Calvin Royal III (American Ballet Theatre), photo by Howard Heyman
Black
Excellence
Travel back in time through an artistic revolution as The Black Iris Project presents BLACK EXCELLENCE. This visual guide of artistic explosion will take you on a journey through the Harlem Renaissance where social and cultural movements were expressed through the likings of artists such as Langston Hughes, Arthur Mitchell, Augusta Savage, Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillespie, and many others who have shaped the society we see today. Choreographed and directed by Jeremy McQueen, written by Savon Bartley with costumes by Mondo Morales. Commissioned by ConEdison and New York City's Town Hall, BLACK EXCELLENCE premiered on February 6, 2017.
George Saunders (formerly of Ballet Memphis) & Christina Spigner (Miami City Ballet), photo by Matthew Murphy
Brown Baby
BROWN BABY is a collaborative thirty minute work for thirteen dancers created by choreographers Jeremy McQueen and Lauren Cox, and composed by accomplished jazz pianist Aaron Diehl for an six-piece musical ensemble that evokes the golden age of American jazz. The story begins in Munich, Germany, post-World War II at a time when jazz music was banned, and continues to post segregated Flint, Michigan during the late 1950s. The title of the piece refers to the term used to name children born to Black soldiers and white European women during and after World War II. BROWN BABY is inspired by the true story of Beatrice Reynolds, the daughter of the controversial interracial relationship, who went on to be one of the country's first Black mainstream fashion models. The ballet traces her unique journey as a young biracial woman struggling to embrace her identity.
Leonard Pérez (College Dance Collective) & Acée Francis Laird (Brooklyn Ballet), photo by Amitava Sarkar
what lies
within
A 2012 (pre-Black Iris Project) ballet created by BIP founder Jeremy McQueen, WHAT LIES WITHIN shines light on one young male's journey of self-acceptance and the challenge of silencing ones own fears and insecurities. Those fears and insecurities; intimacy, love, trust, disease, shame and success, each represented onstage by a different male dancer, haunt the young male and hinder him from moving forward in his life until he gains the strength to truly confront each one. WHAT LIES WITHIN features a cast of 8 dancers. Inspired by McQueen’s experiences 'growing up gay' as well as a battle with depression following a break-up, he channeled his confusion and frustration into the development of WHAT LIES WITHIN. WHAT LIES WITHIN premiered on November 26, 2013 in New York, NY as part of The Riverside Theatre’s annual NuDance Festival. WHAT LIES WITHIN is performed to a score by classically based electronic composers Olafur Arnards and FINK. An excerpted version of WHAT LIES WITHIN officially joined the BIP repertory in 2019 and was performed at the Jamaica Dance Festival, Out Like That! festival at Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance and BIP’s Miller Outdoor Theatre engagement in Houston, Texas.
Jessica Pinkett (Alvin Ailey), photo by Julia Youngblood
PANTHER
POWER
Created in 2018 specifically for ArtsReach’s Dance Out Loud program at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, Panther Power is a brief trio inspired by the influental Black Panther Party and set to Jóhann Jóhannsson’s “The Rocket Builder (Io Pan!)”. The Kentucky Center’s ArtsReach nurtures and develops diverse artists and audiences, engages youth, creates community through the arts and through professional development empowers community centers to program the arts. The second annual Dance Out Loud event was a free performance which featured ballet, contemporary, hip hop, African and lyrical dance performances by dancers ranging from preschoolers to professionals, including The Black Iris Project.