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In Under Southern Skies, the internationally lauded North Carolina Dance Theatre celebrates the music and artists of the South and reflects on the ever-changing landscape of the region. The program, which includes two pieces with live music performed by artists from the thriving western North Carolina music scene, will come to the Williams Center for the Arts 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 22.
Tickets are free for students, $4 for faculty and staff, and $22 for the public. They are available by calling the box office at (610) 330-5009.
Three free outreach activities will be presented with support in part by a grant from the Dexter and Dorothy Baker Foundation. A master class for dancers will be held 4:30-5:45 p.m. at Kirby Sports Center. Space is limited; confirm time and location for the class (and learn details of the three events) by calling (610) 330-5010. The Greasy Beans will conduct a free performance workshop for bluegrass musicians and fans at 6 p.m. at the Williams Center. A pre-concert discussion by North Carolina Dance Theater’s president and artistic director,Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, will follow at 7 p.m.
Choreographed by Bonnefoux, the two pieces with live music in Under Southern Skies draw inspiration from home-grown musical sources and themes. “Shindig” is a rollicking ballet set to traditional bluegrass music performed live by The Greasy Beans and “I’m with You” is a poignant duet of love, separation, and longing, set to original songs by folk singer/songwriter Christine Kane.
Rounding out the program are “Sweet Tea,” choreographed by former Alvin Ailey and North Carolina Dance Theatre dancer Uri Sands to music by North Carolina native and jazz legend John Coltrane, and “City South,” choreographed by North Carolina Dance Theatre lead dancer Mark Diamond to music by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and Victor Wooten. Each explores an aspect of what makes the South, its artists, and the culture of the region unique.
Since its founding in 1970 as the touring ensemble of North Carolina School for the Arts — still a revered dance conservatory — the Charlotte-based North Carolina Dance Theatre has become one of the premier mid-sized companies in the nation. Its breathtaking beauty, boundless energy, and amazing athleticism have dazzled audiences and critics the world over. The New York Times has called the company “unstinting in range and thundera pleasure to behold.” Acclaimed New York Post dance critic Clive Barnes has placed it among “the liveliest and most brilliant troupes in North America.” The ensemble has been praised by Dance Magazine as “performers of stunning versatility and dramatic power.” A recent European tour prompted Le Figaro of Italy to write, “superb, sufficiently armed to conquer the world” and The London Times states, “If they decided to settle in Britain they would be among our top ballet companies.”
The ensemble’s national tours have included appearances in major festivals such as Spoleto, American Dance Festival, and Dance Aspen. The company also has made several New York appearances and completed two European tours.
Under the artistic leadership of Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride, former lead dancers in George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet, NCDT excels at the choreographic legacy created by Balanchine. It also thrives on new directions, extending the company’s classical ballet foundation to diverse styles and aesthetics, from folk to modern, continuing Balanchine’s probing and inquisitive methods of creating dance across boundaries.
Bonnefoux has performed with the Paris Opera Ballet and Bolshoi, Kirov, and New York City Ballets; had works commissioned for New York City Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Munich Opera, among others; and has served as choreographer and ballet master of Pittsburgh Ballet and as chairman and artistic director of the ballet department at Indiana University.
McBride is celebrated as the outstanding American ballerina of today and a star of international stature. Her remarkable virtuosity and artistic range have been demonstrated in more than 100 ballets with New York City Ballet. She has worked with many of ballet’s greats, including Balanchine, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jerome Robbins, Rudolph Nureyev, Andre Eglevsky, Edward Villella, Helgi Tomasson, and Peter Martins.
Acoustic Guitar magazine says The Greasy Beans “are bucking acoustic music’s trend toward ever-greater refinement. Instead, they mix old-time and bluegrass elements to createunabashedly rugged music.” The group has been called the future of bluegrass music, a band that has the true feel and essence of “picking music.” North Carolina’s hottest bluegrass band, The Greasy Beans can balance the deep with the lighthearted, the straight with the crooked, and the bold with the humble.
Over the years, the Greasy Beans have had the opportunity to share the stage with some of the finest musicians in the business, including John Hartford, Sam Bush, Doc Watson, The Del McCoury Band, Norman Blake, Danny Barnes, The Bad Livers, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, Tim O’Brian, Tony Rice, Acoustic Syndicate, Leftover Salmon, J.D. Crowe and the New South, Chris Sharp (“O Brother, Where Art Thou” tour), and many more. The Greasy Beans have stood center stage among the very best at the International Bluegrass Music Association Conference.
“They have the musical chops, the all-too-rare feeling for playing bluegrass, and a whole bunch of nice original songsyou can’t beat a new sound that feels old,” states Bluegrass Unlimited.
Kane’s 12-year career has been marked by independence and a deep commitment to her craft as a writer and performer. Her popular live performances take on a one-woman-show quality as she weaves a comedic thread throughout her stories and anecdotes, while conveying a sense of magic and encouragement with her songs and voice. Her CDs have received rave reviews. Borders Books & Music chose Rain & Mud & Wild & Green” as the Best of 2003, and The Washington Post says of Kane, “Reflective, ironic and often open-ended, her best songs take the shape of curious scenarios that leave you guessing about the nature of things.”
Kane performs regularly at national conventions and has appeared as a keynote speaker on women’s issues, creativity, and business. Country/folk treasure Kathy Mattea recorded her song “Right Outta Nowhere” as the title track for her 2005 release. Kane toured in support of Putumayo Records’ 2005 release “American Folk,” a compilation featuring Kane, Nanci Griffith, Natalie Merchant, and others. Her readings of her own RoadNotes have been regularly featured on the syndicated NPR show “The State of Things” in the Carolinas. Her record label, Firepink Music, which began in a spare room in her house, is now run by an in-house publicist and agent in her home base of Asheville, N.C.
North Carolina Dance Theatre’s engagement is supported in part by an ArtsConnect grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and by a grant from the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from National Endowment for the Arts and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
The nationally recognized Performance Series at Lafayette attracts more than 10,000 people each season. It has been cited for performing excellence by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, Chamber Music America, Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, Pennsylvania Arts and Humanities Councils, and Association of Performing Arts Presenters.
The 2005–06 Performance Series is supported in part by gifts from Friends of the Williams Center for the Arts; by provisions of the Alan and Wendy Pesky Artist-in-Residence Program, the James Bradley Fund, and the Ed Brunswick Jazz Fund; and by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, the Dexter and Dorothy Baker Foundation, and New England Foundation for the Arts.