April 4 & 5
St. Joseph’s Performance Hall
St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation and National Performance Network will present the Wideman/Davis Dance Company in residence the week of March 31- April 5 in Durham and the surrounding community. A full length presentation of The Bends of Life: Surviving, Sewing, Standing will be performed on
Friday & Saturday evenings April 4 & 5 in the St. Joseph’s Performance Hall at Hayti Heritage Center, 804 Old Fayetteville Street at 8:00 PM. Tickets for this outstanding dance performance are $15 adults and $10 for students/Sr. Citizens. Tickets and residency activity information is available on the web at www.hayti.org or call (919) 683-1709.
The Bends of Life: Surviving, Sewing, Standing follows the triumphs and struggles of the men and women of Gees Bend, Alabama. “The Bends of Lifeâ€? follows two characters from slavery to sharecropping, receiving the right to vote after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech in Gees Bend, and the creation of functional quilts by southern black women being sold as art. The piece is a testament to human courage and beauty in the face of adversity. It represents not just the women of Gees Bend but their quilting sisters across the country. Artistic Directors of WDD Thaddeus Davis and Tanya Wideman-Davis will be joined by Atlanta actor Ronald McCall to present excerpts of the work. The evening will include an open discussion on how the work was created and how the Civil Rights Movement of Alabama affected the women of Gees Bend and their quilts, as well as the tradition and history behind African American female quilters.
Wideman/Davis Dance will be in residence throughout the week working on the development of the piece and taking this informal presentation to local community groups and institutions. Residency activity locations include the local public schools, Durham Parks & Recreation Department, the African American Quilt Circle, and a performance specifically for young people through the Heritage Arts for Youth series.
Wideman/Davis Dance is a company that brings different artists together to create dialogue about the human condition, by using dance as its central voice but not the sole voice. Wideman/Davis Dance is interested in bridging cultural gaps through dance by bringing all communities and ethnicities together to view dance in its contemporary aesthetic. The company is committed to creating work that is accessible to audiences of all ages, by blurring the lines between dance, theatre, and reality.
This presentation of Wideman/Davis Dance is one of a series of programs designed by the National Performance Network (NPN). NPN is an independent organization begun by Dance Theatre Workshop and is comprised of arts organizations in 42 cities and 27 states. NPN is made possible through major funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For further information, visit the NPN website at www.npnweb.org or write: National Performance Network, 831 Elysian Fields Ave, Box 305, New Orleans, LA 70117. Additional support for this presentation has been provided by the City of Durham, North Carolina Arts Council, Southern Arts Federation and private contributors.
To purchase tickets, click here.
