Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble

BLACK HISTORY MONTH AT LANGSTON HUGHES PERFORMING ARTS INSTITUTE

PRESENTING THE CLEO PARKER ROBINSON DANCE ENSEMBLE IN A 60 MINUTE PERFORMANCE WITH A TALK BACK AFTER THE SHOW

Haitian master choreographer Jeanguy Saintus explores the concept of fusion – of bodies, souls, communities and cultures – and its potential to create solidarity, openness, and hope. Choreographed to the music of Ti Coca, Eddy François, Markus Schwartz & Erol Josué, Toto Bissainthe, and Manuel Césaire, the work blends elements of folk performance, free improvisation, voodoo religion, African, French and indigenous Indian influences.

Buy tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/321607

February 16th - Premiere Performance - 7:30pm

February 17th - Master Workshops

Youth Workshop (Ages 10-12): 11am - 12:15pm

Teen/Adult Workshop: 12:45 - 2:30pm

Jeanguy Saintus (Choreographer) As choreographer, dancer and educator, Mr. Saintus expresses the rich fusion of Caribbean culture and the contemporary life of his country through the body. Having studied anthropology, sociology and languages, Haitian traditional dance, classical, modern and contemporary technique, Mr. Saintus founded Cie Ayikodans, a group that has matured over 20 years, establishing a centre and training program. 

Saintus continuously pushes the limits of modern dance. Folk performance, free improvisation, voodoo religious culture and varied African, indigenous Indian and French influences are found in his work and his Haitian-Contemporary technique offers a unique vocabulary. Saintus’ has significantly developed Caribbean dance, rooting it in the region’s historical experience while exploring subjects such as the experience of people dying of Aids, the long journey to freedom, and tensions between ancestral forces and contemporary rituals. His works connect the spiritual with the physical, honoring the human body, for expanding the possibilities of the dance medium and fostering young talent, and for inspiring pride in the strength, beauty and richness of Haitian identity.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH AT LANGSTON HUGHES PERFORMING ARTS INSTITUTE

Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute presents

‘Call Mr. Robeson’

Friday, Feb. 8 and Saturday, Feb. 9

SEATTLE –Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute will present Call Mr. Robeson, an award-winning play that received a standing ovation at New York's Carnegie Hall in February 2012, as part of Black History Month at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 8 and Saturday, Feb. 9. United Kingdom fringe theater website Fringe Review gave the performance five stars and calls it, “A stunning piece of musical theater ” Tickets are available via the Langston Institute’s website at www.langstoninstitute.org or by phone at 1-800-838-3006.F

Written and performed by United Kingdom-based, Nigerian-born playwright and singer Tayo Aluko and accompanied by renowned Seattle pianist Darrius Willrich, this roller-coaster journey through actor/singer Paul Robeson’s remarkable life highlights how his radical activism caused his downfall. The performance features well-known songs (including a dramatic rendition of “Ol’ Man River”), Robeson’s speeches and a defiant testimony to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House Committee on Un-American Activities. Seattle audiences will be regaled with Negro spirituals and songs from the labor movement performed by local choral groups The Sound of the Northwest and the Seattle Labor Chorus.