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A female dancer spins next to a projection of a very large butterfly.

Photo: Yi-Chun Wu

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Grant Recipient

David Rousseve/REALITY

Photo: Yi-Chun Wu

Location
Sherman Oaks, CA
Digital Presence
Artist Website
Project Title
Halfway to Dawn
Fiscal Year Awarded
2018
Grant or Program
National Dance Project Production Grant
Grant Amount
$45,000

Choreographed/written/directed by David Roussève, Halfway to Dawn is an evening-length work weaving dance, music, sound, video, and text to uncover the deeper ‘truths’ of African American gay jazz composer Billy Strayhorn’s life (1915-67) while creating a dialogue on urgent social issues of our own. The work is danced to a score of Strayhorn and Duke Ellington songs from raise-the-roof jazz anthems to emotion-laden ballads and performed by the wildly diverse company David Roussève/REALITY. Halfway to Dawn intersects fact, conjecture, comment, abstraction, and fantasy to create an abstract portrait of Ellington’s most important though largely unknown collaborator. 

 

 

 

 

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