Dayton Contemporary Dance Company brings new work to Phillips Center

February 2, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Art imitates art in colôr-ógraphy, n. The Dances of Jacob Lawrence, the newest work from the celebrated Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. The troupe will present the piece, inspired by the work of 20th-century African-American artist Jacob Lawrence, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 16, at the University of Florida Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

Lawrence began painting in the 1930s and was still painting into the new millennium. During this 70-year span, he produced a prolific amount of work that made him a standout in the art community and chronicled the history of African-American life. His migration series, which is probably his best-known work, depicted the movement of African-Americans from the South to the industrialized North during the Great Depression. The series was featured in a 1941 issue of Fortune Magazine, which helped spark interest in Lawrence’s other works.

Kevin Ward, the dance company’s artistic director, provided the artistic vision for colôr-ógraphy and recruited a team of choreographers to bring Lawrence’s work to life: Rennie Harris, who Ward calls a “hip-hop pioneer”; Reggie Wilson, whose work is infused with narrative elements, gospel, blues and the Afro-Caribbean tradition; and Donald Byrd, who has a style Ward describes as “edgy. All three were enthusiastic about the project. Ward, who choreographed the fourth piece in the work, had only one rule for his team: “Their works had to be inspired/and or informed by Jacob Lawrence’s work or his life,” he says.

Each of the four pieces brings a different facet of Lawrence’s work to light. Harris’s piece looks at the struggles that African-Americans face in everyday life and how they move past those struggles by focusing on a passion for living. Wilson, who was inspired by the migration series, focused on “how culture is transformed as it moves from one area to another,” Ward says. Byrd drew inspiration from Lawrence’s migration series and paintings on Harriet Tubman, incorporating historical information into what Ward describes as “a very literal translation” of Lawrence’s work.

Tickets are available by calling the Phillips Center Box Office at (352) 392-ARTS (2787) or (800) 905-ARTS or by calling Ticketmaster at (904) 353-3309. Orders may be faxed to (352) 846-1562. Tickets are also available at the Phillips Center Box Office, University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Student Union and all Ticketmaster outlets; and on the Web at www.ticketmaster.com.

The Phillips Center Box Office is open from noon to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, two hours before performances.