Accent Dance NYC Takes To The Summer Streets!

Accent DanceNYC,an education and performance initiative that champions learning and communication through dance, presents Project Connect: Dances to Unifyon August 17 as part of the New York City Department of Transportation's Summer Street's Dance Festival. A program that represents versatility in movement and diversity at its core, the multi-cultural ensemble will present seven works, three of which will make their premiere to an all-ages New York audience.

Led by a team of professional performance artists from the U.S., Cuba, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Haiti and beyond, the free program encompasses the full scope of Accent Dance NYC and includes elements of tango, ballet, jazz, contemporary and hip-hop. With the theme of freedom during this year's Summer Streets, the mission of Accent Dance NYC is closely aligned-- advocating for widespread access to the arts and dance education while highlighting the power of dance to showcase diversity, unify cultures and communities, and transform lives.

"In the celebration of freedom, our program shows that people of diverse nationalities, races, genders, and sexual orientation have all found freedom of expression through movement," explains Andrea Ziegelman, founder and President of Accent Dance NYC. "The program also represents the great city of New York- dynamic, bold, brave, resilient and alive."

REPERTORY NOTES

Danzón

Choreography: Pedro Ruiz

Music: Arturo Márquez

Danzón has been called the official dance of Cuba. Cuban choreographer Pedro Ruiz has reinvented this traditional dance and music form with contemporary language to construct a joyous celebration of music and movement.

A y D

Choreography: Alonso Guzman and Dardo Galletto

Music: Phillip Glass

A contemporary work influenced by elements of tango, this male duet explores how one person finds the other in a rapidly changing relationship which requires a fluid, yet technically-demanding, execution.

Kinder Symphonie| World Premiere

Choreography: Richard Isaac and Mara Driscoll

Music: Kremerata Baltica, Gideon Kramer, After Mozart,"Kinder-Symphonie ("Berchtoldsgadener"), C Major: No. 1.

The would-be peaceful world of two dancers is disrupted by a litany of auditory pests.

Sophisticated Lady | World Premiere

Choreography: Lucia Jackson

Music: Duke Ellington

Lucia Jackson's musical and choreographic interpretation of jazz classic Sophisticated Lady, rendered as a duet, employs classical and contemporary aesthetics to convey the nostalgia of the era with a modern twist.

Wop

Choreography: Accent Dance NYC Team

Music: J. Dash

Wopis a meeting ground for the diverse vocabularies of hip hop, ballet, and contemporary dance, as well as an opportunity for the creative collaboration of performers and audience members.

Hope

Choreography: Steven Vilsaint

Music:

A hip-hop solo that explores the power of dance to allow a person to transcend despair, where everything is fading away, to achieve a life worth living, filled with joy, hope, and faith in the future.

Fugata

Choreography: Dardo Galletto

Music: Astor Piazzolla

Fugata juxtaposes two couples who perform traditional tango and contemporary ballet, side by side, in a reflection of Piazzolla's musical complexity, and as an expression of Accent Dance NYC's celebration of global diversity

PERFORMANCE AND VENUE INFORMATION

Project Connect: Dances to Unify will be performed on August 17, the third and final Saturday of Summer Streets, at 11:00 a.m.

The Dance Festival will take place at the Astor Place Rest Stop, on Astor Place and Lafayette Street in Manhattan's East Village. This performance is not ticketed and is free to the public.

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