Aszure Barton & Ambrose Akinmusire: 
A a | a B : B E N D

Choreographer Aszure Barton and award-winning composer Ambrose Akinmusire, two visionaries in their fields, created multidisciplinary, multidimensional A a | a B : B E N D, a Northrop Centennial Commission. For this evening-length work, the dancers, Akinmusire, and members of the audience share space for the performance—with a choice of seating onstage (Price 1) or on the orchestra level (Prices 2 & 3) of the theater. Dance and music engage in an in-depth dialogue in B E N D, crafting an intimate yet wildly provocative world where dancers and musicians coexist on stage to embrace human friction, tension, and explosive beauty.

Akinmusire is a composer and trumpeter who circles both the center and periphery of jazz. For Barton as a choreographer, jazz offers the musical equivalent of her dance-making process, amplifying the exploration of a choreographic language that simultaneously respects and dismantles classical and contemporary forms. Her dances are an amalgam of authentic movement, modern and postmodern aesthetics, and less-centralized dance styles such as voguing and breaking. The convergence of these two distinguished artists creates a cosmic refuge for the senses, oscillating between up close and personal to vastly distanced and massive, full of puzzling beauty and raw, physical emotion.

Top image: Scene from A a | a B : B E N D. Photo © Fabian Hammerl.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.