FJK DANCE Returns With Six Black Box Performances And Audience Talk Back

Khoury's FJK Dance will return to New York on Friday, February 22 to introduce a series of six "Black Box" monthly repertoire performances, A Fusion of Culture and Dance, at John Jay College Black Box Theater, 524 West 59th Street.

Each of the FJK Fusion of Culture and Dance performances will provide an immersive, cross-cultural dance experience and include a "Talk Back" and reception with the company. The Fusion series will be theme-based; each evening will feature a different work from the company repertoire.

The Friday, February 22 opening performance will feature UNTOLD, FJK's multimedia performance and art installation that layers ancient Middle Eastern aesthetics with contemporary ballet and ballroom movement. Additional company works will be shown on Friday, April 26, Friday, May 31, Thursday, June 20, Thursday, July 18 and Friday, August 23, all at 6:30pm, program to be announced.

The "Black Box" dance series found its inspiration from FJK's weekly site specific performance workshops developed for NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Believing dance has the power to bring people together and insert positive energy into our communities, the FJK Dance NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County program hopes to remove the stigma of, and enable the public to better understand, psychiatric illness and wellness. Site specific performances from the FJK repertoire, performed throughout the hospital, hope to create an emotional difference for patients and staff. The John Jay series will help refine that role, with the audience "Talk Back" serving to explore the depth of each repertoire piece and discuss what dance can do to facilitate mental health. Positive images will be explored.

In July 2018 FJK Dance was named "Artist in Residence" at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County.

THE FJK DANCE "BLACK BOX" PERFORMANCE SERIES
A FUSION OF CULTURE AND DANCE
Opening Friday, February 22 - 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Tickets: $45 https://fjkdance.org/2019-blackbox/ticket

FJK Dance is a contemporary dance company founded in 2014 by Fadi J. Khoury and Sevin Ceviker. Argentinean Tango, Ballroom dance, Jazz and Middle Eastern folkloric movement combine to create FJK DANCE "blended" choreography. The company's distinctive mix of styles hopes to facilitate connections in our differences and communicate peace, diversity and tolerance. Fadi Khoury's fusion choreography and artistic collaborations aim to break boundaries and build bridges through dance.
According to Artistic Director Fadi Khoury, "FJK Dance hopes to raise awareness of the values of freedom and diversity, and most of all the opportunity and hope the USA has for refugees and immigrants. Through our performances we also hope to celebrate Middle Eastern heritage, and raise awareness of the positive and artistic influence of this culture. A Fusion of Culture and Dance will embody hope, resilience, tolerance and peace... the passion in our dance is intended to offer prayers for hope and a new beginning." - Fadi J. Khoury