Every day on Art&Seek, we’re talking to people who have tips for virtual art experiences.  Share yours with us on Facebook, Instagram, or @artandseek on Twitter. Click above to listen to Melissa Young, artistic director for the Dallas Black Dance Theatre share her tip with KERA’s Nilufer Arsala. 

On Saturday, June 26, Dallas Black Dance Theatre will present their second virtual installment of  Legacy Performance Series and Dance Maker’s Discussion.

The company will highlight the work Face,What’s Facing You! by choreographer and DBDT dancer Claude Alexander III. According to DBDT’s press material it is “an honest, soul-stirring work on facing life’s challenges.”

The evening begins with a pre-show conversation with the choreographer, followed by the pre–recorded 2018 World Premiere performance, and ends with a talk back with the entire dance company. Melissa Young, artistic director for DBDT, will moderate the event.

Spring Celebration, 2018. “Face What’s Facing You!” Photo by Anne Marie Bloodgood.

Alexander will share a little bit about his background and then talk about the catalyst for the creation of the work. Young, says she recalls when Alexander first began working on the piece.

“He asked the dancers, “What keeps you up at night? When you wake up first thing in the morning, what is that one thing that you just can’t shake off your mind?”

Young says the piece challenges you to discover what issues you are dealing with in life. How do these issues affect you? Where is the root of the hurt coming from and how do you get through it?

“As the last several weeks have gone by, I thought about this work and I said, wow, this would be a great work to tackle from a deeper point of view based on, you know, our social climate.”

Got a tip? Email Gila Espinoza at gespinoza@kera.org. You can follow her on Twitter @espinoza_kera.

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