Symphony, Dayton dance group join forces
Two of the area’s premiere arts organizations will capture the synergy of music and motion on one stage as the nationally-acclaimed Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) joins the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO).
The Masterworks IV show will blend past traditions into the future at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Clark State Performing Arts Center. The show is appropriate for all audiences and tickets are available.
The program will feature “American Mo’,” with music by Duke Ellington; “And Each Day You Mean One More” by Kevin Ward and music by Derrick Skye; “Symphony No. 3″/”Sunday Symphony” by William Grant Still; and movements from “Montgomery Variations” by Margaret Bonds.
This will be DCDC’S second performance in Springfield in the past several months. In December, the group did “The Littlest Angel” at the John Legend Theater in conjunction with Springfield Civic Theatre.
DCDC and the SSO teamed up in February for a show called “In Modern Moves”
at Dayton’s Victoria Theatre. SSO conductor and music director Peter Stafford Wilson said if there ever was a celebration of the diversity that American artists bring
to these art forms, this is it.
“The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company is one of the foremost ensembles of its kind in the nation. It is unique not only in the
repertoire that it performs, but also in the heritage of its dancers,” he said.
“American Mo’” and “And Each Day You Mean One More” are two works that
celebrate the unique mission of DCDC, according to Wilson, and combining these with the music of Still and Bonds celebrates the extraordinary contributions made to American art by African American composers, choreographers, and dancers.
The experience will also offer a difference logistically as rather than performing in the pit, the SSO musicians will be upstage of the dancers, separated by a scrim upon which projections will be displayed.
“Dancers will perform downstage of us with full lighting, and it will be quite an exciting visual as well as aural experience,” Wilson said.