Kelly Strayhorn brings West African and contemporary fusion to the summer stage
By Adrienne Totino, Pittsburgh Dance Examiner - July 11, 2011
In
the hot and humid haze of a Pittsburgh summer, the season of dance
slows down just like the rest of us. That is, aside from the
Kelly-Strayhorn Theater stage, where the East Liberty Summer Series
highlights contemporary, ballet and even West African dance styles.
This Friday, “transnational” contemporary and West African dance company, Baker and Tarpaga Dance Project, will grace the Pittsburgh dance scene with their latest work in progress, “Beautiful Struggle.”
The Co-Artistic Directors (and married couple) Esther Baker and Olivier Tarpaga,
base their company out of Columbus, Ohio and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
(West Africa). In 2009 the duo moved to Columbus from Los Angeles when
Baker took a teaching position at the Ohio State University Dance
Department.
In
the hot and humid haze of a Pittsburgh summer, the season of dance
slows down just like the rest of us. That is, aside from the
Kelly-Strayhorn Theater stage, where the East Liberty Summer Series
highlights contemporary, ballet and even West African dance styles.
This Friday, “transnational” contemporary and West African dance company, Baker and Tarpaga Dance Project, will grace the Pittsburgh dance scene with their latest work in progress, “Beautiful Struggle.”
The Co-Artistic Directors (and married couple) Esther Baker and Olivier Tarpaga,
base their company out of Columbus, Ohio and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
(West Africa). In 2009 the duo moved to Columbus from Los Angeles when
Baker took a teaching position at the Ohio State University Dance
Department.
Before meeting Olivier through a mutual friend in New York, Baker
discovered West African dance while studying French in Senegal.
“My interest was born out of the social dance scene, which is very
much integrated into everyday life in Africa...much more so than here in
America,” Baker says.
She goes on to explain that many contemporary dance festivals are
also emerging in Africa. “Contemporary has really evolved there over
the last 20 years.”
Her husband, Tarpaga, also has a background in both contemporary
and West African dance. Born in Burkina, he was selected at age
fourteen to join renowned company, Le Bourgeon du Burkina, as a dancer
and actor. And as a musician, he has also taught drumming since 1995.
Together, they formed their own company in 2004 after working
together on several different projects. Their visions aligned and they
have since performed throughout Africa, Asia, America, Europe and
Australia.
This Friday, they are bringing five performers to the KST - 3
dancers including Baker, and 2 musicians including Tarpaga, who may or
may not also dance.
Live music is a major element in their work. This show will
feature different instruments of Africa: The kora, a type of string
instrument; the calabash, a gourd-like instrument; a possible djembe
drum; and an acoustic guitar to be used in an African blues style.
As for the theme of the piece, a lot of their work researches the
identity of the performers they utilize. Mainly they focus on issues of
race, gender and nationality.
“Those themes become a source for creating movement,” Baker says.
“Then the movement may go away from that to form something cohesive and
physical.”
Having an interracial marriage and a daughter of mixed race, these
issues are of even greater importance to Baker. For example, in her
solo, she looks at the idea of white privilege. But then each dancer has
their own, different relationship to the subject matter.
The show runs this Friday, July 15th at 8:00 p.m with a pre-show
mixer at 7:00 p.m. Tickets cost between $5 and $20 and reflect a “Pay
What You Can” structure.
To purchase tickets to the show, click HERE.
