Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Ife: My Heart & Four Corners

Floor 3, Theater

Thursday, October 10 at 1 pm, 4 pm
Friday, October 11 at 4 pm, 7 pm
Saturday, October 12 at 1 pm*, 4 pm

*Audio description will be available for the performance on October 12 at 1 pm.

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Presented at part of Edges of Ailey, the mission of EVIDENCE is to promote understanding of the human experience in the African diaspora through dance and storytelling and to provide sensory connections to history and tradition through music, movement, and spoken word, leading deeper into issues of spirituality, community responsibility, and liberation.

Ronald K. Brown’s Ife: My Heart was built as the journey of three families traveling to one destination, the temple of God, a place where the heart was open. Originally choreographed for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2005, the work looks at the parallel journey of three traditions towards love or “ife” (loving one another the way God loves us). With costumes that reference the US, Cuba, and West Africa, the piece implores each of us to “release your heart” in response to the conflicts and conditions in the world and in our personal relationships.

Four Corners brings to life the vision of four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds, and trails the dancers as they embark upon a powerful and hope-filled journey of tribulation, devotion, and triumph. Four Corners was commissioned and performed by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2013.

Ife: My Heart
(2005)
Choreographer - Ronald K. Brown
Assistant to Choreographer - Arcell Cabuag
Music - Various artists
Original Lighting for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Brenda Gray
Lighting Re-creation: Tsubasa Kamei
Costume Design: Omotayo Wunmi Olaiya

“Prayer" Composed by Solomon G. Illori, "My House" (Poem) Written by Nikki Giovanni, "Tobi Ilu" Composed by James H. Bey (Chief Bey), "Ochun Dide" (afro bembe/DR) Composed by Ballet Folklorico Cutumba "Release" Composed by Ursula Rucker, Produced, arranged, mixed by Louie Vega.

Cast: Demetrius Burns, Shayla Alayre Caldwell, Stephanie Chronopoulos, Austin Warren Coats, Khalia Cambell, Gregory Hamilton, Isaiah K. Harvery, Shaylin Watson

Four Corners
(2103/2016)
Choreographer - Ronald K. Brown
Assistant to Choreographer - Arcell Cabuag
Music - Carl Hancock Rux, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Yacoub, Mixed by RKB 
Costumes - Omotayo Wunmi Olaiaya
Original Lighting for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Al Crawford
Lighting Re-creation: Tsubasa Kamei
Costume Design: Keiko Voltaire

...Beloved, you say your God, woman you're earth, lamentations born, you son...
Four Corners with blades and sheaths.....Stand Up.....

Cast: Demetrius Burns, Shayla Alayre Caldwell, Stephanie Chronopoulos, Austin Warren Coats, Khalia Cambell, Gregory Hamilton, Isaiah K. Harvery, Shaylin Watson

There will be a 10-minute intermission between programs.

Ronald K. Brown, raised in Brooklyn, NY, is the recent recipient of the Martha Hill Mid-Career Achievement Award (2024) and American Dance Guild Lifetime Achievement Award (2024). His other awards and recognitions include the Jacob's Pillow Dance Award (2020), as well as the Dance Magazine Award (2018) and Samuel H. Scripps/ADF Award (2018). He has also received an AUDELCO Award for his choreography in Regina Taylor's award-winning play Crowns, two Black Theater Alliance Awards, and a Fred & Adele Astaire Award for Outstanding Choreography in the Tony Award-winning Broadway and national touring production of The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, adapted by Suzan Lori Parks, arrangement by Diedre Murray and directed by Diane Paulus. “I hope that when people see the work, their spirits are lifted. I am interested in sharing perspectives through modern dance, theater and kinetic storytelling. I want my work to be evidence of these perspectives,” says Brown. 

Brown was named Def Dance Jam Workshop 2000 Mentor of the Year and has received the Doris Duke Artist Award, NYC City Center Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Choreographers Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, United States Artists Fellowship, a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award, and The Ailey Apex Award.

Ronald K. Brown is Co-Artistic Director of The Billie Holiday Theatre’s Youth Arts Academy, and a member of Stage Directors & Choreographers Society.

For more information on the company and dancers, please visit the EVIDENCE program.

Ife: My Heart was originally commissioned by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2005. 
Four Corners was originally commissioned by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2013.