Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

PHILADANCO Performs an Evening of Works, For Your Pleasure, including Philadelphia Premiere of Hope Boykin’s Watching Go By, the day, Nov. 4 - 6

OCTOBER 7, 2011

"A company of happy, invigorating contrast...a venerable institution...but has not lost its youthful verve or the freshness of its strong technical grounding.” —New York Times

Renowned contemporary dance company Philadanco presents an evening of works, entitled For Your Pleasure, including the Philadelphia premiere of Watching Go By, the day, a new work by acclaimed choreographer and former Philadanco member Hope Boykin at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater, Friday – Sunday, November 4 – 6, 2011.  The program also includes some of Philadanco’s signature performance pieces that highlight their bold, precise dance style including George Faison’s Suite Otis, Gene Hill Sagan’s La Valse, and Christopher L. Huggins’ Blue.

 

A Durham, North Carolina native, Boykin’s Watching Go By, the day received its world premiere at University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill’s Carolina Performance Arts on September 23. The piece features an original score by Ali Jackson, a composer and drummer with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

 

“If I can be there to help other dancers and artists press on toward their individual goals, then I will do my best to encourage them in any way that I can.  This is my purpose.”

– Hope Boykin

 

Tickets for Philadanco are available from $29 to $46 by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office located on Broad and Spruce streets, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (open daily from 10am to 6pm, later on performance evenings.)

 

Hope Boykin is a three-time recipient of the American Dance Festival’s Young Tuition Scholarship. She attended Howard University and while in Washington, DC she performed with Lloyd Whitmore’s New World Dance Company.  Ms. Boykin was a student and intern at The Ailey School. She was assistant to the late Talley Beatty and an original member of Complexions.  Ms. Boykin was a member of Philadanco and received a New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award.  Ms. Boykin joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2000 and in 2005 choreographed Acceptance In Surrender in collaboration with Abdur-Rahim Jackson and Matthew Rushing for the company.  Most recently she choreographed Go In Grace with award-winning singing group Sweet Honey In The Rock for the company's 50th anniversary celebration. 

 

Brenda Dixon Gottschild, author of The Black Dancing Body, pens the forthcoming Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina, to be published January 2012 – a testament to Brown’s groundbreaking career and achievements.

 

Philadanco has a long history as Philadelphia’s premiere modern contemporary dance company: it is one of the first companies to hire dancers on a 52 week salary; the first to own housing for the dancers; and the first to own a debt-free facility. Philadanco presents wide-ranging repertoire of highly athletic material rooted in jazz, ballet and modern dance traditions. The company continues to consistently tour more than any Philadelphia cultural organization, performing as many as 50-60 concerts and 45 residencies annually.

 

"The members of...Philadanco can do just about anything: leap like arrows in flight, spin, stretch, kick and melt like hot wax." —Washington Post

 

In 2005, Philadanco was one of 14 companies to receive the prestigious American Masterpieces Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The company has performed at Madison Square Garden, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Joyce and the Delacorte in New York City as well as major venues throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.

 

Founder and Artistic Director Joan Myers Brown is a revered choreographer and dancer, who pioneered an alternative path for African Americans to become professionally trained dancers post-civil rights era. A trailblazer in her own right, she helped young emerging dancers and choreographers find a voice and place in the dance world by founding the following organizations: The Philadelphia School of Dance Arts in Philadelphia (1960); Contemporary modern dance company Philadanco in (1970);  Coalition of African American Cultural Organizations in Philadelphia, co-founder (1986); International Conference of Black Dance Companies (1988); International Association of Blacks in Dance (1991). Currently, Brown is a visiting professor at the University of the Arts and a member of the dance faculty at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She has received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia (2004) and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pa. (2007).The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts also honored her as a Master of African American Choreography in 2005.

 

Born in Philadelphia on Christmas Day in l931, Joan Myers Brown began training with the Ballet Guild in Philadelphia at age seven. She also trained at the Sydney-Marion School in Philadelphia, Pa., a pre-civil rights classical ballet school for African American dancers. Thereafter, Brown moved to New York in 1951 on a ballet scholarship to study at The Dunham School, and began her professional career with performances of choreographed works with The Savar Dancers at Café Montmarte in Montreal, Canada, as well as tours to Quebec City and Toronto. She has danced at the legendary Cab Calloway Cotton Club Revue, warmed up performers such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Pearl Bailey, Billy Eckstein and Billy Daniels, among other greats.

 

Kimmel Center, Inc., a charitable, not-for-profit organization, owns, manages, supports and maintains The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which includes Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, Innovation Studio and the Merck Arts Education Center.  Kimmel Center, Inc. also manages the Academy of Music, owned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and the University of the Arts’ Merriam Theater. Our mission is to operate a world-class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience from throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. The 2011/2012 season is sponsored by Citi. For additional information, visit kimmelcenter.org. 

 

Kimmel Center Presents

Philadanco
Perelman Theater

For Your Pleasure

 

Perelman Theater

Friday, November 4                7:30pm           

Saturday, November 5            2:30pm           

Saturday, November 5            7:30pm           

Sunday, November 6              2:30pm           

 

Hope Boykin: Watching Go By, the day

George Faison: Suite Otis

Gene Hill Sagan: La Valse

Christopher L. Huggins: Blue

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