1 - SMU Digital Collections - Southern Methodist University

SMU Meadows School of the Arts
Division of Dance
presents
MEADOWS DANCE ENSEMBLE
2008 FALL DANCE CONCERT
AN EVENING OF HISTORIC
AFRICAN-AMERICA N DANCE
November 6-9; November 13-16
8:00 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2:00 p.m. Sunday
Bob Hope Theatre-Owen Arts Center
Choreographers
Alvin Ailey
Eleo Pomare
Donald McKayle
Artistic Director
Shelley C. Berg
Lighting Designer
Susan A. White
Costume Designer
Eugenia P. Stallings
Sound Engineer
Jason Biggs
Production Stage Manager
Deborah Barr
ELEO POMARE
The SMU Division of Dance is honored to dedicate the 2008 Fall Dance
Concert to Eleo Pomare, a master choreographer who combined brilliant theatrical
craftsmanship with a strong social conscience. His work speaks eloquently of the
brutality of man's inhumanity to man and the tenacious struggle the human spirit
must wage to triumph in adversity. He courageously brought the social and cultural
issues faced in the inner cities - racism, police brutality, drug addiction, poverty to the concert dance stage, thus helping to inscribe American modern dance as an
expressionistic form that honors equality in race, gender and ethnicity. Mr. Pomare
died on August 8, 2008, just one month before he was scheduled to come to SMU
to restage his signature work, Las Desenamoradas. Realizing that he would not be
able to make the journey, he worked until the day before he died to ensure that
those he had chosen to restage his work would be prepared. He also created learning
materials for our students, making packets to help guide them through the imagery
he had called on to create the work as well as questions for them to address as they
developed the dramatization of each character. This heroic effort speaks not only to
Mr. Pomare's dedication to his craft but also to his desire to inspire young people to
have a unique and individual artistic voice. It is with deepest gratitude and respect
that the Meadows Dance Ensemble shares with you Las Desenamoradas.
PROGRAM
THE LARK ASCENDING
(1972)
Choreography
Restaged by
Music
Costumes
Lighting
Rehearsal Directors
Alvin Ailey
Maxine Sherman
The Lark Ascending (Romance for Violin and Orchestra)
by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Bea Feitler
Chenault Spenser; recreated by Susan A. White
Myra Woodruff and Shelley C. Berg
Dancers
Lauren Perry & Landis Dixon
Dani Stringer & Jamal Jackson
Koreyci Barreto, Lee Duveneck, Benicka Grant,
Corinna Phillips, Shelby Stanley, Kim Vanwoesik
Louis Acquisto, Albert Drake, Chris Jarosz
Understudies
Koreyci Barreto, Jarrell Hamilton, Chris Jarosz,
Rhys Loggins, William Pressly, Shelby Stanley
INTERMISSION
LAS DESENAMORADAS
(1967)
Choreography
Music
Costume Design
Lighting Design
Restaged By
Rehearsal Director
Eleo Pomare
John Coltrane
Eleo Pomare (Costumes courtesy of the
Eleo Pomare Dance Company)
Susan A. White
Kathy Thomas and Martial Roumain
Patty Harrington Delaney
Dancers
Mother
Suitor
The Imagined
Daughters:
To Be Married
Hunchback
In Love
Defiant
Watchful
· Leslie Hale (1119, 15)
Marielle Perrault (1116, 8, 13, 16)
Vanessa Trevino (1117, 14)
Chris Jarosz (1116, 7, 8, 13, 14)
Louis Acquisto (1119, 15, 16)
Louis Acquisto (1116, 7, 8, 13, 14)
Lee Duveneck
Chris Jarosz (1119, 15, 16)
Willis Johnston
Vanessa Trevino (1116, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16)
Ellen Walker (1117, 14)
Katie Gibbens (1117, 9, 14, 15)
Jarrell Hamilton (1116, 8, 13, 16)
Benicka Grant (1116, 7, 8, 13, 14)
Morgana Phlaum (1119, 15, 16)
Katie Gibbens (1116, 8, 13)
Jarrell Hamilton (1117, 9, 14, 15)
Katye Dunn (11116)
Morgana Phlaum (11/6, 7, 8, 13, 14)
Ellen Walker (1119, 15, 16)
Las Desenamoradas was inspired by The House of Bernarda Alba, Federico Garcia
Lorca's play about the frustration of five sisters confined to their mother's man-less
household, where heartless pride and sterile convention destroy love and life.
On the return from the burial of her husband, the mother locks her daughters in
their house for the traditional five years of mourning for the loss of their father.
Their exposure to men remains only in their imaginations, except for the youngest
daughter, who falls in love and escapes with her older sister's suitor. The mother's
destruction of the suitor causes the youngest sister to commit suicide. The other
sisters must now stay in mourning for an additional five years.
The Division of Dance would like to extend a special thank you to Glenn Conner
and the Eleo Pomare Dance Company, Inc., for their invaluable help in this restaging
of Las Desenamoradas.
INTERMI SSION
SONGS OF THE DISINHERITED
(Premiere, Inner City Repertory Dance Company, 1972)
Choreography
Assistant to Mr. McKayle
Rehearsal Directors
Lighting Design
Costume Design
Donald McKayle
Stephanie Powell
Lauren Thompson and Danny Buraczeski
Susan A. White
Melanie Watkin
(Costumes courtesy of Dallas Black Dance Theatre)
I. I'm On My Way
Traditional
Phil Moore, Jr.
Jasmine Black, Lauren Perry, Landis Dixon
Music
Arranged by
Dancers
II. Upon the Mountain
Traditional
Phil Moore, Jr.
Albert Drake and Jamal Jackson
Music
Arranged by
Dancers
III. Angelitos Negros
Music
Lyrics
Piano and Vocals
Dancers
Manuel Alvarez Maciste
Andres Eloy Blanco
Roberta Flack
Chrysta Brown (11/8, 9, 13, 14)
Brittany Werthmann (1116, 7, 15, 16)
(Lyrics translated.from the Spanish)
Painter born in my native land with the foreign brush
Painter that continues the course of all the painters of old
Even though the Virgin may be white, paint little black angels for me
For they too go to heaven
Painter indeed you paint with love!
Why do you deprecate those of your color,
If you know that in heaven God also loves them?
Painter of saints in the alcoves, if you have a soul in your body
Why have you forgotten those of black color in your paintings?
Every time you paint a church you paint beautiful little angels
But never have you remembered to paint a black angel.
IV. Shaker Life
Music
Sung by
Dancers
Richie Havens Stormy
The Voices of East Harlem
Devon Adams, Jasmine Black, Chrysta Brown, Landis Dixon,
Albert Drake, Jamal Jackson, Erin McCormick, Lauren Perry,
Calvin Rollins, Erika Vaughn, Brittany Werthmann
Songs ofthe Disinherited is one of Donald McKayle's heritage masterworks. It examines
and speaks deeply of varied aspects of the Black Diaspora in the New World. Its four
movements begin with the driving spiritual "''m On My Way," a relentless rendering
of determination and forward movement out from the abyss of slavery. The second
movement, "Upon the Mountain," a Depression-era blues, is an anguished cry of
hunger and the resolve to survive. The third movement, "Angelitos Negros," a study
in black majesty, is a towering depiction of female strength. The final movement,
"Shaker Life," is an urban gospel that dispels doubt and celebrates life.
j
l
Songs of the Disinherited was choreographed in 1972 for the Inner City Repertory
Dance Company of Los Angeles and since then has entered the repertories of the Lula
Washington Dance Theatre and the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, among
others. The solo Angelitos Negros has also been performed by Elizabeth Roxas of the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Roxane D'Orleans Juste of the Limon Dance
Company, and Melissa Young and Nycole Merritt of Dallas Black Dance Theatre,
and is a signature performance piece for dance soloists Stephanie Powell and Nejla
Yatkin.
1
1
1
\..
ARTIST PROFILES
Alvin Ailey (Choreographer) was born in Rogers, Texas, on January 5, 1931. He
was introduced to dance by performances of the Katherine Dunham Dance Company
and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Ailey began formal dance training with an
introduction to Lester Horton's classes by his friend, Carmen de Lavallade. When Mr.
Ailey began creating dance, he drew upon his "blood memories" ofTexas, the blues,
spirituals and gospel as inspiration, which resulted in the creation of his most popular
and critically acclaimed work- Revelations.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater grew from a now fabled performance in
March 1958, at the 92nd Street Young Men's Hebrew Association in New York. Led by
Alvin Ailey and a group of young African-American modern dancers, that performance
changed forever the perception of American dance. The Ailey Company has gone on
to perform for an estimated 21 million people in 48 states and in 71 countries on six
continents, including two historic residencies in South Africa. The company has earned
a reputation as one of the most acclaimed international ambassadors of American
culture, promoting the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the
preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage.
Although he created 79 ballets over his lifetime, Alvin Ailey maintained that his
company was not exclusively a repository for his own work. Today, the Company
continues Mr. Ailey's mission by presenting important works of the past and
commissioning new ones to add to the repertoire. In all, more than 200 works by over
70 choreographers have been performed by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Donald McKayle (Choreographer), recipient of honors and awards in every
aspect of his illustrious career, has been named by the Dance Heritage Coalition
one of "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures: the first 100." His choreographic
masterworks, Games, Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder, District Storyville and Songs of
the Disinherited, are considered modern dance classics and are performed around the
world. He has choreographed more than 90 works for dance companies in the United
States, Canada, Israel, Europe and South America. The Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theater, the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, the Dayton Contemporary
Dance Company and the Lula Washington Dance Theatre serve as repositories for his
works. He is Artistic Mentor for the Limon Dance Company. Ten retrospectives have
honored his choreography. In April 2005, Donald McKayle was honored at the John
F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and presented with a medal as a Master
of African-American Choreography. He has also received the Capezio Award, the
Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award, two Choreographer's Fellowships
from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Living Legend Award from the
National Black Arts Festival.
Mr. McKayle received Tony nominations for his choreography for Broadway
musical theater, including his work for Sophisticated Ladies, Doctor jazz and A Time
for Singing. Raisin, which won the Tony Award as Best Musical, garnered McKayle
Tony nominations for both direction and choreography. For Sophisticated Ladies, he
was honored with an Outer Critics Circle Award and the NAACP Image Award. He
also received an Emmy nomination for the TV special Free To Be You and Me. Mr.
McKayle's work for film includes Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Great White
Hope and The jazz Singer.
Eleo Pomare (Choreographer ) was born in Colombia, South America, and
arrived in New York at the age of 10. After graduating from New York City's High
School of Performing Arts in 1953, he formed his first dance company. A John
Hay Whitney Fellowship took him to Europe in 1962 where he studied, danced,
choreographed and formed a second company that toured Germany, Holland,
Sweden and Norway. In 1964 he returned to the United States and revived and
expanded his original American dance company, which has since toured throughout
the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the West Indies, Australia, Spain and Italy.
His company has challenged the sensitivities of sophisticated dance audiences
at Broadway's ANTA Theatre, Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts, New York's City Center, Florence Gould Hall, and Joyce Theater,
Montreal's Theatre Maisonneuve, and the Adelaide Festival of Arts in Australia.
The Company has also appeared in the Fiorello Festival, Summer Stage in Central
Park, DanceMobile in the five boroughs, Nantucket Dance Festival, Schimmel
Center for the Arts and Harkness Dance Center. Mr. Pomare received numerous
Choreographic Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and was
also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.
In addition to maintaining his own company, Mr. Pomare choreographed works
for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Maryland Ballet Company, Dayton
Contemporary Dance Company, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble (Denver) ,
Alpha and Omega Dance Company, National Ballet of Holland, Balletinstituttet
(Oslo, Norway), Australian Contemporary Dance Company and Ballet Palacio das
Artes (Belo Horizonte, Brazil). His classic, Las Desenamoradas, has been mounted
on the Cincinnati Ballet and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company as well as with
on own company.
..
Stephanie Marie Powell (Rehearsal Assistant to Mr. McKayle) is on the dance
faculty of both Long Beach City College and the University of California at Irvine.
She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Dance with distinction from the University of
California at Irvine, where she was a Chancellor's Fellow and was honored with the
Celebration ofTeaching Award from the Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Ms. Powell
trained at the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, Washington, and the School of
American Ballet at The Juilliard School in New York City. She received her B.A. from
the University of California at Berkeley in sociology and education while dancing
professionally with the Oakland Ballet Company. Ms. Powell danced with the San
Francisco Opera, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Donald Byrd/The Group, and Alvin
Ailey American Dance Theater. She also performed in the Los Angeles production of
the Broadway show The Lion King, where she danced featured roles and performed as
a principal singer and actress.
Martial Roumain {Restager) is a native ofPort-Au-Prince, Haiti. A choreographer,
dance educator and actor, he made his debut with the Chuck Davis Dance Company.
At 17 he was licensed to teach dance by the New York City Board of Education.
Since that time he has performed as a soloist with the Eleo Po mare Dance Company,
Fred Benjamin Dance Company, Alvin Ailey Repertory Dance Theater, Jose Limon
Dance Company, Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater and Forces of Nature Dance
Company. Martial also served as assistant to both Mr. Pomare at the Eleo Pomare
Dance Company and Geoffrey Holder for Dance Theatre of Harlem and Ballet
Hispanico productions.
Roumain's Broadway credits include lead dancer in Treemonisha, 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue, Bubbling Brown Sugar (as young Checkers), The Wlz, West Side Story (as
Chino), Raisin, Timbuktu , and Your Arms Too Short To Box with God in the role
of Judas. Mr. Roumain performed in such operas as The Medium, Ariadne Auf
Naxos, Amah! and the Night Visitors and Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera
House.
His choreography has been seen on such companies as the Chuck Davis
Dance Company, Jubilation Dance Company, Ballet Guadeloupeen, and Trinidad
Dance Theatre, and in such Off-Broadway productions as Carmencita, Marine Tiger,
El Jardin, Mescalito , The Passion and Women, a benefit performance at the United
Nations for the women of Darfur, Sudan. Mr. Roumain has also appeared in film in
Wdrriors, Legal Eagles, Miami Blues and The Interpreter. His television credits include
Tell It Like It Is, Ailey Salutes Ellington , Conversation on Black Dance, The jerry Lewis
Telethon, The Equalizers, Law and Order and Fr3 Specials in Paris and Guadeloupe. He
has taught throughout the United States, Canada, the West Indies, Europe, Australia,
Africa and Japan. Mr. Roumain is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
Maxine Sherman (Restager), a native of Pittsburgh, is remembered for her
performances in such Alvin Ailey masterpieces as Revelations, Memoria, Flowers and
The Lark Ascending. After serving as principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American
Dance Company, Ms. Sherman went on to perform as principal dancer with the
Martha Graham Dance Company. There she danced all major roles, including Medea
in Cave ofthe Heart, Lamentation, Joan in Seraphic Dialogue, the Chief Celebrant in
Acts of Light and the Woman in White in Diversion ofAngels. Ms. Sherman holds
a B.A. from New York University and has been an Associate Professor of Modern
Dance at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, New York University School of
Education and the University of Oklahoma. She continues to teach master classes in
the Graham technique.
Kathy M. Thomas (Restager) studied dance in New York at the Martha Graham
School, and also with Eleo Pomare and Ruth Currier. She has performed with Otis
Sallid, Fred Benjamin, the Martha Graham Ensemble, and as a soloist with the
Eleo Pomare Dance Company, where she doubled as assistant to the choreographer,
reconstructing and notating Mr. Pomare's works. Ms. Thomas maintains a one-
woman program called Womanfaces, a collection of solos choreographed by Eleo
Pomare, Charles Grant and Leni Wylliams. These works, which have been seen in
homeless centers, prisons, libraries and museums, are thematically organized around
political and social issues reflecting the African-American experience from Africa to
the present. Ms. Thomas is the notator and reconstructor of Eleo Pomare's works,
three of which are documented as classics in the Black Tradition in American Modern
Dance project of the American Dance Festival. She has reconstructed several of Eleo
Pomare's works on such companies as the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, Dayton
Contemporary Dance Company and Cincinnati Ballet Company. She is a 2002
graduate of the Touro Law Center.
Additional Thanks and Acknowledgements to Sylvia Waters and the Alvin Ailey
Dance Foundation, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, the Dance Notation Bureau, Marsha
Grasselli, Steve Leary, Dawn Askew and Andrew Parker.
PRODUCTION STAFF
Marsha Grasselli
Production Manager
Technical Director
Steve Leary
Costume Shop Manager
Giva Taylor
Dawn Askew
Master Electrician
Assistant Master Electrician
Sound Engineer/Design er
Daniel Bleikamp
Jason Biggs
Jen Ringer
Prop Master
Assistant Technical Director
Scene Shop Foreman
Clay Houston
Eliseo Gutierrez
Kerry McCall
Carpenter
Linda Noland, Anne Denise Keeping
Scenic Artists
Melinda Robinson, Eugenia P. Stallings
Cutters/Drapers
Halei Prichard
Stitcher
Production Accountant
Marilee Polakoff
STUDENT STAFF
Scene Shop Assistants
Cat Conner, Molly Goodman, David Gorena,
Joel Heinrich, Muneeb Rehman
Jordan Ragnell, Erik Carter, Cameron Kirkpatrick,
Lighting Assistants
Jamie Link, Heston Mosher, Brigham Mosley
Johnard Washington, Rachel Werline
Costume Assistants
Andres Ortiz
Sound Assistant
Angelina Fiorini, Sarah Nolen, Darren Steptoe
Prop Assistants
SHOW CREW
Light Board Operator
Sound Board Operator
Assistant Stage Managers
Elizabeth Mably
Ariel Comeau
Emily Habeck, Audrey Gab
Jason Moody, Alex Vernon
Flymen
Jasmine Black, Albert Drake, Madison Eberenz, Benicka Grant,
Jamal Jackson, Katrina Kutsch, John Mingle, Kristin Mitchell,
Stagehands
Leah Mitchell, Jessalyn Phillips, William Pressly, Lauren Robbins,
Sophi Siragusa, Lindsay Sockwell
Photos by Marty Soh/.
SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY
Chairman, Board ofTrustees
President
Provost
Carl Sewell
R. Gerald Turner
Paul Ludden
MEADOWS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
Dean
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Associate Dean for Academic Planning and
Institutional Effectiveness
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Director of Development and External Affairs
Jose Antonio Bowen
Greg Warden
Martin Sweidel
Kevin Paul Hofeditz
Kris Munoz Vetter
DIVISION OF DANCE
Chair
Teaching Staff/Dance Musician
Dance Production Supervisor/Lecturer
Professor, Director of Graduate Studies in Dance
Associate Professor
Associate Professor
Adjunct Lecturer
Adjunct Lecturer
Associate Professor, Coordinator of Graduate Studies
Teaching Staff, Dance Musician
Lecturer
Guest Lecturer
Guest Artist
Myra Woodruff
Richard Abrahamson
Deborah Barr
Shelley C. Berg
Danny Buraczeski
Leslie Peck
Mary Condon
Shelley Estes
Patty Harrington Delaney
Jamal Mohamed
Andrew Parker
Lauren Thompson
Nina Watt
MEADOWS TICKET OFFICE
Audience Development Coordinator
Dan Rockwell
Tickets may be purchased by calling 214.768.2787 with an approved credit card or
with cash, check or credit card at the Meadows Ticket Office. Office hours are 12:00
p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday, and one hour prior to performances.
HOUSE POLICIES
To ensure a pleasurable theatre-going experience, please silence all pagers, watch alarms
and cellular phones. Please note that photography and recording of any kind are expressly
forbidden at all Meadows performances. Access is available for the physically disabled.
For more information on SMU Meadows School of the Arts, please visit us online at
meadows.smu.edu. We welcome your comments. Please call 214.768.2787 or e-mail
feedback to us at [email protected].