Celebrating 37 Years of Dance Month at the Kaplan Theatre
For Immediate Release
November 15, 2016
Contact Maxine Silberstein |713-729-3200
Houston, TX – Evelyn Rubenstein JCC of Houston presents Dance Month at the Kaplan Theatre January 13 – February 12, 2017. Dance Month is observing its thirty-seventh season and continues to celebrate and spotlight prominent choreographers, master teachers, companies and dancers.
Arts in the Afternoon
Towards the Gypsy Roads (Hacia los Caminos Gitanos)
Friday, January 13 – 1:00 p.m.
$8 Member/$12 Public
Flamenco was born in South of Spain in a region called Andalucia where for decades Indians, Arabs, Sephardic Jews, Christians and Romany Gypsies lived freely. Join us for a taste of an educational journey towards the evolution of Flamenco and the influence of the Jewish culture with its own traditions, rites, and music. The show includes poetry in Ladino, Sephardic dance, Flamenco Paterneras and other Flamenco styles accompanied by canto hondo (deep singing) and Spanish guitar. Towards the Gypsy Roads was conceived by Marisol Monasterio, honored by the Houston Press as one of the 100 Creatives in 2012 for her unusual voice and emotional performance.
Israeli Contemporary Performance Art with Amy Morrow & Idan Sharabi
Saturday, January 14
12:00 – 3:00 p.m. Gaga/dancer class with Amy Morrow and Idan Sharabi Master Class
3:30 – 4:30 p.m. Informal showing by Amy Morrow and Idan Sharabi
$20 Member/$30 Public includes class and informal showing.
Join Amy Morrow, teacher, choreographer, and consultant in Austin under AM Arts and award-winning Idan Sharabi from Tel Aviv, Israel, choreographer, teacher, and former Batsheva dancer, in an afternoon of Gaga and repertory. Certified directly under Ohad Naharin in Gaga, Morrow will lead a Gaga warm-up class followed by Sharabi who will expose dancers to his movement language giving them improvisational tools for their own creative research. In the informal showing, both Idan and Amy demonstrate their choreographic processes and artistic voices.
Film: Mr. Gaga
Directed by Tomer Heymann
Israel, Sweden, Germany, Holland | English, Hebrew | 2015, 100 min
Followed by Gaga/people master class
Sunday, January 15 – 2:00 p.m.
$10 Member/ $15 Public/ $8 Student & Senior member/ $13 Senior public
Director Tomer Heymann in Attendance
Mr. Gaga is an award-winning documentary film by celebrated director Tomer Heymann (Paper Dolls). Eight years in the making it was the first time filmmakers were allowed in the studio to tell the story of Ohad Naharin, renowned choreographer and artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company – artistic genius who redefined the language of modern dance.
“A wonderful film, well made, fascinating and creating a rare aesthetic experience that teaches us about dance and passion” – Saloona.
Ariel Rivka Dance Family Event
The Book of Esther: The Journey of Queen Vasti and Queen Esther
Jewish Federation of Greater Houston event for PJ Library Families and Public
Sunday, January 22 – 10:00 a.m.
FREE Family Program/Recommended for ages 3 – 5
See the stories of Vashti and Esther come to life in an interactive, educational, family-friendly performance. A condensed, 25-minute dance performance is sure to delight audience members of all ages. Before the performance, audiences enjoy a workshop with Artistic Director Ariel Grossman and Composer David Homan.
Ariel Rivka Dance
Sunday, January 22 – 3:00 p.m.
$20 Member/$30 Public/$15 Student/$16 Senior Member/$24 Senior Public
Ariel Rivka Dance (ARD) shares an afternoon of its repertoire. The work explores emotionally driven movement with underlying currents of technique and structure. In this all-female contemporary dance company, each of the eight women brings a particular perspective and interpretation of the choreography resulting in a stunning collaboration. Collaboration and accessibility are the heart of ARD, and we produce shows that incorporate various styles of dance and original music by composer David Homan, exposing our audiences to quality artistry in an inviting way.
Houston Choreographers X6 with Special Guest Houston Ballet II
Saturday, January 28 – 8:00 p.m. concert
$20 Member/$30 Public/$15 Student/$16 Senior Member/$24 Senior Public
Houston Choreographers X6 presents a memorable evening of dance featuring six dynamic independent local choreographers: Jacquelyne Boe, Roberta Cortes and Lindsey McGill, Rebecca French, Dorrell Martin, Stacy Skolnik and Kathy Wood. Each artist has been commissioned to premiere a piece for the concert. Houston Ballet II makes a guest appearance performing Allegro Brittante choreography by George Balanchine who called Allegro Brittante “everything I know about classical ballet in thirteen minutes.” This ballet is set to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3, a work that the composer created from sketches for a composition that was intended to be his Sixth Symphony, but which instead served as a single movement which was published posthumously in 1894.
Excerpts from Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards’ And Still You Must Swing & Jason Samuels Smith’s Going the Miles
Saturday, February 11 – 8:00 p.m.
$25 Member/$35 Public/$15 Student/$21 Senior Member/$25 Senior Public
Join us for a Dance Month closing night celebration following the concert!
Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Derick K. Grant, and Jason Samuels Smith are three of the world’s most influential ambassadors of tap. They will be joined by drummer and arranger, Allison Miller, as they come together in excerpts of Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards’ And Still You Must Swing, a show that captures the heart and legacy of tap dance and honors the influence of jazz roots on this outstanding art form. Jason Samuels Smith’s Going the Miles, takes a step further than simply tributing Mr. Miles Davis, one of the world’s greatest American jazz artists. Additional performance by Texas’ own leading tap dancer Tony Merriwether.
Tap Master Classes with Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Derick K. Grant, and Jason Samuels Smith
Jason Samuels Smith
Thursday, February 9, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. | $15 Advanced Beginner Level
Thursday, February 9, 8:15 p.m. – 9:15 p.m. | $15 Intermediate/Advanced Level
Sunday, February 12, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. | $15 Intermediate/Advanced Level 12+ years
Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards
Sunday, February 12, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | $15 Technique Class 12+ years
Derick K. Grant
Sunday, February 12, 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. | $15 Intermediate Level 12+ years
Jason Samuels Smith (Choreography/Improvography/Performer) is the recipient of an Emmy and numerous dance awards. Credits include: Black Nativity, the hit series Psych, Secret Talents of the Stars (MYA), So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with The Stars, UPAJ:Improvise, Tap Heat, Outkast’s Idlewild, and Debbie Allen’s Cool Women, Soul Possessed, Bring in Da’Noise, Bring in Da’Funk and Imagine Tap!. Smith is also the director of the annual LA Tap Festival.
Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards (Choreogragraphy/Improvography/Performer) is a two-time winner of the New York Dance and Performance Award for Bessie. Credits include: After Midnight, Black and Blue, and Bring In Da’Noise, Bring In Da’Funk, TAP with Gregory Hines, Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and The Rise and Fall of Miss Thang, for which she received a nomination for Best Lead Actress.
Derick K. Grant (Choreography/Improvography/Performer) is the recipient of numberous awards including the Princess Grace Award and a Helen Hayes Award. Credits include: Bring In Da’Noise, Bring in Da’Funk, Imagine Tap! and The Apollo’s Get On The Good Foot. Grant was also the Co-Artistic Director of Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm World Summer Festival.
PILOBOLUS Master Class
Thursday, January 19 – 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.
$15 | Intermediate/Advanced Level 12+ years (Appropriate dance attire is required)
In addition to presenting performances by renowned companies, Dance Month at the Kaplan Theatre, in partnership with the Society for the Performing Arts, present 2016-2017 SPA at the J Master Class Series with Pilobolus.
Pilobolus, founded in 1971 by a group of Dartmouth college students, is an internationally acclaimed collective, renowned for its unique, diverse collaborations that ignore preconceived barriers between creative disciplines. The company is committed to constantly creating collaboratively, and always exploring ways of using the human body as a graphic and expressive medium. To reserve a spot email education@spahouston.org.
All dance performances and classes take place in the Kaplan Theatre, I W Marks Theatre Center, The Gerald Rauch Cultural and Performing Arts Wing at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC of Houston. Purchase tickets at www.erjcchouston.org/dancemonth. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.
Photo Caption: Ariel Rivka Dance is an all-female contemporary dance company from NY led by husband and wife team Ariel Grossman and David Homan. Photo by David Gonsier.
Dance Month at the Kaplan Theatre is funded in part by the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Patron for the Arts, a grant from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Endowment and RBC Wealth Management. Marriot Houston Westchase is the official hotel for Dance Month.
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