Dance	Dance in March by Jennifer Golonka

Ron K. Brown and Evidence

(photo: Basil Childers)

Continuing Education

The University at Buffalo’s Center for the Arts is bringing yet another exciting dance company to town. This time it’s Ronald K. Brown and his New York-based company, Evidence, which has been providing unique topics and methods of expanding the art of dance for over 20 years. The company will be here for a month-long residency, March 5-23. Brown as well his dancers will be teaching at UB and giving master classes and lecture demonstrations at many Buffalo public schools. This outreach program is part of the Center for the Arts’ commitment to nurturing interest in and giving access to dance. Schools receive these programs at no cost, which is a fantastic gift considering how little funding is allotted for arts programs in public schools.

Brown seems to agree with the need for dance education in schools. He and his company have a long history of participating in outreach programs in public schools throughout the nation. In speaking about the benefits of exposing students to dance, he said, “That environment [dance] is full of discipline. That’s what our young people need. They are missing so many opportunities for gaining self-respect, for learning to have respect for others.”

Brown also teaches dance workshops for children from low-income families, giving them the opportunity to experience the joy and imagination that a creative outlet such as dance can provide.

Evidence does great work not only in educating the masses but in entertaining them as well. One critic has said, “It is exciting to watch a company that is so finely honed and rehearsed, that dances with such passion and commitment and that has been given something to say on top of it.” Another, talking about Brown’s choreography, compared him to a dance pioneer: “He is the creative heir to Alvin Ailey.”

In order to create such unique pieces, Brown’s dancers have to master not only modern and ballet techniques but also traditional African, Latin and Caribbean dance forms. This collaboration of techniques allows the dancers to say through the body what can’t be said in words.

Brown’s culminating concert at UB’s Center for the Arts on March 23 includes three pieces by Brown, the company’s sole choreographer. Order My Steps, which was created in 2005, opens the evening. It is set to the music of Fred Hammond, Bob Marley and Terry Riley, with text from Chas Boseman. This piece is divided musically into five sections. The choreography was inspired by the process of stumbling through life, finding yourself lost and then arriving at guidance. This comes in the form of a psalm, which proclaims, “Make me go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight…with my whole heart.”

Sergio Neglia and Sherri Campagni

(photo: Gene Witkowski)

Next we have Upside Down, an excerpt from the evening-length piece Destiny, which was created in 1998 in collaboration with Rokiya Kone of the Ivory Coast and her company Jeune Ballet d’Afrique Noire. Upside Down, though peaceful in its mood, is punctuated by playful boxing moves and conveys a sense of community and ritual.

The score is composed by Ormolu Sangare and Fela Anikulapo, and will be performed live by Mohammed Camara and ensemble. Ending the program is Truth Don’t Die, a telling piece that takes its title from a song by Femi Kuti. The song tells the story of a man who wakes up and decides to travel the world. During his travels he is in an auto accident and should have died, but survives because his life is an example of God’s blessings. The music is by Omotayo “Wunmi” Olaiya, Fred Hammong, MeShell Ndegeocello and Femi Kuti.

It has been said that Ron K. Brown’s work is “a unique vocabulary that springs from a deep well of spiritual urgency.”

Neglia Presents Spartacus

Neglia Ballet arrived on the scene in Buffalo in 1994. The husband and wife team, Sergio Neglia and Buffalo native Heidi Halt, began the Neglia Conservatory of Ballet to share their vision of building appreciation and support for the art of ballet. They are also highly committed to preserving the artistry, technique and traditions of ballet.

Wanting to give more to their students and community, the duo established Neglia Ballet Artists, a professional performing company currently in its eighth year. Though the company is small—comprising Neglia, Halt and Sherri Campagni—they bring to life beautiful ballets with the help of guest artists and the conservatory’s advanced students.

Spartacus will be performed on March 17 at UB’s Center for the Arts. The ballet is based on actual events of the first century BC. Spartacus tells the astonishing story of one man’s struggle to save his people, his beloved Phrygia and inevitably his legacy. We find Spartacus (Neglia) after his capture by the Roman soldiers under the glare of the leader, Crassus (guest artist Sasha Janes). Crassus clutches a whip, daring all to question his power. He watches the shackled Spartacus emerge from the crowd, his lover Phrygia (Sherri Campagni) pressed above his head in a desperate act to avoid separation. They are, however, separated, and the beautiful Phrygia is sent to become one of Crassus’ concubines while Spartacus is sold to fight as a gladiator. Aegina (Heidi Halt) is the sultry courtesan who undermines Spartacus to please her lover Crassus. The story ends tragically yet triumphally, with the death of one and the birth of another. Neglia Ballet Artists retells this epic story beautifully.