Baltimore’s Full Circle Dance Company is known for digging deeply into a single theme each year, bringing together diverse choreographers to explore the theme from multiple angles. In 2024, the theme is power. Full Circle’s year of creative work culminates in two performances of “From the Source of Our Power” on Sunday, November 3, at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
“What we love,” said Full Circle Dance Company Artistic Director Donna L. Jacobs, “is the richness of this topic. There are so many facets of power to explore. We are interested in how power works in our daily lives, how it has shaped history, and in the transcendent power of dance to impact our communities, our artists, and our audience.”
A highlight of the project is Jacobs’s creative collaboration with acclaimed indigo dyer and multi-disciplinary artist Kibibi Ajanku and composer/recording artist Jasmin “Jazzo” Walters. The resulting new work draws on the history of indigo, its connections to slavery, and its spiritual value within the African Diaspora and in Baltimore. An original score by Walters honors this history as well as the power of art to lift us, to connect us, and to make change. Eight dancers will perform Jacobs’s eclectic and deeply personal choreography, which blends multiple dance traditions to evoke a layered story. Ajanku’s original costume designs, each a work of art, will reflect her unique, historically and indigenously informed practice.
The show will include the premieres of several other new works commissioned by Full Circle Dance Company in 2024. Collaborations with local designers and musical artists will make “From the Source of Our Power” a true celebration of Baltimore-based interdisciplinary innovation.
Additional Works in “From the Source of Our Power,”
● “1868: Liberation and the Ever Lashing” by Hope B. Byers. Byers delves into the complex and often disregarded Reconstruction era when formerly enslaved Black Americans made extraordinary strides toward freedom and equality. Byers explores how the notion of a true interracial democracy gave rise to profound hope, simultaneously evoked violent resistance, and ultimately led to abandonment of this attempt to evolve as a nation. (November 3 premiere)
● “The Sleeves of Love” by Morgan Sledge celebrates the power of all kinds of love to improve our lives—as individuals, as communities, as a nation. This work features original costumes by local fashion designer Eryn Boggs. (November 3 premiere)
● “Birthrights” by Nicole Tucker-Smith, performed by a real-life mother and daughter, challenges us to discover power by defying limits imposed on us by others. (November 3 premiere)
● “The Ceiling,” created in response to the 2017 “Me Too” movement, addresses decades of women’s struggles in the workplace. This piece illustrates both the progress made in workplace equality and the significant challenges that remain. (2018)
● “The Embodied” by Travis Gatling explores the physical power of our diverse bodies to do amazing things. (2011)
Full Circle Dance Company Presents
From the Source of Our Power
Sunday, November 3 at 2:30 pm and
Sunday, November 3 at 6:30 pm
Baltimore Museum of Art
10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore MD 21218
Tickets: $25 general, $15 students
Information: fullcircledancecompany.org
Ticket purchase: https://www.onthestage.tickets/show/full-circle-dance-company