African Dance/Spoken Word Piece ONE SHOT: Rhapsody In Black & White Opens 5/2

The August Wilson Center for African American Culture and the Pittsburgh Dance Council proudly co-present One Shot: Rhapsody in Black & White by Ronald K. Brown/Evidence on Saturday, May 2, 2009, 8 p.m. at the Byham Theater. Inspired by the photographs of legendary Pittsburgh documentary photographer Charles "Teenie" Harris, Brown's One Shot infuses traditional African dance, modern choreography, and spoken word to explore struggle and loss, hope and triumph, and the incredible sense of identity exhibited in Harris's documentation of Pittsburgh's African American communities.

Ronald K. Brown was enamored with dance at an early age, frequently dancing around the house and down supermarket isles with his mother. When he was only nineteen, he founded the Booklyn-based dance company Evidence. Since then, he has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in Choreography and a New York Dance and Performance Award (a "Bessie") and has been praised as "one of the most profound modern dance choreographers of his generation" (The New York Times).

Ronald K. Brown/Evidence consists of four men and four women who focus on movement as a way to communicate the importance of African American culture and community. The company combines modern, ballet, and hip-hop dancing to create an eclectic mode of kinetic storytelling employing traditional African forms and rhythms.

Evidence has grown significantly in the last twenty years and now tours the United States annually and frequently performs in prestigious venues throughout Europe. The company also aims to bring cultural connections to communities who are unfamiliar with African American history through its master classes and lecture demonstrations for young people.

One Shot, Brown's newest work, is aptly titled, inspired both by the nickname Charles "Teenie" Harris earned from his ability to capture the essence of his subjects in "one shot" and Brown's meditation on having only "one shot" in life.

In One Shot, Brown has created a blending of choreographic styles to complement and extend Harris's resonant black-and-white photographs into a three dimensional cultural experience that brings movement to stills. One Shot is comprised of seven sections: "First Glance," "Bellows," "Free Spirits," "The Meeting Room," "Faith & Decadence," "Poinciana," and "The Crossroads," each of which is performed in front of large projections of Harris's photographs that sometimes zoom to expose growing granular dots and sometimes reduce and delicately fade away.

The tone of the movement resonates with each picture projection, shifting between solemn, romantic, and militaristic. Often full of reverence, with uplifted arms and bowed heads, the choreography of One Shot honors its inspirations, Harris and those in his photos.

Incorporating world music and featuring jazz and Cuban rap, One Shot is a well-rounded cultural performance that emphasizes the roots of humanity that join us all. "It is a tremendous achievement" (The Village Voice).

One Shot premiered at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut on September 14, 2007, and these May performances will mark its Pittsburgh premiere. Credits include Choreography by Ronald K. Brown; Music by Billy Strayhorn, Animo Consejo, and Ahmad Jamal; Costumes by Wunmi Olaiya; and Lighting Design by Brenda Gray.

The performance runs a duration of 90 minutes without intermission.

From 1936-1975, Harris, a Pittsburgh native, captured over 80,000 images of African-American life in the city, ranging from everyday passers-by to jazz legends, basball teams, and critical moments in the city's civil rights movement. Harris is known for his ability to portray the spirit of an era and the humanity of a people, and his photos have received remarkable national and international acclaim. Considered to be the largest collection detailing African-American urban community life in the world, Harris's work is housed in the Teenie Harris Archive of the Cargnegie Museum of Art.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets ($19 -$40) may be purchased at the Box Office at Theater Square, online at www.pgharts.org, or by calling (412) 456-6666. First Commonwealth is the proud season sponsor of Pittsburgh Dance Council. WDUQ is the media sponsor of the Dance Council.

MASTER CLASS
Free Contemporary Dance Master Class with Ronald K. Brown / Evidence, A Dance Company
Friday, May 1, 2009, 11 am-1 pm
Dance Alloy Theater, 5530 Penn Avenue, Friendship

Intermediate to advanced dance students and dancers in modern or African dance are invited to work with Ronald K. Brown, praised by The New York Times as "one of the most profound choreographers of his modern dance generation." Brown's technique and choreography blend history, tradition and dance forms from Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, with modern and urban dance.

This master class is limited to ages 16+ and pre-registration is required. For information and to register, contact Sarah Williams Devereux at 412.258.2664 or swilliamsdevereux@AugustWilsonCenter.org

The Pittsburgh premiere of One Shot: Rhapsody in Black & White Dance Sessions is made possible through the generous support of the Alcoa Foundation and the Elsie H. Hillman Foundation. Educational and public programs in connection with this performance are supported by contributions from the Frick Fund of the Buhl Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts' Preserving Diverse Cultures, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts' Presenting Program.

One Shot is made possible through the generous commissioning support of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, with generous support from the Alcoa Foundation, The Joyce Theater's Stephen and Cathy Weinroth Fund for New Work, the American Dance Festival, and the Benedicta Arts Center of the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, Minnesota. One Shot is also supported by the Creative Capital Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

The presentation of One Shot is made possible by the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the National Dance Project, a program administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts. Major support for the National Dance Project is provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The tour of One Shot is made possible by a grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts' Regional Touring Program. Evidence photos by Rachel Papo. Access to the photographs of Charles "Teenie" Harris and the photographic archives is provided courtesy of Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, Charles "Teenie" Harris Archive.

Founded and managed by African American community leaders and professionals, and named for Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright, Hill District native August Wilson, the August Wilson Center for African American Culture engages regional and national audiences in its mission of preserving, presenting, interpreting, celebrating and shaping the art, culture and history of African Americans in Western Pennsylvania and people of African descent throughout the world.

Located at 980 Liberty Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District, the multidisciplinary August Wilson Center is reflective of all aspects of African American culture. The Center's striking, two-story, green building houses seven exhibition galleries, a 486-seat theater for performances in all disciplines, an education center, a café and gift shop, and multipurpose spaces for community programs and events. The Center is among the select few African American cultural institutions presenting visual and performing arts, the humanities and educational programs in a state-of-the-art venue. More information is available on the Web at AugustWilsonCenter.org and by calling 412.258.2700.

Each year the Pittsburgh Dance Council, a division of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, showcases a world-class season of dance. As the largest presenter of international performances in the city, the Dance Council continues to help make our Cultural District one of the country's leading arts and entertainment centers.