Join us in our 54th season at The Ellie Caulkins Opera House! The Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble presents “Black Orpheus” encompassing the richly diverse aspects of Brazilian culture through three distinctive works as well as music by Balé do Folklorico from Bahia Brazil.
“My Bahia” is a choreographic prayer was created by Cleo Parker Robinson to honor Marceline Freeman, who, for over 35 years, was her dancer, CPRD Rehearsal Director, friend, and spirit sister. It was Ms. Freeman’s dream to travel to Bahia, Brazil to teach, study, and connect with the spiritual roots of Afro-Brazilian culture. In 2002, that dream came true. This work is accompanied by traditional Brazilian music and compositions by the famous Babatunde Olantunji.
“Divinities’ reveals the power of the Orixas, the African Yoruba deities whose spiritual influence is felt throughout Brazil. Wise and protective – or jealous and mischievous? These gods and goddesses are as complex as the humans they watch over!
“Orfeo Negro” follows the journey of love and passion that leads Orfeo into the depths of the Spirit World in search of his beloved Eurydice. Will he be permitted to lead her back into the light, or will he remain with her forever, united in Death? The timeless myth told with a uniquely Brazilian perspective!
September 14 & 15 at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Tickets range from $25 to $130.
We are blessed and grateful to share with you comments by Retired CU Denver Cultural Studies Professor Rachel Elizabeth Harding about our upcoming Fall Concert, Black Orpheus—and the work Divinities. Professor Harding’s international expertise is both academic and personal as a teacher, author of a book and numerous articles about Candomblé and Afro-Brazilian history, and as an initiate of Candomblé—a religion of dance.
Fresh from an interview at CRPD offices August 21, Professor Harding shares how Divinities’ choreographer Carlos Dos Santos expresses the character of the Orixás (also spelled Orishas) in dance movements. However, Dos Santos respectively stylizes those movements to distinguish them from the precision of their ritual—separating the art of their mythology from current religious practices across Caribbean and Latin American cultures and countries. Watch the CPRD Ensemble in rehearsal, and find some of the Orixás in motion before you meet them on stage at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on September 14 and 15!
Professor Harding shares a sobering piece of history along with the impressive resilience and creativity of West Africans of Yoruba culture: more than 4 million survived the Middle Passage throughout several centuries of capture and enslavement in Brazil. That country received the largest number of enslaved Africans in North and South America. Candomblé remained a sacred space in the spirits and souls of African identity. They blended the religion of home with the rituals of Catholicism as required by the ruling classes in Brazil. Saints and Orixás are fused into a new identity so enslaved people could observe their religion without fear of punishment.
Professor Harding’s book:A Refuge in Thunder: Candomblé and Alternative Spaces of Blackness, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000
“Black Orpheus brought the ancient world to the New World and transformed it. It connected us through mythology and respected our spirituality. Through the music and movement this story invokes the ancestors as an intrinsic force, imbedded in the character’s daily world.”
—Tony Garcia, Executive Artistic Director, Su Teatro
The Ellie Caulkins Opera House, known simply as “The Ellie,” is a world-class hall designed in the lyric style with acoustical excellence, state-of-the-art technical support, and clean sight lines (seating capacity: 2,200). With many renovations since its original opening in 1908, The Ellie invites top artists, performers and ensembles from around the world, and its lobby is adorned with public art pieces from artists like Dale Chihuly.
General tickets range from $25-$130.
Elders/Senior tickets begin at $25
Students with valid I.D. can access certain seats for $25
For ticketing support through AXS, contact denversupport@axs.com or call 1-888-929-7849