Ronald K. Brown/Evidence Dance Company to Appear in Keene
KEENE, N.H., 1/31/06 - Praised as “one of the most profound choreographers of this modern dance generation” by the New York Times, Ronald K. Brown will bring his company, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, to Keene State College’s Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond, Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m. The evening will be highlighted by excerpts from Brown’s original work, “Portrait of a Lady,” a tribute to the legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday.
A former Alvin Ailey choreographer and dancer, Brown founded his company in 1986 with the purpose of telling stories that underscore what is important in the human experience. Since then he has emerged as a charismatic performer and a choreographer in high demand by companies such as Dayton Contemporary Dance, Philadanco, Jeune ballet d’Afrique Noire and others. Dance critic Rose Eichenbaum described Brown’s work in “Faces in Dance,” writing, “Like rich African batik, his choreography offers vibrant colors, complex patterns, and powerful images.”
Brown says that “dance is a release, which is about letting your soul be free. You leave the world behind in a way and you get lifted up by the music, by the other folks dancing, and it’s that sense that I want to bring to the stage.”
The Company’s performance at Brickyard Pond will feature three works. “Upside Down” is an excerpt from Brown’s evening-length work, “Destiny.” Set to propulsive music by Oumou Sangare and Feli Anikulapo Kuti, it is a group dance that is a perfect example of Brown’s distinctive gift for blending, as the New York Times wrote, “African traditional and Western modern dance to create a driving, resilient and slyly funny new whole.”
“High Life” was created by Brown in 2000, he says that he “built it on images of migration and discovery of decadence.” In it we see glimpses of Caribbean, North American modern, historical, and contemporary popular dance forms, even martial arts. The Columbus Dispatch wrote, “The action speeds past in the blur of powerful, African-based movement. It was an imaginative and amusing tour de force closer to the evening.” The musical score includes works by Oscar Brown Jr., Nikki Giovanni, the JB’s, and others.
“Portrait of a Lady” is set to several of Holiday’s signature songs, including “God Bless the Child” and “Lover Man,” as well as original music by jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon. By examining the history of blues and jazz from 1900 through 1959, the year of Holiday’s death, the work uses Holiday’s iconic status to examine race, human rights, and poverty and their role in American society.
Read more about Ronald K. Brown/Evidence at their website www.evidencedance.com/index.htm.
Tickets are available through the Brickyard Pond box office, 603-358-2168, or on the web at www.keene.edu/racbp. Admission is $27 and $24 for the general public, $23 and $20 for seniors and KSC faculty and staff, $14 and $11 for youth 17 and younger, and $5 for KSC students with ID.
The Keene State performance is made possible in part through funding from the Expeditions program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, which receives major support from the National Endowment for the Arts with additional support from the state arts agencies of New England and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
