The Joyce Theater Foundation to Present Olivier Tarpaga Dance Project's ONCE THE DUST SETTLES

The Joyce Theater Foundation will present Olivier Tarpaga Dance Project making its Joyce debut with the choreographer and composer’s latest work, Once the dust settles, flowers bloom. The evening-length piece, a feminist, Africanist work that gives voice to the refugees of his homeland of Burkina Faso, will play The Joyce Theater from October 3-8. Tickets, ranging in price from $12-$62 including fees, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org. 

Choreographer, composer, dancer, and musician Olivier Tarpaga weaves an all-too-real story of survival, hope, and love with the Joyce debut of Olivier Tarpaga Dance Project in When the dust settles, flowers bloom. Featuring music composed by Tarpaga himself, seven dancers and five musicians take on this powerful work that acknowledges the strength and resiliency of the refugees of his African homeland. These artists chronicle the stories of women and children of Burkina Faso and the Sahel region as they face religious extremism and oppressive systems of violence, fleeing their homes to distant camps in search of autonomy. Focusing on his people’s power and beauty rather than the horror and tragedy to which they have been subjected, Tarpaga uses When the dust settles, flowers bloom to offer the promise of hope through unity. 

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ABOUT OLIVIER TARPAGA
Born in Kaya, Burkina Faso, Olivier Tarpaga followed in the steps of his father Abdoulaye Richard Tarpaga, co-artistic director of the 1960s Orchestre Super Volta. At 16, he was selected as an actor, dancer and drummer for Burkina Faso’s acclaimed company Le Bourgeon du Burkina. Tarpaga is the founder and Artistic Director of the internationally acclaimed Dafra Drum, which plays traditional Manding music, and Dafra Kura Band, which plays contemporary African music. He is also a co-founder of Burkina Faso’s internationally acclaimed Compagnie Ta and Philadelphia-based Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project. 

Since 1998, Tarpaga has composed and performed contemporary and traditional music and conceived dynamic dance theater works, touring internationally with an impressive roster of collaborators and commissioning partners, including The Hollywood Bowl, Ford Amphitheater, The World Cultures Festival (Hong Kong), The Bali Spirit Festival, Festival de Jazz d’Amiens (France), Harlem Stage, Jacob’s Pillow, and many more. His major works include When Birds Refused to Fly (2019), Declassified Memory Fragment(2015), Not Because You’re African (2010), Disorder Inside Order (2008), Sira Kan (2007), and Tin Suka (2001). 

Tarpaga is currently a senior lecturer in music and the director of the African music ensembles at Princeton University’s Department of Music. He has served as faculty of music or dance at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures, University of the Arts, The Ohio State University, Kenyon College, Denison University, and the University of Iowa, as well as having taught as a guest artist at dozens of institutions around the world. 

ABOUT The Joyce Theater

The Joyce Theater Foundation (“The Joyce,” Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community for almost four decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea. Opening as The Joyce Theater in 1982, it was named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther’s clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to build the theater. Ownership was secured by The Joyce in 2015. The theater is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance and has provided an intimate and elegant home for over 400 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also expanded its reach beyond its Chelsea home through off-site presentations at venues ranging in scope from Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater, to Brooklyn’s Invisible Dog Art Center, and outdoor programming in spaces such as Hudson River Park. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (K–12th grade) benefit from its school program, and family and adult audiences get closer to dance with access to artists. The Joyce’s annual season of about 48 weeks of dance now includes over 340 performances – both digital and in-person – for audiences of over 150,000.

The Joyce Theater presents the Joyce debut of Olivier Tarpaga Dance Project in Once the dust settles, flowers bloom from October 3-8. The performance schedule is as follows: Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm. Tickets, ranging in price from $12-$62 including fees, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org.