The Slaughter Project at COCA March 23.24
The Slaughter Project, under the artistic direction of Cecil Slaughter, presents Ritual Bounty, an evening of dance depicting elements of human struggle and conquest. The Slaughter Project, celebrating its third year as one of St. Louis’ finest pick up companies, features a collective of 22 local dancers from diverse backgrounds.
The performances will feature ten works by six choreographers including four premieres.
Guest artists include Christine Knoblauch-O’Neal, dancer and senior lecturer in dance in the Performing Arts Department at Washington University, will be performing Courtesan, a solo by guest choreographer Jennifer Medina. The movement is drawn from the image of a captured bird.
Another guest choreographer, Diadie Bathily, artistic director for the St. Louis African dance company, Afriky Lolo, has re-staged his work Didadi, which means “Good as the honey.” Didadi is a dance of the Bamana people of Mali (west Africa) and is organized to celebrate the arrival of an important person.
Assistant Artistic Director Leah Jordan’s premier, Water before the Well, and Webster University graduate Lindsay Kelly’s Rising from the Ashes are both works that reflect the rebirth of the human spirit. Another Webster Graduate, Dianna Chadwick-Andrews, has choreographed Reaching the Summit, which draws upon her deep Southern roots.
Other works include Cecil Slaughter’s audience favorites Psychopomp and Pulse. He has also created three new premieres Quartet (set to the music of Vivaldi), Portraits (a meditation upon familial ties) and FOUR, an abstract work for four dancers that deal with the basic components of dance, time, weight, flow and space.
Slaughter is a lecturer in dance in the Performing Arts Department at Washington University and artistic director of the Washington University Dance Theatre.
Performances are 8 p.m. Friday, March 23 and Saturday, March 24 at COCA’s, City Founder’s Theatre. Ticket prices are $20 general admission, $14 for students and seniors, and are available through COCA box office and all MetroTix outlets. COCA is located at 524 Trinity Avenue, University City, MO. 63130
