City College Center for the Arts and Clark Center NYC to Present FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH
By: Tyler Peterson Sep. 18, 2015
City College Center for the Arts and Clark Center NYC join together in celebration of The Clark Center for the Performing Arts with a presentation of the acclaimed dance/narrative series From the Horse's Mouth on Thursday, October 1 and Friday October 2 at Aaron Davis Hall. The From the Horse's Mouth production will serve as the culmination of Clark Center NYC's weeklong residency at City College Center for the Arts, made possible, in part, by funding from the CUNY Dance Initiative. Performances of From the Horse's Mouth begin at 7pm. A reception will follow the October 1 performance.
From the Horse's Mouth, conceived and directed by Tina Croll and Jamie Cunningham, will use its unique blend of movement, storytelling and supportive visual imagery to bring memories of The Clark Center for the Performing Arts vividly to life. Live music and multimedia presentation will be included in this extraordinary tribute. Notables from the theater and dance community will join together in the series' intimate format of talking and dancing, sharing personal stories from their lives along with the movement of their choosing. (Cast list below.)
Begun with the inspiration of Alvin Ailey in 1959 and closed in 1989, The Clark Center for the Performing Arts was a multi-cultural community which became a haven for black dancers who, at that time, did not have ample opportunity to study or have access to quality teaching and rehearsal space. The Center provided dancers the opportunity to study technique, choreography and explore their talents.
Clark Center NYC is dedicated to preserving the history and continuing the legacy of The Clark Center for the Performing Arts, that Alvin Ailey helped to create in 1959 as a uniquely diverse arts community in New York City. A rich resource for dancers, choreographers, students and others interested in dance, Clark Center NYC expands its website content, archives, education/mentoring, symposia and presentations to honor the past, champion the present and build for the future.
The Clark Center NYC residency at the City College will begin on Monday, September 28 and last through Friday, October 2. Free master classes (class list below) and a panel discussion will be included in the weeklong program, culminating in the From the Horse's Mouth production.
This year's panel, "The Clark Center for the Performing Arts: Dance on the Forefront of Social Change" is free and open to the public. The panel will take place at Aaron Davis Hall, THEATER B, on Monday, September 28 from 6-7:30pm. Moderated by creator of EYE ON DANCE Celia Ipiotis, panelists will include Ella Thompson Moore, Martial Roumain, Anna Kisselgoff and Linda Kent. Archival film footage of Thelma Hill, Kathy Grant, Louise Roberts and members of the Lester Horton Dance Theater will be shown.
The Clark Center NYC residency is dedicated to Thelma Hill, who helped create the dance programs at The Clark Center for the Performing Arts and at City College. The residency follows the success of the October (2014) "A Clark Center Conversation with Dudley Williams" at the Bruno Walter Auditorium, moderated by dance writer Jennifer Dunning, and the equally successful Remembering Clark Center at the 92nd Street Y presented in April (2015) at 92Y's Fridays At Noon.
*Cast for performances of "From the Horse's Mouth: Celebrating The Clark Center for the Performing Arts" to include:
Loretta Abbott - Alvin Ailey, Al Perryman duo, Fred Benjamin.
Ron Alexander - Performed with the National Ballet of Canada, the Iranian National Ballet, the Frankfurt and Hamburg Ballets in Germany, and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York and teaches extensively in NYC
Germaul Barnes - Bessie Award winner and former principal dancer with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Currently Artistic Director of Viewsic Expressions
Ted Berger - Executive Director Emeritus, New York Foundation for the Arts
Marla Bingham - Clark Center New Choreographer, former principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Marla Bingham Studio in La JollaRamona Candy - Charles Moore Dance Theater
Mickey Davidson - Director - Mickey D and Friends, Dianne McIntyre's Sounds in Motion
Alfred Gallman - Fred Benjamin Dance Company, Director of Gallman's Newark Dance Theatre
Laura Glenn - Limon Dance Company, Juilliard
Noel Hall - Protégé of Lavinia Williams
Ron McBee - Master drummer, Clark Center accompanist
Ella Thompson Moore - Alvin Ailey, Director of Charles Moore Dance Theater
Sandra Rivera - Ballet Hispanico
Barbara Roan - Dancer in the companies of Erick Hawkins, Rod Rogers, Rudy Perez, Don Redich, Remy Charlip and in works by founders of Dance Theater Workshop in NYC
Sheila Rohan - Dance Theatre of Harlem alum, Artistic Director of Nanette Bearden Contemporary Dance
Martial Roumain - Chuck Davis Dance Company, Eleo Pomare Dance Company, Alpha Omega, Choreographer, Broadway
Sue Samuels - Director Jazz Roots Dance, Teacher at Ailey and Peridance; Co-founder Jo Jo's Dance Factory
Donald Smith - Pianist, Clark Center accompanist
Ted D Williams - Syvilla Fort, Broadway, The Wiz
Marlies Yearby - Clark Center New Choreographer, Choreographer RENT on Broadway
*Cast subject to change
"FROM THE HORSES' MOUTH:
CELEBRATING THE CLARK CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS"
Performances Thursday, October 1 and Friday October 2 - 7PM
Reception to follow Thursday performance.
GENERAL ADMISSION - $20
STUDENT - $10
The City College Center for the Arts
Aaron Davis Hall
160 Convent Avenue
New York, NY 10027
The Clark Center NYC Residency at City College will also include:
PANEL DISCUSSION
"The Clark Center for the Performing Arts: Dance on the Forefront of Social Change"
Celia Ipiotis, Ella Moore, Martial Roumaine, Anna Kisselgoff and Linda Kent
Monday, September 28 - 6-7:30PM
Aaron Davis Hall (Theatre B)
ADMISSION: FREE
MASTER CLASSES
Monday, September 28 through Wednesday, September 30
Aaron Davis Hall (Theatre B)
ADMISSION: FREE
Monday, September 28, 2015
4pm - 5:30pm Hip Hop with Robin Dunn
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
6pm - 7:30 Horton with Iquail Shaheed
Wednesday, September 30
6pm - 7:30 "Stories that Explore Memories" with Jamie Cunningham, co-founder of From the Horse's Mouth
This "From the Horse's Mouth" residency and performances at the City College Center for the Arts are part of the 2015 CUNY Dance Initiative, which is supported by The New York Community Trust, with additional funding from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Harkness Foundation for Dance. Clark Center NYC has received funding from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Center (LLMC).
Videos