Katherine Dunham News

White Bird is proud to welcome Urban Bush Women (UBW) back to Portland. Last performing with White Bird in 2015, UBW has transformed and expanded the dance landscape for more than 33 years by creating groundbreaking work rooted in a female-centric perspective. Urban Bush Women's latest evening-length work Hair and Other Stories runs for three nights at Newmark Theatre on March 1-3.

The Arts and Education Council (A&E) announced today receipt of $25,000 in renewed support from the Monsanto Fund for a grant program to provide arts in rural communities across the bi-state region.

Choreographer, playwright, and dancer Jinah Parker's momentous and timely work SHE will run March 31 - May 19 at the Gym at Judson in Manhattan. This moving work of dance-theater-"a Choreoplay"-opens up all-too-necessary conversations about sexual trauma, systemic racism, women's healing and ownership of their bodies, and the undoing of rape culture.

The Unique Panel Discussion will celebrate a new book by Ronald Rand, "CREATE! How Extraordinary Artists Live to Create and Create to Live" at the historical theatrical club, The Lambs 3 West 51st Street, New York City, Monday, March 12th, 2018, 7:00-8:00pm. There is no charge for the Event. Seating is limited - reservations are necessary at: (212) 586-0306 or RSVP@The-Lambs.org     

The Arts and Education Council (A&E) has named Webster University senior Quinton Ward the 2018 Katherine Dunham Fellowship recipient. The program, created by Sara and Jack Burke and managed by A&E, gives African-American men and women an opportunity to explore, gain experience and be mentored in arts administration, creating a more diverse pipeline of arts leaders. This will be A&E's first year offering the fellowship after seven successful and transformative years with the Regional Arts Commission. Ward is the first-ever male recipient of the Fellowship.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 15), the River Street Theatre (RST) in Jaffrey will present the documentary film Rosenwald, the surprising story of a philanthropic retailer who changed the course of education for African Americans in the rural south. Rosenwald will be shown at the RST on Sunday, January 14 at 2pm and 7pm.

The Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation will celebrate the 17th anniversary of its signature branch, the Asase Yaa African American Dance Theater (AYAADT), with an innovative, revitalized dance production to premiere at Peter Norton Symphony Space on Saturday, February 3, 2017 (located at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street in Manhattan, New York). The full length performance, entitled An Ananse Tale, will be the highlight of the evening and will follow a closed reception for VIP guests and a special pre-show event billed as #AsaseYaaJourney, a festival-like experience for all ticketed guests that will take place in the foyer of the venue. General admission for the evening ranges from $30 to $50. Tickets are on sale now at the Peter Norton box office, at the Asase Yaa Center for the Arts, and online at www.symphonyspace.org.

Internationally recognized for its unique blend of African, Afro-Caribbean, modern, street dance and jazz techniques, the Lula Washington Dance Theatre (LWDT) provides brilliant depictions of African-American experiences, past and present. Now the company founded in 1980 and considered one of the premier African-American arts institutions on the West Coast makes its Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts debut featuring three different programs that celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. over the course of three evenings in the Bram Goldsmith Theater on January 11 13, 2018.

Celebrity Series of Boston kicks off a four-month salute to the 50th anniversary of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's 1968 Boston premiere with a December 6 event that features Ailey Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison and key members of Boston's arts and dance community. The symposium takes place at John Hancock Hall, where the company made its Boston debut with Jamison as a company member.

Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce the first production in the fifth season of Chicago's lost musicals in staged concert series, Porchlight Revisits Woman of the Year, starring Meghan Murphy and Brandon Dahlquist, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and book by Peter Stone, with direction by Porchlight's Artistic Director Michael Weber, choreography by Florence Walker Harris and musical direction by David Fiorello.

Porchlight Music Theatre has announced the first production in the fifth season of Chicago's lost musicals in staged concert series, Porchlight Revisits Woman of the Year, starring Meghan Murphy and Brandon Dahlquist, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and book by Peter Stone, with direction by Porchlight's Artistic Director Michael Weber, choreography by Florence Walker Harris and musical direction by David Fiorello.

Celebrity Series of Boston kicks off a four-month salute to the 50th anniversary of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's 1968 Boston premiere with a December 6 event that features Ailey Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison and key members of Boston's arts and dance community. The symposium takes place at John Hancock Hall, where the company made its Boston debut with Jamison as a company member.

The American Dance Festival (ADF) will present the 2018 Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement to acclaimed choreographer, Ronald K. Brown. Established in 1981 by Samuel H. Scripps, the annual award honors choreographers who have dedicated their lives and talent to the creation of modern dance. Celebrated dancer, choreographer, and teacher Dianne McIntyre will present the $50,000 award in a brief ceremony on Thursday, June 28th at 8:00pm, prior to the performance of Evidence, A Dance Company at Reynolds Industries Theater.

Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce the first production in the fifth season of Chicago's lost musicals in staged concert series, Porchlight Revisits Woman of the Year, starring Meghan Murphy and Brandon Dahlquist, music by John Kander, lyrics byFred Ebb and book by Peter Stone, with direction by Porchlight's Artistic Director Michael Weber, choreography by Florence Walker Harris and musical direction by David Fiorello.

Porchlight Music Theatre has announced the first production in the fifth season of Chicago's lost musicals in staged concert series, Porchlight Revisits Woman of the Year, starring Meghan Murphy and Brandon Dahlquist, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and book by Peter Stone, with direction by Porchlight's Artistic Director Michael Weber, choreography by Florence Walker Harris and musical direction by David Fiorello.

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago has announced the appointment of Ellen Chenoweth as Interim Director of its Dance Presenting Series (DPS), effective September 11, 2017 through June 30, 2018.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced today that Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, choreographer and founding artistic director of Urban Bush Women, will be the recipient of the 2017 NY Dance and Performance Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance, and writer Eva Yaa Asantewaa will receive this year's award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance.

Today's subject Jade Wheeler is currently living her theater life onstage at Arena Stage in the return engagement of The Originalist as Justice Antonin Scalia's clerk Cat. The show has been extended and now runs through August 6th.

This summer, Barbican Art Gallery presents the first ever performance exhibition of the New York- based choreographer and dancer Trajal Harrell. Following a two-year residency at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2014 - 2016), this ambitious project stages over 14 of Harrell's performances including one of the earliest works he created in 1999, right through to now in a changing, daily programme of live performances.

This summer, Barbican Art Gallery presents the first ever performance exhibition of the New York- based choreographer and dancer Trajal Harrell. Following a two-year residency at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2014 - 2016), this ambitious project stages over 14 of Harrell's performances including one of the earliest works he created in 1999, right through to now in a changing, daily programme of live performances.