 Get
ready…get set…they’re coming! Garth Fagan
Dance will appear in three major New York City venues within two
months this fall, including City Center (October 3), the newly opened
Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center (November 3–5)
and at The Joyce Theater (November 16–21).
On its first trip: At City
Center, the Rochester-based company will perform “DANCECOLLAGEFORROMIE”
as part of the theater’s “Fall for Dance Festival.”
Dedicated to Fagan’s friend, the late artist Romare Bearden,
the piece is divided into three sections, each representing a different
aspect of Bearden’s work and personality. The first, ‘Matter
and Materiel,’ explores the raw materials of collage: shape,
movement, texture and color. ‘Detail: Down Home Also,’
the second section, is based on one of Fagan’s own Bearden
collages that is being featured in “The Art of Romare Bearden”
exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art this fall. The dance
concludes with ‘Conjur Man,’ an exploration of some
of Bearden’s collages, favorite imagery, tones and love of
jazz.
Next on its Big Apple agenda:
Garth Fagan Dance is one of four dance companies selected to participate
in the activities surrounding the Grand Opening Festival of Frederick
P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The three evenings of dance
and live music, entitled “Jazz in Motion,” will feature
sections from Fagan’s 1991 classic “Griot New York”
and his “Trips and Trysts” (2000), both accompanied
by the Wynton Marsalis Septet. The selections from “Griot”
include: ‘Bayou Baroque,’ a showcase for Norwood Pennewell
and Nicolette Depass. Using a score by Marsalis composed especially
for the dance, “Griot” was the subject of PBS’s
“Great Performances: Dance in America,” which aired
worldwide in 1995. “Trips and Trysts,” set to Marsalis’s
1999 recording, “Big Train,” brims with movement wittily
suggesting the small alliances and dalliances that people engage
in during trips.
And finally: As far as the
company’s Joyce Theater engagement, things still seem top
secret, with the only hint being that Fagan is readying a world
premiere to music by Brahms (one of his favorite composers) and
a series of past hits.
Fagan began his career in dance by leaving Jamaica to tour Latin
America with Ivy Baxter and her national dance company from Jamaica.
Baxter, Lavinia Williams and Pearl Primus, famed Caribbean dance
teachers, strongly influenced Fagan’s work, as did his later
studies with Martha Graham, Mary Hinkson, Alvin Ailey and José
Limón. A graduate of Wayne State University, Fagan became
director of Detroit’s All-City Dance Company and performed
with and choreographed for the Dance Theatre of Detroit and the
Detroit Contemporary Dance Company. He moved to Rochester in 1970
and founded Garth Fagan Dance, now in its 34th season. The company
has appeared in many major venues and arts festivals throughout
the United States, as well as internationally in France, Turkey,
Switzerland, Israel, Germany, Australia and Africa.
In addition to the dances he creates for his own company, Fagan
has choreographed pieces for Judith Jamison, Dance Theatre of Harlem,
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Limón Dance Company.
In May 1999, he created one section of “Ellington Elation,”
a trio of pieces commissioned by New York City Ballet in honor of
Duke Ellington’s centenary and NYCB’s 50th anniversary.
For his choreography in Walt Disney’s “The Lion King,”
Fagan received the 1998 Tony Award, the 1998 Drama Desk Award, the
1998 Outer Critics Circle Award, the 1998 Astaire Award, the 2000
Laurence Olivier Award and the 2001 Ovation Award. In 2001, Fagan
received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award; that
same year, he was also the recipient of the Golden Plate Award,
was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement and was presented
with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander by the Jamaican
government. Fagan has also received a New York Dance and Performance
Award (Bessie), as have four other members of his company: Norwood
Pennewell, Steve Humphrey, Natalie Rogers and Sharon Skepple.
In between and following Garth Fagan Dance’s New York dates,
the company will perform at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles,
CA (October 23–24); the Memorial Art Gallery (November 7)
and Nazareth College Arts Center (November 30–December 5)
in Rochester, NY; Imperial Theatre in Augusta, GA (January 21);
University of Maine in Orono, ME (January 27); and Flynn Theatre
for the Performing Arts in Burlington, VT (February 5). The tour
also includes performances at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
in Charlotte, NC (February 12); Paramount Theater in Seattle, WA
(April 9); The Egg in Albany, NY (April 22); Kennedy Center in Washington,
DC (April 24); and Paramount Theatre in Charlottesville, VA (April
26).
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The curtain time for the company’s performance in City Center’s
“Fall For Dance Festival” is 8pm. Tickets are $10 and
are available at the box office, online at www.citycenter.org
or by calling 212-581-1212, beginning September 10.
City Center is located on 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th
Avenues.
Performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose
Hall begin at 8pm. Tickets range from $30–$150 and are available
at the box office, online at www.jalc.org
or by calling 212-258-9999. Jazz at Lincoln Center is located at
Broadway and 60th Street.
The evening curtain at The Joyce Theater, Tuesday through Saturday,
is at 8pm. There will also be 2pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets are $42 and are available at the box office, online at
www.joyce.org or by calling 212-242-0800.
The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street.
080504
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