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Ailey Ascending 60th Anniversary Celebration Continues with Choreography Unlocked

Posted September 25, 2018

Two-Weekend Festival Designed to Foster Community and Creativity Includes:

A Series of Panel Discussions Featuring Robert Battle, Ronald K. Brown, Thelma Golden, Rennie Harris, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Dianne McIntyre, Matthew Rushing, Judy Hussie Taylor, Shanta Thake, Darren Walker & Jawole Willa Jo Zollar

Performances of Works by New Directions Choreography Lab Alumni Camille A. Brown,
Juel D. Lane & Netta Yerushalmy

A Public Workshop Led by Robert Battle
Private Workshops Led by Stefanie Batten Bland & Jawole Willa Jo Zollar

Tickets Now on Sale

As part of the “Ailey Ascending” 60^th Anniversary celebration, the Choreography Unlocked Festival of performance, conversation, and master classes will take place at Ailey’s home across two weekends – October 12 – 14 & 26- 28. Building on the success of the New Directions Choreography Lab, created by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Robert Battle in 2011, the festival will elevate The Joan Weill Center for Dance’s role in the community as a hub for creating and presenting new work and fostering the next generation of choreographers.  

Leaders from the arts world will come together for a series of enlightening panel discussions taking place across both festival weekends. On Friday, October 12 at 6pm choreographer Ronald K. Brown will interview Robert Battle about the choreographic process in Unlocking the Mystery of Choreography. Saturday, October 13 welcomes Battle back as the moderator of a 4pm Nurturing New Voices conversation about how institutions can encourage emerging artists across genres, featuring panelists Thelma Golden (Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem), Rennie Harris (Founder of Rennie Harris Puremovement and Ailey’s 2018-19 Artist-in-Residence), Tarell Alvin McCraney (Oscar-winning co-writer of Moonlight, Chair of Playwriting at the Yale School of Drama), Shanta Thake (Senior Director of Artistic Programs at the Public Theater), and Darren Walker (President of The Ford Foundation).

On Friday, October 12 and Saturday, October 13 (both at 8pm) Choreography Unlocked performances will bring works by New Directions alumni Netta Yerushalmy, Juel D. Lane, and Camille A. Brown to the Ailey Citigroup Theater stage. Yerushalmy’s ensemble work PICTORGRAMS will be performed; followed by a solo and duet from Lane’s 2017 work for Ailey II, Touch & Agree, and his dance film, Daydream; and the evening will culminate with Brown performing a solo from her work Mr. Tol E. RAncE. Each work will be introduced through a brief conversation with Battle and the choreographer.

On Friday, October 26 at 12pm, New Directions alumni and invited choreographers will hear Battle and Judy Hussie Taylor (Danspace Project Executive Director and Chief Curator) discuss how they process choreography. The panels conclude on Saturday, October 27 with an 8pm Process and Research conversation moderated by Judy Hussie Taylor, featuring Dianne McIntyre (Choreography Fellows Program Director at Jacob’s Pillow), Matthew Rushing (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Rehearsal Director and Guest Artist), and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (Urban Bush Women Founder), about the role research plays in the process of creating art.

The public will have the rare opportunity to learn choreography from Ailey’s Artistic Director when Robert Battle teaches an Ailey Extension Choreography Workshop on Sunday, October 14 at 12pm. Private learning activities include workshops for students from The Ailey School’s Professional Division led by Stefanie Batten Bland on Friday, October 12 at 1:30pm and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar on Friday, October 26 at 2pm; and workshops led by Zollar (through Urban Bush Women’s Choreography Institute Initiative) for New Directions alumni and invited choreographers on Saturday, October 27 at 4pm and Sunday, October 28 at 3pm.

For tickets and registration to Choreography Unlocked activities, visit alvinailey.org/choreography-unlocked-festival or call OvationTix at 866-811-4111.

Choreography Unlocked is part of a yearlong celebration in honor of Alvin Ailey’s pioneering legacy and enduring vision. This landmark year includes Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s New York City Center season November 28 – December 30, Ailey Legacy Panels taking place throughout New York City, and more.

For the complete “Ailey Ascending” 60^th Anniversary press release, click here.

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