AKRON, OH: The National Center for Choreography-Akron (NCCAkron) Hosts Free Talk at the Akron Public Library
Company:
The National Center for Choreography-Akron (NCCAkron)
NCCAKRON HOSTS FREE TALK AT THE AKRON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Conversation with Annie-B Parson, Tendayi Kuumba, and Donna Uchizono
EVENT: The National Center for Choreography-Akron (NCCAkron) Executive/Artistic Director Christy Bolingbroke will moderate a conversation between New York-based choreographic collaborators Annie-B Parson, Tendayi Kuumba, and Donna Uchizono.
Parson is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Big Dance Theater and a Broadway choreographer (David Byrne's American Utopia and Here Lies Love); Kuumba is an international dancer, choreographer, singer, and songwriter; Uchizono is Artistic Director of Donna Uchizono Company. They will be in Akron working together on a soon-to-be-announced project.
DATE: Wednesday, April 19, 6-7 pm
LOCATION: ASCPL Main Library 60 S High St, Akron, OH 44326
RSVP: FREE. RSVP required
ABOUT NCCAKRON
The National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron supports the research and development of new work in dance by exploring the full potential of the creative process. In addition to offering studio and technical residencies to make new work, activities focus on catalyzing dialogue and experimentation; creating proximity among artists and dance thinkers; and aggregating resources around dance making. For more information, visit nccakron.org. The establishment and general operation of NCCAkron are made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
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Artist Bios
Annie-B Parson
Choreographer Annie-B Parson is the artistic director of Obie award-winning Big Dance Theater, which she co-founded in 1991. Parson has co-created over twenty large-scale works for such venues as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Old Vic/London, Saddler’s Wells/London, The Walker, The National Theater in Paris, Japan Society, and The Kitchen. Outside of her company, some of the artists she has worked with include David Byrne, David Bowie, Lorde, St. Vincent, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Wendy Whelan, Anne Carson, Esperanza Spalding, Suzan-Lori Parks, Laurie Anderson, Salt n Pepa, Jonathan Demme, and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Parson choreographed and did musical staging for American Utopia and Byrne’s musical Here Lies Love, as well as his tours with Brian Eno and St. Vincent. Parson recently choreographed two operas: Candide at the Lyon Opera and The Hours at The Met. Parson’s writing has been published in The Atlantic and The Paris Review; her book The Choreography of Everyday Life is published by Verso Press. Upcoming, with Thomas F. DeFrantz, she is co-editing a book entitled: Dance History(s): Imagination as a Form of Study.
Tendayi Kuumba
Chita Rivera Outstanding Female Dancer on Broadway 2022 as Lady in Brown in the Tony Nominated Broadway Revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. International dancer, choreographer, singer, songwriter, and Spelman College grad. Recently, Tendayi performed as a background vocalist/dancer and original cast member of Special Tony Award Winning David Byrne's America Utopia on Broadway as well as its World Tour and HBO Film adaptation directed by Spike Lee. Former touring company member of Urban Bush Women, Tendayi is also a longtime collaborator with partner Greg Purnell under the alias UFLYMOTHERSHIP with sonic/choreographic projects Heroiné, Incog-negro, U.F.O: Unidentified Fly Objects, U.F.O: Stardust Melanin, and U.F.O "The Mixtape."
Other solo/collaborative choreographic works have been featured at Gibney Dance, in partnership with Stephen Petronio Residency Center, Live Ideas: Drexciya Redux - An Afrofuturist Cabaret at NYLA, Movement Researches’ Spring Festival, Czech Republic of NY, “Prague Effects” Residency, Dancespace "Collective Terrains" platform, Spelman Colleges' "Toni Cade Bambara Scholar” Activism Conference, Harlem Stage E-Moves 2019, Hi-ARTS: Critical Breaks Residency, BRICLab, Dance Mission Theaters' D.I.R.T Festival 2021, Park Armorys' 100 Women/100 Years, and Lincoln Center's Restart Stages.
She's worked with choreographers T. Lang, Marjani Forte'-Saunders (7NMS), ASÉ Dance Theater Collective, Nathan Trice/ Rituals Performance Project StrangeLove, Jim Findlay's Electric Lucifer workshop, and Philadelphia Operas’ We Shall Not be Moved directed by Bill T. Jones. She continues to build her pedagogy as a teaching artist occasionally at NYU Tisch and as a B.O.L.D Facilitator for Urban Bush Women. Currently commissioned by the Petronio Residency Center to create upcoming UFLYMOTHERSHIP work for Dec 2022, she gives thanks and blessings for life, love, breath, and the pursuit of happiness through creativity.
Donna Uchizono
Donna Uchizono is a dance artist based in New York City and Artistic Director of Donna Uchizono Company, which has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. A United States Artist Awardee, Guggenheim Fellow, and Bessie recipient, Uchizono has been distinguished by numerous national awards and grants.
She has been commissioned to create work for notables Mikhail Baryshnikov, Paula Vogel, David Hammons, and Oliver Sacks. Uchizono is active in the community and is committed to mentorship/advocacy for young dance makers. She served as a mentor for Sugar Salon, DoublePlus at Gibney Dance Center, and currently through Donna Uchizono Company’s own choreographic mentorship program, “Shared Choreographic Practice.”
She founded the Artist Advisory Board at Danspace Project, initiated a panel series on issues in the Dance Field at Gibney, and has served as a grants panelist for various funding institutions.
Since 2022, Uchizono has been humbled by the distinction of being the first and only American-born choreographer of Asian ancestry in the history of Modern Dance, who has received cumulative national award recognition and toured an eponymous dance company across the US and internationally. She has been continuously grappling with issues of invisibility/visibility and the subsequent sense of isolation from the lack of American-born of Asian descent dance mentor(s) who share the experience of growing up with the invisibilized scars of racism.
