Skip to main content
Control Panel
20240502-nordic.museum.spectrum.dance-011 (1)

In-person

Spectrum Dance Theater presents DIALOGUE

Date

May 1-11, 2024

11:30 am - 12:00 pm

Admission

Members & Non-Members: Free (with Museum admission)

Performance is included with the price of Museum admission, which must be purchased separately. Please select from the available dates to RSVP. 

In collaboration with Spectrum Dance Theater (SDT), the National Nordic Museum is pleased to present an original performance choreographed by Spectrum's Artistic Director Donald Byrd, in response to Swedish jazz pianist Esbjörn Svensson's posthumously-released album Home.s. This original performance iinspired by the special exhibition Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century, on view through July 21. Performances will take place at the National Nordic Museum in Osberg Great Hall.

Performances feature Spectrum Dance Theater Company dancers Simon Adler, Natalie Allenton, Cody Krause, Katarina Lee, Isabella Smith, and Serene Wong with Guest Artist James Kirby Rogers.


About the performances:

Just as African American jazz artists were transformed by their experiences in and their immigration to the Nordic countries, Nordic music artists were also influenced and changed by the presences of Black Americans in their countries and by the uniquely African American music that is jazz. In this particular case, Donald is focused on the music of the influential Swedish jazz pianist Esbjörn Svensson, who died in a scuba diving accident in 2008, and his group E.S.T. The project is a choreographic response to his music, especially the posthumously released album, Home.S. The project, DIALOGUE, is an African American choreographer’s response to a white European musician responding to an African American music form: a conversation, if you will.

About Spectrum Dance Theater:

Spectrum Dance Theater (SDT) was founded in 1982 to bring dance of the highest merit to a diverse audience composed of people from different social, cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Their principal objective is to make the art form of dance accessible through contemporary dance performances and high-quality training in a variety of dance styles.

Under Donald Byrd’s visionary artistic leadership since 2002, the organization has embarked on an exhilarating transformation that has attracted world-class dancers, produced some of the most ambitious works in contemporary dance, and generated local and national praise.

About the Choreographer

  • Donald Byrd

    Donald Byrd

    Donald Byrd has been Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater since December 2002. He is a Tony-nominated (The Color Purple) and Bessie Award-winning (The Minstrel Show) choreographer.

    Bio

In Partnership With

Sponsors


Level Two Sponsors

  • In Memory of James De Coursey
  • Laurie Black Tier 1_155 px