Location
Seattle, WA
Artist
Mark Morris Dance Group
Project Title
Layla and Majnun
Fiscal Year Awarded
2016
Grant or Program
National Dance Project Presentation Grant
Grant Amount
$5,842

Seven hundred years before Romeo and Juliet, there were Layla and Majnun, two star-crossed lovers whose fame stretched throughout the Middle East from Persia to Arabia, India and beyond. Over the centuries, their story has been told in many languages and cultures; in 1908, they became the subject of the first Middle Eastern opera, written by Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov.

In the 2016-17 Season, Meany Center for the Performing Arts (previously UW World Series) present a new evening-length multi-disciplinary work co-created by award-winning choreographer (and Seattle native) Mark Morris and renowned British painter Howard Hodgkin and based on this Middle Eastern folk tale.