Arsht Center Celebrates Black History Month 2011

The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County
Celebrates Black History Month 2011 with Six Exciting Performances:

CROWNS featuring Melba Moore
FESTEJO: PERU NEGRO & EVA AYLLON
RHAW/RENNIE HARRIS AWE-INSPIRING WORKS
FREE GOSPEL SUNDAYS WITH KURT CARR
Alvin Ailey AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
JAZZ ROOTS: CELEBRATING MILES

(Kurt Carr Is Pictured)

Now celebrating its Fifth Anniversary Season, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County proudly presents Black History Month 2011. The Adrienne Arsht Center is preparing to host a variety of activities and performances celebrating the African Diaspora throughout the month of February. These include the gospel musical CROWNS, FESTEJO: PERU NEGRO & EVA AYLLON, RHAW/RENNIE HARRIS AWE-INSPIRING WORKS, FREE GOSPEL SUNDAYS WITH KURT CARR, Alvin Ailey AMERICAN DANCE THEATER, and JAZZ ROOTS: CELEBRATING MILES.

The Adrienne Arsht Center's Black History Month lineup is consistent with its institutional mission aimed at offering world-class and community-based programming that celebrates Miami-Dade County's rich cultural diversity.

"The Adrienne Arsht Center celebrates Miami's rich cultural diversity year-round and, in a special salute to Black History Month, we are honoring the broad spectrum of artistic contributions by black artists from Miami and all over the world with six magnificent presentations throughout the month," said M. John Richard, President and CEO of the Adrienne Arsht Center. "From a gospel-themed musical and a world-class dance company, to an exciting street dancing group and a thrilling tribute to jazz great MiLes Davis, our February calendar offers something for everyone. Programs like these define who we are as a cultural institution, and solidify our position as Miami's new town square."

The Adrienne Arsht Center's Black History Month 2011 lineup is as follows:

CROWNS
February 2 - 6, 2011
Carnival Studio Theater in the Ziff Ballet Opera House
Tickets: $40 - $65

Featuring Tony Award-winning Broadway, TV and recording star Melba Moore (Hair, Purlie, Timbuktu), CROWNS delivers the gospel on hats! A play with music staged by M Ensemble, now celebrating 40 years as Florida's oldest existing black theater company, CROWNS was written by ReGina Taylor, and based on Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry's book Crowns, Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats. The stunning stage adaptation highlights the role of hats in Southern black culture, the endurance of black women in the South, and the unconquerable urge for self-expression. Lively speeches, songs, dances, and dramatic action shape this touching story of one young woman's journey and a community's sacred history.

FESTEJO: PERU NEGRO & EVA AYLLON
February 4, 2011
Knight Concert Hall

The Adrienne Arsht Center presents FESTEJO, celebrating the astounding 40th Anniversary of PERU NEGRO, Peru's "Ambassadors of Peruvian Culture" in grand style with more than 30 musicians and dancers and the incomparable voice of EVA AYLLON! The Lima-based, legendary ensemble, PERU NEGRO, honors the musical legacy of the African Diaspora combined with the heritage of Peru with celebratory dances and vibrant live music that turns every stage into a festejo. Affectionately known as the Peruvian Tina Turner, Grammy-nominated EVA AYLLON has a husky, elegant voice that embodies the very soul of Afro-Peruvian music. Her 30-year career has spanned the globe, establishing AYLLON as the ultimate interpreter of the lando, a passionate musical expression of Afro-Peruvian pride. With more than 20 albums to her credit and countless accolades, AYLLON is one of the great figures of today's Latin music.

RHAW/RENNIE HARRIS AWE-INSPIRING WORKS
February 10 - 13, 2011
Carnival Studio Theater in the Ziff Ballet Opera House

It's street dancing at its "RHAW-est"-from Campbell Locking, Popping & Boogaloo to B-boy/girl, House and Hip Hop dance-performed by some of today's newest and brightest street dancers. Conceived in 2007, Rennie Harris Awe-inspiring Works was created as a response to the overwhelming interest from teens and young adults to join his internationally renowned company, Rennie Harris Puremovement. Rennie Harris RHAW downplays the abstract while pushing its dramatic aesthetic, forging new paths for young Hip Hop hopefuls as well as present Hip Hop practitioners. Join us as we take it back to basics.

The Adrienne Arsht Center and Knight Foundation present
FREE GOSPEL SUNDAYS: KURT CARR
Featuring the Miami Mass Choir and Christian Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church
February 13, 2011
Knight Concert Hall
FREE Admission

Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, producer, and musician KURT CARR is one of the most celebrated gospel talents of our time. Carr is a Dove and Stellar Award-winning artist responsible for classic gospel songs, including "The Presence of the Lord," "In the Sanctuary, For Every Mountain," and "God Blocked It," just to name a few. Mentored by the gospel legend Richard Smallwood, Carr is a classically trained musician who has developed a unique signature style combining traditional gospel composition and vocals with elements of R&B, jazz, soul, blues, and distinct modern harmonies. He worked extensively with the esteemed Reverend James Cleveland as pianist and musical director, and later went on to form his own ensemble, The Kurt Carr Singers, with whom Carr has released six acclaimed gospel albums. Carr has collaborated with both gospel and secular artists such as Stevie Wonder, Yolanda Adams, and Kirk Franklin, and continues to be a driving force behind the evolution of great gospel music. Made possible with generous support from the Funding Arts Network.

Alvin Ailey AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
February 14 - 20, 2011
Ziff Ballet Opera House
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the world's favorite dance companies, returns to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County February 17-20, as part of a 24-city U.S. Tour celebrating 50 years of Alvin Ailey's timeless masterpiece, Revelations. Led by Artistic Director Judith Jamison in her final season, and joined by Artistic Director Designate Robert Battle, Ailey's acclaimed dancers, including Miami natives Amos J. Machanic, Jr. and Jamar Roberts, will move audiences with exciting premieres, dramatic new productions, repertory favorites and classic Revelations.

JAZZ ROOTS: CELEBRATING MILES
Marcus Miller Tutu Revisited featuring Christian Scott
And Wallace Roney sextet featuring Ron Carter
February 25, 2011
Knight Concert Hall
MiLes Davis has been hailed by critics and fans around the world as one of the greatest jazz innovators of our time. CELEBRATING MILES presents the two musical sides of this legendary artist's work. The first half of the concert celebrates the acoustic period, with music culled from Davis's classic Columbia albums, "Milestones," "Round About Midnight," and leading up to what critics and fans alike call the most important jazz record in modern history, "Kind of Blue." Multiple Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and band leader Wallace Roney is the foremost proponent of the MiLes Davis legacy, and headlines the first section of this concert. Joining Roney onstage for this special tribute performance is acclaimed bassist Ron Carter. One of the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz history, Ron Carter is a multiple Grammy Award winner and an original member of the second great MiLes Davis Quintet.

The second half of this historic concert pays tribute to the electric side of MiLes Davis with "Tutu," the album released in 1986 in tribute to Bishop Desmond Tutu. Legendary musician, producer, and bass player Marcus Miller co-produced "Tutu," wrote nearly all of the songs on the album, and performs on every track. Miller brings his highly anticipated show, "Tutu Revisited, The Music of MiLes Davis," to the Knight Concert Hall stage for an inside look into the making and artistry of one of the greatest pieces of music ever produced, as it was performed by one of the greatest jazz artists of our time. Joining Miller on the Tutu program is Grammy-nominated young jazz lion Christian Scott. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Scott plays a trumpet named Katrina, at age 27 is the progenitor of the fabled "whisper technique" of playing the trumpet, and is garnering worldwide critical acclaim for his fifth studio album.

Visit www.arshtcenter.org for up-to-date information for details and schedules.

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