For immediate release: March 10, 2017

CONTACT:Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/WriterHopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth Collegerebecca.a.bailey@dartmouth.edu603.646.3991

Tap meets the blues in roof-raising love fest, April 7 and 8

Photos by Christopher Duggan of The Blues Project: below, members of Dorrance Dance; page 2, Michelle Dorrance and Toshi Reagon.

HANOVER, NH—A joyous, onstage love fest between two great American art forms, The Blues Project comes to The Moore Theater of the Hopkins Center Friday and Saturday, April 7 and 8—a collaboration between all-tap Dorrance Dance, led by MacArthur “genius” dancer and choreographer Michelle Dorrance, and singer, songwriter and guitarist Toshi Reagon and her band BIGLovely.

Nine dancers and five musicians share the stage in a roof-raising tribute to tap dance and the blues through astonishing tap solos and dazzling complex ensemble pieces, all powered by Reagon’s husky-sweet vocals and her funky band.

Winner of a 2015 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production, The Blues Project is now touring the country—pushing the boundaries of tap with an uproarious sense of fun and

celebration. Wrote The New York Times, “With an ever-racing mind and big ambitions for her art form, Ms. Dorrance...has charged herself with heavy responsibilities: to put tap on the cultural map by bringing it back to the concert stage; to educate the world about it; and to choreograph.” Wrote the Washington Post, Dorrance "pays homage to tradition yet does things differently, and she does everything very, very well."

As for the music, wrote the Boston Globe, “It’s a little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’roll, yes, but also very funky and wonderfully kick ass.” Commented The New York Times, "Reagon's music envelops the dancing…through to the last chord and sometimes even beyond it."

The show features some of the best dancers in tap today, including Dorrance herself and her co-choreographers on this project, Derick K. Grant and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards. Dressed like teenagers mobbing a 1950s sock hop, the dancers merge tap with street, club and experimental dance as they weave, glide and leap in solo or group formations. Sonically, the tart, cascading rhythms of their feet lock in with BIGLovely’s powerhouse original tunes.

Dorrance grew up performing with the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble and went on to perform with STOMP, Savion Glover, Manhattan Tap, Jason Samuels Smith and more. Founding Dorrance Dance in 2011, of which she is the artistic director, she is a 2015 MacArthur Fellow, a 2014 Alpert Award Winner and a 2013 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award Winner, and she teaches and choreographs throughout the world.

Dorrance’s troupe includes stars of the dance world like Grant, a three-decade

tap veteran whose credits include serving as original cast member and dance captain for Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk and his own critically acclaimed show Imagine Tap!, as well as choreography for So You Think You Can Dance on FOX; and Sumbry-Edwards, who, in addition to having been pop star Michael Jackson’s tap coach for 11 years, has won top awards for featured performances with Jason Samuels Smith and Company

and the Broadway show After Midnight; plus dancers whose credits include Cirque du Soleil, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, Deutsche Oper Berlin, FOX’s The X Factor, and more.

Daughter of Sweet Honey in the Rock founder Bernice Johnson Reagon, Toshi Reagon was raised in a dynamic milieu of American music and activism and has been a performer in her own right for nearly 30 years. With a big-hearted, nothing-held-back approach to rock, blues, R&B, country, folk, spirituals and funk, she has “a love of mixing things up…[her] vocal style ranges from a dirty blues moan to a gospel shout to an

ethereal croon” (The New York Times). She has shared the stage with such notables as Lenny Kravitz, Nona Hendryx, Elvis Costello, Ani DiFranco, Dar Williams, Lizz Wright and Me’shell NdegéOcello as well as her mother and her godfather, the late folk singer and activist Pete Seeger.

A fan of Reagon’s music since discovering it at age 18, Dorrance says she wanted to work with Reagon “because she wields music the way I want to wield dance—by manifesting the spirit of the great American traditions.”

In addition to Reagon on vocals and acoustic guitar, BIGLovely is made up of Adam Widoff on electric guitar, Fred Cash on bass, Juliette Jones on violin and Allison Miller on drums and percussion.

Download Word.doc press release and high-resolution photos

CALENDAR LISTINGThe Blues Project, by Dorrance Dance with Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely, featuring Derick K. Grant and Dormeshia Sumbry-EdwardsMacArthur “genius” tap dancer/choreographer Michelle Dorrance leads her company in a roof-raising tribute to the indigenous American arts of tap and the blues. Blending street, club and experimental dance, the dancers weave, glide and leap in solo or group formations as they caress the ear with tart, cascading rhythms over Toshi Reagon’s husky-sweet vocals and funky original tunes, performed live onstage.Friday and Saturday, April 7 and 8, 8 pm The Moore Theater, Hopkins Center, Hanover NH$25-50, $10 for Dartmouth students, $17-19 for youthInformation: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422

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Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, igniting passions, and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with outreach and arts education programs. After a celebratory 50th-anniversary season in 2012-13, the Hop enters its second half-century with renewed passion for mentoring young artists, supporting the development of new work, and providing a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.