Virginia Arts Festival welcomes back one of America’s most celebrated dance companies, Dance Theatre of Harlem, to Ferguson Center for Performing Arts in Newport News. Under the direction of Artistic Director Robert Garland, the company’s extraordinary dancers bring to life an exhilarating program that showcases works from some of today’s most acclaimed choreographers, merging the grace of classical ballet with the vitality of contemporary dance.

From lush and sweeping ensemble movement to breathtaking pirouettes, jumps and lifts, Dance Theatre of Harlem delivers a performance that thrills.

This program will feature New Bach, a neoclassical ballet created by Dance Theatre of Harlem Artistic Director Robert Garland and first performed in September 2001, immediately after 9/11; Passage of Being, which premiered this year, is a circular and physical piece unfolding in three cinematic movements set to the evocative music of Oscar-nominated composer Ryan Lott “Everything Everywhere All at Once”; and Return, a soulful, high-octane celebration to the timeless sounds of James Brown and Aretha Franklin.

PROGRAM

New Bach

Choreography: Robert Garland
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach

Passage of Being

Choreography: Jodie Gates
Music: Ryan Lott; Son Lux; Rob Moose; yMusic

Return

Choreography: Robert Garland
Music: James Brown; Alfred Ellis; Aretha Franklin; Carolyn Franklin

Photo credit: Nir Arieli