Post Gazette: For nearly 40 years the Pittsburgh Dance Council strived to show diversity in dance and, toward that goal, presented an array of black companies among its global offerings. Now the August Wilson Center, a newbie on the Pittsburgh presenting front, is taking over that dance niche and flexed some artistic muscle during its first Black Dance Festival this past weekend.
Monday, November 07, 2011
First Black Dance Festival was amazing
Post Gazette: For nearly 40 years the Pittsburgh Dance Council strived to show diversity in dance and, toward that goal, presented an array of black companies among its global offerings. Now the August Wilson Center, a newbie on the Pittsburgh presenting front, is taking over that dance niche and flexed some artistic muscle during its first Black Dance Festival this past weekend.
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5 comments:
I was so sad that I missed this Dance Festival! My friend is in the August Wilson Dance Company and they really put on fantastic work. I was really surprised when I moved here and found out that there were a ton of really great dance companies. And they are all so diverse, there are classically companies and some other companies that are really pushing the art form of dance and creating new genres almost. I highly recommend to everyone I know that they try to go out and see some of these companies perform. They are truly innovative and wonderful to see.
This looks like a really unique festival - it's always interesting how with dance the body is expressive enough to portray a very specific emotion at an exact moment in time. The development of different styles throught time periods and cultures is also a very interesting thing to study. I wish I had know this was happening sooner because it sounds like something I would have liked to see. Not only do the performers sound amazing, it is a celebration of culture which I think is important to have so that heritage is remembered. The work is unique and I would be pleased to see it anytime.
It's great to see dance companies come together for one specific event to share in their love of their art form and express it to the community as a united front. I'm sad to have missed the festival! I love that they companies emphasized the "Black" aspect of the companies, since the hip hop dance style has grown to be just as expressive, meaningful, and highly regarded as older forms of dance like ballet. Maybe next year!
This looks really cool, I wish I could have seen it. If I hear about something similar in the future, I'll definitely go. It's very cool that they showed diversity in dance and style, but all of the different companies were black companies. It's also great that they were all open collaboration-- if more diverse aspects of the arts worked together to create something new, we would all benefit.
Beyond just being a great display of culture, the presence of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre II certainly must help to spread the interest. Hopefully with the influence of AAADT there will be a longevity to this festival of Black Dance works. Altough I appreciate Deeply Rooted, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and AAADC bringing troupes, in the future it would be nice to see more groups like the August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble whoo are local to the area since there is a lot of black history in Pittsburgh. It would also be nice to see the Pittsburgh Dance Council put on more events like this revolving about other cultures based on the success in this one.
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