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| FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
PRESS
CONTACT: SANDRA ORGAN
(713) 522-7632 |
SANDRA
ORGAN DANCE COMPANY
PRESENTS
SIXTH
ANNUAL BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROGRAM
“POETRY IN MOTION”
AT THE HOBBY CENTER FOR
THE PERFORMING ARTS
Sandra Organ Dance
Company's 6th Annual Black History Month Concert
will feature "Poetry in Motion" a dance concert inspired by the
voices of our age. SODC dancers and choreographer Sandra Organ will use the form
and vocabulary of poetry to imbue the creative dance-making
process. The Company will work with diverse selections from poets Maya
Angelou to Langston Hughes, Pablo Neruda to Robert Frost. SODC will collaborate
with Writers in the Schools to conduct poetry/choreography
workshops with students, incorporating some of
their work as narratives on the dance program. Music will range from
classical to contemporary as background to the literary gems captured in dance.
Also presented will be guest choreographer Steve Rooks new creation, “Mini
Jean’s Song” a narrative work based on an untold story of one black student
among those known as the Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School.
Sandra
Organ, formerly a soloist with Houston Ballet and its first African-American
ballerina, founded SODC in 1998 with the mission of promoting contemporary
dance, educating the public, and attracting diverse audiences.
SODC’s annual Black History Month program continues this mission by
introducing audiences of all ages and cultures to the prominent contributions of
African Americans to American culture in conjunction with the unique style of
contemporary ballet. Each year, SODC
has offered matinee programs to over 1000 HISD school children free of charge,
totaling in its six years over 8500 students who experienced their first concert
dance experience in a theatrical setting.
######
Mr.
Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) originally established Black History Month as
“Negro History Week” in 1926. Mr.
Woodson, born to parents who had been slaves and who could not read or write,
became a high school teacher. Saddened
by the lack of documentation of the history of black Americans, Mr. Woodson was
inspired to start the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.
Sandra
Organ Dance Company is funded in part by grants from the Texas Commission for
the Arts Decentralization Program, the City of
Houston
, through the
Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County and as a participant in CACHH’s
MODE Arts Business Incubator Program. This performance is underwritten in part
by the Houston Endowment, Mithoff Family Foundation, Scurlock Foundation, Conoco
Phillips, Exxon Mobil Foundation, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.
For
more information on the Sandra Organ Dance Company, call (713) 522-7632 or visit
www.organdance.org . To purchase
tickets for Sandra Organ Dance Company’s sixth annual Black History Month
program, call (713) 315-2525 or purchase online at www.uniquelyhouston.org.
Ticket prices are $25 for Orchestra, $20 for Mezzanine, and $15 for
students/seniors/groups of ten or more.
###
WHO:
Sandra Organ Dance Company (SODC)
WHAT:
“Poetry in Motion” SODC’s Sixth Annual Black History Month Dance
Concert
WHERE:
Zilkha
Hall,
Hobby
Center
for the Performing
Arts,
800 Bagby St
.
WHEN:
Thursday, Feb. 26, and
Friday, Feb. 27,
2004
at
7:30pm
.
TICKETS:
Can be purchased
tickets by calling (713) 315-2525 or online at www.uniquelyhouston.org.
Ticket prices: $25 for Orchestra, $20 for Mezzanine, and $15 for
students/seniors/groups of ten or more.
#####
Information
about the many educational outreach aspects to “Poetry in Motion”
programming is also posted on our website for educators, students and the
interested public.
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