PLG Arts to Present Music And Dance At Parkside Plaza

PLG Arts (Prospect Lefferts Gardens Arts), in collaboration with Davalois Fearon Dance (DFD), will present Music and Dance at Parkside Plaza, an outdoor, block party-style event that celebrates the rich Caribbean heritage of Flatbush/Prospect-Lefferts Gardens (PLG) and the growing community of local artists. The free performance will take place on October 17th at 2 pm at Parkside Plaza, located at Parkside Ave and Ocean Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11226. The event will feature live drumming by Ryan Greenidge, Agyei Phillip, and Rasaan Green, and the music of composer and woodwind player Mike McGinnis, Dancehall, and Reggae facilitated by D.J. Ayanna Heaven, and a site-specific performance of Finding Herstory and community dance-along led by Davalois Fearon.

The Stephen Petronio Company (SPC) commissioned Davalois Fearon to create Finding Herstory for the 2021 Bloodlines(future) Program. SPC moves into the next phase of his Bloodlines project, looking towards future generations of artists and heirs to the Bloodlines lineage and how these historical masters frame the future of modern dance. Stephen Petronio Company's Bloodlines, which began in 2015 and has since restaged 12 iconic dances. These masterpieces have irrevocably marked the American postmodern dance landscape and have had a particular impact on Petronio's thinking.

The Finding Herstory performance will be a site-specific version created and performed by Davalois Fearon with the assistance of Careitha Davis. Davis is the founder of BodyRa, a New York City-based company that seeks to connect the mind, body, and spirit through the Caribbean movement. Finding Herstory is inspired by Africanist forms such as reggae and dancehall that have contributed to the American dance landscape and shaped Fearon as an artist. The piece pays homage to various dance forms, including Kumina, Doundounba, Congolese, Ska, Reggae, Dancehall, and highlights Fearon's signature "gymnastic and natural" choreography.

PLG Arts is a nonprofit organization that promotes the arts, presents local artists, and builds community to celebrate the vibrant creativity of the residents of Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods. DFD was founded in 2016 by Davalois Fearon with a mission to push artistic and social boundaries by utilizing dance as a platform for social change and cultivate the next generation of dance artists. The company collaboratively creates, performs, and teaches Feaorn's versatile multimedia body of work that confronts complex issues, prompts contemplation, and carries audiences on an audiovisual journey of ideas.

For more information on Music and Dance at Parkside Plaza, please visit PLG Arts and davaloisfearon.com.