Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center Presents 35th Annual Showcase in Brooklyn

By Walter Rutledge

The Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center (THPAC) will present their annual choreographers showcase entitled Souls of Our Feet: People of Color Dance Festival at the Kumble Theater located on the downtown Brooklyn campus of Long Island University. The three-day event will take on Sunday June 17, Tuesday June 19 and Wednesday June 20. The Sunday June 17 opening performance is at 7pm, the June 19 and 20 performances begin at 7:30 pm.

The showcase will highlight the work of seven new, emerging and established choreographers and dance companies. The artists/companies to be presented are Germaul Barnes/Viewsic Expressions Dance, Sidra Bell Dance, DANCE IQUAIL, Danse4Nia, Francesca Harper Project, Jamal Jackson Malcolm Low, and Tony and Emmy Award winner George Faison. This varied and diverse group will offer a program ranging from dance/theatre to abstract narratives.

In Photo: Rachel Neville and Iquail Shaheed Photo Credit: Joseph “Nana” Sargent

This season marks the thirty-six year of arts presenting by THPAC. Larry Phillips founded the organization in 1976 to offer performance opportunities for underserved artists of color. The organization has provided a nurturing environment and much need visibility to many emerging and established artists and companies. Alvin Aley American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Philadanco, Ronald K. Brown and Evidence, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, George Faison, Louis Johnson, Rod Rogers, and Forces of Nature are but a few of the many artists presented by the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center.

Under the direction of Executive Director Alex Smith, Jr. the organization continues its commitment to showcase the next generation of artist and companies. THPAC also prides itself on preserving and educating the public by presenting important/ timeless masterworks by established choreographers. In additions to this series THPAC will present three more events including two PEEKS performances, which presents works in progress and a restaging of the 2010 production Ramp To Paradise. What Is, the work being presented by the Francesca Harper Project in the Souls of Our Feet series was presented as a work in progress at last year at PEEKS.

The organization accomplishes this on an ever-increasingly meager budget; literally taking the financial equivalent of three fish and five loaves and somehow each year feeds the “multitude” of dance enthusiasts. “This is the season of our discontent. It is at both the best of times and worst of times. The arts, and dance in particular find themselves under great financial strains due to scarce and dwindling funding outlets. But THPAC, which has weathered many a storm, has mined the dance community for the best of the best once again to bring to the stage and to our audiences. We just keep going!” says Alex Smith, Jr.

Tickets are now on sale of the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center’s Souls Of Our Feet. Tickets can be purchased Tickets at the Kumble Theater box office, 718-488-1624, and online at www.kumbletheater.org. Special ticket sale price of $10 before June 17.

Arts.Advocacy+Wellness: "Daniel Gwirtzman - The Lecture"

Daniel Gwirtzman

The Lecture

Dancer-Choreographer Daniel Gwirtzman emerges into the genre of performance art and solo-show performance as he approaches the premiere of a new work, The Lecture. I had the fortunate opportunity to chat with the man behind the Art and here's what he shared:

Where are you from and where do you currently reside?

In beautiful upstate New York, Rochester. Really upstate, not what New Yorkers call upstate (and it's Westchester!). Rochester, on Lake Ontario, is a mix of four distinct vibrant seasons, and Niagara

Falls/Canada is an easy one and one-half hours away. I have lived in Washington Heights, where my family is originally from, for fourteen years. I love it here. It is home.

What started you on your path in the arts?

Gosh, that is inseparable from my DNA. I was born in twenty minutes and have always needed to move and dance. I definitely was born with the dance gene. My family nurtured this. My father lived in New York straight from college and saw Lucille Ball on Broadway inWildcat and Barbra Streisand in her debut as Miss Marmelstein in I Can Get It For You Wholesale. He studied dance. My mother is an artist. I was going to see shows from the earliest age. Specifically I began with Israeli folk dancing in the elementary grades, which I performed throughout high school. I was most fortunate, growing up in [second plug for] Rochester, as I had the opportunity to study with Garth Fagan Dance, a company I joined after college and toured with. My teacher Shelly Taplin, a vital member of Garth's company, encouraged me when my desires far outweighed my technical abilities. I was twelve, and her encouragement shaped my career.

Tell us a little more about The Lecture...Why The Lecture now?

Well The Lecture is about a lecturer. And he really likes to educate and to tell jokes and to illustrate his lectures. Generally, the interest is in thinking about how familiar the world of words is, and how foreign, for most people, the province of the body. Words are easy. We are able to create images based on words. Seeing movement, dance specifically, and concert modern dance even more specifically, presents a challenge to a general audience, who is looking for meaning. What does it mean? Or, I didn't get it. We've heard these before, countless times. The Lecture seeks to bring us to a place of abstraction, to see how closely words and movement intersect, and how separate they are from each other as well. It is to heighten our senses, to process both visually and aurally. And besides, everyone needs a good lecturing every now and then!

Speak a little about your dance aesthetic and Why the incorporation of Charlie Rose?

Well, Charlie is not incorporated per se, although I wouldn't mind if he was. The quality of his work and its varied content inspires me personally, and in this case, because of the subject material, professionally. The shows, in particular this year's commissioned series about the brain, are, as I have said for years, granola for the brain...My work is a combination of my diverse and eclectic background, fusing the pedestrianism of folk with the virtuosity of the modern dance (Graham, Fagan, Cunningham, Limon, Morris). A constant thread is recognizing people on stage, not dancers, not pawns or abstractions in space. Even when the work is abstract I want to see an animation in the dancer's face and spirit. People that have charisma and are expressive. Ultimately I am interested in sharing joy through the work we produce. If you laugh for a moment, or stop thinking about all the things we carry around in our brain all day, that is great.

What is your desired outcome from presenting this work right now?

Engagement with a broader audience. In celebrating fifteen years as a NYC choreographer, the Board recognized my need as a choreographer to reward the dancer that has been with me the longest...myself! If the show is liked, it will be an easy one to tour with! Especially if the venue has its own podium!

You danced with some pretty well-known dance companies, at what some people would consider the prime of your career, and you chose to change course create work for other dancers. Why?

I have always been dancing in the Company. I am increasingly taking myself out of the work so I can focus more as a choreographer and director. In terms of my prime, I feel as though I am in it right now, this moment, a period of a few years, where the physical and the intellectual truly cross. We always mature as we age. Unlike in other fields, as a dancer, one is denied the ability to continue one's work/livelihood/craft as the understanding deepens. So I haven't really changed courses. I've just made it harder to let the performing be the sole focus. But is has always been primary. I identify most as a dancer still at this point in my career.

How long did it take you to get to the stage of creating solo-work and more specifically the latest piece, a solo for yourself?

The Lecture has been brewing for a long time. I like my tea strong (but not bitter!). I started sketching physical

material to the concepts this past winter.

What are your future hopes and aspirations as a choreographer?

To have many new opportunities and challenges over a lifelong career. I hope to bring the Company to a more visible platform. We have a lot of terrific teaching and performing programs. There are numerous aspirations to collaborate with artists across platforms.

In these trying economic times, do you struggle in keeping your company afloat?

Yes absolutely. But the thing about running a dance company is that even in flush times, it's still hard. I'm used to being resourceful. But for sure, the recession and the state of the economy has affected our earned income. Wonderfully, and fortunately, the Company has received generous support from George Soros' Open Society Foundation's Performing Arts Recovery Initiative, awarded this summer. This will hopefully open the door to other means of support.

Any advice to young artist's desiring to do what you are currently doing with your solo-work?

Discpline and focus are all that are needed. The ideas and the inspirations will come. Structure your life around your art, take care of your total health, leave time for rest, for friends, for family, while still making sacrifices to attend to your art. The ideas you think are the most personal, or awkward, or crazy, are often tapping into the juicy nugget that makes you interesting. Make the work you want to make.

Time for a little shift in the conversation. Since I like to incorporate advocacy and activism in my column...

Do you consider yourself and activist or advocate for Human Rights?

Yes although not in a formalized way. I am an advocate for my art form mostly.

What is your opinion on the recent Suicides that have affected the LGBT Communities in America?

The larger outcome of these horrors will be education. Greater visibility will ultimately fuel the fire of tolerance. That is unstoppable. We will look back on this period in the future as the past. The suicide of Tyler Clementi, and the others, will not be in vain. But the losses are painful.

Are you a Gay Man?

That's what it says on the birth certificate. Happily.

Any advice to the youth and Gay youth in the Arts?

Well, there never has been as good a time to be gay and young; the future is theirs, and ours will be in their hands in due time. Even with the spate of horrific recent events, progress is being made. There is always struggle in its pursuit.

This is FUTURE Favorite Question....Name 1 Guilty Pleasure

Midnight Cookies & Cream, by Haagen-Dazs: chocolate ice cream with Oreo cookies and ribbons of fudge. Ribbons of fudge...now if you'd like a lecture about that, the high butterfat content is responsible for...

Thanks so much Daniel and Congratulations on an awesome show Tuesday NITE!!!!

Make sure you check out Daniel's Lecture #4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huAzfSzibeU

Arts.Advocacy+Wellness: "Founder and Director of Urban Souls Dance Company - Harrison Guy"

I'm always excited and humbled by the level of talent and genius that, not only is found in the number 1 Performing Arts city in the world (NYC), but also beyond. I'm also floured by the entrepreneurial hats that young and emerging artists are wearing today. Recently, I had the opportunity of chatting with a very inspiring soul...Harrison Guy. Hailing from Houston, Texas where he currently resides, Harrison Guy is working diligently and fearlessly as the Artistic Director and Visionary Conceptualist of the Urban Souls Dance Company.

Dance Houston says: "The groundbreaking work will be remembered by everyone who had the chance to see it," and The Houston Chronicle noted: "Blending pointed dynamics and razor sharp execution. Watch out for more from this new troupe."

Off to an exceptional beginning by bringing striking, innovative, thought-provoking, and groundbreaking work to the dance community in Houston, TX and beyond, here's what Harrison Guy shared with us:



Where are you from and how did you get your start in the performing arts industry? I am from La Marque, TX. A small town near Houston. With few people and a BIG spirit. A place that believes in the village concept in relation to raising children. I started out my love for performing as a little boy. Choreographing family and community dances and singing in the church choir. There was always something special living in my spirit. I started dancing at Prairie View A & M University and then went off to The Ailey School. My Ailey experience was amazing and inspired me to return home and offer what I had learned to my community.


Tell us a little about Urban Souls Dance Company's birth and its core mission. Urban Souls was birthed from my spirit in 2004. I performed a solo at Dance Houston. A citywide dance festival under the company name. I then began teaching a free modern class every Sunday that turned into a performing company. Our mission is to tell real life stories by boldly blending technique, passion, and African American culture. Some of our well known works are about Genocide in Rwanda, The "N" word, and Scarlet situation about HIV in the black community. (We do Happy pieces too!)


As the Artistic Director of Visionary Concept for USDC, what are your duties? We are still a young company. So my duties include everything from choreographing works, to teaching class, to marketing, to mentor, to baby-sitter, to counselor, to taxi-driver, and the list goes on........


Now you're quite the entrepreneur can you share a little about producing and running a dance company? Well I have funded the company for 5 years out of my pocket. Because I believe in it so much. There have been many times where I have been literally broke and hungry, yet standing proud all dressed up selling the company. I can see it all paying off one day. Producing a show takes alot of money and alot of work. I have learned so much with each endeavor. It's the growth that fuels me.


Are you currently performing with the company? I danced more in the early days because I could not find any men. Now I have 6 male dancers and I am able to chose when I perform. I am the type of leader that believes I am only at my best when I am serving. So it's not about me! (anymore) ;-)

Now tell us a little more about the He (Art) and Soul Events and USDC's connection to it? He (Art) and Soul is a poetry/live music/dance event that's held once a month at a local club. It's growing every month and I am delighted to be a part of it. I recently set a work to one of the poet's piece called "killing the devil" and it is a MUST SEE!


What's next for Urban Souls Dance Company? We are in the process of recruiting our Board of Directors. These dances are for the people and it's time that it is funded by the people. Regional touring is also on the agenda.


Specifically speaking about Harrison Guy. What inspires you on a daily basis? And what is your Vision, for your life, in the next 5 years? Everything inspires me. I was watching TV and saw the revealing of Sojourner Truth's Bust in the White House. And I immediately started researching and created a work called "Truth Be Told" about the audacity of Sojourner Truth" She had guts and I was honored to tell her story through dance. So daily I am inspired by people and life. I love a good story. My vision is to be full time with the dance company. I want to be able to focus all of my energy and attention on Urban Souls.


This a Future favorite question...name one guilty pleasure ...ahhhhhhh, what's appropriate to list? LOL. I would say I am absolutely obsessed with Drag shows.



For more information please visit Harrison Guy at:
www.UrbanSoulsDanceCompany.com