Ronald K. Brown and his Evidence Dance Company Perform One Shot
November 13, 2007
Evidence, a Brooklyn-based dance company led by Artistic Director Ronald K. Brown, makes its Penn State debut in a performance featuring major excerpts of One Shot, a new work inspired by the images of prominent photojournalist and Pittsburgh native Charles "Teenie" Harris. The presentation, which also includes the works Upside Down and Come Ye, is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, in Eisenhower Auditorium.
Brown, who founded his company in 1985, draws on many muses–African American, African, Latin American and Caribbean cultures plus modern, hip-hop and ballet influences–to express through kinetic storytelling his response to the human condition.
"Brown's choreography has zoomed to the forefront of modern dance by virtue of its exquisitely sculpted movement, and a compelling sense that the dancing springs from a deep well of spiritual urgency," writes a Washington Post critic. "Though the idea of blending modern dance with African dance is as old as Katherine Dunham, Brown's fusion of the two idioms is uniquely his own, and his work looks like no one else's."
Tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts presentation are $35 for an adult, $17 for a University Park student and $26 for a person 18 and younger. Buy tickets online at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at four State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays), Penn State Tickets Downtown (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday), HUB-Robeson Center (11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays when Penn State classes are in session) and Bryce Jordan Center (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays). A grant from the Penn State Student Activities Fee Funds makes University Park student prices possible.
One Shot is set to the music of Billy Strayhorn, Ahmad Jamal, Mary Lou Williams, Arturo Sandoval, McCoy Tyner, and others. The work focuses on themes such as community life, family, hope, dignity and celebration common to the creations of both Harris and Brown.
In 2001, Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Art acquired a collection of 80,000 Harris photographs. The museum, which is cataloging and digitizing the photos, plans a Harris exhibition in 2009.
"Teenie Harris' photographs are unsurpassed in the range of subjects they portray and for their ability to evoke the spirit of an era and to display the humanity of a people," writes Larry Glasco, an associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. "Harris' forty-year career with the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the largest and most influential Black newspapers in the country, began as the nation emerged from the Depression and ended with the Civil Rights Movement."
In addition to One Shot, the program includes Upside Down (1998) and Come Ye (2003). Upside Down, set to music by Oumou Sangare and Fela Kuti, is an excerpt from Destiny, an evening-length work created in collaboration with the Ivory Coast's Rokiya Kone and her company Jeune Ballet d'Afrique Noire. Come Ye, a call to prayer and action, is danced to the music of Nina Simone and Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
WPSU-FM is the media sponsor. Audio description, which is especially helpful to patrons with sight loss, is available for this performance at no extra charge to ticket holders. Instead of the customary pre-performance Artistic Viewpoints, the performance will be followed by a talk among the company members and the audience.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814-863-6379