Dance fights back with Dance Iquail’s 'Black Swan'

Are we ready to embrace diversity in ballet? Before premiering their newest work, Black Swan, at the Mandell Theater later this month, Dance Iquail tackled this question in a panel discussion entitled "Black Swan: Solidarity Beyond Colored Pointe Shoe,” held at the Riverside Theatre in New York on February 2nd. Led by Delores Brown, former member of the New York Negro Ballet (1957); historian Zita Allen; Karen Brown, former artistic director of the Oakland Ballet; and Andrea Long-Naidu, former dancer with New York City Ballet and Dance Theater of Harlem, the conversation brought awareness to issues of race and gender in dance. Moderated by Baraka Sele, arts consultant and former VP of Programming at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the session was part of Dance Iquail’s celebration of Black History Month.

Philadelphia’s own Iquail Shaheed serves as executive artistic director of Dance Iquail. Trained at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Philadanco, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Paul Taylor School, and Juilliard, among others, Shaheed received a BFA in Ballet Performance from the University of the Arts and an MFA from SUNY/Purchase. He has performed with Compagnie Thor in Brussels, Sean Curran, Ronald K. Brown, Fred Benjamin, and on Broadway in The Lion King, Purlie, and Hot Feet. As a teacher, Shaheed, also a Pew Grant recipient, specializes in the Horton technique and serves on faculty at the Ailey School, Steps on Broadway, and the Harlem School of the Arts. His guest teaching engagements have taken him to Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean, so how does he find time to choreograph and direct a 75-minute ballet?

He has no plans of slowing down soon. Shaheed’s upcoming project, Pushers, will examine issues of addiction in his West Philly hometown of Mantua. He will conduct workshops with community youth, and the project promises an artistic collaboration with playwright and MacArthur Fellow Tarell Alvin McCraney.

Shaheed, along with the company he created seven years ago, are committed to educating inner-city youth through the arts. By using dance as a platform for activism, Shaheed hopes to challenge the audience by confronting politically charged issues and promises that Black Swan will open a window into matters of race, identity, and isolation, with the help of music by artist/activist Nina Simone.

Black Swan, part of Dance Iquail’s Black History Month celebration, is coming to the Mandell Theater, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, February 27 at 7:30pm. The piece includes some nudity. Tickets are $15 and are available online, by calling 215-895-ARTS, or at the box office.