Town & Gown Arts will host the Cleo
Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble (CPRDE) for a three day residency in
Milledgeville January 27 through 29. The
thirteen company members will conduct lecture/demonstrations, master
classes and workshops for middle and high school students and for
students in the Georgia College & State University Dance minor
program. The residency will culminate with two events that are open
to the public on Friday, January 29. CPRDE will present a
mini-performance and lecture-demonstration at 10:00 am and a main
stage dance concert at 8:00 pm. Both events will be in Russell
Auditorium on the campus of Georgia College and State University.
Admission to the 10:00 am Lecture-Demonstration is $5.00. Tickets
for the evening performance are $10.00 for adults and $8.00 for
senior citizens and students (other than GCSU students). GCSU
students are admitted to both events with their university ID.
Tickets for groups of 12 or more are $6.00 each and must be
purchased by January 28th.
Cleo Parker
Robinson Dance Ensemble is one of the oldest and most awarded dance
companies in the United States. Cleo Parker Robinson is a native of
Denver and a graduate of Denver University in the field of dance
education and psychology. Robinson began teaching college level
dance at the age of fifteen and had started her own company by the
time she graduated from the university. Her most influential mentors
were Rita Berger, a former dancer with George Balanchine and soloist
at the Metropolitan Opera Company and the legendary choreographer
and humanitarian Katherine Dunham.
The
mission of CPRDE is to foster appreciation of and the development of
new audiences for dance. Robinson attempts to educate audiences
about the rich heritage and ancestral gifts on which this
predominately African American ensemble draws through a year-round
dance school, an international summer dance institute and through
national and international performances.
Robinson has collaborated with many people on diverse projects
ranging from operas (such as "Aida" and "Carmen") to commissions
with mentor Maya Angelou. She has been granted choreography
fellowships from the Colorado Council on the Arts, the National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the Lila Wallace Foundation.
Robinson was featured in the Gordon Parks
film "Run Sister Run". She serves as First Vice President of the
International Association of Blacks in Dance and is on the Denver
Center for the Performing Arts Board of Trustees.
The Cleo
Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble’s residency in Milledgeville is
sponsored by Allied Arts and Georgia College & State University’s
Arts Unlimited Committee. The project has been designated by the NEA
as an American Masterpieces project and is supported by the Southern
Arts Federation and the Georgia Council for the Arts. American
Masterpieces is a major initiative by the NEA to acquaint Americans
with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy.
According to
arts director Randy Cannon, “We are excited to have this company
return to Milledgeville to work and perform in the community and at
the university.”
