Assistant Professor Elizabeth Craft (Photo: University Marketing & Communications)

WRITTEN BY JULIA LYON

The School of Dance celebrated Black history last February in a first-of-its-kind event showcasing new choreography and screendance by black artists.

“ANEW: A Black History Month Celebration” brought together both School of Dance alumni and choreographers in the community.

“We’ve done things in celebration of Black History Month, but I don’t believe we’ve done a full concert celebrating Black artists,” said Pamela Geber Handman, professor at the School of Dance who has been on the faculty for 25 years.

Undergraduates across the School of Dance, including ballet and modern dance majors and minors, from first years to seniors, performed new works by Adesola Akinleye, Natosha Washington, and Joshua Whitehead. Two dance films by Irishia Hubbard Romaine, a School of Dance MFA alumna, were also shown.

“As a School of Dance, our goal is to bring in guest teachers and presenters who are going to share experiences about art making with our students that are not the same as the faculty,” Geber Handman said. “Our mission is to expand and educate.”

Choreographer Adesola Akinleye’s, “Act II Arrival,” is the second act of a larger story ballet, “Sycorax’s Tempest,” based on William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

“Their work is so perfect in terms of ANEW,” Geber Handman said. “It’s looking at ‘The Tempest’ from a different perspective and telling the story through dance.”

Akinleye’s work reimagines the story through the eyes of the witch and mother, Sycorax, while exploring ideas from Caribbean feminist scholar and writer Sylvia Wynter. On a cold February day, students en pointe rehearsed the piece, falling and rising between long pieces of fabric, as the Sycorax brought an island to life.

“I want to choreograph movement that the dancers can speak through,” Akinleye said. “I think it’s important we have a kind of shared sense of ownership of what the piece is so the dancers feel as if they are creating something with me.”

Akinleye strives to make works that “tell about the brightness of the range of people involved in ballet.”

“For ballet to have a future, it needs to avoid telling the stories of a tiny group of people, over and over again,” said Akinleye, Assistant Professor of Dance at Texas Woman’s University. “There are a lot of people who contribute to ballet and their stories of lives and loves are complicated and varied.”

Joshua Whitehead in rehearsal at the U. Photo: Todd Collins

Natosha Washington, choreographer, dance educator, and Assistant Principal at East High School, described her new work, “Towards Light,” as rooted in the belief that everybody has a light inside that should not be hidden.

“I think right now, with what’s happening in the world, we have to focus on this light and not be afraid of it,” said Washington, who was this year’s recipient of the College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni award for her work as an arts educator.

“Towards Light,” a modern contemporary piece, uses an excerpt from a piece of music composed by Travis Lake, a fellow alumnus.

Mechanical sounds punctuate the narration, which is reflected in the choreography throughout the work.

“There’s a light inside of you,” a voice says. “And that light scares them.”

Washington was a student in one of the first classes Geber Handman taught.

“Natosha’s work is always very visceral, emotional and raw at times,” Geber Handman said. “She has a gift for inspiring honesty and vulnerability in her performers.”

Washington was excited to be included in ANEW, the first time she’s worked with U students in about five years.

Over the past few years, she’s been invited to participate in conversations about how to make the U a welcoming place for all students.

“I’ve watched a lot of significant changes happening at the U and it’s not just talk,” she said. “It’s beautiful to see.”

Joshua Whitehead created a new piece of contemporary ballet, “Fever Dream,” the sequel to his “Whispers of the Sandman (2023).” The story takes place within a dream and includes all the possibilities a dream can contain from darkness to illumination.

Creating the work, with movement styles ranging from hip hop and modern to classical ballet, was a full circle moment for the choreographer.

“For me, it’s anew — it’s starting and continuing my journey as a choreographer,” said Whitehead, who also composed the music for the piece. “There’s a lot of new beginnings that started here.”

Whitehead first came to Utah in 2009 for a Ballet West summer intensive located at the University of Utah. That led to him becoming a trainee and eventually joining the main company.

He created “Whispers of the Sandman” two years ago, during his last season as a demi-soloist with Ballet West. The piece was set on the workshop dancers of artÉmotion.

He reflected on the success of Black choreographers in Utah and the increased opportunity to choreograph in all genres.

“It’s awesome to see that we all have a platform, a place where we can express ourselves through means of choreography,” he said. “And that people who are asking us to choreograph or set things are not asking us just to create something African or set to African music.”

He says every time he choreographs is a learning experience.

“You learn how to lead better, how to communicate better. You learn patience, and you learn that everyone has their own learning capacity.”

ANEW showcased dance on film, featuring two recent works by MFA alumna Irishia Hubbard Romaine, who also received a screendance certificate from the School of Dance.

“Irishia has done really amazing work,” Geber Handman said. "Screendance is yet another way in which to tell stories through dance and movement.”

The film, “Unearthed,” builds on Romaine’s archival work, which involves developing a database cataloging Black dance on film from the late 1800s to the 1900s.

“Part of my research is unearthing and recovering Black dance on film,” said Romaine, Assistant Professor in the Department of Dance at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. “I’m tracing and piecing together histories that have been fractured and erased.”

“Unearthed” (2023) intersperses archival footage with reimagined Black figures from the past. “Red Line” (2022) explores the resilience of a Black woman and how the fight/flight response takes bodily form. Romaine directs and edits both.

“I think the School of Dance does an excellent job of bringing in a wide range of guest artists who are actively engaged in the field,” Romaine said. “I feel honored to be included in this lineup. Each of us brings something unique to the U’s dance community.”