The Conservatory's Spring Dance Concert 'Limitless' to Feature Modern Dance Works, Collaboration Between Legendary Artists Nona Hendryx and Hank Shocklee
Boston Conservatory at Berklee will present its spring dance concert, Limitless, from April 19 through 22 at Boston Conservatory Theater.
The concert will feature five diverse modern dance pieces performed by Conservatory students, including a collaborative project between pop icon Nona Hendryx, 2013 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and legendary music producer Hank Shocklee, and Conservatory hip-hop faculty member Duane Lee Holland Jr.
Limitless will also bring two masterworks to life, including Mark Morris’s Gloria, set to Vivaldi’s music performed live by Boston Conservatory’s orchestra and choruses, and Doug Varone’s Lux, a tour-de-force of athleticism set to music by Philip Glass. In addition to these masterworks and the collaborative piece between Hendryx, Shocklee, and Holland, students will perform Joe Chvala’s The Red Walls, a thunderous percussive dance piece, and a new work created for the concert by Darrell Moultrie, one of the most sought-after choreographers working today.
“Limitless is an exhilarating concert that celebrates the artistry of Boston Conservatory dancers,” said Tommy Neblett, interim dean of dance at the Conservatory. “This performance will feature our students in iconic masterworks by Doug Varone and Mark Morris, a new contemporary pointe piece by Darrell Moultrie, a new afrofuturistic multimedia dance piece by Nona Hendryx, Hank Shocklee, and Duane Lee Holland Jr., and a rhythmic tour-de-force by Joe Chvala."
A Rose Out of Concrete, a multimedia collaboration between Nona Hendryx, Hank Shocklee, Duane Lee Holland Jr., and Berklee professor Richard Boulanger, will premiere at the concert. Hendryx, who has served as Berklee’s ambassador for artistry in education since 2011, wrote the script for Conservatory dance students based on original poetry by Boston-area spoken word artist Soulflower. The piece will feature spoken word, singing, and multimedia along with hip-hop dance. Boulanger and his students have developed technology for the Limitless performance that will allow dancers to control lighting, video, and sound through their movements.
“It is always a pleasure to collaborate with students, especially in a creative space like Berklee,” said Hendryx. “This piece explores today’s cultural environment through various facets of art: dance, song, rap, technology, and video, all brought together through various collaborators at the Conservatory and the College.”
Berklee Visiting Scholar Shocklee, in his first collaboration on a modern dance piece, will produce the score with input from Berklee’s Music Production and Engineering Department. Both artists supervised the recording of the music for A Rose Out of Concrete at Berklee’s recording studio, PowerStation at BerkleeNYC, earlier this semester.
“This performance piece is an experiment in creative manipulation of sound, creative manipulation of body and creative manipulation of technology; it is a three-part movement through angst, healing and inspiration and a voyage through futurism,” said 2018 Grammy Hall of Fame honoree Shocklee.
Evening performances will take place April 19 through 21 at 8:00 p.m.; matinees will take place on April 21 and 22 at 2:00 p.m. All performances will be held at Boston Conservatory Theater, located at 31 Hemenway Street in Boston, Massachusetts.
Tickets for Limitless are $30 for premium seating; $25 for regular seating; $20–$25 for senior citizens, Conservatory alumni, and WGBH members; $15–$20 for students. Learn more.