New England debut of dance work "Hoo-Ha" by choreographer Darrell Jones at Wesleyan University November 18 and 19, 2016



New England debut of dance work "Hoo-Ha" by choreographer Darrell Jones at Wesleyan University November 18 and 19, 2016

Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts and Dance Department present
Darrell Jones: Hoo-Ha
New England debut of dance work in a salon format on Friday, November 18 and Saturday, November 19, 2016

 
Middletown, Conn.—The 17th annual Breaking Ground Dance Series presented by Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts and Dance Department continues with the New England debut of the dance work “Hoo-Ha” by choreographer Darrell Jones in a salon format on Friday, November 18, 2016 at 8pm and Saturday, November 19, 2016 at 2pm and 8pm in World Music Hall, located at 40 Wyllys Avenue on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown. This event is also part of the sixth annual Performing Arts Series.

Wesleyan’s 2016-2017 Creative Campus Fellow in Dance, Darrell Jones describes "Hoo-Ha" (2010) as the release of the oppressed feminine in the male body. For nearly a decade, his artistic research has found its central focus through a dialogue between his postmodern training and the voguing aesthetic. Snatching from various movement vocabularies, Mr. Jones forges forbidden moments and movements in a danced ritual of passage seeking physical and psychic liberation. His goal in this work is to go beyond mere replication of voguing moves to create rituals of freedom and liberation in the body. At Wesleyan, the performances will be an opportunity to experience examples of these translations and their backstories. Mr. Jones hopes they ignite discussion and discovery.

Darrell Jones has performed in the United States and abroad with a variety of choreographers and companies including Bebe Miller, Urban Bush Women, Ronald K. Brown, and Ralph Lemon. He recently performed Bebe Miller Company’s “History” at Wesleyan in November 2011 in the Patricelli ’92 Theater, a work in progress duet with fellow company dancer Angie Hauser. Ms. Hauser and Mr. Jones had started dancing together a decade earlier in the Bebe Miller Company work “Verge," which received its Connecticut premiere at Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts in September 2001.

Admission for “Hoo-Ha" is $28 for the general public; $26 for senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, and non-Wesleyan students; and $6 for Wesleyan students. Tickets are available online at http://www.wesleyan.edu/boxoffice;  by phone at (860) 685-3355; or in person at the Wesleyan University Box Office, located in the Usdan University Center, 45 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown. Tickets may also be purchased at the door beginning one hour prior to the performance, subject to availability. The Center for the Arts accepts cash, checks written to “Wesleyan University,” and all major credit cards. Groups of ten or more may receive a discount – please call (860) 685-3355 for details. No refunds, cancellations, or exchanges. Programs, artists and dates are subject to change.

About the Breaking Ground Dance Series
Past companies from the U.S. and abroad that have been featured on the Breaking Ground Dance Series include Bebe Miller Company, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Brian Brooks Moving Company, Camille A. Brown and Dancers, Cathy Weis Projects, Chunky Move, Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Compagnie TcheTche, Compagnie Vincent Mantsoe, Dance—The Spirit of Cambodia, David Dorfman & Dan Froot, David Dorfman Dance, Delfos Contemporary Dance, Dorrance Dance, Doug Varone & Dancers, Faye Driscoll, Jane Comfort & Company, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar & Nora Chipaumire, Joe Goode Performance Group, Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug, Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, LeeSaar The Company, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Mark Haim & Bill Shannon/Crutchmaster, Morgan Thorson & Company, Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group, Rennie Harris Puremovement, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Rubberbandance, Sean Curran & Company, Stephen Petronio Dance Group, STREB, Susan Marshall & Company, "Tari Aceh! Music and Dance from Northern Sumatra," Tere O’Connor Dance, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Urban Bush Women & Compagnie Jant-Bi, Viver Brasil, and ZviDance.  

About the Dance Department
The Dance Department at Wesleyan University is a contemporary program with a global perspective. The curriculum, faculty research, and pedagogy all center on the relationships between theory and practice, embodied learning, and the potential dance making has to be a catalyst for social change. Within that rigorous context, students encounter a diversity of approaches to making, practicing, and analyzing dance in an intimate learning atmosphere. The program embraces classical forms from ballet, Bharata Natyam, Javanese, and Ghanaian, to experimental practices that fuse tradition and experimentation into new, contemporary forms.

For more information about the Dance Department, please visit http://www.wesleyan.edu/dance.