Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / July 30, 2015, edition 1 / Page 69
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1 i a ' 2 A I i Andrea M E. Woods * Valdes The women of "The Amazing Adventures of Grace May B. Brown." | The Amazing Adventures of ' Grace May B. Brown Benton Convention Center - North Main Hall Thurs, Aug. 6 8 p.m. Fri, Aug. 7 3 p.m. Sat. Aug. 8 3 p.m. $20 u I | /he Amazing Adventures of Grace May B. Brown" has been dubbed I "performed folklore" by the woman who created it - Andrea E. Woods JL Valdes. Dance, music, song and narration are employed to tell the story of Grace May, who journeys through time and space, sharing life-affirming experiences and learning lessons from her ancestors, friends and sheroes. Graces amazing adventures are artistically recounted by her sidekicks - Mercy, Indeed, Um Hm and Well - and vocally shared by Nanadwoa and Sister Seychelles, the storyteller to whom Grace entrusts with her memories and her magic. This engaging dance theater production is choreographed, directed and written by Woods Valdes, an internationally acclaimed performer and associate professor of dance at Duke University. She is one of the dancing stars of the show, as are Jessica Burroughs, Chanelle Croxton, Aya Shabu and Kara M. Simpson. Dorothy N. Clark provides the narration. Also helping to make the magic are musicians/composers Shana Tucker and Julia Price, costume designer Pamela Bond, lighting designer Kathy Perkins and Heather A. Williams, whose beautiful quilts are incorporated into the dancers' moves. The acclaimed production is being presented by the Durham, N.C.-based Andrea E. Woods & Dancers and SOULOWORKS, which Woods Valdes created to perform and teach dance in the African-American community via colleges, universities, theaters, schools, places of worship or community centers and through national and international concerts and events. SOULOWORKS' performances have been presented throughout the country and internationally in places like Russia and Poland. A native of Philadelphia, Woods Valdes is a magna cum laude graduate of Adelphi University; she also and holds an MFA in dance technology from The Ohio State University and a Master of Arts in Humanities in Caribbean Cultural Studies from SUNY Buffalo, She has danced with notables like Clive Thompson, Leni Wylliams and Saeko Icinohe. From 1989 to 1995, she was a dancer and rehearsal director with the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Co. She has been a guest faculty member and choreographer at Medgar Evers College, Howard University, Ohio University, Rhode Island College, California State University Long Beach, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (in Winston-Salem), Hollins University, Spelman College and Goucher College. From 2002-2007, she taught modern dance and dance for the camera as an adjunct at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Woods Valdes has received grants from the Jerome Foundation, (NEFA) the National Dance Project, the National Performance Network and Arts International and her work and research have taken her abroad to France, Taiwan,. Russia, Senegal, Morocco, Korea, Poland, Singapore, Belize and Cuba. ? < (//efi ^ee ffUuj/ies o > t y m 3 Allen Lee Hughes, an associate professor in NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, is a legend in his field - stage lighting design. A winner of the USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology Inc.) Distinguished Achievement Award and two Helen Hayes Awards, Hughes designed for more than 60 productions at Washington's Arena Stage, where the Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship & Internship Program has been established in his honor. The program's mission is to "cultivate the next generation of theater professionals by providing the highest standard of training through immersion in the art and business of producing theater." Hughes earned a Tony nomination and won Outer Critics Circle and Joseph Maharam awards for "K2." He has also been nominated for Tonys for "Once on This Island" and "Strange Interlude." His other Broadway credits include "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," "Clybourne Park," "Having Our Say" and "Mule Bone."
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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July 30, 2015, edition 1
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