PHILADANCO PERFORMANCE REVIVES MASTERWORK

Internationally acclaimed dance company Philadanco, Bryn Mawr College and the Philadelphia Dance Collection at Temple University will present a landmark restaging of Talley Beatty's Southern Landscape on Friday, Sept. 30, at 8 p.m. in Goodhart Theater. The 1947 masterwork chronicles the suffering and joy of emancipated slaves during the Reconstruction. Included in its five dance vignettes is the powerful solo "The Mourner's Bench," which has become a modern dance classic on its own. The performance will cap a week of activities centered on Beatty, including a lecture and a master dance class.

The event is part of the College's yearlong Performing Arts Series, featuring some of this country's finest performance artists and musicians. Tickets to individual events in the series are $15 for the general public, $12.50 for seniors and Bryn Mawr faculty and staff, and $5 for Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore College students. Subscription packages offer discounts, mix-and-match ticket flexibility and priority seating. For tickets, call the Office for the Arts at 610-526-5210.

Beatty, a pioneering African-American dancer and choreographer who died in 1999, had a longstanding relationship with Philadanco, during which time the company performed various parts of his Southern Landscape. This restaging of the work will be the first time it will be performed locally by the dancers in its entirety, according to Bryn Mawr College's Director of Dance Linda Caruso Haviland.

From its founding in 1970 as a community-based performing company, Philadanco (The Philadelphia Dance Company) has developed into one of America's most respected dance ensembles. For 35 years, the company has traveled throughout the United States and abroad, performing as many as 50 concerts annually to sold-out audiences. Dance Magazine says, "Philadanco's dancers are a miracle of skill and energy. They work in a range of idioms most companies don't even try to possess."

Philadanco has been featured with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra and other world-renowned artists and has performed at the Lincoln and Kennedy Centers, the American Dance Festival and venues throughout Europe.

Philadanco's appearance at Bryn Mawr culminates a week of public activities celebrating the life and work of Beatty:

• Lecture with visuals on the life and work of Talley Beatty by John O. Perpener III, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m., Music Room, Goodhart, Bryn Mawr College (free admission).

• Placing Dance in New Communities: Preserving the Talley Beatty — Philadanco Legacy, an exhibit/performance, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 3 p.m., Paley Library Lobby, Temple University. Reception to follow in the Paley Library Lecture Hall.

• Master class for intermediate to advanced dancers, Thursday, Sept. 29, 4 p.m., Pembroke Studio, Bryn Mawr College. Free and open to the public; call 610-526-5208 to reserve a space.

These events celebrating Beatty were made possible through a Dance Advance grant funded through the Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by the University of the Arts. This project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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