Dallas Black Dance Theatre's Director's Choice Series Returns This Week

Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s Director’s Choice series returns with two world premieres, one by 2023 Guggenheim Fellow Nejla Y. Yatkin and another by the award-winning Norbert De La Cruz III, in addition to a performance of Francesca Harper’s Instinct 11/1. The program also includes Alvin Ailey’s Reflections in D.

Performances will take place November 10-11, 2023 at 7:30 PM at Dee & Charles Wyly Theatre (2400 Flora St). In-person, on-demand, and streaming tickets are available at www.dbdt.com.

Nejla Y. Yatkin’s work, titled The Return:, is a dance in four movements inspired by ancient dances of the Middle East and North Africa that have been recreated and recombined with contemporary dance movements and social dances of our era to be reimagined anew like a Jazz composition.

“Similar to my dances, which are reimagined ancient dances, the music by Anouar Brahe and Avishai Cohen is inspired by ancient Middle Eastern rhythms and melodies as well as classical and Jazz music to transcend cultural boundaries,” says Yatkin about her work. “Dance to me is an embodied artform and its most powerful when its visceral and metaphoric in nature.”

Nejla Y. Yatkin originally hails from Germany, bringing a luminous and transcultural perspective to her creations. An award-winning and critically acclaimed choreographer, she is a recent 2018 Drama Desk Award nominee, a 3Arts Award fellow, and a Princess Grace Choreography recipient.

Norbert De La Cruz III’s premiere, titled Critical Mass, tells the story of a protagonist who is driven to seek community and reclaim their sense of self. Born in Bayombong Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines, and raised in Los Angeles, CA De La Cruz is recognized for his versatility in performance and choreography.

Francesca Harper’s Instinct 11/1 is inspired and dedicated to her mother, Denise Jefferson, who directed The Ailey School at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater for more than 25 years. Harper, a choreographer, filmmaker, and Artistic Director at Ailey II, has choreographed works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Dance Theater of Harlem, Hubbard Street II, Tanz Graz, and many more companies, including her own The Francesca Harper Project, which she founded in 2005.

Reflections in D is a strong yet serene solo set to a stunning and masterful expression of Duke Ellington’s music. Choreographed by Alvin Ailey, Reflections in D is presented by arrangement with the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc.

A Post-Performance Talkback will occur after both performances.

For tickets and performance details, visit www.dbdt.com.

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