Music From The Sole: House is Open, Going Dark
October 17-19
Boston Arts Academy Theater
Return visits from two favorites, plus Ailey!
Music From The Sole was a sold-out music and dance sensation in their debut, I Didn't Come to Stay, in 2023. The irresistible ensemble brings onstage live music and African diasporic tap styles together, and in House is Open, Going Dark, the joys and challenges of co-creation takes center stage. Musicians become dancers, dancers pick up instruments, and you get an intimate look at how it all comes together.
Camille A. Brown & Dancers share I AM, a work with an unlikely inspiration (an episode by the same name of the sci-fi/horror series Lovecraft Country) that moved and delighted premiere audiences and critics. A journey through infinite possibilities, Black Joy, and the power of becoming (and asserting) who you are, I AM is an emotionally rich must-see work that's going to be a highlight of the season!
And Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns for the first time under the leadership of former company star and Juilliard Dance Department Chair Alicia Graf Mack. Expect new works, Ailey revivals, and the perennial crowd-pleaser Revelations.
A long-awaited debut, plus a music-dance premiere
It's hard to believe, but Trisha Brown Dance Company has never appeared on the Series! Explore the brilliant postmodern choreographer's career with an overview of three works from different eras, what she called "Cycles." The mesmerizing Glacial Decoy, her first work for proscenium stage, performed in silence before projected photographs by Robert Rauschenberg; the exquisitely organized chaos, like ripples of a stone dropped in water, of Son of Gone FIshin'; and a late-career duet, Rogues, offer an unmissable tour through Brown's oeuvre.
In Metamorphosis, Chicago's Third Coast Percussion teamed up with Movement Art Is (choreographers Lil Buck and John Boogz) to co-create a work that meditates on dualities in human nature, self-expression, growth, and resilience. Dancers to be named, trained in Buck's Memphis Jookin and Boogz' popping styles, bring the music by Philip Glass, Jlin, Tyondai Braxton, and more, to life.
Neighborhood Arts dance events
Free and open to all, our Neighborhood Arts season this year offers a performance by Jean Appolon Expressions. Steeped in Haitian folkloric dance and Afro-modern choreography, Appolon's program delivers selections from two works, Traka and Pouvwa.
Irish Music and Dance, old and new
Renowned Irish fiddler Martin Hayes and his Common Ground Ensemble bring you a vibrant cultural celebration rooted in Irish cultural expression with a global point of view. Dancer Stephanie Keane embodies the looser, freewheeling Sean nós ("old style") Irish dance, and American Irish dancer Morgan Bullock—a Riverdance ensemble member and social media sensation selected to tour with Beyoncé—represents the art form's contemporary spirit.