VCU Dance NOW 2019

VCU Dance NOW
Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 8pm
The Grace Street Theater
934 W. Grace Street

Tickets:
$15 General Admission
$10 Students (with valid I.D.)/Seniors

VCUarts Dance is pleased to present VCU Dance NOW, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday February 14th-16th at 8pm nightly plus a 2pm Saturday matinee at the Grace Street Theater, 934 West Grace Street, Richmond, VA. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 students (with valid I.D.)/seniors.

This year, VCU Dance NOW features exciting new works by guest choreographer Gregory Maqoma of South Africa, and VCU Dance faculty members MK Abadoo, Eric Rivera, Autumn Proctor Waddell, Judith K. Steel, and Scott Putman.

Soweto-born Gregory Vuyani Maqoma took up dance in the late 1980s as a refuge from the political tensions in the township, and quickly began excelling. Today, he is an internationally renowned dancer, choreographer, teacher, director and scriptwriter. He has also distinguished himself for his artistic collaborations, including working with British-based choreographer Akram Khan and the London Sinfonietta, as well as South African fashion designer David Tlale, singer-songwriter Simphiwe Dana and theatre maker Brett Bailey. He is the founder and director of Vuyani Dance Theatre, and has taught at various universities in Africa, America and Europe. In October, Maqoma visited VCU for a two-week residency during which he set a new work on Dance majors. He Ran to the Train considers the idea of men leaving behind their families to seek better opportunities in the big cities, and thus interrogates ideas of migration and a fight for survival. 

FACULTY WORKS
youcanplayinthesun (2017), choreographed by iCubed Fellow MK Abadoo, is an exploration of intra-group body dialogue from the lens of Black women. Science fiction writer Octavia Butler's use of visionary fiction galvanizes its design of dance performance space, specifically as a way to imagine worlds that prioritize liberative storytelling at the intersections of gender and race. This excerpt of the work explores the ways in which we give or get permission to take up space, as we encounter each other within intersectional spaces. How do we as gendered and raced bodies show compassion towards internalized manifestations of struggle against oppression? How might we uncover an ease within ourselves, and with each other, together? 

In Scott Putman's Among a Field of Stars Underneath a Sky of Sunflowers, six dancers navigate a world turned upside down by journeying through the memory of a last touch and the gravity of loss. The expedition maneuvers through space and time by counterpoint and maelstrom in an attempt to find peace more than closure. 

Eric Rivera's A Pesar Del Dolor explores and reflects on the experiences of those who lived through a disaster firsthand, and those who stood by helplessly watching from afar.

In the edge of meaning….. Judith Steel investigates a journey that is repeated but not familiar; the crossing of meaning, the missed moment, a path not followed, listener and speaker in different spaces and points in time. Labyrinths of knowing are explored with eight dancers accompanied by a score from Icelandic composer Olafur Arnalds, who creates intricate keyboard and song patterns of sound in with both live and computer ‘players’ that alter the musical response into repeated and non-repeatable wave-like forms.  

VCU Dance NOW is the sixth event of the VCU Dance 2018-2019 Season. The Gregory Maqoma residency was funded in part by a generous grant from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

Look for event updates on Facebook.

Recognized by professional dancers and choreographers as “a place where things are happening,” Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Dance and Choreography offers a vibrant and stimulating atmosphere where students prepare for careers in dance.

For more information about the Department of Dance and Choreography, please visit: www.arts.vcu.edu/dance.

For more information about the Grace Street Theater and our Spring 2019 Season, please visit: www.arts.vcu.edu/gracestreet.

For ticketing assitance please call The Grace Street Theater Box Office at 804-828-2020.