Nov 15 + 16, 2024 • 7:30 pm
Running time: 110 minutes (including intermission)
The Royal Theatre is located on the traditional lands of the Lekwungen peoples, also known as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. We extend our appreciation for the opportunity to live, create, and perform on this territory.
Please, no video or audio recording of any kind. No photographs.
Choreographer: Kyle Abraham in collaboration with A.I.M
Lighting Design: Dan Scully
Costume Design: Reid & Harriet
Performers:
Friday, Nov. 15: Jamaal Bowman, Donovan Reed
Saturday, Nov. 16: Amari Frazier*, Mykiah Goree
MotorRover was created in part during a “bubble” residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park and LUMBERYARD, made possible by the Mellon Foundation.
MotorRover was commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts Center through its 2021 Commissioning Initiative. This initiative was made possible with generous support from Anonymous, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Howard Gilman Foundation, Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Kaye Foundation, and Jerome Robbins Foundation.
MotorRover was choreographed in response to an excerpt from Merce Cunningham’s 1972 dance Landrover, and first shown digitally as part of “In Conversation with Merce,” an online program co-produced by Baryshnikov Arts Center and the Merce Cunningham Trust.
Additional support for MotorRover generously provided by Michéle and Steve Pesner, and Peace. Touring support for MotorRover provided by the Ed Bradley Family Foundation. - Pause -
Choreographer: Paul Singh
Music: just (after song of songs) composed by David Lang from the album The Little Match Girl Passion performed by Trio Mediaeval with arrangement by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., o/b/o G. Ricordi & Co. Bühnen-und Musikverlag GmbH.
Publisher: Red Poppy, Ltd. (ASCAP)/Universal Music Publishing Group Label: Cantaloupe Music, LLC
Costume Design: Karen Young
Lighting Design: Dan Scully
Performer:
Friday, Nov. 15: Amari Frazier*
Saturday, Nov. 16: Keturah Stephen
If We Were a Love Song (2021)
Choreographer: Kyle Abraham in collaboration with A.I.M
Music: Nina Simone
Lighting Design: Dan Scully
Costume Design: Kyle Abraham and Karen Young
Performers:
Friday, Nov. 15:
Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair – Mykiah Goree, Faith Joy Mondesire, Donovan Reed, Will Okajima, Keturah
Stephen, Gianna Theodore, Olivia Wang
Keeper of the Flame – Keturah Stephen
Little Girl Blue – Gianna Theodore
Don’t Explain – Mykiah Goree, Donovan Reed
Wild is the Wind – Will Okajima Images – Faith Joy Mondesire
Saturday, Nov. 16:
Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair – Mykiah Goree, Faith Joy Mondesire, Donovan Reed, Will Okajima, Keturah
Stephen, Gianna Theodore, Olivia Wang
Keeper of the Flame – Jamaal Bowman
Little Girl Blue – Gianna Theodore
Don’t Explain – Mykiah Goree, Donovan Reed
Wild is the Wind – Will Okajima Images – Faith Joy Mondesire
If We Were a Love Song was made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts.
If We Were a Love Song was created in part through a residency at the Pillow Lab at Jacob’s Pillow; and during a “bubble” residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park and LUMBERYARD, made possible by the Mellon Foundation.
If We Were a Love Song is commissioned by ADF with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works.
Touring support for If We Were a Love Song provided by the Ed Bradley Family Foundation
(2024)
Choreography: Andrea Miller in collaboration with A.I.M
Music: Fred Despierre
Lighting Design: Dan Scully
Costume Design: Orly Anan Studio
Scenic Design: Andrea Miller in collaboration with Dan Scully
Performers: Jamaal Bowman, Amari Frazier, Mykiah Goree, Faith Mondesire, Donovan Reed, Keturah Stephen, Gianna Theodore, Olivia Wang
Support for YEAR provided by Michéle and Steve Pesner, and Peace.
Premiere of YEAR at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, in Urbana, Illinois on April 12, 2024
Artistic Director: Kyle Abraham** (he/him)
Executive Director: Sydnie Liggett-Dennis (she/her)
Producing Director: Vernon Scott (he/him)
General Manager: Anne Dechêne (she/her)
Rehearsal Director: Jessica Tong (she/her)
Company Touring Manager: Bridget Caston (she/her)
Production Stage Manager: Meredith Belis (she/her)
Lighting Supervisor: Dan Stearns (he/him)
A.I.M Board of Directors
Kyle Abraham
Stephen Simcock, chair
Cheryl Bergenfeld
Adrienne Edwards
Suzanne Hall
Mark A. Leavitt
Glenn Ligon
Jennifer Mendelson
Bebe Neuwirth
Carrie Schneider
Gilda Squire
Julia Strickland
Mickalene Thomas
*Princess Grace Award Recipient /
**Princess Grace Statue Award
Read the dancers’ full biographies by scanning this QR code with your smartphone’s camera
Producing Director: Vernon Scott (he/him)
General Manager: Anne Dechêne (she/her)
Rehearsal Director: Jessica Tong (she/her)
Artistic Engagement Manager: Matthew Baker (he/him)
Company Manager: Amber Lee Parker (she/her)
Production Stage Manager: Meredith Belis (she/her)
Lighting Supervisor: Dan Stearns (he/him)
Development
Interim Director of Development: Izzi Wayner (she/her)
Development Associate: Danielle LeBron (she/her)
Marketing Manager: Alexander Diaz (he/they)
Marketing Associate: Catherine Kirk (she/her)
Press Agent: Chris Constable (he/him)
Finance
Financial Services: Lucy Mallett (she/her) and Julia Corrigan (she/her), Arts FMS
For more information, to get involved, or purchase your A.I.M merchandise, please visit http://aimbykyleabraham.org
A.I.M on Instagram: @aimbykyleabraham
Kyle Abraham on Instagram: @kyle_abraham_original_recipe
KYLE ABRAHAM (Founder and Artistic Director, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham; he/him/his) has premiered his work to international audiences and acclaim since 2006. Abraham has been profiled in Document Journal, Vanity Fair, Ebony, Harper’s Bazaar, Kinfolk, O Magazine, Paper, Surface, Vogue & Vogue UK, W Magazine, among many other publications. He is the proud recipient of a National Dance Critics Award for Choreography (2024 – Are You in Your Feelings / Alvin Ailey Dance Theater), Dance Magazine Award (2022), Princess Grace Statue Award (2018), Doris Duke Award (2016), and MacArthur Fellowship (2013). In addition to performing and developing new works for his company, Abraham has been commissioned by a wide variety of dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The National Ballet of Cuba, New York City Ballet, Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, and The Royal Ballet. Along with Abraham’s latest world premiere of Cassette Vol. 1 in Hamburg,
Germany, Abraham will also be premiering Dear God, Make Me Beautiful at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City this coming December.
Abraham has led and curated several performance series including the Danspace Project (2024 / 50th anniversary season) and Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City (2023, 2022), among others. In 2020, Abraham was the first ever guest editor for Dance Magazine
He serves as the Claude and Alfred Mann Endowed Professor in Dance at The University of Southern California (USC) Glorya Kaufman School of Dance (2021–present). Abraham sits on the advisory board for Dance Magazine and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the inaugural Black Genius Brain Trust, and the inaugural cohort of the Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab, a partnership between the Prada Group, Theaster Gates Studio, Dorchester Industries, and Rebuild Foundation.
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Maureen Vincent maureenvincent68@gmail.com 250-656-0131
John Melvin john@johnmelvinproperties.ca 250-477-7291
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Terry Moore tlmoore@shaw.ca 250-477-7291
Dorothee Friese Unlicensed Assistant dorothee@shaw.ca 250-477-7291
Board of Directors
President: Colette Baty
Vice President: Brendan Ralfs
Treasurer: Sarah Millard
Secretary: Marlon Murr
Directors:
Kemi Craig Linley Faulkner
Sarah Millard
Philip Pierce
Carrie Smart
Emily Zeng
Dance Victoria is supported by:
Staff
Executive Director: Gillian Jones
General Manager: Dayna Szyndrowski
Development & Operations Manager: Shireen McNeilage
Marketing Manager: Anne-Sophie Cournoyer
Production Manager: Holly Vivian
Community Engagement Manager: Larissa Sharma
Artist Programs & Studio Manager: Kiera Shaw
Graphic Design: Rayola Creative
Advertising Sales: Bonnie Light Advertising
Dance Victoria Studios 111 – 2750 Quadra St. Victoria, BC V8T 4E8 P: 250-595-1829 F: 250-590-7209
info@dancevictoria.com
Dance Victoria wishes to thank its many donors and volunteers.
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