theatrical elements, as Shivalingappa and Larbi discover one another by playing through dance. Born in Chennai, India and raised in Paris, Shantala Shivalingappa is the child of east and west and a master of Kuchipudi, a classical dance form of South India. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui was born in Antwerp, Belgium of a Moroccan father and Flemish mother. The late, great German choreographer Pina Bausch suggested that the two work together.

Play is the centerpiece of At Home, Elsewhere– the 2011 Spotlight Series on cross-cultural exchange. A selection of related film screenings, workshops, and symposia will continue this week. For complete details visit www.livearts-fringe.org/festival-spotlight-series.cfm.

In a co-presentation with bowerbird, the Festival will present the U.S. premiere of French choreographer Xavier Le Roy’s expressive multi-disciplinary work More Mouvements für Lachenmann, Sept. 16-17 at the Arts Bank at the University of the Arts (601 S Broad St). Based on the music of contemporary German composer Helmut Lachenmann, the performance features members of the Austrian new music ensemble Klangforum Wien in a hybrid musician-dancer role, performing both the music and the physical and visual action of “sound making” as Le Roy stages the relationships between what can be heard, seen, gesticulated, moved, and imagined around the bodies of musicians and their music.

The Radio Show, a Philadelphia premiere, by New York-based choreographer Kyle Abraham is a high-energy dance performance that mixes classic soul and hip-hop with classical compositions, developing a rhythm that is hypnotic and unpredictable. The Radio Show investigates the effects of the abrupt discontinuation of a black radio station on a community and is based on Kyle Abraham’s experiences growing up in Pittsburgh. The cast of 7 includes the show’s choreographer – one of the most captivating movers dancers today. The performance is presented in association with the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

Philadelphia Live Arts Festival productions continuing this week include the darkly funny The Devil and Mister Punch by London’s Improbable; the exuberant Twelfth Night, or What You Will by Pig Iron Theatre Company; Zon-Mai, a visual art installation in motion by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Gilles Delmas currently on view at the Former Pumping Station (140 N Columbus Blvd, at Race St, across from the Race St Pier); and the fantastical Elephant Room featuring illusionists Dennis Diamond, Louie Magic and Darryl Hannah, directed by Paul Lazar and written by Trey Lyford and Geoff Sobelle with Steve Cuiffo.

FESTIVAL BAR + SOCIAL CLUB

The Festival Bar + Social Club brings together Festival artists and audiences after-hours each night of the Festival at RUBA Club Studios (416 Green St, one block north of Spring Garden), an intimate bar and performance space in Northern Liberties. The Festival Barserves as a versatile space for Festival goers to unwind, enjoy post-show drinks and conversation, late-night cabaret and variety shows hosted by BRAT Productions, live music and deejays. Admission is free and 21+. Doors open at 10pm nightly. Visit www.livearts-fringe.org for a full schedule of performers, DJs and other entertainment.

READY, AIM, CLICK!

The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, in partnership with Phillyfunguide.com and PNC Arts Alive, is holding a photo competition as part of this year’s festival. Festival visitors can submit photos in three categories, and the participant with the most popular photo will win the Grand Prize – an All Access Pass to the 2012 Festival. Photo submissions begin on Aug. 22, the day the Festival box office opens, and voting goes live starting on Sept. 2. Submit and vote for your favorite photos online at www.Phillyfunguide.com/contest or www.livearts-fringe.org/contest.

TICKETS

Tickets to all shows are available for purchase online at www.livearts-fringe.org, or by phone and walk-up sales at the Festival Box Office at (215) 413-1318. The 2011 Festival Box Office is located at the Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St. Box Office Hours: Sun.-Thu. 12 p.m.-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

PNC Arts Alive is the 2011 Presenting Sponsor of the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe.

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