AUG 31 & SEPT 1 at 7:30pmSEPT 2 at 2:00pm

RODEY THEATRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO

PRESENTS

Ink / Body/RainMASTERS THESIS DANCE CONCERT

CHOREOGRAPHED BY RUJEKO DUMBUTSHENA AND JUSTICE MILES

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Artistic and Production StaffStage Manager Leah EllisLighting Design Louise Alexa Browne and Katie Gallegos Lighting Design Mentor William LiottaMotion Graphics Designer Amy TraylorLight Board Operator Savannah LujanSound Engineer Chad ScheerSound Operator Keila GutierrezTechnical Director Michael Esteban HidalgoAssociate Technical Director Moises HinojosMaster Electrician Steven MaurerCrew Maximono Rosas, Sierra HessPublicity Justice Miles and Kathleen ClawsonGraphic Design Myriah WilliamsHouse Manager Amy Rohr

Student Production LabJonathan Archibeck, Ryan Cook, Solana Cummings, Shay Golafshani, Devon Griste, Sierra Hess, Zachary Heise, Nathan Lesiak, Joseph Mandonado, Zachary Nicholas, Melissa Ober, Nathan Rimbert,Maximino Rosas, Dana Sanchez, Arielle Scavron

UNM DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND DANCE FACULTY AND STAFF Donna Jewell, Professor, Head of Dance, Department ChairVladimir Conde Reche, Associate Professor, Dance, Associate ChairAmanda Hamp, Assistant Professor, Dance, Head of DanceDorothy Baca, Professor, Co-Head of Design for PerformanceWilliam Liotta, Professor, Co-Head of Design for PerformanceDominika Laster, Assistant Professor, Theatre, Head of Theatre Eva Encinias-Sandoval, Professor, Dance Gregory Moss, Associate Professor, Theatre Inseung Park, Associate Professor, Design Kate Clarke, Assistant Professor, TheatreMichael Hidalgo, Visiting Assistant Professor, Technical Director, TheatreAlejandro Tómas Rodriguez, Visiting Assistant Professor, TheatreMatthew McDuffie, Professor of Practice, TheatreKathleen Clawson, Lecturer, TheatreMarisol Encinias, Lecturer, DanceShepard Sobel, Lecturer, TheatreStacia Smith-Alexander, Lecturer, Design Anna Avery, Head Costume TechnicianSteven Maurer, Master ElectricianChad Scheer, Master ElectricianMoy Hinojos, Associate Technical DirectorSarah Lentz, Department Administrator IIAndrew Brandt, Administrative Assistant II

ADJUNCT FACULTYAlisa Alba, Sonia Bologna, Nevarez Encinias, Jacqueline Garcia, Juli Hendren, Blythe Kanis, Leonard Madrid, Claudia Mathes, Dodie Montgomery, Kelsey Paschich, Simone Di Pietro Reche, Melissa Velasco, Sarah Williams – Gonzales, Ginny Wilmerding

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS MADE THIS PERFORMANCE POSSIBLE

UPCOMING SHOWSA Dream Come TrueUNM Friends of Dance Scholarship Benefit ConcertChoreography by Distinguished UNM Dance AlumniSeptember 7 and 8 at 7:30pmElizabeth Waters Center for Dance at Carlisle Gym

Linnell Festival of New Plays Fall Reading SeriesNew works by MFA Dramatic Writing StudentsSeptember 15 and 16, times TBARodey Theatre

Under Milk WoodBy Dylan ThomasDirected by Kate ClarkeSeptember 28, 29, October 4, 5, 6 at 7:30pm and September 30 and October 7 at 2:00pmExperimental Theatre

In-Nov-ActionA Student Choreography ConcertArtistic Directors Eva Encinias- Sandoval and Vladimir Conde RecheOctober 19, 20, 26, 27 at 7:30pm and October 21 at 2pm Elizabeth Waters Center for Dance at Carlisle Gym

Too Much, Too Much, Too ManyBy Meghan KennedyDirected by Monica VillalbaOctober 26, 27, November 1, 2, 3 at 7:30pm and October 28 and November 4 at 2:00pm Experimental TheatreCo-Produced with SCRAP (UNM Student Theatre Organization)

As You Like ItBy William ShakespeareDirected by Shepard SobelNovember 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 at 7:30pm and November 11 and 18 at 2:00pmRodey Theatre

Information is subject to change. Please check http://theatre.unm.edu or call the Theatre Office at 277-4332 for updates. Tickets at UNM Ticket Offices, Call 925-5858, or online @ www.unmtickets.com

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DA RERUM NATURA - the way things are Choreographed by Rujeko Dumbutshena

Program Notes Master’s ThesisThis production is made up of symbols and themes that can feel both dream-like and tactile, ethereal and material. Ancient and contemporary sources fueled our dance practice to create a mythical world.

Dancers: Erin Brown, Alicia Dellimore, Rujeko Dumbutshena, Morgan Godbolt, Nia Harris, Kaitlyn Hayward, Tyra Ziyadah Komfum, Lucy Kozikowski, Donne Lewis, Natesa McGowan, Mary Nakigan, Amadi Oubichon, Gabi Rojas, Ajah Stone

Special Guest Vocalist and Dancer: Nafi Diabate

Musician: Male Fainke

Lighting Design: Louise Alexa Browne and Katie Gallegos

Motion Graphics Designer: Amy Traylor

Costumes: Connie Fernandez and UNM Theatre and Dance Department

IN THE BEGINNING … there was Woman and she reigned over all of the land and carried the weight of her people.

Soloist: Tyra Ziyadah KomfumDancers: Morgan Godbolt, Kaitlyn N Hayward, Natesa McGowan, Amadi Oubichon, Gabi Rojas, Ajah Stone,Music: Rain sounds and Olilili by Miriam Makeba

NB: This piece has strobe lights during the rain sounds.

A CORD THAT BINDSShows the mapping of the many parts of my self that I bind together. I seek and find homes away from home. A “duet the solo done dually” Dambudzo Marechera

Soloist: Rujeko DumbutshenaDancers: Erin Brown, Nia Harris, Mary NakiganMusic: Nhemamusasa by Musekiwa Chingodza (graciously recorded 8/23/18 by Raymond J. Thomas ). More of Musekiwa’s information and music can be found online. https://www.facebook.com/Kutsinhira/

Note: The music and instrument you hear in this piece is called Mbira from Zimbabwe. It threads through this entire production. It is a constant source of inspiration and healing for me. It is a magical music that, when used in ceremony, creates room for spirit to enter.

ONE IN THREE PARTS (RAIN DANCE)A departure from a Zimbabwean dance called Mhande, sometimes used at rain making ceremonies.

One time, there was rain that came after we prayed. We had learned thirst’s fervor willing mouthfuls of sand. We danced a rain dance, and then the rain fall came. It fell back to the earth.

“Preambule” a poem by Zimbabwean poet Tsitsi Ella Jaji from her book “Beating the Graves”

Featured dancers: Erin Brown, Rujeko Dumbutshena, Donne LewisDancers: Nia Harris, Kaitlynn Hayward, Lucy Kozikowski, Natesa McGowan, Mary Nakigan, Ajah Stone

Drumming: Male Fainke.

Note: Thanks to Ronnie Dailyo and the Chigamba family for keeping me connected to my roots through music and dance. Thanks to Jennifer Kyker for our drumming, singing and dancing lesson. To my fellow Zimbabwean artist that keep our music and dance alive.

CONJURING PASSAGE (WIND)Like a prelude: the wind before the rain, the darkness before the light, the chaos before the calm. Without the dance, who will bring the rain?

Choreographers: Rujeko Dumbutshena and Gabi RojasSoloist: Gabi RojasDancers: Morgan Godbolt, Donne Lewis, Amadi Oubichon,Music: Alice Coltrane “Journey to Satchidananda”

Note: Thanks to Gabi Rojas for the years and months and time spent together in studios and for making this dance entirely your own.

COMMUNION BEFORE THE RAINMusic drives us into unison. The cyclical patterns of the Mbira create gateways to the spirit world. We dance for rain. Mbakumba is a celebration dance from Zimbabwe

Dancers: Erin Brown, Alicia Dellimore, Rujeko Dumbutshena, Morgan Godbolt, Nia Harris, Kaitlynn Hayward, Lucy Kozikowski, Natesa McGowan, Mary Nakigan, Amadi Oubichon, Ajah Stone

Music: Zvichapera by Chiwoniso. A renowned female Zimbabwean vocalist and mbira player. Note: Chiwoniso’s music continues to be a source of inspiration to me. May she rest in peace. Thanks to Nia, Erin, Mary and Lucy for the many years of dancing together!

WARRIOR/WITNESS/GUIDE… speaks to the strength that can be drawn from within, the strength we gain from each other and the power of holding space as witnesses and guides.

Dancers: Alicia Dellimore, Tyra Ziyadah Komfum, Amadi OubichonMusic: In the Castle of My Skin by Sons of KemetNote: Ziyadah thank you for collaborating with me. For your willingness to see my crazy projects and visions through.

WATER FLOWBased on a Guinea West African dance called Yankadi.

Solo Vocalist/dancer: Nafi DiabateSoloists: Natesa McGowanDancers: Erin Brown, Rujeko Dumbutshena, Nia Harris, Tyra Ziyadah Komfum, Lucy Kozikowski, Mary Nakigan, Gabi Rojas, Ajah Stone

Note: As special thanks to Nafi Diabate for coming to New Mexico an entire week earlier that she was scheduled to come for Wassa Wassa African Drum and Dance Festival in Santa Fe (9/5-9/9). Thanks to Male Fainke for his incredible musicianship and willingness to teach and work with me for so many years. To all my Guinea dance teachers, I am incredibly grateful.

WARRIOR’S REIGNHanding down of the reigns!

Dancers Full EnsembleMusic: Olilili by Miriam Makeb

15 MINUTE INTERMISSION

Ink on CottonChoreographed by Justice Miles

Program Notes Master’s ThesisInk on Cotton is an artistic response and exploration of African American history from the 1800s to contemporary times. A main theory explored throughout the work is “semiotic excess” a theory from Rebekah Kowal’s Staging the Greensboro Sit-ins. Originally the term was used to describe an excess of signs or hyper-demonstration of whiteness by an African American protestor requesting to be served by a waitress at the Greensboro Sit-ins during the civil rights movement.

However, I became interested in the theory of what happens when an excess of racially charged signs are in a space? One image I use in this work is the watermelon, which according to William Black in the Atlantic, was originally a symbol of African American freedom after slavery and later became a sign to make fun of blacks in the U.S. The banana, which also appears in the work, was inspired by the banana skirt of Josephine Baker and also has a problematic racialized history. I was curious what would happen if there was an excess of signs with charged meaning in a space, is there a way to re-appropriate these signs or not? Why did racism exist? Does blackness or any race for that matter really exist or is it just a series of performative stereotypes that get performed again and again by all of us?

Ink on Cotton features many artistic explorations, such as building letra from Federico García Lorca and Francisco de Quevedo poems on the conditions of African Americans to creating choreography inspired by the subversive beginnings of the cakewalk, which was a slave plantation dance that made fun of slave master minuets that ironically became popular for European elite, according to scholar Elizabeth de Martelly. Ink on Cotton is an artistic response inspired by theoretical and historical research from scholars and writers such as Brenda Dixon Gottschild, Meira Goldberg, William Black, Brooke Baldwin, Elizabeth de Martelly, Rebekah Kowal and more.

“Once we dare see the naked truth…we shall see a body, the American dancing body. It is a black-and-white portrait, an affirmation of opposites, in which the negative contains a positive” ~Brenda Dixon Gottschild 78, Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance: Dance and Other Contexts

Warning: Adult Language

Choreographer/Arranger: Justice Miles

Dancers: Morgan Godbolt, Andrea Lozano, Natesa McGowan, Justice Miles

Poet: Jacqueline Erin Behrens

Los Flamencos: Dolores Garcia, Eloy Gonzales, Andrea Lozano

Film Makers: Max Schwaber, Noor-un-nisa Touchon

Lighting Design: Louise Alexa Browne and Katie Gallegos

Motion Graphics Designer: Amy Traylor

THE STARS AND SKY Written by Justice MilesPerformed by Jacqueline Erin Behrens

WATERMELON WOMANChoreographed and performed by Justice MilesMusic: Golliwog’s Cakewalk composed by Claude Debussy and played by Chenyin LiFilm by Justice Miles

THE CAKEWALKChoreographed by Justice MilesPerformed by Morgan Godbolt, Natesa McGowan and Justice MilesMusic: Solea by Miles Davis and Spanish Joint by D’Angelo

TANGOSChoreographed by Andrea LozanoCante: Dolores GarciaGuitarra: Eloy GonzalesBaile: Andrea Lozano

NEGRITA DEL HARLEMVarious guest artist material arranged by Justice MilesCante: Dolores GarciaGuitarra: Eloy GonzalesBaile: Justice MilesPalmas: Andrea LozanoLetra: El Rey del Harlem by Federico García Lorca, Norma y Paraíso de los Negros by Federico García Lorca, Baile de la galera/Los galeotes by Francisco de Quevedo

EL REY DEL HARLEM Written by Federico Garcia LorcaPerformed by Jacqueline Erin Behrens and Eloy GonzalesFilm by Max Schwaber and Noor-un-nisa Touchon

RÍO DE GUADALQUIVIR Cante: Dolores GarciaGuitarra: Eloy GonzalesPalmas: Andrea LozanoFilm by Max Schwaber and Noor-un-nisa Touchon

THE LITTLE FUNHOUSE MIRROR ON LENNOX AVENUEPerformed and Choreographed by Justice MilesImage: Cycas Revoluta by Rosalba Matta-MachadoMusic: Meditation (feat. Jazmine Sullivan & KAYTRANADA) by GoldLink

LOTUSWritten by Justice Miles with additions from Jacqueline Erin BehrensPerformed by Jacqueline Erin Behrens and Justice Miles

STILL I RISE Written by Maya AngelouPerformed by Jacqueline Erin Behrens

SASSYChoreographed by Justice MilesPerformed by Morgan Godbolt and Natesa McGowanMotion Graphics by Amy TraylorMusic: Sassy by Rapsody

MAMBOChoreographed by Justice Miles and dancersPerformed by Morgan Godbolt and Natesa McGowanAnimation by Amy TraylorMusic: Mambo by Machito

BULERÍAS NEGRAS: FORKED TONGUEChoreographed and performed by Justice MilesMusic: Exotic Jungle by Jamie Llewellyn, Bulería Negra del Gastor by Son de La Frontera, Exotic Jungle by Jamie Llewellyn, Belen Maya and Tomatito in Carlos Saura’s film Flamenco, El Carpeta in Carlos Saura’s film Flamenco Flamenco

INK ON COTTONChoreographed and performed by Justice MilesMusic: Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief by RadioheadFilm: Ink Drop/Drip in water 004- Royalty Free Stock Footage by CyberWebFX