Wednesday, August 2 • 8:15 p.m.
Amphitheater
GARTH FAGAN*
Founder/Artistic Director
PRINCIPAL DANCERS
NORWOOD PENNEWELL*
NATALIE ROGERS-CROPPER*
STEVE HUMPHREY*
GABRIELLE SAMUEL
SABRINA CMELAK
DANCERS
JOHN CRIM
DARIA CLARKE
DESTINY FELDER
ETHAN BECKWITH-COHEN
IRA LINDSAY III
NATHAN E. MCNATT, JR.
KIARA JOLIÉ HAYWOOD
GUEST DANCER
WYNTON RICE
*Bessie Award Winners
Programs and casting subject to change.
ALL CHOREOGRAPHY COPYRIGHT GARTH FAGAN
The taking of photographs/videotaping during the performance is strictly prohibited.
These performances of Garth Fagan Dance are supported, in part, by the Anne Hayden McQuay Arts and Cultural Fund, the Arts For Tomorrow Fund, the Rochester Community Area Foundation, and the Farash Foundation.
Garth Fagan Dance programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Prelude (1981/1983)*
“Discipline is Freedom”
Choreography: Garth Fagan
Music: Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand) and Max Roach
Original Lighting Design: C.T. Oakes
Costumes: Amanda Horne
Gabrielle Samuel, Sabrina Cmelak, John Crim, Daria Clarke, Ira Lindsay III, Destiny Felder, Ethan Beckwith-Cohen, Nathan E. McNatt, Jr., Kiara Jolié Haywood, Wynton Rice
Rite of Spring (work-in-progress)
Choreography: Norwood Pennewell
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Lighting Designer: Lutin Tanner
John Crim, Gabrielle Samuel, Sabrina Cmelak & Company
Life Receding (2023)
Choreography: Natalie Rogers-Cropper
Music: DJ Leo Large, Ed Nabb and Brian Hand, and Laventille Rhythm Sections
Spoken Word: Derek Walkott from “Omeros”
Lighting Design: Lutin Tanner
Costumes: Natalie Rogers-Cropper
The Process, The Proof
Nathan E. McNatt, Jr., Kiara Jolié Haywood
Thudding Metre
Daria Clarke, Destiny Felder, Ethan Beckwith-Cohen
Crab Wrestlers
Ira Lindsay III, Nathan E. McNatt, Jr., Kiara Jolié Haywood, Destiny Felder, Daria Clarke, Ethan Beckwith-Cohen
Contact Fours (2022)
Choreography: Norwood Pennewell
Music: Mary Cary, DJ-9, and Masters of Groove
Original Lighting Design: Lutin Tanner
Costumes: Wendell C. Carmichael
Gabrielle Samuel, Sabrina Cmelak, John Crim, Ira Lindsay III,
One Love (2002)
Excerpt from Translation/Transition
Choreography: Garth Fagan
Music: Jazz Jamaica All Stars
Original Lighting Design: C.T. Oakes
Costumes: Mary Nemecek Peterson
Wynton Rice, Ira Lindsay III & Company
Garth Fagan Dance is an internationally acclaimed American dance company rooted in African traditions and the black dance vocabulary Fagin Technique™. Celebrating more than 50 years since its founding, the company has been led by a 20th century dance treasure and the longest running Black Choreographer on Broadway, Founder and Artistic Director Garth Fagan. Fueled by one of his life contributions, his award-winning work helping create Disney’s The Lion King on stage, 100 million + audience members have moved with his vision of cultural unity through movement.
One of the few Black-created and led cultural organizations to have such a world impact while having a base in Rochester, NY, Garth Fagan Dance has a reputation for responsive contribution, builds on a platform of social justice, creative leadership in troubling times, and innovation that utilizes community engagement and unique partnerships to addresses issues facing our country, its arts and culture, and the people that need them both.
Garth Fagan Dance has performed in 600 cities, 24 countries and 6 continents for thousands of global citizens since 1970. Throughout over five decades of creating award-winning pieces, GFD has received 5 NYC ”Bessie Awards” and is currently nominated for a 2023 NYC "Bessie Award" for Outstanding Revival of Prelude (1981/1983), performed at the Joyce Theater, November 2022. Additionally, the company has been inducted into the "Archives of the Library of Congress", which should be available to the public within two years.
Garth Fagan - Founder & Artistic Director
Norwood Pennewell - Rehearsal Director & Associate Choreographer
Natalie Rogers-Cropper - Interim Executive Director, School Director, & Assistant Rehearsal Director
Lutin Tanner - Lighting Designer, Production Advisor
Alec Shiman - Executive Assistant
Zach Werner - Production Manager
Garth Fagan - Founder / President
Carvin Eison - Chairman
Abbey Germano - Treasurer
Christopher E. Blank
Dr. Ian Wilson
Paula Summit
Anne Hayden McQuay Arts and Cultural Fund
Arts For Tomorrow Fund
City of Rochester, NY
County of Monroe, NY
ESL
Farash Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
New York State Council on the Arts
New York State Legislature
Office of the Governor
Rochester Community Area Foundation