Well, it’s spring in Dallas! We only had two brief touches of winter; the last few months have been unseasonably warm and dry, with brush fires and fire warnings. And then, the next thing you know, the branches are budding! Now it’s clear to everyone that winter didn’t meet the calendar this year.
During the time that the South Dallas Cultural Center is being renovated, Beckles Dancing Company (BDC / Dancing is our middle name!) is being hosted by Etta’s Dance Expression in Oak Cliff. We thank Etta Piper Jamison for her support and generosity.
But, at the same time, we are looking forward to our renovated home at the Center. Hopefully, the next time you hear from me, I will be able to say we had moved back in!
As you will see below, we have a busy season ahead. I do hope you will come and see us. I thank you for your continued support; it is always more than welcome. We thank you for being a vital component in the flow of art. Feel free to send your responses to me at: Moves! P.O. Box 132865, Dallas, TX. 75313. 214-559-3993, arganovadance_21c@yahoo.com
In the spirit,

Loris

BDC’s next performance will be on 7 April, Friday at 8:00 pm in Kurth Hall at the Sammons Center for the Arts. Our guests will be KUMAASI African Ensemble, Lisbon Elementary School “Character Counts” Dance Company, and New York Baroque Dance Company. The performance will be followed by an informal reception / mix and mingle … The company will be a part of the South Dallas Dance Showcase in Dance for the Planet. The event happens on 29 & 30 April, Sat and Sun 12:00-6:00 in the new Annette Strauss Artist Square location in Samnuell Grand Park. The showcase is slated for Sunday afternoon … On Saturday, 6 May, BDC will be at the Nasher Sculpture Center in downtown Dallas. The company will appear in two half and hour performances that afternoon … Also in May, on the 11 & 12, BDC will be guests of Momentum Dance Company. Among the works being premiered at that time will be a work by Loris for six members of the Momentum company … On 18 May, BDC will perform for the Lancaster High School community … In June, the company will appear in the Black Dance Festival in Houston and the Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth Dance Exchange: A Choreographers Showcase. Please check our website for further details: www.BecklesDancingCompany.org

In December 2005, BDC performed in The NOTcracker with other groups in the Barefoot Brigade at the Dallas Museum of Art in the atrium café. It was a great chance to reach a new audience, and they showed up in great numbers for that space ... In February 2006, our fundraising letter was sent out and continues to be successful. Thanks to all who contributed to it, and all those who contributed because of it. Please note that we will continue to accept contributions at any time … Later in February the company danced in the fifth annual Barefoot Brigade Dance Festival. BDC is a core member of this Modern Dance coalition (of professionals and enthusiasts). In addition to a group work, Tina Mullone-Carter did Ear Training, a solo for her by Loris.

When it comes to survival, one has to balance what ‘they say’ vs. what will work for the individual. One also has to weigh medical and spiritual information. Everybody has an opinion, including oneself! But an impacted person has to look and act beyond all that.

As a first year post baccalaureate student at the University of Texas at Dallas, I consider myself to have recently encountered an experience that requires an embrace beyond what I can currently offer. Deciding to sign up for the Performance Innovations class, offered through the Department of Humanities and Aesthetic Studies at the UTD campus and taught by Professor Venus Opal Reese, was the second best decision I have made in my graduate career (the first being my wary decision to transfer to a largely science and math university for an artistic venture). PIR, as it is more commonly called, seeks to bring a noted practicing artist of African American ancestry to create a new artistic work at UTD. This year the noted scholar would be none other than Thomas De Frantz. De Frantz came to us from the prestigious MIT, and is the author of Dancing Revelations: Alvin Ailey's Embodiment of African Culture and the creator of Monk's Mood: A Performance on the Life and Music of Thelonious Monk, a solo piece that combines tap, technology, and jazz. All that to say, he isn’t just teaching classes or sitting in his office grading papers!
According to DeFrantz, The House Music Project [the work we created], would explore “technological shifts that pushed black music into the electronic age.” MIT graduates Eto Oro and James Tolbert also participated in the project. Also African American practicing artists, Oro designed a mixed media archive of house music documentation in text, break beats, photographs and prepared video, and Tolbert created a computer engine that generated sounds based on the movement of the performers on stage. As an African American performer with an undergraduate degree from a small, predominately white university in Nowhere, Texas, being surrounded by such amazing African American artist in the context of sharing the history of a black aesthetic, in this case House Music, was, for lack of a better word, invigorating. Performing on stage and making relationships with African American artists from various locations in the United States means more than I can currently communicate, and has expanded my mind to possibilities I never imagined only a month ago. DeFrantz also participated in a number of free community outreach activities, teaching classes at St Phillips Community Center, Richland College, UTD, and The African American Museum in Fair Park. His involvement has opened topics not previously discussed on Race and Black Art and Culture in the city of Dallas, and has forced UTD to be involved in that connection.
As a dancer, I have participated in residencies with guest artists and performers alike, but I have never had such an experience as this. DeFrantz illuminated warmth and openness, and our relationship became reminiscent of an old friendship. I then began to see this project as not only the creation of a new artistic work within the black aesthetic, but also brought to my attention a sense of responsibility to my community. Success in the world means nothing if your community cannot rejoice with you. Success in the world means nothing if your community is disconnected from their artistic roots. We as black scholars and artists in our respective fields have a responsibility to one another to educate, research, create, perform, and establish new opportunities and processes so that we may provide and create new bridges into old communities.

Sponsors of the third annual SDDF included the South Dallas Cultural Center / City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, James and Gayle Halperin, and the Star System that supports the work of ARGA NOVA DANCE. We also acknowledge the volunteer coordinator Shinea C. Wright. This year the board has become more active in making the shows happen successfully. Thanks to you all!

ARGA NOVA DANCE - Dedicated to the future of Human Artistic Expression in its myriad manifestations, with emphasis on dance, dancing, related arts and issues. Our work is also dedicated to the memory of the founder of Nova Dancing Company, André R. George (1963-1996).

Shinea C. Wright, President
Loris Anthony Beckles
Deborah A. Espie
Solomon Espie
Louis W. Henry
M. Mercedes Jaramillo-Mc Curley
Kamyar P. Kadivar
Michael Mc Curley
Lou Propst
Mary Lois Sweatt

Vicki Meek
Karen Bower Robinson
Amanda Stone

Moves! the newsletter of the membership of ARGA, is a forum for the exchange of ideas, concerns, reports, etc. As such, M! welcomes members to submit articles, poetry, recipes, commentary, letters, etc., which are relative to Dance and Related Arts and Issues. Subscriptions …... $10.00 [4 issues]