Home | About Us | Events| Support AADE | Contact Us | News

 

Chuck Davis & the African American Dance Ensemble will tour a major new work to begin the 2008 performance season. Davis’ ballet “BlueGrass / BrownEarth: From Africa to Bluegrass” is recognized as a significant accomplishment in Davis’s extraordinary career. The ballet features original choreography by Davis fused with a highly energetic blend of African dance, rhythms, traditional banjo, and bluegrass music. The performance, rooted in the history of African culture, embraces American traditions to tell the story of Africa’s contribution to Bluegrass music - the iconic banjo. “It is an unanticipated surprise” says Davis. Davis’ concept for the ballet is inspired by the Akonting, the West African string instrument that gave birth to the banjo. Providing the music for this extraordinary creation is the Carolina Chocolate Drops--an African-American traditional string band; and The Shady Grove Band of Chapel Hill.

Davis and his 10- member, North Carolina based ensemble of dancers and musicians, will kick off its 24 th professional dance season in August, 2007 when “BlueGrass / BrownEarth: From Africa to Bluegrass” will be presented in concert at colleges and universities in communities across North Carolina.. A packed house of exhilarated dance enthusiasts attended a sneak preview of the new work in October, 2006 .Davis hopes this cultural arts fusion will generate diverse audiences and educate them to the multicultural influences in contemporary expressions of art. Davis believes that divine providence brought this opportunity together. “Many people don’t know the origins of the banjo,” he says. “And many black people turn their noses up at [banjo music] because they don’t know where it came from.”

The April, 2007 production premieres the completed BlueGrass /Brown Earth ballet. Performances will be held at the North Carolina School of Science and Math -Durham, in the John Fredrick Bldg, on Friday and Saturday, April 20 & 21, 2007 at 7:00 PM, and Sunday, April 22, 20007 at 2:00 PM.

Chuck Davis & the African American Dance Ensemble is available for performance bookings based on the BlueGrass /BrownEarth repertory, offering concerts, residencies, lecture demonstrations, master classes, and comprehensive arts-in-education programs.

 

 

Events

  • December 3, 2007 at Hillside High School, Durham, NC Kwanzaa Lecture Demonstration

  • December 4, 2007, at Hayti Heritage Center, Durham, NC Kwanzaa Lecture Demonstration

  • December 5, 2007, at DSA, Durham, NC
    Kwanzaa Lecture Demonstration

  • More Events...

 

Calendar

News