This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Jessica Lang, founder and director of Jessica Lang Dance, is equal parts choreographer and arts advocate. Ask about her company's performance Friday, Jan. 13, at the Eccles Center in Park City and you'll end up discussing art as a valid career path. Bring up her prestigious Arison Award (past recipients include Mikhail Baryshnikov, Robert Redford and Dave Brubeck) and she'll tell you the importance of the YoungArts Foundation that presents the award.

"No matter who you are, this performance is for you," Lang said. "This is not a performance that divides those who know about dance from those who don't. This is for everyone."

Lang's choreography is in demand worldwide, and in 2014 she received the dance equivalent of an Oscar, the Bessie Award. When not on tour with her company, she is restaging work or creating new commissions for renowned ballet companies, including Ballet West, American Ballet Theatre and Birmingham Royal Ballet. She has even trademarked a creative arts curriculum, LANGuage, that is integrated into schools and communities on her tour stops.

Teri Orr, executive director of the Eccles Center's Park City Institute, said she is excited for Jessica Lang Dance to return after the successful performance and workshop in 2013.

"She's edgy, she's daring, yet she understands what it means to relate to a cross-section of the community," Orr said.

The dances on the program tonight are new to the Park City audience, with the exception of Lang's signature work, "Splendid Isolation" (also known as the "Big Dress" piece).

The evening opens with Lang's 2008 piece "Solo Bach." Lang says the piece is a really nice way to welcome the audience. "It's short; it's sweet; it's fast; it's entertaining; it's hypermusical; and then it's over."

Next on the program is "Sweet Silent Thought," in which Lang knits together five Shakespeare sonnets connected by theme and inspired by the rhythm of the Bard's language. Closing the first half of the program is Lang's choreographic response to war, "Thousand Yard Stare."

One reason choreographers are reluctant to address themes as serious as war is running the risk of getting it wrong. Lang was intent on an honest and respectful investigation. In 2015 she took a month to listen to veterans' stories and worked with language, music and drawings to create the costumes and powerful visual images to "honor those affected by war and particularly our military veterans." The Seattle Times called the work "a masterpiece," and the Kansas City Star said it was "mesmerizing."

The second half of the program begins with Lang's iconic piece, "The Calling," and ends with "Tesseracts of Time," a commission for the Chicago Architecture Biennial, in collaboration with architect Steven Holl, whose emphasis on architecture as a human experience forms the basis of the piece.

Orr said she looks forward to a full house for Jessica Lang Dance and hopes Park City audiences turn out for upcoming performances by Alvin Ailey Dance Company II (Feb. 24-25) and Ballet West (March 18) at the Eccles Center.

"Dance is a particularly important art to promote since it needs a stage to be seen, a place for dancers to grow their craft, and for people to get to become familiar with them," Orr said. "We need our community to fill our seats for dance performances, especially since this is a pretty big theater, in a pretty small town." —

Jessica Lang Dance

When • Friday, Jan. 13, 7:30 p.m.

Where • Eccles Center Theater, 1750 Kearns Blvd., Park City

Tickets • $29-$79; http://www.ecclescenter.org