“Technically stunning and emotionally raw.” (Reggie Wilson) —New York Times Magazine

“Choreographers like Ouamba . . . refute any assigned third world identity, claiming their rightful place on stage as contemporary artists.” —The Dance Insider

Delving deeply into the vocal sounds, movement, and visual and emotional landscapes of African American and African culture, The Good Dance unearths strong connections between America’s Mississippi River delta and Central Africa’s Congo River basin. A landmark three-year collaboration, this Walker-commissioned world premiere links American dance/theater-maker Reggie Wilson and his Brooklyn-based Fist & Heel Performance Group with Congolese contemporary dance creator Andréya Ouamba and his award-winning Senegal-based Compagnie 1er Temps Danse. Receiving nearly universal critical acclaim in recent years, Wilson makes work that is “infectiously joyous . . . . . .

“Technically stunning and emotionally raw.” (Reggie Wilson) —New York Times Magazine

“Choreographers like Ouamba . . . refute any assigned third world identity, claiming their rightful place on stage as contemporary artists.” —The Dance Insider

Delving deeply into the vocal sounds, movement, and visual and emotional landscapes of African American and African culture, The Good Dance unearths strong connections between America’s Mississippi River delta and Central Africa’s Congo River basin. A landmark three-year collaboration, this Walker-commissioned world premiere links American dance/theater-maker Reggie Wilson and his Brooklyn-based Fist & Heel Performance Group with Congolese contemporary dance creator Andréya Ouamba and his award-winning Senegal-based Compagnie 1er Temps Danse. Receiving nearly universal critical acclaim in recent years, Wilson makes work that is “infectiously joyous . . . [where] the sacred and the secular inform each other, and dance and music become a single art based on pulse and breath” (Village Voice).

Commissioned by the Walker Art Center, MANCC, UCLA Live, the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, 651 Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, BAM, and Caldera Arts, with support provided by the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. This presentation is supported by the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts and the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest funded in part by the national Endowment for the Arts with additional contributions from Minnesota State Arts Board, General Mills Foundation, and Land O’Lakes Foundation. The Good Dance: Dakar/Brooklyn is a project of the Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium.

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