Photo Martha Wirth
The 53-year-old ensemble based in Denver, Colo., demonstrates a wide range of choreography for the Opelika/Auburn audiences featuring several iconic works. The first half of the evening includes Escapades, choreographed by Alivin Ailey, and Catch Ah Fire, the newest reggae-infused work by Thomas Talawa Prestø. The second half of the evening features Sacred Spaces? choreographed by Cleo Parker Robinson, accompanied by a live performance of Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra in a story that leaps from headlines into the hearts of audiences.
Sacred Spaces?
In 2019, Jacqueline (Jackie) Lyle, Executive Director of Performing Arts Serving Acadiana (PASA) approached Denver’s Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, known for artivism (social justice art activism) in her research to help heal the community she serves. “The burning of the churches in St. Landry Parish compelled me to take some sort of action, which resulted in this an examination, from the stage, of acts of violence against houses of worship, reconciliation and redemption,” says Jacqueline Lyle, executive director of Performing Arts Serving Acadiana (PASA). “Thankfully, Cleo Parker Robinson and Adonis Rose, Artistic Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, accepted the challenge. Equally important, the pastors and congregations of St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church were willing to open their hearts to the artistic team.”
In June 2022, Cleo Parker Robinson (CPRD) and Adonis Rose (Grammy Award winning composer and Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra [NOJO]) visited St. Landry Parish with Winifred Harris, Associate Artistic Director of CPRD, Malik Robinson, CPRD Executive Director, and Micah Bursh, a new member to the CPRD Marketing Team who is native to the state and attended University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
The photos above were taken at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on June 14, 2022 as members of the community of all ages came to learn from Cleo Parker Robinson and Winifred Harris. Jackie Lyle and Cleo Parker Robinson sat with the community members to discuss the importance of “Sacred Spaces?”
Photo credit: Micah Bursh/CPRD
Beyond basic fact-finding, those visits began a deeper conversation with church members who lost their sacred spaces to a single arsonist (convicted; now in Federal prison). These conversations helped Parker Robinson and Rose develop a connection in understanding the 2019 loss and reflect on the Shorter AME church community’s loss in 1925. All of these physical, social, emotional, and spiritual elements will take shape in the music and performance of Sacred Spaces?.
The photos above are from the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance team’s trip to Louisiana between June 12th to June 14th of 2022. To get a piece of the anguish that the community of St. Landry Parish went through when an important part of their lives went up in flames, the CPRD team wanted to see the burned churches along with the progress made to rebuild, speak with the people who belonged to the congregation of the churches along with others community members that the fires affected, and perhaps feel a fraction of the pain they felt through their words and stories. The CPRD team including Cleo Parker Robinson, Winifred Harris, Malik Robinson, and Micah Bursh along with Adonis Rose, Artistic Director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Theodore Foster, Assistant Professor of History, and were able to have one-on-one and group conversations about the fires, the churches and the effect on the community.
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Artistic Director
Cleo Parker Robinson
“It’s about healing,” Cleo Parker Robinson, Founder and Artistic Director of CPRD, explains. “It’s extraordinary to think about, ‘how do people heal?’ We are all hurting, even if we didn’t come from that community … How do we, as a society, heal?” she posed. In describing the process of healing, acknowledgement is a significant factor. “We heal because people collectively wish it for you. And I think that’s what happens when we create something like this, and bring it to the audience,” she said.
To Read the FULL Essay published in the 2022 “Country Roads” Magazine, click here.
New Orleans Jazz Orchestra’s Artistic Director
Adonis Rose
For New Orleans Jazz Orchestra’s Artistic Director Adonis Rose—who has worked with some of jazz’s biggest names and performed on many of the world’s most prominent stages—Sacred Spaces? ventures into new territory. This is the first time the Grammy-award winning composer has written music for dancers—though he says it will not be his last. Rose describes his approach to the music as an effort to bring together elements of Louisiana, of spirituality, of the African American church, and of mourning. “I had to sit down and think about how I wanted to structure it to where it followed the narrative of the story,” he said. “So I started at the beginning, at the very beginning, and tried to put myself in the shoes of the guy who was burning the churches, and then also try to put myself in the position, emotionally, of the people of the congregations were when it was happening.”
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble is internationally esteemed as one of America’s foremost modern dance companies. Under the direction of Cleo Parker Robinson, the Ensemble performs a dynamic body of works inspired by the African American experience and rooted in ethnic and modern dance traditions worldwide. Legendary and emerging artists alike are drawn by the spirit of the company to create works that transcend the boundaries of culture, class and age while unequivocally communicating the complexity of the human condition. Seen by an estimated 2,000,000 fans throughout the United States and more than 40 countries on five continents, CPRDE continues to be a leader in dance innovation and the promotion of American dance heritage.
photo: Bamboula: Musician’s Brew, choreographed by Millicent Johnnie. Image: Jerry Metellus.
CPRD was founded in 1970 and became a 501(c)(3) Not-for-Profit organization in 1974, continuing to build upon its dance school and ensemble origins. For five decades, we have developed into an internationally esteemed organization that operates beyond the traditional performing arts model.
There are five pillars of the organization, namely, the CPRD Ensemble, Academy, Theatre, Education Programs and Art in Wellbeing. Working in concert, CPRD programs have created an oasis where a varied population—by gender, race, age and ethnicity—gather to study and appreciate a modern, cross-cultural approach to creative community development. Housed in the historic A.M.E. Shorter Church in Five Points, CPRD serves as a convener of community, art and dance.
For more information about CPR Dance, visit cleoparkerdance.org/
New Orleans Jazz Orchestra
The mission of our New Orleans Jazz Orchestra is to continue and strengthen the legacy of Jazz throughout local and global communities by providing access to unparalleled performances, creative gathering places, and authentic community engagement.
The nature of Jazz compels us to work in collaboration with our surroundings - to improvise when needs change and new opportunities arise. We are committed to using our assets to benefit individuals and groups in our community. Each year, we donate several hundred hours of rehearsal and event time for musicians and nonprofits. Jazz informs, influences, and inspires and we seek to do the same in our neighborhood. We leverage our assets to educate youth, foster musicianship and support local nonprofits.
The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra was formed in 2002 and was designed to celebrate and fortify the American Jazz portfolio while providing infrastructure for developing the New Orleans Jazz Industry.
Led by Artistic Director Adonis Rose, this 20-piece big band has an ever-increasing repertoire that exemplifies the influence of Jazz as the grandfather of all modern American music.
NOJO has headlined all of America’s major performing arts venues and clubs and produced the first local, ticketed Jazz Concert Series in the history of New Orleans.
Their October 2021 release, Petite Fleur, tells the beautiful love story between France and the City of New Orleans. Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and featured vocalist Cyrille Aimee come together to create a recording that exemplifies the cultural sophistication and collaboration between artists from different parts of the world sharing similar musical experiences. The album features classic songs "Petite Fleur," "Si Tu Savais," and "What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life," along with original compositions. This recording takes the listener on a musical journey filled with love, history, and inspiration.
For more information, please visit www.thenojo.com