LINDA DIAMOND & COMPANY, an award winning professional Modern dance group, will present a dance, music & film program on July 12 Saturday at 2 PM. The event is being sponsored by Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild at the Kleinert James Center for the Arts in Woodstock, N.Y. 36Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY. Audience members will be able to also view the current art exhibit by Andrew Lyght. In 1980, choreographer Diamond presented Inti Raymi, an award winning work based on the Peruvian Festival of the sun using one of Andrew Lyght's bamboo sculptures.
"Mother Earth Beckons" is the theme of the dance concert and will feature Nina Deacon and 11-year-old Dorothy Rabstenek. They will perform three duets, which have
interrelated themes. Mother Earth, a duet from the film Hymn to the Earth, is the prelude to the longer work, some of which shall be shown in a film with other dance company members. Father Sky will be shown in a film with dancer Francesco Pireddu. Colorful scenes from nature will accompany the choreography. Shadoflash, also choreographed by Linda Diamond, is a reflection by a woman who reminisces about her own childhood. The flashback in dance occurs with the presence of a child, who mirrors the movement of the adult and vice versa. A Journey Through Her Mother's Heart will be danced as an excerpt to a longer group work by Diamond, which was created under a Puffin Foundation Award to the choreographer. The concept and poem based on art work is by former Woodstock artist Vita. It is also based on her book "Head in the Clouds".
Nina Deacon shall perform 2 solos "Secret Annex"which Is based on The Diary of Anne Frank, and the other solo is "Precipice" also by Diamond, and performed by Nina Deacon.
LINDA DIAMOND & COMPANY is celebrating its 25th anniversary in Woodstock. The company has received awards in the past from Arts MidHudson, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, and others. There will be short dance films interspersed between the duets, including Parachute with music by well-known Woodstock composer Bar Scott, Hernando's Hideaway with Nina Deacon, Marcos Vasquez, and two 9-year-old dancers, Niyah Berger and Luna Anata. Another dance film with choreography by Linda Diamond is entitled "Univision", with music by the late Jonathan Kramer. Dancers are Linda Diamond & Clifton Brown (a guest artist at the time from Alvin Ailey American Dance Company).
Woodstock composer Tom Desisto's music shall be featured in the Mother Earth duet as well as in the film section of Hymn to the Earth, a Dance Odyssey for our times. The video editor is Graham Hall, a Bard College graduate from the Film Department.
"The arts are the hallmark of civilization," Diamond says. "We hope to share the message and warning of our times through our dances, which reflect the human dilemma and condition.
Linda Diamond, Artistic Director, is also the founder of the Woodstock Diamond Sokolow Dance Theatre, which presents annual events. Originally raised in Panama, where she was born to New York journalist parents, her works have a wide range of themes, including multicultural ones and social themes.
For further information and reservations, call 845 679 7757.
Ticket admission is $15 or pay what you wish. A Question and Answer will take place following the program so that the audience can give feedback about the works.
Also check out other Arts events in Woodstock, Entertainment events in Woodstock, Concerts in Woodstock.
