(Boston) Celebrity Series of Boston presents Abilities Dance Boston in a streaming concert on Thursday, October 29, 2020 at 8pm ET as part of the “Celebrity Series at Home” Neighborhood Arts Community Concerts virtual concert series. This performance is sponsored by First Republic Bank and 2020-21 Dance Series sponsors Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, Cynthia & John S. Reed Foundation, and Royal Little Family Foundation. This performance is streamed from The Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.
"Dance uses the body to tell stories and process emotions, and we deserve to be able to participate in that," says Abilities Dance's founding Executive Director Ellice Patterson. Her visionary company, which brings together professional dancers with and without disabilities and champions artists of color and queer artists, makes its Celebrity Series Neighborhood Arts debut with a program that centers and celebrates the diversity of human movement.
Tickets for the digital concert are free with RSVP and are available online at celebrityseries.org/productions/abilities-dance-boston-celebrity-series-debut. To browse the entire “Celebrity Series at Home” series and learn more about all of the free and paid performances, visit: celebrityseries.org/athome
Program:
Parallel
performed by Janelle Diaz and Lauren Sava; music composed by Andrew Choe
Yellow Radiance
performed by Scynthia Charles; music composed by Andrew Choe
Nubian Art
performed by Ellice Patterson; music composed by Andrew Choe
Fish is Fish*
performed by Lauren Sava; music composed by Erin Rogers
Beautiful Blackbird*
performed by Scynthia Charles; music composed by Andrew Choe
Little Red Riding Hood*
performed by Ellice Patterson; music composed by Andrew Choe
Whose Mouse Are You?*
performed by Scynthia Charles and Lauren Sava; music composed by Erin Rogers
Bimodal
performed by Ellice Patterson; music composed by Andrew Choe
All choreography and audio descriptions by Executive/Artistic Director Ellice Patterson
All audio descriptions edited by Amber Pearcy
All costumes designed by Laura Brody
*Indicates the piece premiered September 26, 2020 in collaboration with the Eric Carle Museum and based on their art exhibitions
About Abilities Dance Boston:
Founded by Ellice Patterson, Abilities Dance Boston is comprised of adult dancers with and without disabilities. Their movement tendencies and personalities influence the stories told through movements. Through improvisational exercises, the choreographer develops choreography that tells stories while letting the dancers' voices resonate throughout the piece. Guided by their director of music Andrew Choe, original music is composed that matches the movements of the dancers in a continuous feedback process with the choreographer. The collaboration between these three parties creates unique pieces that blends strong voices to tell powerful stories that are universal to the human experience with an inclusive lens.
Outside of exclusively Abilities Dance produced shows, these pieces have been performed in different showcases and festivals in the Boston area and beyond. Such places include: the MFA, Peabody Essex Museum, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, GRUNT Festival at Links Hall in Chicago, markeddanceproject’s 10th anniversary show at Gibney in NYC, The Series: Vol IV at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre, and more. https://www.abilitiesdanceboston.org/
About Celebrity Series of Boston
Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. The Series has been bringing the very best performers–from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more–to Boston’s major concert halls for 81 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience—on stages, on streets, in neighborhoods–everywhere.
Celebrity Series of Boston is grateful to our 2020-21 Season Sponsors Amy & Joshua Boger, and to the many individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies whose generosity supports Arts for All! and help fulfill our mission to present performing artists who inspire and enrich our community. Individual and Institutional supporters include the Barr Foundation through its ArtsAmplified initiative, Leslie & Howard Appleby, Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, The Catered Affair, Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Mr. & Mrs. Peter Coxe, Amy & Ethan d’Ablemont Burnes, D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp., First Republic Bank, Foley & Lardner LLP, Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, George & Lizbeth Krupp, Liberty Mutual Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Outside the Box: A Production of the Boston Arts Summer Institute, Cynthia and John S. Reed Foundation, Royal Little Family Foundation, Stifler Family Foundation, Anonymous, and many others.
Arts for All! programs are also made possible by support from the LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All Endowment & Innovation Funds of the Celebrity Series of Boston.
celebrityseries.org
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