Baltimore Dance Project
In two performances on February 10 and 11, Baltimore Dance Project presents three premieres by company choreographers and two works by guest soloists Sarah J. Ewing and Ryan Bailey.
Shaness D. Kemp’s Spirit of Our Bones, a work in progress, is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and references the protests that ensued as a result of George Floyd’s death while simultaneously sharing the pain of black mothers who have lost their children to police brutality. Originally choreographed in 2020 but unable to be performed before a live audience, this is its formal premiere. Boundless, also choreographed by Kemp for UMBC’s Dance Repertory Group, requires dancers to trust themselves and move beyond what they perceive as their limits. Sandra Lacy’s new solo, Dream Prayer Observatory: Shifted and Shaped, is the embodiment of her reflection on both Linda Dusman’s music composition Dream Prayer Lullaby and Dan Bailey’s video Dream Prayer Observatory, made in response to Dusman’s music.
Guest artist Ryan Bailey performs an upbeat “feel good” solo, Umph To It, with steps inspired by the 1983 music video choreographed by Arlene Phillips.
Guest artist Sarah J. Ewing’s solo, SALT, is part of a larger work called KIN, a multi-media, site-specific project which will premiere at The Performance Arcade in Wellington, New Zealand, in February 2023 with support from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through their USArtists International grant program. SALT will also be presented in March 2023, at Theatre Douze, Paris, France, in Carte Blanche, an evening of work curated by Paris-based American choreographer Liz Gahl.
