Ephrat Asherie Dance company, urban-dance elders to perform Feb. 7 at Eisenhower Auditorium
UNIVERSITY PARK — In “Underscored,” Ephrat Asherie Dance artists and legendary elders of the New York dance-club scene Archie Burnett, Michele Saunders and Brahms “Bravo” LaFortune will re-create the ’90s-era dance underground with a recorded soundtrack of music samples to match.
“The general thing is how empowering and moving and inspiring it is to see somebody living in their fullness and just being themselves,” Asherie said. “I don’t think the power of that can be underestimated.”
The Center for the Performing Arts will present the company’s most recent work at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, in Eisenhower Auditorium.
Tickets are $35 for an adult, $5 for a University Park student, and $21 for a person 18 and younger and are available for purchase online. Tickets are also available by calling 814-863-0255 or in person, weekdays 10 a.m.–4 p.m., at Eisenhower Auditorium.
Visit “Underscored” online for more information
After the performance, the artists will speak with interested audience members. Visit Engagement for details about related community events.
Ephrat Asherie Dance, its artists celebrating their roots in African-American, Latinx street and club dance, explores the hip-hop, house, breaking, freestyle, and jazz-dance artforms to tell stories and invoke imagery.
Though extensively trained in ballet and modern dance styles, Asherie said that socially, she was exposed to a great deal of dance, music, and culture of the African diaspora via hip-hop, jazz and house music — to her company, the elements that underscore the community of movement.
Watch a preview of “Underscored.”
Related engagement events
Welcome Event Dance Party: Join the community in a free event aimed at welcoming the “Underscored” artists and dancers at 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4, in the Community Room of the State College Municipal Building, 243 S. Allen St.
Penn State dance ensembles will lead the event with performances, to be followed by comments from the artists and a dance party with a DJ and light refreshments.
The event is free, but registration is required and limited to the first 100 respondents.
Film screening: Artists from Ephrat Asherie Dance will host a free screening of the documentary “Check Your Body at the Door” at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, in Freeman Auditorium, HUB-Robeson Center.
“Check Your Body at the Door” is a film about underground House dancers and dancing in New York City’s golden decade, the 1990s. The short film features interviews and rare dance footage with legendary club and house dancers of the era. The screening will be followed by a talkback with the dancers from the film, who also are part of “Underscored.”
The event is free, but registration is required.
A $15 donation is suggested for each engagement event.
Acknowledgements
Shih-in Ma and the Eberly Family Special Collections Library sponsor the ticketed performance. Support for the performance is provided by the Mary Ann O'Brien Malkin Program Endowment.
The engagement events are supported by Shih-In Ma, Geisinger, Dick Brown and Sandy Zaremba and the Meghan R. Mason Program Endowment.
A grant from the University Park Student Fee Board makes Penn State student prices possible.
Support for accessibility services is provided by William E. McTurk Endowment for Program Support and Gerald B. M. Stein Memorial Endowment.
“Underscored” is a recipient of a National Performance Network Creation and Development Fund grant and is commissioned by: Works & Process, Inc., Guggenheim New York; ArtPower at University of California-San Diego; The Momentary, Benton, Arkansas; and The Yard, Chilmark, Massachusetts.