PHILADANCO Returns to the Kimmel Center for Spring Performance of The Philadelphia Connection on May 10-13
April 26, 2007
Internationally renowned local dance company PHILADANCO returns this spring to the Kimmel Center for a high energy exceptional performance that emphasizes the company’s Philadelphia Connection in Perelman Theater on Thursday-Saturday, May 10-12 at 7:30pm and Saturday-Sunday, May 12-13 at 2:30pm. The repertory program features two world premieres including native bred choreographers Rennie Harris’s hip-hop laden "Philadelphia Experiment" and Zane A. Booker’s dance utopia "In Between Time;" a revival of the 1947 American Masterpiece "Southern Landscape" by dance pioneer Talley Beatty; and choreographer Gene Hill Sagan’s passionate "La Valse." Company founder Joan Myers Brown was recently honored in 2006 with a Dance Magazine Award for her work with the company.
"PHILADANCO’s dancers are a miracle of skill and energy. They work in a range of idioms most companies don’t even try to possess…A company that can do more than just anything. It can represent the possibilities of human spirit through dance." – Dance Magazine
An Artist Chat with Founder & Artistic Director Joan Myers Brown, company members of PHILADANCO, and Kimmel Center Director of Programming Tom Warner will take place following the opening night performance on Thursday, May 10, 2007 in Perelman Theater.
Tickets for PHILADANCO are priced at $34 and $46 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center, through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program supported by a generous grant from Wachovia Foundation. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
For 38 years PHILADANCO has adhered to its mission to present the highest quality of professional dance performance, exceptional training for emerging professional dancers and choreographers, while also increasing the appreciation of dance among its many communities. Since its inception in 1970, PHILADANCO has had a significant impact on the dance world. As a cultural ambassador representing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia, its artistic direction and renowned national and international guest choreographers have developed a reputation of producing a dance repertory with passion, power, skill and diversity. Joan Myers Brown, founder of PHILADANCO, has compiled a stellar faculty that has trained over 4,500 dancers in its comprehensive program, and achieved the highest level of technical skills in dance and performance. The unique blend of dance styles of PHILADANCO and its roster of 50-60 concert performances and 45 residencies annually has made them one of the most sought after modern companies in the United States.
In 1986, PHILADANCO was one of only 15 organizations awarded the prestigious National Choreography Planning Grant. It organized the historic first two International Conferences for Black Dance Companies with over 75 representatives convening in Philadelphia. For the past 18 years, more than 600 people have assembled annually for the International Conference on Black Dance; headed by the International Association of Blacks in Dance, which was also founded and now chaired by Joan Myers Brown. In 2000, the company along with eight other cultural organizations received permanent residency at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. In 2006, PHILADANCO has had the pleasure of performing at venues such as Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and The Joyce Theater in New York City. The company recently returned from a rigorous tour schedule in Germany, Luxembourg and Italy. As one of fourteen companies to receive the prestigious American Masterpieces award from the National Endowment for the Arts, PHILADANCO will utilize this grant to remount Talley Beatty’s Southern Landscape.
More importantly, PHILADANCO believes in and continues to provide quality arts instruction to young people with authentic learning experiences that engage their minds, hearts, and bodies. After 38 years, the PHILADANCO building continues to be an oasis in its community and a welcoming refuge for all.
"In Between Time" is a world premiere, and offers a view of Utopia where dancers reach for the stars, emoting thoughts, hopes and dreams on stage.
"Southern Landscape" is a full company piece and revival of the 1947 dance segment that originally reverberated to the sounds of Duke Ellington. Later revised to include Negro Spirituals, this work is a dramatic look at the close of the Reconstruction period marked by the end of the thousands of cooperative farms that had been created after the Civil War. "Southern Landscape" is inspired by Howard Fast’s book Freedom Road, which deals with "the brief empowerment of freed slaves during Reconstruction followed by brutal repercussions inflicted by the newly formed Ku Klux Klan."
"La Valse" is a passionate contest to attract the favor of two male figures—using eight to ten dancers, "La Valse" is a waltz at its most demonical-one that rose from a simple beginning, to a feverish whirl of virtuoso lifts, turns and bodies flung through space at a dizzy pace. "La Valse" evolves into a virtual bacchanal of whirling bodies." –Philadelphia Daily News
"Philadelphia Experiment" is hip-hop at its finest, a retrospective of the city of Philadelphia. An acknowledgement of political, social, and economic change, this dynamic, energetic piece alludes to the rhythms, posture, physicality and speed of the city of Philadelphia.
Kimmel Center Presents' 2006/2007 season is supported by: Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, National Endowment for the Arts, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, ARC Wheeler, The William Penn Foundation, The Wachovia Foundation, Verizon Foundation, The Presser Foundation, Philadelphia Music Project and Dance Advance, Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trust administered by The University of the Arts. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com are media sponsors for the Great Orchestras on Tour series.
FREE AT THE KIMMEL events are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program supported by a generous grant from Wachovia Foundation.
"In Between Time" was made possible by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the William Penn Foundation and Pennsylvania Council of the Arts. The remounting of "Southern Landscape" was made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces: Dance Initiative, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts. "La Valse" was made possible by generous grants from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Lomax Family Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. "Philadelphia Experiment" was made possible by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Puma and the William Penn Foundation.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
Thursday-Saturday, May 10-12 | 7:30pm
Saturday-Sunday, May 12-13 | 2:30 pm
Perelman Theater
PHILADANCO
The Philadelphia Connection
Featuring: Corey Baker, Erin D. Barnett, Elisabeth H. Bell, Chloé O. Davis, Miguel Edson, Tommie-Waheed Evans, David Holland, Joan Kilgore, Odara N. Jabali Nash, Gary W. Jeter, II, Mykal D. Laury, II, A. Maverick Lemons, Teneise L. Mitchell, Erin N. Moore, Mora-Amina Parker, Devin L. Roberts, Jay Staten, Tracy Vogt
The Philadelphia Connection - Part I
In Between Time
World Premiere
Choreographer: Zane A. Booker
Music: Chuck Mangione
Lighting Design & Execution: Clifton Taylor
Costume Design & Execution: A. Christina Giannini
Southern Landscape
Choreographer: Talley Beatty
Reconstruction: Kim Y. Bears-Bailey & Debora Chase-Hicks
Music: Collage of Spiritual & Folk music
Vocals Sung by: Devin L. Roberts
Lighting Design: William H. Grant, III
Lighting Execution: Melody Beal
Costume Design: Talley Beatty
Costume Execution: Natasha Guruleva, Heidi Barr, A. Christina Giannini
-Intermission-
The Philadelphia Connection –Part II
La Valse
Choreographer: Gene Hill Sagan
Reconstruction: Kim Y. Bears-Bailey & Debora Chase-Hicks
Music: Ravel
Lighting Design: William H. Grant, III
Lighting Execution: Melody Beal
Costume Design: Gene Hill Sagan & Frankie Fehr
Costume Execution: Natasha Guruleva
The Philadelphia Connection- Part III
Philadelphia Experiment
World Premiere
Choreographer: Rennie Harris
Assistant & Coach: Moncell Durden
Music: 3 Generations Walking, Body & Soul
Original Composition-Produced & Edited: Darrin Ross
Video Collage: Theodore A. Harris, John Abner
Lighting Design & Execution: Clifton Taylor
Costume Design & Execution: A. Christina Giannini
FREE AT THE KIMMEL EVENT
Thursday, May 10, 2007 | post-show
Perelman Theater
Artist Chat
Join us for an Artist Chat with Founder & Executive Artistic Director Joan Myers Brown, company members of PHILADANCO, and the Kimmel Center Director of Programming Tom Warner.
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