The Roxbury Performance Series brings theater, dance and musical productions to Roxbury and provides residents from the surrounding areas with access to high quality arts and cultural events. Both local and national artists and performing arts organizations are booked to develop fall and spring performance series each year. These performances take place at historic Hibernian Hall.
Upcoming Performances
Mickey Davidson and the Makanda Project present "Well I See: The Music in the Motion" at Hibernian Hall November 5-6, 2011
“Well I See” is a collaboration among choreographer Mickey Davidson and her dancers (New York City) and the members of the Makanda Project jazz ensemble (Boston), exploring the interlocking relationship between music and dance. The creative results will be presented at Hibernian Hall in two performances: Saturday evening November 5 at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday afternoon November 6 at 3:00 p.m.
MICKEY DAVIDSON, leading a group of four dancers in this project, has been in the forefront among those exploring the interaction between dance and jazz music. She has developed collaborative pieces with musicians such as Cecil Taylor and Oliver Lake and toured with the Sun Ra Arkestra. She has had a longstanding collaborative relationship with the poet Ntozake Shange, and her award-winning choreography was part of the 20th-anniversary production of “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” She has been affiliated with several dance groups including Sounds in Motion Dance Company, the Okra Dance Company, and Norma Miller’s Lindy Hoppers.
Ms. Davidson taught for many years at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and also at the State University of New York at Old Westbury. At Old Westbury, she worked closely with Dr. Makanda Ken McIntyre (who was chair of the department of music and dance) and became intimately acquainted with his musical aesthetic.
The MAKANDA PROJECT was formed in 2005 to perform the previously unheard compositions of MAKANDA KEN McINTYRE, who left behind 400 such pieces when he passed away unexpectedly in 2001. A native Bostonian, Dr. McIntyre was a tireless musical innovator who left his mark as a performer, educator, and composer. His distinctive compositions, which can be heard on 11 albums released under his own leadership, place him among the most significant jazz composers of his generation. He had a unique ability to write music that went in unexpected directions while maintaining an infectious rhythmic and melodic character. The Makanda Project was created to bring to light at least some of the many compositions that had never been performed in public.
The “mini big band” is led by pianist John Kordalewski, who studied and performed with Dr. McIntyre and who has arranged the music for multiple horns. Typically the group consists of four saxophones, two trumpets, two trombones, and a vocalist, pianist, bassist, and drummer. It includes some of the Boston area’s most prominent jazz musicians, including drummer Yoron Israel, bassist John Lockwood, trombonist Bill Lowe, and saxophonists Charlie Kohlhase and Kurtis Rivers. The renowned saxophonist Oliver Lake has appeared with the group on several occasions, and is featured on their forthcoming album on Passin Thru Records.
The Makanda Project has been engaged in an effort to develop jazz performance venues in the Roxbury community. Working with nonprofit organizations, they have been presenting their concerts for the past five years to enthusiastic and steadily growing audiences. This production with Hibernian Hall, allowing the Makanda Project to bring Mickey Davidson in from New York, brings this effort to a new level.
