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MUSIC FROM THE SOLE
Performance
July 15
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MV Performing Arts Center
In Residence
July 12 - 17
Music From The Sole is a tap dance and live music company that celebrates tap’s Afro-diasporic roots, particularly its connections to Afro-Brazilian dance and music. Founded by tap dancer and percussive artist Leonardo Sandovol and bassist and composer Gregory Richardson, the company draws from forms like house dance, passinho (Brazilian Funk), samba, Afro-Cuban, and Jazz to seamlessly bring dance and music together into electric onstage performances.
Developed during the pandemic, I Didn’t Come to Stay blends tap, percussive dance and live music in a celebration reminiscent of Brazil’s Carnaval.
Commissioned by Works & Process at The Guggenheim in New York, the piece was lauded by the New York Times for its “sense of togetherness and collective joy.” In the work, Sandovol and Richardson join eight dancers and a five piece band to embrace shared roots across the diaspora and reflect on racial and cultural identity, while also celebrating the joy, strength, depth, and virtuosity of Black dance and music.
For more please visit: musicfromthesole.com
Funding Credits (For a full list of grantors and sponsors of I Didn’t Come to Stay please visit our website.)
I Didn’t Come to Stay was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. Commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim, I Didn’t Come to Stay was created with the support of a summer 2020 Works & Process bubble residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park. This culminated in preview performances that were among the first outdoor performances permitted by New York State. I Didn’t Come to Stay was featured in a Works & Process at Lincoln Center video performance and will receive a Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residency at Catskill Mountain Foundation, with additional residency support by The Yard, Jacob’s Pillow, the American Tap Dance Foundation, and Chelsea Factory.
