Why I Had to Dance and Unexpected Journeys

Why I Had to Dance
A Premiere Choreopoem Written by Ntozake Shangé
Choreographed and Directed by Dianne McIntyre

and Unexpected Journeys
Directed by Caroline Jackson Smith
Choreographed by Dianne McIntyre

February 9 - 11, 2012 at 8pm

Hall Auditorium, Oberlin College

Poet/playwright Ntozake Shange’s choreopoem “Why I Had to Dance” propels the audience into the world of dance through the poet’s experiences. Shange describes it as: “The story of black dance herself… the connectedness of black dance from one generation to another generation and from one region to another region, moving all around the dance world from my childhood on.” Experience the world premiere of this animated journey of dance through time, over generations and across geography brought to life on stage. “Why I Had to Dance” is written by Ntozake Shange and choreographed and directed by Dianne McIntyre. The evening opens with Unexpected Journeys, another new piece choreographed by Dianne McIntyre with Oberlin student collaborators. Unexpected Journeys is directed by Oberlin College Associate Professor Caroline Jackson Smith.

“Why I Had to Dance” is presented by Oberlin College and by PlayhouseSquare as part of its Launch artist residency program.

Tickets

$4 Students
$6 OC Faculty and Staff / Senior Citizens
$8 Public

$3 More at the Door

** SPECIAL DISCOUNTS **
High School students can receive free tickets to any performance. Please call (440) 775-8169 or bring your ID to the box office.
Group discounts available for parties of 10 or more. For group discouts please contact (440) 775-8171.

In Person
Tickets can be purchased in person at the Central Ticket Service in Hall Auditorium Lobby.
Hours of Operation: Monday through Friday, 12pm to 5pm

By Phone
Contact Central Ticket Service at: (440) 775-8169 or 1-800-371-0178
Hours of Operation: Monday through Friday, 12pm to 5pm

Online
Buy tickets online here

Hall Auditorium is wheelchair accessible and there is free parking located behind the building.
[Get Directions to Hall Auditorium]

This production is presented by the Oberlin College Theater and Dance Program and PlayhouseSquare.

This production is sponsored by the Office of the President, the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences, the African American Studies Department, and the Sue Carroll Smith Fund.

Tickets for PlayhouseSquare

Why I Had to Dance and Unexpected Journeys will also be presented at PlayhouseSquare in Cleveland on February 17 & 18, 2012. Learn more and buy tickets here.

Design Credits

Production Credits

why i had to dance

Unexpected Journeys

Bios

NTOZAKE SHANGE (Writer, why i had to dance) is a renowned poet, performance artist, playwright, novelist, children’s book author, and educator. Her works, have had a major influence in the worlds of literature, theater, Women’s studies and African American culture. Her seminal 1970s choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf ran on Broadway, toured internationally, won the Off-Broadway Theatre OBIE award and was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2010 a movie, based on the play featured celebrated actors.

Ms. Shange who grew up in St. Louis and New Jersey received a B.A. from Barnard College and a Master’s Degree from University of Southern California. While living in the Bay Area she explored the potential of poetry, dance and music as a single unified art form with dancers Halifu Osumare and Paula Moss. In New York she and Moss studied dance with choreographer Dianne McIntyre with whom Shange has had a long history of collaboration. While in New York Shange continued developing her choreopoem, for colored girls…, which was first produced by Woodie King for New Federal Theatre, then Joseph Papp at the NY Public Theater and then to Broadway.

Ntozake Shange has the remarkable gift of transforming her work from one form to another – from fiction to opera. Her plays have been produced from coast-to-coast as well as in Europe, from the Kennedy Center to The Lorraine Hansberry Theater in San Francisco, to the Apollo Theatre to London’s West End. She has received critical, as well as commercial success with works such as Nomathemba, Daddy Says, Spell #7, Mother Courage, From Okra to Greens/A Different Kinda Love Story and A Photograph:Lovers-in-Motion, and has worked with dancers/choreographers Mickey Davidson and Dyane Harvey. Musicians with whom she has had a long creative relationship include Billy Bang, Kahil El’Zabar, Craig Harris, Billy “Spaceman” Patterson and David Murray. She received Emmy nominations for a television movie version of for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf and Standing in the Shadow of Motown (2002).

Other awards include Guggenheim Fellowship, Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, The Pushcart Prize, NAACP Image Award for her lifetime contribution to the arts, Legacy Magazine Award for Women of Strength and Courage, the Humanitas Award and The Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance Award.

Her works include novels Betsey Brown, Liliane, Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo and Some Cry, Some Sing which she co-authored with her sister Ifa Bayeza. Her latest book, lost in language & sound: or how if found my way to the arts (St. Martin’s Press) includes the poem, “why i had to dance”.

Ms. Shange lives in Brooklyn, NY.

DIANNE McINTYRE (Choreographer/Director, why i had to dance; Choreographer, Unexpected Journeys) choreographer, dancer, teacher, researcher is a Cleveland Ohio native who lived in New York City as a dance artist for more than 30 years. Residing once again in Cleveland, her choreography is seen nationally in the modern dance concert world, in theatre and as well as television and film. She directed her NY based dance/music ensemble Sounds in Motion which toured internationally and operated a popular dance studio which mentored many dancers who have continued with exemplary careers. McIntyre has choreographed for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as well as numerous other US professional and university dance companies – most recently University of Michigan and University of Minnesota. For theatre her work has been seen on Broadway – including two plays by August Wilson – London theatre and 30 plays for US regional theatre including LaJolla Playhouse, ArenaStage, CenterStage, Dallas Theatre Center, Alliance Theatre, Crossroads Theatre and many more. In Cleveland her theatre works have been performed at Karamu House, Cleveland Play House (“Crowns” and “I Could Stop on a Dime and Get Ten Cents Change”), for dance Groundworks Dance Theatre and Dancing Wheels.

A signature of her style is collaborating with musicians prominent jazz artists like Olu Dara, Cecil Taylor, Max Roach, Lester Bowie, Don Pullen and theatre artists. She has choreographed a number of poet/playwright, Ntozake Shange’s works. She is pleased to direct Shange’s “why i had to dance”. Later this season she is choreographing Regina Taylor’s “Crowns” at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.

For film/tv McIntyre choreographed “Beloved” (Harpo/Disney), “Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper” and “Miss Evers Boys” for which she received an Emmy nomination. Other awards included John S. Guggenheim Fellowship, numerous grants from National Endowment for the Arts and other arts agencies, Helen Hayes Award (Washington DC theatre) AUDELCO Award (NY Black Theatre), Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from State University of NY, Creative Workforce Fellowship through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, Cleveland Arts Prize.

Ms. McIntyre performed recently in her solo work for “FLY:Five First Ladies of Dance” at Oberlin College through DanceCleveland, also at Kennedy Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and The Painted Bride as part of a tour managed by 651Arts based in Brooklyn, NY.

Early dance mentors were Elaine Gibbs Redmond, Virginia Dryansky, The Ohio State University McIntyre dance faculty, and Gus Solomons jr. Dianne McIntyre served as choreographer and movement coach for Paramount Pictures’ “Fun Size” to be released October 2012.

CAROLINE JACKSON SMITH (Director, Unexpected Journeys) is Associate Professor of Theater and African American Studies at Oberlin College. She began her directing career in 1984 in New Haven, CT. Ms. Jackson Smith was a 1993 NEA/TCG Directing Fellow, and made her New York debut in 1995 when she directed Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro for the Signature Theater Company at the New York Public Theater. In New York, she has also directed readings for the Women’s Project and Immigrant Theater. She has directed and/or worked as a dramaturg for the Cleveland Playhouse, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Karamu House, the Cleveland Public Theater, Portland Stage Company (Maine), and Kuntu Repertory Theater (Pittsburgh). In 2002 she directed Crumbs from the Table of Joy in the inaugural season of Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC, a play she had previously directed at Karamu House.

Since coming to Oberlin in 1989, Jackson Smith has directed more than thirty plays, including The Gospel at Colonus, The Owl Answers, A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White, The Resurrection of Lady Lester, To Be Young, Gifted and Black, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Blade to the Heat, a Yoruba-inspired interpretation of The Wiz, Spell # 7, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, Omnium Gatherum, Intimate Apparel and Rita Dove’s The Darker Face of the Earth which is noted by the author in a recent reprinting of the play. In Fall 2008, Ms. Jackson Smith was Associate Director for Justin Emeka’s production of The Death of A Salesman starring Avery Brooks.

Ms. Jackson Smith is proud to have been directing at Karamu House since 1991 where productions have included The Women of Plums (Adaptor, World Premiere), Johnny Taylor is Gone (World Premiere), The Talented Tenth, The Colored Museum, Jar the Floor and August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Seven Guitars, Jitney and King Hedley II, which was selected by Scene Magazine as Best Stage Drama of 2007. In 2007 she also directed Sleep Deprivation Chamber by Adrienne and Adam Kennedy for Cleveland Public Theater. Her most recent Karamu productions were Lady Day at the Emerson Bar and Grill in Spring 2008 and Fabulation by Pulitzer Prize winning author Lynn Nottage.

Ms. Jackson Smith served as Associate Editor for Black Masks Magazine for a number of years, and has lectured widely in theaters and universities. After earning her B.A. with distinction and graduate training in the M.A. Program in Afro-American Studies at Yale University, she worked for seven years as a teacher in New Haven Public Schools. Jackson Smith went on to serve as the Director of the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale for eight years.

Media

All media inquiries can be directed to Ellie Philips at 646.245.9619 or ephilips@oberlin.edu