92Y Presents AN EVENING OF HOPE Next Week

92Y presents An Evening of Hope, works choreographed by Hope Boykin: Redefine US, From The INside OUT (New York City Premiere); No, Don't (Ne Me Quitte Pas); Again, Ave; About Her. Me.; and ... with Your name. This in-person event will feature performances by Hope Boykin, Patrick Coker, Alisha Rena Peek, William Roberson, Deidre Rogan, Martina Viadana, and Terri Ayanna Wright. Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 8pm ET, $30 General Admission, $10 Students. The event will stream from Friday October 22 at noon ET through Sunday, October 24, midnight ET for $15. https://www.92y.org/event/hope-boykin

The 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center's 2021-22 Mainstage Series continues on Thursday, October 21 with An Evening of Hope, encompassing several renewed works, along with the New York City premiere of Redefine US, From The INside OUT, created as a commission from Annenberg Center with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Redefine US, From The INside OUT features music by composer Bill Laurance. Boykin, who was with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for 20 years, now sees her works performed on the stage where Alvin Ailey premiered Revelations. The Mainstage Series marks the return of a full dance season to 92Y's historic Kaufmann Concert Hall for the first time in decades.

"When given the opportunity to have An Evening of Hope, I wanted to take a look back at my life as a dance maker and rethink, renew, and revise what today's Hope may have made," comments Boykin. "What would the 21st century, retired performer, say differently more than 20 years later? Two of the works explore this idea... No, Don't (Ne Me Quitte Pas)and Again, Ave (an excerpt from Ave-s). Watching dancers I have known for so long approach movement I created while at their age, all while finding new understanding; discovering I should have given more weight to my voice as a creator, and honored the person I was hoping to become. Performing in New York City again, in a program called An Evening of Hope is really more about me embracing who I am, and what I want to continue to bring to our world of art. Nothing can stop truly stop an artist, but the artist themselves. I have waited, sometimes patiently, for my turn, permission to be given. Who have I been waiting on and why? I can't wait anymore."

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