Fall Dance Concert

This season’s Fall Dance Concert celebrates the legacy of historic African-American dance. The evening will present diverse masterworks by three renowned choreographers, Alvin Ailey, Donald McKayle and Eleo Pomare. Ailey’s lush and romantic 1972 ballet, Lark Ascending, is a landmark work, a lyrical evocation of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ glorious symphonic poem of the same name. Songs of the Disinherited by Donald McKayle will be showcased thanks to a grant from the American Masterpieces: Dance- College Component initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts. Described by the Ford Foundation as “a treasure of American modern dance,” the work’s four sections encompass the spectrum of African-American experience, from slavery and the Depression to a contemporary affirmation of African-American heritage. Eleo Pomare’s gripping Las Desenamoradas was hailed by New York Times critic Anna Kisselgoff as “startling and vibrantly theatrical.” The work, inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s passionate drama, The House of Bernarda Alba, features a John Coltrane jazz score, and its choreographic style is influenced by the paintings of 17th-century Spanish artist Diego Velázquez.

November 6-9 and 13-16, 2008

8:00 p.m. Thurs.-Sat.; 2:00 p.m. Sun.