Lindsay Gary Presents Eleggua in Barnstorm Dance Fest

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Lindsay Gary
lindsayg2012@gmail.com
832-736-2234

Lindsay Gary Presents Eleggua in Barnstorm Dance Fest
June 15th and 22nd at 8 p.m.
$20 presale | $25 at the door
M.A.T.C.H.
For more information, visit dancesourcehouston.org

Emerging choreographer and Dance Source Houston Artist in Residence (AIR) Lindsay Gary will present her new work Eleggua during the 2018 Barnstorm Dance Fest on June 15 and 22 at Midtown Arts and Theatre Center Houston (M.A.T.C.H.). Gary’s Eleggua will appear on Program B of the festival lineup alongside fellow AIRs Shanon Adame, Lisa Harris, Ashley Horn, Abijan Johnson and Kate Rash.

“Eleggua” is an extension of a solo work performed at the 2017 AfroLatin Festival. In Ifa, the spirituality of the Yoruba people of West Africa (Benin and Nigeria), Eleggua is the most important orisha (saint). Eleggua opens and closes the pathways to access the other Orishas and God. He is represented in the form of both a boy and an old man and because of this, he’s often seen as a trickster. This piece explores the evolution and “memory of difference”* of ancient Yoruba culture, spirituality, movement, and music on the African continent into Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, and contemporary West African culture, spirituality, movement, and music. These factors are explored and expressed through the characteristics of Eleggua and various ways of honoring him traditionally and contemporarily. In essence, dancing Eleggua is acting as the spiritual and historical gateway between the past and present, ancestors and descents, and the African Diaspora. *Katherine Dunham’s theory of memory of difference is the idea that people of west African descent throughout the African Diaspora remember the movement and rhythms of their ancestors slightly differently, but they are still very connected.

The piece incorporates live drumming as well as traditional orisha worship songs from Benin/Nigeria, Cuba, and Brazil in addition to contemporary fusions of the music from the same countries. There are “moments of silence” wherein there is no music at all except the sounds of breaths and movement. The movement reflects that of the theme so it is highly polyrhythmic and incorporates modern/contemporary dance as well as traditional and contemporary dances of Africa and the Diaspora including traditional Yoruba and Guinea dances, Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian dance, as well as Afrobeats. It also incorporates the spoken word, painting, and technology. There is an overall theme of exploring the connection between Africa and the Diaspora including questions about why and how this happened and how those affected overcame (past) and can overcome (present) the challenges. It shows both internal and external conflict as a result of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade, which was the mode of transportation for the African Diaspora.

“I want the audience to understand the impact of the slave trade–how it impacted individuals and communities and the entire world. There is a purpose we are here in the Diaspora and not Africa. This piece explores that and challenges us to think about what that divine purpose is.”

Tickets are $20 if purchased online, or $25 at the door. They can be purchased in advance at matchouston.org or at M.A.T.C.H.), 3400 Main, Houston, Texas 77002. For more information about Eleggua call 832-736-2234.

 

Lindsay Gary:

Interdisciplinary dance “artivist” Lindsay Gary, M.P.A., M.A. graduated from the University of Houston with a B.A. in History and minors in Dance and Business Administration. Outside of the Ballet and Modern dance program at UH, she trained in Horton with Houston’s Urban Souls’ Second Company in the 2012-2013 Season. She continued her training in the traditional and contemporary movement of the Caribbean, Brazil, and Africa with various companies between 2014 and 2016. Complementing her work on the stage, Lindsay is a passionate dance educator, wherein she highlights the African Diaspora through the cultural, artistic, and historical study of dance. Lindsay is a performing member of Pretty Cultured—an artistic collaboration of three professional dancers using art to speak on social and cultural topics. In addition to this, Lindsay devotes herself to her very own dance company, Dance Afrikana, which connects the worlds of traditional and contemporary African and Diaspora dance.  

Dance Source Houston:

The mission of Dance Source Houston is to nurture and support contemporary dance artists, the organizations that present them, and to identify and build audiences for contemporary dance in the greater Houston area.

 

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