
I attended my 3rd event of the season with the New World Symphony on Sunday, January 26, this was my 2nd event as an audience member at the New World Center location on Miami Beach. I headed to the performance after listening to the enlightening, hopeful, and cathartic sermon by Pastor Arthur Jackson III at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Miami Gardens. His sermon was titled “Shining in His Glory” where he encouraged us to “be the light in darkness.” My spirit was filled and ready to receive more light, energy, and positivity.
Pastor Jackson stated, “we are living in dark times”; this current administration reveals this truth daily so, it was nice to take a reprieve from the calamity and chaos to feel the calming power of music and dance. As I listened to the first piece, Suite for Cello and Chamber Winds (2015) by Chinese composer Chen Yi, featuring the selections Lusheng Ensemble, Echoes of Set Bells, Romance of Hsiao and Ch’in, and Flowers Drums in Dance, my body relaxed, melting into the chair as if I were laying on the floor in X position in my stretch and core class. I allowed the weight of my body (and the world) to collapse (briefly).
The second selection was the multimedia production, Prohibido: Scenes from an Imaginary Ballet (2024), choreographed by Ariel Rose, commissioned by the New World Symphony, and performed by Lucy Nevin and Alexander Kaden of Miami City Ballet. This featured work is included in the “Resonance of Remembrance,” series which commemorates the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II and the Holocaust*. The premise of the program is rooted in the “war, despair, suffering, and destruction” that has ravaged communities, cultures, racial, ethnic, and religious groups globally. The more poignant message is centered on the repeating of these atrocities, which are evidenced in real time today. Sadly, we are (re) living this perilous history. The program (music and dance) encourages us to “consider war’s lessons of conflict and peace, totalitarianism, and resilience, allowing us to heed these warnings…” ** and the importance of rejecting and resisting hate to manifest and build a future filled with love, peace, hope, and humanity.
The dancing reminded me of Merce Cunningham’s Points in Space (1987) with its simplistic and repetitious carvings, shaping, and partnering (balance and counterbalance) phrases as well as Alonzo King LINES Ballet with their beautiful lines, virtuosic extensions, and technical prowess. The performance included images projected on the screen in the upper level of the theatrical space so, if engaging with the Laban Movement Analysis rubric, one could argue that this performance included multiple levels, medium, high, and ultra-high, with the negative space offering a rich context, supporting the dancer’s narrative. The multiple/poly foci inclusive of image projections, dancers, musicians, and text drew the audience in deeper and deeper into their enigma of storytelling.
The duet began with the dancers entering both ends of the stage. Lucy’s hair was pulled back into a traditional ballet bun, and she wore pointe shoes, possibly depicting conformity, constriction, and containment. They both wore unitards, Lucy in yellow and Alexander in brown/black. The musicians uttered various phrases as they transitioned from section to section of the musical accompaniment. At one point, I heard them say, either “you have the right to be who you want to be,” “live how you want to live,” or “love who you want to love,” something to that effect. I instantly thought about all the civil rights and equity laws that are being stripped away.
In the second section of the piece, Lucy reentered with her hair in a hanging ponytail, this time she wore ballet slippers. Then, in the last section, she released her hair and they both took off their ballet shoes which at one point were illuminated with a spotlight down stage. One could surmise, that they were releasing certain elements that were oppressing them and were finally able to capture some element of freedom and liberty. Most of the dance moved at a Butoh-esque pace but there was a section in the musical score that was upbeat, rhythmic, and tension filled. I felt my body moving, desiring to see the dancers match the rhythmic patterns, accenting, and playing with the frenetic measures that I translated to be some sort of fighting and resistance.
Though this is a contemporary ballet/classic musical piece, I am reminded of African Diasporic scholar Thomas Prestø’s, term “Rhythmokinetic Accenting,” which is rooted in “…linguistic prosody, [which] features…pitch, stress, rhythm, tempo, volume, tone, inflection, and duration [which] give[s] rise to speech patterns, allowing the listener to recognize accents, dialects, and regional variations.”*** This certainly is applicable to the dancing body. Caribbean dance practitioner Kieron Sergeant has built a pedagogical methodology, coined “Accenting Dance” on this ideology, which asks the body to include, engage with, and translate the “rhythmic complexities” demonstrated in the music.
The last two musical performances were Pizziquitiplas (1988-1989) composed by Paul Desenne and Trio No. 1 in Major for Violin, Cello and Piano (1854) by Johannes Brahms. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I was even interviewed by the Alexa Roxelin, Social Media Manager at the New World Symphony****.
*This information is featured in a program note.
** This information is featured in a program note.
*** Sargeant, K. D. (2025). Accenting Dance: A Pedagogical Approach to Caribbean Dance. Dance Chronicle, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/01472526.2024.2436746
****The video appears on my Instagram Page (@caridance100
Pastor Jackson stated, “we are living in dark times”; this current administration reveals this truth daily so, it was nice to take a reprieve from the calamity and chaos to feel the calming power of music and dance. As I listened to the first piece, Suite for Cello and Chamber Winds (2015) by Chinese composer Chen Yi, featuring the selections Lusheng Ensemble, Echoes of Set Bells, Romance of Hsiao and Ch’in, and Flowers Drums in Dance, my body relaxed, melting into the chair as if I were laying on the floor in X position in my stretch and core class. I allowed the weight of my body (and the world) to collapse (briefly).
The second selection was the multimedia production, Prohibido: Scenes from an Imaginary Ballet (2024), choreographed by Ariel Rose, commissioned by the New World Symphony, and performed by Lucy Nevin and Alexander Kaden of Miami City Ballet. This featured work is included in the “Resonance of Remembrance,” series which commemorates the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II and the Holocaust*. The premise of the program is rooted in the “war, despair, suffering, and destruction” that has ravaged communities, cultures, racial, ethnic, and religious groups globally. The more poignant message is centered on the repeating of these atrocities, which are evidenced in real time today. Sadly, we are (re) living this perilous history. The program (music and dance) encourages us to “consider war’s lessons of conflict and peace, totalitarianism, and resilience, allowing us to heed these warnings…” ** and the importance of rejecting and resisting hate to manifest and build a future filled with love, peace, hope, and humanity.
The dancing reminded me of Merce Cunningham’s Points in Space (1987) with its simplistic and repetitious carvings, shaping, and partnering (balance and counterbalance) phrases as well as Alonzo King LINES Ballet with their beautiful lines, virtuosic extensions, and technical prowess. The performance included images projected on the screen in the upper level of the theatrical space so, if engaging with the Laban Movement Analysis rubric, one could argue that this performance included multiple levels, medium, high, and ultra-high, with the negative space offering a rich context, supporting the dancer’s narrative. The multiple/poly foci inclusive of image projections, dancers, musicians, and text drew the audience in deeper and deeper into their enigma of storytelling.
The duet began with the dancers entering both ends of the stage. Lucy’s hair was pulled back into a traditional ballet bun, and she wore pointe shoes, possibly depicting conformity, constriction, and containment. They both wore unitards, Lucy in yellow and Alexander in brown/black. The musicians uttered various phrases as they transitioned from section to section of the musical accompaniment. At one point, I heard them say, either “you have the right to be who you want to be,” “live how you want to live,” or “love who you want to love,” something to that effect. I instantly thought about all the civil rights and equity laws that are being stripped away.
In the second section of the piece, Lucy reentered with her hair in a hanging ponytail, this time she wore ballet slippers. Then, in the last section, she released her hair and they both took off their ballet shoes which at one point were illuminated with a spotlight down stage. One could surmise, that they were releasing certain elements that were oppressing them and were finally able to capture some element of freedom and liberty. Most of the dance moved at a Butoh-esque pace but there was a section in the musical score that was upbeat, rhythmic, and tension filled. I felt my body moving, desiring to see the dancers match the rhythmic patterns, accenting, and playing with the frenetic measures that I translated to be some sort of fighting and resistance.
Though this is a contemporary ballet/classic musical piece, I am reminded of African Diasporic scholar Thomas Prestø’s, term “Rhythmokinetic Accenting,” which is rooted in “…linguistic prosody, [which] features…pitch, stress, rhythm, tempo, volume, tone, inflection, and duration [which] give[s] rise to speech patterns, allowing the listener to recognize accents, dialects, and regional variations.”*** This certainly is applicable to the dancing body. Caribbean dance practitioner Kieron Sergeant has built a pedagogical methodology, coined “Accenting Dance” on this ideology, which asks the body to include, engage with, and translate the “rhythmic complexities” demonstrated in the music.
The last two musical performances were Pizziquitiplas (1988-1989) composed by Paul Desenne and Trio No. 1 in Major for Violin, Cello and Piano (1854) by Johannes Brahms. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I was even interviewed by the Alexa Roxelin, Social Media Manager at the New World Symphony****.
*This information is featured in a program note.
** This information is featured in a program note.
*** Sargeant, K. D. (2025). Accenting Dance: A Pedagogical Approach to Caribbean Dance. Dance Chronicle, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/01472526.2024.2436746
****The video appears on my Instagram Page (@caridance100