Camille A. Brown and Paul Taylor Come to the MV PAC and The Yard

In a compressed 2-week period, THE YARD presents two distinctive, critically acclaimed views - through dance-making of a potent American landscape: Taylor in his lifelong survey of popular cultural sources, Brown in her ongoing deep dive into the complex social reality of black identities of both men, women and girls that reaffirms that 'black dance matters" in depicting lives at risk in a dangerous political environment.

Paul Taylor 2 DANCE COMPANY

Dust
Piazzolla Caldera
Images

Monday, July 17, 2017, 7pm

Location: The MV PAC, 100 Edgartown - Vineyard Haven Rd, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557

Tickets: $75 (Premium Seating); $35 (Adult), $25 (Seniors, Students, Military); $5 (Children under 12), Behind the Counter and Membership discounts apply.

Paul Taylor established Taylor 2 in 1993 to ensure that his works could be seen by audiences all over the world, unhindered by economic or technical limitations. Mr. Taylor worked with longtime colleague Linda Hodes to create a company that could accommodate performance requests as well as teach and provide community outreach. Mr. Taylor looked back to the 1954 origins of the Paul Taylor Dance Company for the structure of his new company: six professionals with a particular gift for his style who perform his work throughout the world.

Camille A. Brown & DANCERS (Yard Offshore Creation Residency)

ink - CABD Work in Progress Showing (Limited seating!)

Friday, July 14, 2017, 8pm
Location: The Yard's Patricia Nanon Theater, 1 The Yard, Middle Road, Chilmark, MA 02535

Tickets: $25 (Adult); $15 (Seniors, Students, Military); $5 (Children under 12)

Behind the Counter and Membership discounts apply

From the Abolitionist Movement to the Civil Rights struggle, from the Black Power Movement to the emergence of Hip Hop, ink delves into the history of African American gestural language from the pedestrian to the profound, coded, and now encoded language that carries the essence of African Diasporic mythologies, folklore, tall tales, and rituals. It examines the culture of Black life that is often appropriated, rewritten, or silenced. ink is the final installation of the company's dance theatre trilogy about culture, race, and identity.

Black Girl: Linguistic Play

Saturday, July 22, 2017, 7pm
Location: The MV PAC, 100 Edgartown - Vineyard Haven Rd,. Oak Bluffs, MA 02557

Tickets: $75 (Premium Seating); $35 (Adult), $25 (Seniors, Students, Military); $5 (Children under 12), Behind the Counter and Membership discounts apply

In a society where Black women are often only portrayed in terms of their strength, resiliency, or trauma, BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play reveals the complexity of carving out a self-defined identity as a Black female in urban American culture. With original music compositions by Scott Patterson and Tracy Wormworth, Brown uses the rhythmic play of African-American dance vernacular including social dancing, double dutch, steppin', tap, Juba, ring shout, and gesture as the Black woman's domain to evoke childhood memories of self-discovery. From play to protest the performers come into their identities, from childhood innocence to girlhood awareness to maturity-all the while shaped by their environments, the bonds of sisterhood, and society at large.

Round Table Discussion with Camille A. Brown

Tuesday, July 11, 2017, 6pm

Location: Oak Bluffs Library, 56R School St, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568

Tickets: Free event

An interactive discussion with Camille A. Brown & Dancers and other African American community leaders.

The Yard's multi-week OFFSHORE CREATION RESIDENCIES (OCSR) offer selected artists and their collaborators extended space and time as well as weekly stipend, travel and housing support to all participating individuals for the research and construction of new works. All residencies end with a performance outcome of the work(s) in progress presented to the public. In 2017, other artists benefiting from OSCR support include SCHONBERG FELLOWS Raja Feather Kelly and David Thomson; SCHONBERG (BOSTON)FELLOWS Peter DiMuro, the duo Claire Johannes and Jordan Jamil Ahmed, and McKersin Previlus; as well as Pam Tanowitz and Camille A Brown. The OCSR program is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and The Yard's valued individual donors.

ABOUT Camille A. Brown

Camille A. Brown is a prolific choreographer making a personal claim on history through the lens of a modern Black female perspective. She is a four time Princess Grace Award winner, 2016 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award recipient, 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, 2015 USA Jay Franke & David Herro Fellow, 2015 TED Fellow, 2015 Doris Duke Artist Award recipient, and was nominated for the 2015 Lucille Lortel "Outstanding Choreographer" Award (Fortress of Solitude). Her company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, received a 2014 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production for the work Mr. TOL E. RAncE and a 2016 Bessie Award nomination for Outstanding Production for the work BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play.

Ms. Brown's work has been commissioned by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco!, Complexions, and Urban Bush Women, among others. Her theater credits include Broadway's A Streetcar Named Desire, Fortress of Solitude, Stagger Lee, Cabin in the Sky, Jonathan Larson's tick, tick...BOOM! starring Lin Manuel Miranda, the musical BELLA: An American Tall Tale, among others.

ABOUT THE CABD COMPANY

Recognized for its introspective approach to cultural themes through visceral movement and socio-political dialogues, Camille A. Brown & Dancers soar through history like a whirlwind. Embodying a strong sense of storytelling, the company uses theatricality and the aesthetics of Modern, Hip Hop, African, Ballet, and Tap, to tell stories that connect history with contemporary culture. Making a personal claim on history, Camille A. Brown leads her dancers through excavations of ancestral stories, both timeless and traditional, as well as immediate contemporary issues. The work is strongly character based, expressing each choreographic topic by building from little moments to model a filmic sensibility. Theater, poetry, visual art, and music of all genres merge to inject each performance with energy and urgency.

Ink (work in progress): The lead commissioners for ink are Peak Performances@Montclair State University, NJ and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The creation and presentation of ink was made possible by The New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; and the Howard Gilman Foundation.ink was given its original creative development residency by The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance in partnership with The Evelyn Sharp/CalArtsSummer Choreographic Residency. The development of ink was made possible, in part, by the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University with support from the Princess Grace Foundation. The work is also being created, in part, during creative residencies at The Yard, Jacob's Pillow, CUNY Dance Initiative at Kingsborough Community College, and ASU Gammage.

BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play: The creation and presentation of BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project with lead funding provided by The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Major support for this new work also comes from the MAP Fund, primarily supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional funds from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Engaging Dance Audiences administered by Dance/USA and made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; a Jerome Foundation 50th Anniversary Grant; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Harkness Foundation for Dance; and a 2014 New York City Center Choreography Fellowship. This work was commissioned by DANCECleveland through a 2014 Joyce Award from the Joyce Foundation, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at The University of Maryland, Juniata Presents and Juniata College. It was developed, in part, during a residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, NY awarded through the Princess Grace Foundation-USA Works in Progress residency program; a creative residency at The Yard, The Flynn Center, and the Wesleyan Center for the Arts; a technical residency at Juniata College in Huntington, PA; a residency at New York City Center; and a residency at Newcomb Dance Program, Tulane University Department of Theatre and Dance.

Funded in part by the Expeditions program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from the six New England state arts agencies.

The creation and presentation of BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project with lead funding provided by The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation.

ABOUT Paul Taylor 2 DANCE COMPANY

Paul Taylor is one of this country's legendary choreographers and a pioneer of modern dance culture. His choreography is known for its physicality and grace, as well as its cultural relevance. In 1993, he established Taylor 2 to ensure that his works could be seen by audiences all over the world, unhindered by economic or technical limitations. Mr. Taylor worked with longtime colleague Linda Hodes to create a company that could accommodate performance requests as well as teach and provide community outreach. Mr. Taylor looked back to the 1954 origins of the Paul Taylor Dance Company for the structure of his new company: six professionals with a particular gift for his style who perform his work throughout the world.

Engagements are flexible and are customized to meet the needs of each community, and often consist of master classes and lecture demonstrations in addition to performances in non-traditional venues as well as theaters. In selecting repertoire for Taylor 2, Mr. Taylor chooses dances that span the broad spectrum of his work. Several of the dances performed by Taylor 2 have been re-worked from the Paul Taylor Dance Company's version to enable the smaller ensemble of dancers to perform them. Critics and audiences cheer as Taylor 2 introduces the athleticism, humor and range of emotions found in Mr. Taylor's work to audiences around the world.

Taylor 2 tours extensively and has had engagements in nearly 400 cities. In the Spring of 1994, the United States Information Agency sponsored the Company's first international tour that sent the dancers to the African nations of Mozambique, Botswana, Mauritius, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Swaziland. In January 1997 the company celebrated India's 50 years of independence by touring in tandem with the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Taylor 2 India stops included Jamshedpur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune and Lucknow. Taylor 2's widespread domestic touring has already taken the Company to 46 states. Taylor 2 has completed significant statewide tours of Alaska, California, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. The Company has participated in a record ten New York State Long Term Residencies with support from the New York State Council on the Arts. It has also done extensive residencies in Albany, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Francisco, teaching and performing for thousands of students.

Taylor 2's Rehearsal Directors, all distinguished former Taylor dancers, followed the inspired leadership of founding rehearsal director Linda Hodes. They have included Ruth Andrien, Richard Chen See, Mary Cochran, Patrick Corbin, Kristi Egtvedt, Francie Huber, Susan McGuire, Thomas Patrick, Sandra Stone, Kenneth Tosti and Andy LeBeau. Former Taylor dancer Ruth Andrien became Director of Taylor 2 in May 2010.

ABOUT THE REHEARSAL DIRECTOR

Ruth Andrien became Rehearsal Director of Paul Taylor 2 Dance Company in 2010. She danced with the Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1974 to 1983 in originating roles in works such as Esplanade, Runes, Airs, Images, and Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rehearsal). She has restaged Mr. Taylor's work for professional companies and universities around the world. Andrien has been

on the faculty of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Swarthmore College, Harvard University, MIT, Southern Methodist University, The School at Jacobs Pillow, New York State Summer School of the Arts, The Taylor School and the American Dance Festival, where she directed the Paul Taylor Project for the past three years. She has worked closely with The American Dance Legacy Institute at Brown University, which focuses on preservation and access to American dance heritage. She served as master teacher for the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts in Miami and for the U.S. State Department's cultural exchange program in Tunisia. Adrien was also the recipient of Towson University's Rosenberg Award for Distinguished Artists in 2002 and the Balasaraswati/Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching in 2009 with Carolyn Adams and Sharon Kinney. Andrien received her MFA in Dance at Hollins University in 2007.

Driving Directions:

Driving to The Yard from Vineyard Haven

Head south on Water Street toward Beach Road. Take the 3rd right onto Beach Road. Continue onto State Road. Turn right onto Middle Road. Take the 2nd left into The Yard.

Driving to The Yard from Edgartown

Head southwest on Water Street toward Davis Lane. Take your 2nd right onto Cooke Street. Turn left onto Edgartown West Tisbury Road. Turn left onto State Road. Continue onto South Road. Make a left onto Middle Road. Take the 2nd left into The Yard.

Bus

There is a public bus service on Martha's Vineyard that connects to all of the towns on the island. There is a bus stop just a short walk from The Yard in front of the Community Center, which runs every hour. Fare is $1 per town, each way.

SEED. GROW. REAP. REPEAT: THE NATURE OF THE ARTIST.

Mission:

The Yard supports diverse, contemporary dance-makers and related artists in their creative processes through paid, creative residency, public performance, long-term education, and artist-driven civic engagement. We serve all ages and cultural populations on Martha´s Vineyard, and work collaboratively with artists, producers, and other cultural organizers within regional, national, and international contexts.

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