Sat April 14, 2018
Kick High, Turn Fast: Celebrating 45 Years of Dance
SEE EVENT DETAILS
at Malonga Casquelourd Center For The Arts
(see times)
Apr 13 - 14, 8pm both days
Dimensions Dance Theater celebrates its 45th anniversary with two world premieres and a and a high-stepping second line dance parade with live music from two bands.
As the oldest continuously operating African American dance company on the West Coast, Dimensions Dance Theater has been a leader in the movement to introduce African and African-derived dances in the United States, reconnecting generations of Americans with the cultural arts of their ancestors, while paying no heed to the old-fashioned orthodoxy that once kept instruction in classical ballet and modern dance separate from jazz, Haitian and other styles.
Dimensions Co-Founder and Artistic Director Deborah Vaughan commissioned Latanya Tigner to create a new work to mark the company's anniversary. Tigner, who has danced with the company since 1986, and who currently leads Dimensions Extensions, a pre-professional youth ensemble, is developing a 25-minute work about homelessness.
The second new work on the program is choreographed by Andrea Vonny Lee, who danced with Dimensions from 1994 to 2009, and who in the years since has traveled numerous times to West Africa and Cuba working to bridge the African diaspora. This is Lee's first commission for Dimensions Dance Theater.
"Ain't No Turning Back" is a work paying homage to the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman, the 19th-century abolitionist, women's suffragist and "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, which Lee calls "the first organized freedom movement in America."
In the evening's finale, Dimensions will reprise Tigner's rousing "St. Ann and N. Rampart" which premiered in 2013. The full company will take the stage with live musical accompaniment from two groups: Twilight under the direction of bandleader Harold Wilson aka "Homeboy" and a West African dundunba battery under the direction of Alseny Soumah. The drummers include Mohamed Kouyate, James Rudisill, John Curtis Stovall and Richmond Wiggins.
show less
Dimensions Dance Theater celebrates its 45th anniversary with two world premieres and a and a high-stepping second line dance parade with live music from two bands.
As the oldest continuously operating African American dance company on the West Coast, Dimensions Dance Theater has been a leader in the movement to introduce African and African-derived dances in the United States, reconnecting generations of Americans with the cultural arts of their ancestors, while paying no heed to the old-fashioned orthodoxy that once kept instruction in classical ballet and modern dance separate from jazz, Haitian and other styles.
Dimensions Co-Founder and Artistic Director Deborah Vaughan commissioned Latanya Tigner to create a new work to mark the company's anniversary. Tigner, who has danced with the company since 1986, and who currently leads Dimensions Extensions, a pre-professional youth ensemble, is developing a 25-minute work about homelessness.
The second new work on the program is choreographed by Andrea Vonny Lee, who danced with Dimensions from 1994 to 2009, and who in the years since has traveled numerous times to West Africa and Cuba working to bridge the African diaspora. This is Lee's first commission for Dimensions Dance Theater.
"Ain't No Turning Back" is a work paying homage to the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman, the 19th-century abolitionist, women's suffragist and "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, which Lee calls "the first organized freedom movement in America."
In the evening's finale, Dimensions will reprise Tigner's rousing "St. Ann and N. Rampart" which premiered in 2013. The full company will take the stage with live musical accompaniment from two groups: Twilight under the direction of bandleader Harold Wilson aka "Homeboy" and a West African dundunba battery under the direction of Alseny Soumah. The drummers include Mohamed Kouyate, James Rudisill, John Curtis Stovall and Richmond Wiggins.
Apr 13 - 14, 8pm both days
Dimensions Dance Theater celebrates its 45th anniversary with two world premieres and a and a high-stepping second line dance parade with live music from two bands.
As the oldest continuously operating African American dance company on the West Coast, Dimensions Dance Theater has been a leader in the movement to introduce African and African-derived dances in the United States, reconnecting generations of Americans with the cultural arts of their ancestors, while paying no heed to the old-fashioned orthodoxy that once kept instruction in classical ballet and modern dance separate from jazz, Haitian and other styles.
Dimensions Co-Founder and Artistic Director Deborah Vaughan commissioned Latanya Tigner to create a new work to mark the company's anniversary. Tigner, who has danced with the company since 1986, and who currently leads Dimensions Extensions, a pre-professional youth ensemble, is developing a 25-minute work about homelessness.
The second new work on the program is choreographed by Andrea Vonny Lee, who danced with Dimensions from 1994 to 2009, and who in the years since has traveled numerous times to West Africa and Cuba working to bridge the African diaspora. This is Lee's first commission for Dimensions Dance Theater.
"Ain't No Turning Back" is a work paying homage to the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman, the 19th-century abolitionist, women's suffragist and "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, which Lee calls "the first organized freedom movement in America."
In the evening's finale, Dimensions will reprise Tigner's rousing "St. Ann and N. Rampart" which premiered in 2013. The full company will take the stage with live musical accompaniment from two groups: Twilight under the direction of bandleader Harold Wilson aka "Homeboy" and a West African dundunba battery under the direction of Alseny Soumah. The drummers include Mohamed Kouyate, James Rudisill, John Curtis Stovall and Richmond Wiggins.
read more
Dimensions Dance Theater celebrates its 45th anniversary with two world premieres and a and a high-stepping second line dance parade with live music from two bands.
As the oldest continuously operating African American dance company on the West Coast, Dimensions Dance Theater has been a leader in the movement to introduce African and African-derived dances in the United States, reconnecting generations of Americans with the cultural arts of their ancestors, while paying no heed to the old-fashioned orthodoxy that once kept instruction in classical ballet and modern dance separate from jazz, Haitian and other styles.
Dimensions Co-Founder and Artistic Director Deborah Vaughan commissioned Latanya Tigner to create a new work to mark the company's anniversary. Tigner, who has danced with the company since 1986, and who currently leads Dimensions Extensions, a pre-professional youth ensemble, is developing a 25-minute work about homelessness.
The second new work on the program is choreographed by Andrea Vonny Lee, who danced with Dimensions from 1994 to 2009, and who in the years since has traveled numerous times to West Africa and Cuba working to bridge the African diaspora. This is Lee's first commission for Dimensions Dance Theater.
"Ain't No Turning Back" is a work paying homage to the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman, the 19th-century abolitionist, women's suffragist and "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, which Lee calls "the first organized freedom movement in America."
In the evening's finale, Dimensions will reprise Tigner's rousing "St. Ann and N. Rampart" which premiered in 2013. The full company will take the stage with live musical accompaniment from two groups: Twilight under the direction of bandleader Harold Wilson aka "Homeboy" and a West African dundunba battery under the direction of Alseny Soumah. The drummers include Mohamed Kouyate, James Rudisill, John Curtis Stovall and Richmond Wiggins.
show less
Date/Times:
Malonga Casquelourd Center For The Arts
1428 Alice St, Oakland, CA 94612
The Best Events
Every Week in Your Inbox
From Our Sponsors
UPCOMING EVENTS
Great suggestion! We'll be in touch.
Event reviewed successfully.