On Monday, November 29th we premiered this FREE evening of inspiration!
Now available to All!
Featuring: Surupa Sen of Nrityagram Dance Ensemble; Davalois Fearon; Ephrat Asherie; and Gus Solomons jr
Moderated by Anna Brady Marcus, Director, Pentacle Legacy Project.
In celebration of Pentacle’s 45th anniversary serving the performing arts community, we are pleased to present Four Artists’ Movement Through Time a FREE, virtual event, open to the public, featuring four iconic dance artists who have benefited from Pentacle’s services at pivotal points in their artistic careers, on Monday, November 29th at 7pm ET. The discussion will feature Gus Solomons jr; Surupa Sen of Nrityagram Dance Ensemble; Davalois Fearon; and Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie. The program will be moderated by Anna Brady Marcus, director of Pentacle’s Legacy Project. Audiences will get to see rare footage from these artists’ work and careers, hear about the cultural environment in which they came up, and learn about the behind-the-scenes support they received that helped them to achieve their artistic success.
This event is being organized and presented by Pentacle. Since 1976, Pentacle has been a model in the arts administration field, enabling performing artists to focus on what they do best — create art and engage with audiences. Pentacle designs and provides unique and robust programs of support for artists at critical stages in their careers. By providing artists with the support they need to make their high-quality work, Pentacle enriches the cultural landscape through cross-sector partnerships in multiple communities across NYC and the U.S.
Featured artists:
NRITYAGRAM DANCE ENSEMBLE AND SURUPA SEN, Artistic Director
One of the premier Indian dance ensembles performing today, the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble has the unprecedented distinction of making The New York Times’ “Best Dance of the Year” list two consecutive years in a row (2015, 2016). More than a dance company, Nrityagram was founded as a Gurukula (school) devoted to Odissi dance. The all-female ensemble’s daily life of intensive training and meditation brings to the stage compelling captivating performances that are at once sensual and lyrical. Artistic Director Surupa Sen began her Odissi training with the architect of Odissi Dance, Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra and also studied with Guru Protima Gauri, Guru Ratikant Mahapatra, and Guru Bichitranandan Swain. After finishing a degree in Economics, she came to Nrityagram, and became the first student to graduate from the Nrityagram program. Thirty years later, she has choreographed seven evening-length shows for the full Ensemble, two evening-length duet shows, one full-length solo show, and several pieces that have all stunned audiences worldwide. She was an International Choreographer in Residence at the American Dance Festival in 2000, and has received numerous awards including the Raza Foundation Award in 2006, the Yagnaraman Award from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai in 2011, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Odissi Dance in 2018.
DAVALOIS FEARON, Artistic Director
Davalois Fearon, a 2017 Bessie awardee and a 2021-22 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow finalist, is a critically acclaimed choreographer, dancer, and educator. Born in Jamaica and raised in the Bronx, her choreography is said to embody a “tenacious virtuosity” honed over 12 years with the Stephen Petronio Company (2005–2017) and is now reflected in her work as founder and director of Davalois Fearon Dance (DFD). Established in 2016, DFD pushes artistic and social boundaries to highlight injustice and inequality and spark vital conversations about change. Fearon’s work has been presented nationally and internationally, including at New York City venues such as the Joyce Theatre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among many others, she has completed commissions for the Bronx Museum of the Arts and Barnard College. Her abundant honors and awards include DanceNYC’s Dance Advancement Fund Award and grants from the MAP Fund and the Howard Gilman Foundation.
EPHRAT ASHERIE, Artistic Director
Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie, a 2016 Bessie Award winner for Innovative Achievement in Dance, creates work for the dynamic group of multifaceted dancers in her company Ephrat Asherie Dance (EAD). Embodying many different African American and Latinx vernacular dances, including breaking, hip hop, house and vogue, EAD is dedicated to exploring the inherently complex and dynamic qualities of these forms – Asherie’s “movement phrases–compact bursts of choreography with rapid-fire changes in rhythm and gestural articulation — bubble up and dissipate, quickly paving the way for something new” (The New York Times).
GUS SOLOMONS JR, Choreographer, Artistic Director
Gus Solomons jr began training in modern dance and ballet while studying architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was a member of a local dance company called Dance Makers, and it was there where he began his experimental solo choreography. A year after graduating from MIT, Solomons moved to New York City with a “burning itch to perform and make dances”. In 1962, he worked alongside other dance experimentalists at a studio in New York City, and performed with the companies of Pearl Lang, Donald McKayle, Joyce Trisler, Paul Sanasardo, and Martha Graham, and most significantly with the Merce Cunningham Company from 1965 to 1968. In 1972 he formed his company Gus Solomons Company/Dance, and created works that melded post-modern concepts with his architectural interests. In 1996 he formed the collective PARADIGM to “promote and celebrate the talents of mature artists on stage.” He is also an accomplished dance critic, and his reviews have appeared in The Village Voice, Ballet News, Attitude, Dance Magazine, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among others.