PURe Dance Ensemble Presents “Beau Monde: An Anthology in Black Movement”

Coming this February to the Riverside Arts Center in Ypsilanti is "Beau Monde: an Anthology in Black Movement." The dance show features Artistic Director Gina Danene Thompson and PURe Dance Ensemble. Beau Monde boasts more than 40 international, national, and local performers in over ten acts in various styles of dance including modern, tap, ballet, Dunham, and Congolese.

"During last year's Oscars, Meryl Streep said to 'take your broken heart and make art,' and this has been my battle cry for Beau Monde," says Thompson. "The show is designed to bring joy and a pocket of escape from our new reality. My personal goal is to give healing experiences in large group form through art, theater, and dance."

PURe Dance Ensemble (www.puredanceensemble.com) is a combination of different ethnicities, ages, body types, and dance forms, and the purpose of the show is to draw everyone together in music and movement through American History. It's no coincidence that Beau Monde will be taking place during Black History Month. Expect to see pieces about and inspired by Africa, slavery, the Harlem Renaissance, disco, and hip-hop culture.

Beau Monde had a successful premiere run last September, and another short run in May, both at Bona Sera's dinner theater. PURe Dance Ensemble and the other performers are excited about the increased space on stage and in the audience that will be available to them at Ypsilanti's Riverside Arts Center's theater.

The show has evening performances on February 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at 8pm, with a 2:30pm matinee on Saturday February 3rd. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit a2tix.com.

PURe Dance Ensemble is the brainchild of Gina Danene Thompson, Anthony Rollins Mullens, Rene Castaneda, and C-one Tang. One foggy evening in San Francisco in a studio apartment on Nob Hill, four passionate dancers came together to form the structure for a New Dance company. The goal was to fuse styles (ballet, African ballroom and Modern) cultures (Chinese Nicaraguan and Black American) communities and ideas. The dream was to unite.

Gina Danene Thompson of PURe Dance Ensemble offers private lessons, small group lessons, Choreographed Wedding Dances, and Workshops in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, MI. For more information, call Gina at 810-545-8332 or email gina@puredanceensemble.com.

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