CENTER FOR THE ARTS CO-COMMISSIONS SW!NG OUT AND HOSTS WEEKLONG RESIDENCY

AJ Howard and LaTasha Barnes, company members of SW!NG OUT

Still tapping our toes, the Center for the Arts was proud to cocommission the work of SW!NG OUT as part of the 2021/2022 season and the Mason Artist-in-Residence program. A full-length multidisciplinary work showcasing the Lindy Hop, a swing dance style born in 1930s Harlem that has since exploded into a vibrant, international community, SW!NG OUT featured an extensive residency at Mason and out in the community in March 2021.

Created and directed by critically acclaimed dancer/ choreographer/director Caleb Teicher, SW!NG OUT included live music by the Eyal Vilner Big Band, and featured an ensemble of spectacular Lindy Hop champions, including LaTasha Barnes, a native of Richmond, Virginia, who participated in many of the residency events. Named a 2021 “Break Out Star” by The New York Times, Barnes also received a 2021 Bessie Award for “Outstanding Performer: Sustained Achievement,” was featured on NPR’s Rough Translation and the TODAY Show.

As a Mason Artist-in-Residence, SW!NG OUT company members engaged extensively across the community. On March 15, members of the company joined New Columbia Swing at the Josephine Butler Parks Center in Washington, D.C. for an evening of live music and energetic dance. During the day on March 16, 2022, they

led an in-person dance lesson with students at Hunters Woods Elementary School. That evening Teicher participated in an Artistsin-Conversation event for the Friends of the Center for the Arts, diving into discussion surrounding the making of SW!NG OUT and Mason’s Artist-in-Residence program. The following evening, SW!NG OUT and the Hylton Performing Arts Center’s Veterans and the Arts Initiative teamed up for a digital experience with local Veterans interested in learning about swing.

After the wonderful series of community activities, SW!NG OUT concluded its time at George Mason University with its highly anticipated performance of the co-commission at the Center for the Arts. A highlight of the evening was the program's jubilant conclusion that invited audience members to get up and join in the fun! Many attendees joined onstage and others in the aisles, dancing alongside the company with friends and family, creating one spectacular jam session. SW!NG OUT will be remembered for years to come for its deep community engagement and exuberant development of new work.

Audience members were invited to join the SW!NG OUT dancers and musicians onstage and throughout the Concert Hall for a dance jam

SW!NG OUT was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and was commissioned and created, in part, with the support of The Joyce Theater’s Artist Residency Center, made possible by lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; Works & Process at the Guggenheim; the Center for the Arts at George Mason University, Northrop at The University of Minnesota; and additional commissioning funds provided by The O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation.