Artsea Dance on tap
Courtney Celeste Spears will bring a guest to New Providence for in-person classes, in addition to livestream classes over the course of the year In this file photo, Courtney Celeste Spears hosts her ArtSea Web Dance Series on Instagram Live.
After canceling ArtSea Dance last year due to COVID-19 safety protocols, program founders Courtney Celeste Spears and Asa Cary say they are delighted they will be hosting the 2021 event, which celebrates its fifth year.
“Though we are still in the midst of a pandemic, the ArtSea team felt it was important to host the core of the program in The Bahamas and continue to support the arts exchange in the community,” said Spears. “The cultural arts exchange is a key component for our programming, and continues to build the arts reputation of the Bahamian community.
Screened at the Sundance Film Festival, it’s hard to tell what
Ailey is trying to do. For starters, it’s described as a “portrait” of its namesake on IMDB, but it’s closer to a tribute to him instead. In fact, it even opens with a clip from
Cicely Tyson’s speech honoring Ailey at the Kennedy Center in 1988, when he was awarded for his lifetime contribution to American culture. Perhaps unbeknownst to the audience at this point in the film, this moment sets the tone for what’s to come.
While Wignot seems to obligatorily include audio interviews and other archival footage of Ailey taking us through his biographical journey, she offers little exposition of his words. For example, when he talks about being raised by a single mother in Texas in the 1930s, and plainly states that he had no relationship with his father, there is no one from his personal life friends? Family members? also featured in the film that could ground his statements. As a result, it feels immedia
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Dancer Corrin Rachelle Mitchell had just finished her first season when the Company had to go virtual. To be completely honest, it was emotionally devastating, she said.
However, the dancer were allowed to continue, provided they didn t touch. The CDC regulations were amazing because they allowed us to do this, Mitchell said. But it was very strange, almost comedic for us, because we re like, Oh don t, don t touch me. Testament is inspired by Ailey s classic ballet Revelations, which premiered 60 years ago. It s basically the idea from lament to hope, Rushing said. Being able to turn pain into power. That s basically our main message.