Sonia Plumb Dance Presents The Dance of da Vinci: Deconstructing Leonardo's Notebooks

More than five hundred years later, Leonardo da Vinci continues to fascinate and intrigue. And now Sonia Plumb Dance has created an exciting new work inspired by his genius.

With Leonardo as her muse, award-winning choreographer Sonia Plumb explores the artist and polymath's relationship with Renaissance Humanism and the inextricable connection between science and art. Performances are Saturday, April 21st at 8pm and Sunday April 22nd at 4pm. Tickets are $25-$38 and can be purchased online at bushnell.org or by calling the box office at 860-987-5900. Senior and student discounts are available: $5 off for seniors and $10 off for students. A half-price ticket option is offered for Sonia Plumb Dance email subscribers. To register, sign up at soniaplumbdance.org.

Sonia Plumb Dance is known for its vivid choreography and compelling stories, driven by creative collaborations with artists, musicians, professors and puppeteers. For The Dance of da Vinci, Ms. Plumb has teamed up with CitySingers of Hartford. The vocal group join the dancers on stage, performing acapella songs, Renaissance-era selections and new music by composer Michael Wall. The group will also appear a half hour before each show, performing Italian madrigals that Leonardo himself may have enjoyed centuries ago.

"To dance is human. I have been interested in Leonardo da Vinci's work and his connection to humanity as it relates to dance for many years," says Ms. Plumb. One day while at the gym, she observed the mindful execution of movement by CrossFitters for both need and pleasure. "These Crossfitters were so diverse in terms of culture, race and gender - a true cross section of humanity." she continued.

Pouring over his notebooks, she felt that da Vinci's "Golden Ratio" (as seen in his Vitruvian Man), and his fascination with futuristic machine building intersected with art, but not specifically dance. Coupled with her desire to create an arts education STEAM program, the choreographer felt that there was a way to use dance to explore the fluid boundaries between the two disciplines using Leonardo as a springboard.

Plumb is driven not only as an artist, but as a passionate advocate for revitalizing dance in Greater Hartford. "Timing is everything. Thanks to Walter Issacson's best-selling biography, and the Salvatore Mundi discovery, we are hoping that current interest in Leonardo will attract larger audiences."

Plumb knows that drawing dance audiences goes beyond what is seen on stage. "We must invest in dance made in Greater Hartford, by Greater Hartford's dance community." In order to do that, she maintains, "We need to pay our dancers, provide them with performance opportunities, and cultivate our next generation of dancers and
arts educators."

Plumb is on track with her vision. In 2016, with a grant from Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, she established the Sonia Plumb Dance Apprenticeship Training program to support talented high school graduates who cannot afford to attend college dance programs. These paid apprentices take class, rehearse, and perform alongside professional company members.

Sonia Plumb Dance will all also offer two community events based on The Dance of da Vinci at Upward Hartford. A "sneak peek" of two pieces from the dance concert will be seen at an Upward Hartford Dance event on Tuesday, March 27th.

On Wednesday, April 11th, Sonia Plumb Dance will host a talk at Upward Hartford in collaboration with Trinity College Professor Sean Cocco. Deconstructing da Vinci will provide an inside look at the history and research behind the work. For more information, please visit soniaplumbdance.org.

Funding for The Dance of da Vinci is provided with support from the Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation; and The Greater Hartford Arts Council.

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