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BOOTS, BACK TALK AND BEYOND
Conceived & Choreographed by JOAN MILLER
in collaboration with guest artists and the company
Artistic Director/Choreographer: JOAN MILLER
Assistant Director: MARTIAL ROUMAIN
Guest Choreographers
SHEILA KAMINSKY MARTIAL ROUMAIN
GUS SOLOMONS, JR. MARLIES YEARBY
Dancers
KRYSTAL BREAKLEY DAVID BROWNE CHRISTIAN CLEARY
DINA DENNIS DELANO JEAN PIERRE THOMAS KREVER
TYRONE MONROE NANAKO TSUKIYAMA
Composer/Coordinator: COOPER MOORE
Poet/Narrator: NADINE MOZON
Lighting Designer: ROMA FLOWERS
Musician: COOPER MOORE
Costume Designer: JESSICA JAHN
Based on the May 17 - 18, 2003 performances at The Duke on 42nd Street
Communication is the name of the game in JOAN MILLER'S
"Boots, Back Talk and Beyond." In the tradition of South African
slave laborers, forbidden to speak and forced to use their bodies,
boots and chains, as well as develop a special language in order to
communicate, her dancers burst forth on the stage in a profusion and
sometimes confusion of movements, sounds, thoughts, and antics.
Diverse works include silent screams, unbridled joy, sounds of
technology, African chants/beats, Jimi Hendrix music, and
Constitutional decrees.
She and her dancers celebrate and bemoan
national, international, and personal triumphs and traumas. And
some dances are downright genius - "Slap Dance," "Dangling
Participles," and "Dear Family," which I believe includes a poem
entitled "Say When" ("If we must wage war, let it be a war on
poverty, disease..."). All in all there are 14 dances, and it would have
been helpful to identify the pieces so that the audience can keep track
of and follow up on their favorites. And one more suggestion - since
9/11, hopefully we have all become more aware of our universality.
So inspiring were some of these performances that less emphasis on
race and more on humankind would have made "Boots, Back Talk
and Beyond" even more spectacular. We would look forward to
such a satisfying quest; not to worry, JOAN MILLER and her
dancers have enough talent to take on both heaven and earth.