Atlanta Ballet moves audience into the future

  DBR, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and Amy Sweiwart

Art is a catalyst used to move society into the future often while expelling outdated ways of thinking.  Through the mediums of motion, music and word we are often transported to a different time or place making us think outside of our limited existence.  On May 13^th   at 7pm on The Alliance Stage of The Woodruff Arts Center, The Atlanta Ballet is using three art forms to strike up a conversation about the complexities of being a Black man living in Atlanta. The performance titled “Ignition” is an infusion of spoken word by Def Poetry Jam artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, dance choreographed by Amy Seiwert and the classical violin played by Daniel Bernard Roumain.

Set to the poem “Home in 7” by Joseph, “Ignition” is described as a conversation between the dancers, the violin and Joseph. Roumain says the act of bringing together talented artists requires open dialogue and the gift of harmony.

“We’re all very talented collaborators and that means being good at conceding and yielding,” Roumain says. “They all come together and there’s something really exciting and vital about it.”

The poem “Home in 7” is inspired by Joseph’s personal experiences while he attended Morehouse College. The piece explores themes such as Black history, baseball and even addresses environmental concerns. Joseph, like so many, views Atlanta as the new Mecca of African- American life. His words invoke images of the HBCU student who comes to learn and receives an education far beyond the classroom, the single mother living in poverty, southern belles and the Black millionaires who are a living testament of the struggle for civil rights.            

“I think of Atlanta as the African-American capital and African American cultural capital,” Joseph says. “The choreographer and I had several discussions about what was turning us on and it was a sense of being nomadic. It was a sense of not being able to locate ourselves and our home. It’s about me locating Atlanta as home, but what lies beneath.”

This isn’t the Atlanta Ballet’s first time combining dance with hip hop. In 2008, The Atlanta Ballet collaborated with hip-hop artist Big Boi, but according to John McFall, Atlanta Ballet Artistic Director, this is the first time the Ballet has presented a performance this empowering.

 “It’s about the community, it’s about now. It’s about the moment and engagement,” McFall says. “What we’re doing as artists is going out in the community and commenting on today and the future.”

According to Joseph it’s the responsibility of dance companies such as the Atlanta Ballet to move itself and its audience forward. Though the ballet began in 15th century Europe, both McFall and  Joseph  agree there’ s no better time than now to reintroduce the art form  to a rapidly evolving world.

“As African- Americans we are always on the aesthetic vanguard. We are always ahead,” Joseph says. “It is a response to a political and cultural shift.”

For more information or to purchase tickets go to http://www.atlantaballet.com/