Join the National Center for Choreography – Akron at the Summit County Historical Society’s John Brown House for “Embarqued: Stories of Soil” by choreographer Stefanie Batten Bland (New York, NY).

This work, designed for the stage and reimagined in Akron as a gallery installation, is an oral, visual, and physical history of slave ships that pushes the boundaries of the African-American dance-theatre genre. It is an excavation of self and country, created with cloths, skin tones, ship masts and moving bodies.

The installation will run from July 15 – September 3, 2022. On Thursday, July 14, 2022 at 5:30pm, join us for the special opening event. Masks are required; refreshments will be provided.

This event is presented in partnership with the Summit County Historical Society of Akron, OH with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jerome Robbins awardee Stefanie Batten Bland (New York) is an interdisciplinary global artist who interrogates contemporary and historical culture, she situates her work at the intersection of dance-theatre and site-sympathetic installation. She is 2020 commissioned artist by Baryshnikov Arts Center, Duke Performances, Oxford University, and 2019 fellow at Center for Ballet Arts at NYU, Batten Bland is also currently a choreographer for American Ballet Theatre’s inaugural Women’s Movement Initiative. She created Company SBB in Paris in 2008 and established it in New York City in 2011, when she was in residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center and began her current residence at University Settlement. Regularly produced by LaMama Experimental Theater, she premiered her latest live work “Look Who’s Coming To Dinner” at LaMama in fall 2019 for FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival. https://www.companysbb.org