Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center – Dancing On Silver
The Souls of Our Feet: People of Color Dance Festival 2001
Saturday June 23 & Sunday 24 2001
The Edward Morgan Ballet – “STRAYHORN SUITE”
Choreography: Edward Morgan Music: Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington
Smada – Joseph Alexander, Emily Burch, Marissa Dompe and Benjamin Lester
Lush Life (Interlude)
Day Dream – Joseph Alexander
A Flower is a Lovesome Thing – Emily Burch
• Just a Settin’ and a Rockin’ – Joseph Alexander
Your Love Has Faded – Marissa Dompe
Take the A Train (pas de deux) – Joseph Alexander and Emily Burch
Take the A Train (finale)
Ensemble This ballet is dedicated to the legendary jazz artist Billy Strayhorn, sole composer of Take the A Train and a lifetime collaborator with Duke Ellington as composer, arranger, lyricist and pianist. However, he spent his career in Ellington’s shadow, due in large part to the fact that he was an openly gay man. To Billy Strayhorn, a brave gay artist who, under terrific societal pressures, created treasures for our American jazz heritage. Thank you to Herb Jordan, Esq. of the Billy Strayhorn Estate for making the use of Strayhorn’s music possible. Thank you to David Haidu, author of Lush Life: A Blography of Billy Strayhorn, for his advice and inspiration.
The Edward Morgan Ballet is a classical ballet company with a repertoire of diverse original ballets. ranging in style from classical to jazz. Edward Morgan formed the company in 1997, and in 1998 it debuted in New York to critical and popular acclaim. Morgan’s works are the company’s foundation. Morgan danced with the Joffrey Ballet for a decade and was artistic director of the Joffrey Il Dancers, for which Scott was producing director. He also was choreographer for the successful dance program Club MTV, where he first met Scott, who develops concepts, set design, costumes and lighting for the company’s productions. Together, they share a passion for uplifting audiences with inspirational performances.
ABOUT THE CURATOR Marshall Swiney, a native of Newport News, Virginia, is artistic director of Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center. He came to THPAC as a choreographer whose work had been presented at many venues in New York since the mid-1980s. In 1992, Marlies Yearby invited him to contribute to the Toenails of Steel & Asphalt Poetry series. His first contribution was entitled Denial: Wooden Nickels and Bad Luck, Baby! and caught the attention of the late Melvin Davis, THPAC’s executive director at the time, who asked Swiney to collaborate on THPAC performance and community outreach programs for the 1993- 94 and ’94-95 seasons. Swiney succeed Davis after his death, becoming artistic and executive direc tor of THPAC. He feels with great conviction the importance and vitality of Thelma Hill’s mission. He notes. “THPAC serves as a forum where artistic talent can map out new territories in dance and perfor. mance art. In that role, it can help foster community cohesion, across divisions of age, class, gender and ethnicity.
