Ephrat Asherie Dancers Visiting Lenfest Center
Washington and Lee University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts welcomes Ephrat Asherie Dance’s “Underscored,” a journey through the vibrant eras of New York City’s underground club scene, on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the Keller Theatre. There will be an onstage Q&A with Ephrat and the dancers directly following the performance.
Joined by special guest artists from New York City’s underground scene, the Ephrat Asherie Dance Company (EAD), created and perform “Underscored” as an intergenerational tribute to the dynamic landscape of New York’s music and dance scenes. With cast ages ranging from 28 to 80, the piece brings memory to life through the narrative qualities of street, club and social dances. Highlighting African American and Latinx street and social styles like breaking, hip-hop, house, vogue, waacking and hustle, dancers explore movement as a medium of storytelling and a powerful mode of expression.
Choreographer and dancer Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie said, “The house dance community in NYC represents the beauty and strength that emerges when the collective consciousness celebrates each individual as their own special creation.”
Accompanying the dance company on stage are three NYC club legends — Archie Burnett, Brahms “Bravo” LaFortune and Michele Saunders — turning “Underscored” into a living archive of five generations of NYC club dancers.
Choreographer Asherie is a recipient of a 2016 Bessie Award for Innovative Achievement in Dance and, as the New York Times writes, “[Asherie’s] movement phrases-compact bursts of choreography with rapidfire changes in rhythm and gestural articulation - bubble up and dissipate, quickly paving the way for something new.”
In addition to their full performance, the cast of “Underscored” will host two dance master classes, one with W&L Dance and one with The Rockbridge Ballet. Further, the group will be highlighted at a “Club” theme dinner hour at The Marketplace on Oct. 21 in Elrod Commons.
Tickets are required for the Oct. 23 performance. Prices are $35 for the general public; $32 for seniors; $29 for W&L faculty and staff; and $8 for students. Online ticket sales are available at https://my.wlu.edu/ lenfest-center/ephrat-asherie-dancecompany.
The box office is open for in-person sales Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is accessible only when undergraduate classes are in session. Patrons can contact the box office by calling (540) 458-8000 or sending an email to [email protected].
The performance is sponsored in part by Class of ‘64 Performing Arts Fund
