For THE MARCH Big Dance reinvents its producing model by inviting Tendayi Kuumba and Donna Uchizono to share space, dancers and resources, joining Annie-B Parson in creating a new large scale work. The three choreographers, with SEVENTEEN (!) dancers, explore the notion of “getting big”—choreographically, thematically and institutionally.
Big small feat by Donna Uchizono (20’)
Big small feat opens with a warm greeting by the “Welcomers,” followed by a short blast of movement hurled towards you. This village of intergenerational dancers eventually comes together, redefining virtuosity as they move in a challenging formation, dancing in unison as a form of solidarity. The sensitivity required to pick up the qualitative shifts and nuances in the minute and detailed movement is an impossible task that the dance artists achieve with perseverance, grit, and kind compassion.
NYSea by Tendayi Kuumba (15’)
Like water, we absorb frequencies from everything we see, feel, touch, and experience. Like the ocean, we hold those frequencies in each drop of water in our bodies like ink is soaked into paper. Our makeup and memories bring many waves and currents, changing with each moment of life. Sometimes it takes discovery, community, and release, to recognize that we already have everything we need even when we feel like we have nothing at all. We are each a drop in an ocean full of endless stories; all we have to do is take our time.
The Oath by Annie-B Parson (20’)
Since the beginning of time, in community, clan, congregation and club, we have created unison systems of movement; since the beginning of the world, we have moved in large group choreographies. The creation of The Oath began as a chronological exploration of humanity’s common record of this vernacular and poetic unison movement, movement that is practiced for purpose and for pleasure, both utopian and dystopian. This is The Oath, an assembly of dancers practicing our human impulse to embody a larger physical statement in order to bond, to bind, to intimidate, to gather, to believe, to envision, to promise– to dance.
PERFORMANCES:
February 15-16, 2025
Carolina Performing Arts, Chapel Hill, NC
December 10-16, 2023
Opening Season of the new Perelman Center for the Arts, NYC
ARTISTIC TEAM
Choreography by Tendayi Kuumba, Donna Uchizono, and Annie-B Parson
Associates: Greg Purnell, Levi Gonzalez, and Elizabeth DeMent
Cast: Mawu Ama Ma’at Gora, Brooke Ashley(Dance Captain), Stacy Dawson Stearns (Dance Captain), Natalie Greene (Dance Captain), Meg Harper, Hsiao-Jou Tang, Jin Ju Song-Begin, Kashia Kancey, Joanna Kotze (Dance Captain) , Jen Nugent, Devin Oshiro, Pam Pietro, Kendra Portier ( Dance Captain), Chanel Stone, Paz Tanjuaquio Isabel Umali, devika wickremesinghe (Dance Captain)
Music and Sound Design by ÜFlyMothership (TK), okkyung lee (DU), and Tei Blow (ABP)
Lighting Design by Jeanette Yew
Costumes by Greg Purnell (TK), Naomi (DU), and Samantha McElrath
Stage Management by Ilana Khanin
Sound Design Engineering by Ryan Gamblin
Company Management by Lilach Oreinstein
Production Management by Daria Walcott
Co-commission with PAC NYC, American Dance Festival, Spoleto Festival USA and The National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron (NCCAkron).
