BLUEGRASS JUNCTION to Return to Stage with Tim Eriksen and Wayside Bluegrass
Choreographer Jennifer Hart's work returns to AustinVentures Studio Theater at Ballet Austin.
Performa/Dance will bring back to the stage BLUEGRASS JUNCTION, with special musical guests — international singer and songwriter Tim Eriksen and Austin's own Wayside Bluegrass — in a heartfelt intersection of music and dance. Award-winning choreographer Jennifer Hart invites you to celebrate an important piece of Americana - a time when live music and dance brought communities together to celebrate the human experience and the important phases of life.
“BLUEGRASS JUNCTION is about convening and strengthening our community bonds in times of happiness and sorrow,” Hart explained. “It is about the simple pleasures of music and movement, which when married lift the spirit and give us hope. This engaging dance work celebrates the deep love we have for family, friends, intimate partners, and life itself. BLUEGRASS JUNCTION explores the cycle of life and emphasizes friendship, community, and joy, taking us out of the isolation and loneliness that is part of our current lives. Through our darkest moments, we seek comfort in art; I created BLUEGRASS JUNCTION to acknowledge the real-world tribulations and transformations our community has faced in recent years.”
BLUEGRASS JUNCTION, while not true to one form of dance, is a nod to the many folk dances practiced throughout the United States, including square dancing, buck-and-wing, clogging, jigs, and reels. The roots of these dances have European, African, and Native American traditions. Many of the folk dances that inspired BLUEGRASS JUNCTION are still practiced throughout the United States.
Performa/Dance will be joined by the great Tim Eriksen. Labeled by T Bone Burnett as “one of the best singers in music,” Eriksen is an internationally-acclaimed singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, fiddle, bajo sexto, kaval, bansuri) from Amherst, Massachusetts. Toronto Star called him, “A compelling artist whose intense delivery and clarity of tone sets him among the world's finest folk practitioners,” and the BBC said of Eriksen, he's “widely regarded as the best traditional American ballad singer of his generation.”
Accompanying Tim Eriksen will be members of the Wayside Bluegrass, an Austin-based Bluegrass band that performs a thrilling mix of traditional/contemporary bluegrass and Americana music. Featuring Jon Lundbom on banjo, Bo Tyler on guitar and vocals, Everett Wren on fiddle, and Kyle Kline on bass.
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