DALLAS BLACK DANCE THEATRE TO TAKE PART IN JACOB’S PILLOW FESTIVAL 2021

Dallas, TX – Dallas Black Dance Theatre is honored to be a part of the full artist lineup for Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival 2021. It will feature world premieres of commissioned works, and present new, site-specific performances created especially for the Pillow’s 220-acre campus. The Festival will be in-person June 30-August 29, 2021, with Dallas Black Dance Theatre performing August 4-8, 2021, on the Henry J. Leir Outdoor Stage.

In a highly anticipated Jacob’s Pillow debut, Dallas Black Dance Theatre performs a Pillow-commissioned world premiere of LIKE WATER by sought-after choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie, who is celebrated for his work with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, and Dance Theatre of Harlem. The new work was commissioned by Jacob’s Pillow as the inaugural recipient of the Joan B. Hunter New Work Commission. Grand Moultrie says, “This work is created in celebration of our resilience. We’ve been through a lot, but we still take flight. We celebrate the ground we stand on and each second we’re here. Like Water, we can’t survive without love, compassion, and human connection.”

Dallas Black Dance Theatre will also perform Face what’s facing you! by Claude Alexander III and Night Run by Christopher L. Huggins. “The invitation to perform at the legendary Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival is an extraordinary honor,” said Dallas Black Dance Theatre Artistic Director Melissa M. Young. “This opportunity will seal our place in the roots of American Modern Dance history, as well as amplify the work we do as a Black dance company in America in front of a global audience.”

Founded in 1976 by Ann M. Williams and currently led by Artistic Director Melissa M. Young, Dallas Black Dance Theatre has captivated audiences in the Dallas Arts District and nationwide with contemporary modern dance from the nation’s leading choreographers. The company celebrates its 45th anniversary during the 2021-2022 season.

As a result of COVID closures, Dallas Black Dance Theater’s 44th season was entirely virtual, with many of its stage performances reimagined on film across the Dallas landscape. During the summer of 2020, Dallas Black Dance Theatre became the first professional dance company in the world to consistently present paid-only virtual performances as a new business model after the closing of live performances. Dallas Black Dance Theatre is the oldest and largest professional dance company in Dallas, the fourth largest African American dance company, and the tenth-largest arts organization of color in the United States. The company consists of 14 professional, multi-ethnic, full-time dancers performing a mixed repertory of modern, jazz, ethnic, and spiritual works by nationally and internationally known choreographers.

Jacob’s Pillow is America’s longest-running and largest international dance festival. Each summer, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival typically features leading national and international dance companies across genres, as well as free and ticketed performances, talks, tours, classes, exhibits, events, and community programs. The 2021 Festival is also the first festival organized by an expanded curatorial team comprised of Artistic & Executive Director Pamela Tatge, and Associate Curators Melanie George and Ali Rosa-Salas.

Notable artists who have created or premiered dances at Jacob’s Pillow include choreographers Antony Tudor, Agnes de Mille, Alvin Ailey, Donald McKayle, Kevin McKenzie, Twyla Tharp, Ralph Lemon, Susan Marshall, Trisha Brown, Ronald K. Brown, Wally Cardona, Andrea Miller, and Trey McIntyre; performed by artists such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Carmen de Lavallade, Mark Morris, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Edward Villella, Rasta Thomas, and hundreds more.

Member Pre-Sale for onsite performances begins May 6, 2021. Tickets for onsite events and all online events go on sale to the public on June 1, 2021. For additional details and ticket information, visit www.jacobspillow.org or call 413-243-0745.

ABOUT DALLAS BLACK DANCE THEATRE: Ann Williams founded Dallas Black Dance Theatre in 1976. Melissa M. Young took over the helm as Artistic Director in 2018 after starting at the company as a dancer in 1994. Zenetta S. Drew has led the administrative side of the company since 1987 as Executive Director.

The mission of Dallas Black Dance Theatre is to create and produce contemporary modern dance at its highest level of artistic excellence through performances and educational programs that bridge cultures and reach diverse communities. The virtuosic dancers of Dallas Black Dance Theatre have mesmerized 5 million arts patrons across 16 countries, including two Olympic Cultural events. For more details visit www.DBDT.com

DANCE IQUAIL! Announces First Full-Time General Manager

Gwendolyn Coleman

Administrator helps 14 Year Old Organization expand programming into Black and

Brown Historically Divested Communities in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – DANCE IQUAIL!, the dance and social justice organization based in the Mantua neighborhood of Philadelphia, is pleased to announce the appointment of Gwendolyn Coleman as General Manager. Coleman becomes the first full-time leader who will work in tandem with Iquail Shaheed, the organization’s Founding Executive Artistic Director. This appointment marks a significant milestone for the 14-year old organization who continues to expand its programing to Black and brown historically disinvested communities in Mantua and throughout Philadelphia. Coleman began working for the company Monday.

Coleman began her career as a dancer with PHILADANCO! and continued into a successful commercial career performing in Atlantic City, touring with the Greatest Show on Earth, and performing in Las Vegas. Coleman returned to Philadelphia where it all began and became the General Manager for PHILADANCO!. She later went on to consult for Contemporary West Dance Theatre in Las Vegas. Most recently Coleman had duo roles at Freedom Theatre as Managing Director for Publications & Special Events and Interim Director of the School for Arts & Education. She has mentored and continues to mentor many dancers that have gone on to become professionals in their field and some have even started their own dance companies. “DANCE IQUAIL!, Iquail and I have a deeper connection other than dance,” said Coleman. “I grew up in Mantua/The Bottom, so I know this community well, along with knowing its needs.
DANCE IQUAIL! has and will continue to change the lives of the Mantua community. I will be there to support his efforts. It is important for me to give back.”

DANCE IQUAIL!’s Board of Directors and I are extremely delighted to welcome ‘Gwen’ as he organization's first General Manager,” said Iquail Shaheed. “For years, she’s been a true advocate for dance in Philadelphia and for DANCE IQUAIL!. She brings with her a wealth of experience and knowledge of the dance ecology that will certainly allow our organization to enhance the impact of our social practice, artistic productions and community engagement programs. We are truly blessed to have her wisdom and leadership.”
Added Coleman, “DANCE IQUAIL!, has a solid foundation for its artistic excellence. As we gradually return to theaters next year, my plan is to move the company to be recognized on national and international levels. I will support the work that DANCE IQUAIL!, will be doing in the Mantua community with hopes it will be the model for other communities in Philadelphia and cities around the country.”

About DANCE IQUAIL
Founded in 2007, DANCE IQUAIL! (DI!) presents original dance works and community
educational programs that engage issues of social justice, that enriches, heals and transforms through dance. DI! is a hub for innovative and inclusive arts and cultural programming for historically discriminated Philadelphians, providing arts access as the sole dance provider in the Mantua neighborhood (19104).  Iquail Shaheed founded DI! desiring to tell stories of struggle motivated by his experiences in West Philadelphia where he was born and raised battling racism and homophobia. DI! initially operated as a concert company supporting emerging dance artists of color, and diversifying the stories from marginalized communities seen onstage. Iquail expanded DI's mission tying art creations and community engagements more intimately with
Black and brown associates. DI has toured extensively in its 14-year history to U.S. cities from Baltimore to Los Angeles, and New York City. DI’s international destinations have included Brussels, Sydney, Kingston, and Cape Town. DI recently traveled to Rwanda and Mauritius in 2019 on a month long east African tour. DI’s touring activities historically ranges from performances in traditional concert halls to assemblies in inner-city public schools, as well as, lecture demonstrations, master classes, and community discussions.

www.danceiquail.org

2021 Artistry in Rhythm Dance Conference

Annual Symposium Honors the ground-breaking Urban Bush Women dance collective and its founding Artistic Director, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar

Miami, Feb. 8, 2020 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Kendall Campus Jubilation Dance Ensemble and the Performing Arts and Industries Department in collaboration with Live Arts Miami (LAM) present the 2021 Artistry in Rhythm Dance Conference, also known as A.I.R Dance 2021. Fully live-streamed for the first time in its history, the annual dance conference will take place from March 3 to March 27, 2021. With this year’s theme--Healing & Restoration: A Road to Liberation--as its organizing center, the annual community event offers an immersive movement symposium tailor-made for our times of social isolation and augmented injustices, centered on the cultivation of embodied resilience and strength, collective emancipation and joy through the art and practice of dance.

A.I.R Dance 2021 offers a unique immersion into the world of socially-committed contemporary dance, an experience and celebration of the transformative and restorative power of movement at the crossroads of change-making and embodied creative acts. All MDC students, faculty and staff, Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), dance professionals, dance studios, colleges and universities are invited to participate. All conference presentations, workshops, and conversations are free and fully online. Registration required.

This year, among its many notable participants, A.I.R. Dance 2021 will honor the ground-breaking Urban Bush Women dance collective and its founding Artistic Director, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, for their decades-long work exploring equity, social justice, and community empowerment as a transformative practice of change for people of color; centering issues of fairness, gender, health, ecology, sustainability, and restoration. The 2021 A.I.R. Dance Conference will officially kick off on March 3 at 7 PM EST, with a keynote conversation with honoree Jawole Willa Jo Zollar via Zoom.

Foundational UBW workshops will be offered including Entering, Building, and Exiting Community and The Generative Practice Virtual Think Tank. Throughout the conference, dancers from UBW will also engage with 11 select student dancers in a 3-week intensive creation process online called Artist Journal, which will culminate in an online Zoom performance by the students on March 12 at 7 PM EST.

A.I.R. Dance 2021 will also include numerous master classes and workshops with other renowned dancers and established industry leaders and performers like artist Shanna Woods’ The Art of Acceptance; a workshop led by Rosangela Silvestre, founder and Director of the Silvestre Technique; and a community workshop led by flamenco performer, teaching artist and dance scholar, Niurca Marquez.

A.I.R Dance 2021 Schedule of Events

• Wednesday, March 3 at 7 PM: A Conversation with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar

• Friday and Saturday, March 5 & 6 from 10 AM to 12 PM: Entering, Building, and Exiting Community, led by UBW

• Tuesday, March 9 & Thursday, March 11 from 8:25 to 9:40 AM: Dance as Healing, Symbology of the Silvestre Technique, led by Rosangela Silvestre

• Friday, March 12, 7 PM: Artist Journal Online Performance

• Monday, March 15 from 8:25 - 9:40 AM: The Art of Acceptance, led by Shanna Woods

• Friday, March 19 & 26 from 11 AM -12:30 PM: The Concept and Practice of Somatic Mark-Making as a Tool for Restoration, led by Niurca Marquez

• Saturday, March 27 from 10 AM to 12 PM: The Generative Practice Virtual Think Tank led by UBW

A.I.R. Dance 2021 is coordinated, directed and produced by MDC Kendall Associate Professor Michelle Grant-Murray, a choreographer, performer, author and social activist whose work has put her in front of audiences around the globe. Currently she is the Artistic Director of Olujimi Dance Collective, the Miami Dade College Jubilation Dance Ensemble, and the Coordinator of Dance at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus. Grant-Murray is also the author of Beyond the Surface: An Inclusive American Dance History. She is also a Live Arts Miami Artist-In-Residence and a member of its Faculty Task Force.

ABOUT A.I.R DANCE CONFERENCE HONOREE - JAWOLE WILLA JO ZOLLAR
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar is from Kansas City, Missouri. Zollar trained with Joseph Stevenson, a student of the legendary Katherine Dunham. In 1984, Jawole founded Urban Bush Women (UBW) as a performance ensemble dedicated to exploring the use of cultural expression as a catalyst for social change. In addition to 34 works for UBW, she has created works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco, and others. Featured in the PBS documentary, Free to Dance, which chronicles the African-American influence on modern dance, Jawole was designated a Master of Choreography by the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center in 2005. Jawole has also been awarded multiple fellowships including a 2008 United States Artists Wynn fellowship and a 2009 fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial. She has been awarded honorary degrees from Columbia College, Chicago, Tufts University, Rutgers and others. In 2013, Jawole received the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, in 2015 the Dance Magazine Award, the 2016 Dance/USA Honor Award and the 2017 Bessies Lifetime Achievement Award. She serves as director of UBW’s acclaimed Summer Leadership Institute, founder/visioning partner of UBW and currently holds the position of the Nancy Smith Fichter Professor of Dance and Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor at Florida State University.

Full information about Jawole, UBW, and the other movement leaders of A.I.R. Dance 2021, including a complete schedule of events, class descriptions and registration information can be found on www.LiveArtsMiami.org.

WHAT: 2021 Artistry in Rhythm Dance Conference
WHEN: March 3 to March 27, Various Times (EST)
WHERE: Live on Zoom
HOW: Free → RSVP required @ liveartsmiami.org

ABOUT LIVE ARTS MIAMI
Live Arts Miami is one of the city’s oldest and boldest performing arts series: an action-driven, people-centered platform for powerful performances, impactful community programs and learning experiences that spark dialogue, raise awareness around pressing issues, and open minds and hearts in all who take part. Created in 1990 as Cultura del Lobo, Live Arts Miami is proud to be a part of Miami Dade College’s celebrated Department of Cultural Affairs. For three decades, Live Arts Miami has featured extraordinary performing artists and unforgettable performances, collaborations and public art projects from all over the world. Today, Live Arts Miami is a regional model of principled innovation and excellence in public arts programming. A place for artists, audiences, and MDC students to come together as one.

The programs of Live Arts Miami are funded by Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council; the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; the National Endowment for the Arts; National Performance Network (NPN); the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. MDC Live Arts is a Partner of the National Performance Network (NPN). Major NPN contributors include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

ABOUT MDC KENDALL CAMPUS PERFORMING ARTS AND INDUSTRIES DEPARTMENT
At the Performing Arts and Industries Department, passion for expression takes center stage. Featuring a distinguished faculty, state-of-the-art facilities, and ample performance opportunities, PAI guides and develops the artistic, intellectual, and professional growth of its students in music, theater, dance and music business. The music, theater and dance programs offer unparalleled experiences, connecting classroom activities with current discourses in cultural studies and the performing arts as well as intellectual enrichment through exposure to visiting artists, scholars and experts in each respective field.

Our specialized performance classes are open to anyone with an interest in the performing arts, so feel free to contact us at PerformingArtsKendall@mdc.edu for more information, and visit us on the web at www.mdc.edu/PAI to learn more about our programs! We look forward to hearing from you!

We invite you to register for mini-term classes and take advantage of our amazing financial incentives, available for a limited time! More information can be found at https://www.mdc.edu/mdccares/.

Live Arts Miami Contacts: María Montoya, Marketing Specialist, 305-237-7733, mmontoy6@mdc.edu; José A. Portela, Communications Specialist, jvillar2@mdc.edu

MDC Media-only contacts: Juan C. Mendieta, MDC director of communications, 305-237-7611, jmendiet@mdc.edu; Sue Arrowsmith, director of media relations, 305-237-3710, sarrowsm@mdc.edu; Allison Horton, 305-237-3359, ahorton2@mdc.edu; or Norma Ardila, 305-237-3607, nardila@mdc.edu.

This and other MDC releases are available at www.mdc.edu.

Downtime during the coronavirus pandemic “gave me an opportunity to think,” Brown said. “And also, it gave me an opportunity to talk with Kim about, ‘Are you ready to do this?’”

https://fusion.inquirer.com/arts/philadanco-joan-myers-brown-kim-bears-bailey-dance-20201108.html

Ellen Dunkel- Staff Writer, Philadelphia Inquirer

THREADS DANCE PROJECT has a NEW HOME!

MINNEAPOLIS - Threads Dance Project will begin a new chapter this fall 2020 with a move to the
new Threads Dance Nexus located in the Focus Arts Building at 2213 Snelling Avenue in
Minneapolis, MN.

A designated space for Threads Dance Project’s company, rehearsals and programming has been a
long-held dream. With an outpouring of support from the community, it has become a reality.
Threads’ Artistic Director and Choreographer, Karen L. Charles, is thrilled with the location: “As soon
as you enter the building, you feel how special the space is. The building and neighborhood are the
perfect place for Threads to expand efforts to connect community across difference. The Threads
Dance Nexus will provide stability for the company and opportunity for expanded creative
endeavors.”

Threads’ new home, in the Focus Arts Building is managed by Seward Redesign, who has been a
part of Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood since 1969. The location is next to the Metro Blue Line
and bike trails, with a small parking lot and free parking on nearby streets.

Not only will the Dance Nexus be a home for Threads, but also provide space for a diverse
community to learn, experience, create and connect through movement. Community Engagements &
Education Manager, Rae Charles Harge shares, “Thanks to Karen’s background in education, Threads
has garnered a reputation for providing local school children with dance experiences that are not only
transformative but academically rigorous! We are eager to share our own curriculum, movement
classes, and remote learning opportunities with the community.”

Threads is excited about becoming part of an arts center for the community, with opportunities for
collaboration & cross-pollination. Foci – MN Center for Glass Arts is also a new tenant and moved
into their facility in early September.

The company will begin rehearsals in the new studio later this fall and grand opening events are
planned for spring 2021. More details and information will be forthcoming.

Aesthetic Form and the Political: Two Perspectives on Protest in the Choreography of William Forsythe and Kevin Iega Jeff

There is urgency in understanding the place of Black art forms in the struggle for equality and justice.

This essay examines two concert dance pieces on the Gulf Wars: Kevin Iega Jeff’s Church of Nations (1991) and William Forsythe’s Three Atmospheric Studies (2006). While both are works of protest, they draw from different aesthetic traditions: the Black aesthetic and postmodern aesthetic, respectively. In an effort to think through the relationship between aesthetic form and the political, the essay explores what is at stake in such a comparison. “Aesthetic Form and the Political” is the complementary essay to “The Ekphrastic Body: Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works,” Dance Chronicle 42, no. 2 (2019): 143–69,relevant.

By: Tanya Jayani Fernando

Creating steps is no problem for the resident choreographer of Dance Theater of Harlem. But he does more: He makes ballet relevant.

By: Gia Kourlas, New York Times

TheaterJones-North Texas Performing Arts News: http://www.theaterjones.com/ntx/features/20191210104945/2019-12-10/A-New-Nutcracker

https://www.inquirer.com/arts/joan-myers-brown-philadanco-bessie-lifetime-achievement-award-20190813.html

KCET

LA Press Club

• AP News: Hayiya Dance Theatre dances for 39th US President Jimmy Carter on Sunday, June 9, 2019 as he returns to teaching Sunday School.

• Yahoo News: Jimmy Carter, after hip surgery, back teaching Sunday school

• 13WMAZ: Jimmy Carter praises Macon dance group's performance

• AJC (Atlanta News Now): President Jimmy Carter returns to hometown church

40 of America’s elite dancers surprise Philadanco founder Joan Myers Brown with a toast

Malik Robinson, Executive Director, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and Chair Elect, Dance/USA Board of Trustees