Momentum Dance Company Ignites Imagination Through Dance At Miami-Dade Country Libraries

Since celebrating 35 years of dance, art and culture last season, Momentum Dance Company, alongside Founder & Artistic Director Delma Iles, is now proud to announce the programming for the 2018 Children Library Series. The Company will produce their critically acclaimed series in libraries across Miami-Dade County with performances of Peter and the Wolf, The Emperor and the Nightingale, and more!

"Starting in early 2018, Momentum will be providing free performances for children at one of the mostly influential locations in a child's life, the library!" Remarked Iles. "We've created this series to help children explore their wild and blooming imaginations through song and dance. It's one of the great cultural connectors."

All performances are free admission. They include:

• Counting Songs. This fun and action packed 30-minute performance teaches younger children their numbers 1-8 while simultaneously teaching the multiplication tables for the same numbers to older kids. Each number comes to life with an original song by local composer Devin Marsh and a dance by Momentum's delightful, goofy, and high-energy dancers. Each song is in a different musical style (jazz, reggae, rock, Caribbean, classical, rap) and each dance has a special element such as puppets, scarves, stuffed animals, rhythm instruments and more! "Counting Songs" is the most fun you can have doing math!

January 13 at 11:00 a.m. -Coral Gables Public Library, 3225 Segovia Avenue, Coral Gables, FL 33134. For information call: 305-442-8706.

January 13 at 2:00 p.m. - Arcola Lakes Branch Library, 8240 NW 7 Avenue, Miami, FL 33150. For information call: 305-694-2707.

April 5 at 6:00 p.m. - West Dade Regional Library, 9445 Coral Way, Miami, FL 33165. For Information Call: 305-553-1134.

• The Emperor and the Nightingale - A Tale from China. A benevolent, but sickly Chinese Emperor is healed by the magical song of a simple gray Nightingale. The Emperor and the members of the court are amazed, and want to keep the Nightingale in a golden cage. But when the Emperor of Japan sends a golden, jewel encrusted, mechanical bird, the Emperor and the members of the court forget about the Nightingale, and she flies away. Eventually, the glittering mechanical bird breaks, and the Emperor falls ill again, but the kind Nightingale comes back to save the Emperor, who agrees that she can be free.

February 3 at 11:00 a.m. - Coral Gables Public Library, 3225 Segovia Avenue, Coral Gables, FL 33134. For information call: 305-442-8706.

• A Dancing Imagination. Momentum shows kids how any topic can be fodder for dance by using your imagination. Duet is an unusual pas de deux for a dancer and electric car. I See A Song explores how we can "see" music and "hear" color. Bubble Wrap has the dancers popping that irresistible stuff through rhythms in their feet, ballet steps, jumping and rolling and more hilarious antics. Power Hitter incorporates the world of sports in a portrait of a baseball player trying to hit a home run.

February 24 at 2:30 p.m. - South Dade Regional Library, 10750 SW 211 Street, Cutler Bay, FL 33189. For Information Call: 305-233-8140.

April 7 at 11:00 a.m. - Coral Gables Public Library, 3225 Segovia Avenue, Coral Gables, FL 33134. For information call: 305-442-8706.

May 19 at 11:00 a.m. - South Miami Branch Library, 6000 Sunset Drive, South Miami, FL 33143. For Information Call: 305-667-6121

• Peter and the Wolf. Momentum delights young audiences with a perennial children's favorite! This classic folk tale with music by Russian composer Sergi Prokofiev is the most popular children's work the company has ever offered! Kids join clever Peter and his friends the Bird and the Duck as they work together to outwit and capture the fierce Wolf. Other characters include grumpy Grandfather and the ridiculous Hunters. Each character is represented by a different instrument of the orchestra and a unique way of moving. Comedy, drama, suspense and excitement make this work a must-see experience.

May 12 at 11:00 a.m. - Coral Gables Public Library, 3225 Segovia Avenue, Coral Gables, FL 33134. For information call: 305-442-8706.

• And two additional children's performances in libraries countywide to be announced.

Momentum Dance Company's 2018 Children's Library Series is sponsored in part by: The National Endowment for the Arts, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Board of County Commissioners, the City of Coral Gables and the Coral Gables Arts Council, and the Thoressen Foundation.

For more information about Momentum Dance Company, visit www.MomentumDance.com or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Founded in 1982 by classically trained and respected dancer Delma Iles, Momentum Dance Company is one of the oldest and most established professional contemporary dance companies in the Southeastern U.S. The company exists for the purpose of creating, performing and producing dance works, particularly those by Florida artists, emphasizing the creation of new works, but from a classic and historic viewpoint. The company's purpose is to develop and educate the audience about dance in Florida, the Southeastern region and across the nation with emphasis on modern dance forms. The company also prides itself on its commitment to educating and training students for the purposes of professional careers as well as for personal development and enjoyment. For more information about Delma Iles and Momentum Dance Company, visit www.momentumdance.com.

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