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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Dance troupe offers
dramatization of Lincoln legacy<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT size=3>Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT
size=3>News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></I></P>
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align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT size=3>Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT size=3>This
preview appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Times </I>papers
1/7/10</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></I></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Abraham Lincoln's legacy
has been memorialized in marble and on Mount Rushmore.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His life has been chronicled in hundreds
of texts, in Mathew Brady’s photography and on film. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Now—at the close of the 16<SUP>th</SUP>
president’s bicentennial year—Lincoln is being celebrated in
dance.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>In a groundbreaking work
called “Fondly Do We Hope… Fervently Do We Pray,” critically acclaimed dance
artist Bill T. Jones and his 10-member, Harlem-based Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane
Dance Company reimagines a young Lincoln and attempts to stir complicated
emotions about his accomplishments as reflected in contemporary
times.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>At the heart of this performance piece,
which is making its local premiere at the Ohio Theater in PlayhouseSquare on
Saturday, January 30, is the question “are we the United States envisioned by
this great man?”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>“Fondly Do We Hope…
Fervently Do We Pray” is dance theater—an energetic configuration of modern
dance, dramatic recitation of poetry and prose, video presentation and an
original score that draws from European and American concert and folk
traditions.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>“Some people take umbrage
with the fact that dance does not seem to be the central mode of expression [in
contemporary America],” noted Mr. Jones in a recent interview on the PBS
television program <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Bill Moyers
Journal</I>. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“But I'm trying to
make this for an internet generation. I'm trying to make it for a generation of
people who are much more visual than they are in any way literary. So, yes,
dance.”<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>“Of all
that was done this year to remember Lincoln,” suggested commentator Bill Moyers
in his Christmas day broadcast, “the most imaginative, daring and provocative is
the extraordinary piece of dance and theater created by the choreographer Bill
T. Jones.”<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">LA Times </I>felt that a recent performance
of the work “</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>barely
avoids getting lost in its own effects -- as poetry by Walt Whitman, anonymous
spirituals and the sound of Lincoln's legendary ghost train merge with video
spectacle, moving scenery and surging group choreography.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>However, the production holds its focus
“through the talent and dedication of the performers plus Jones' powerful
conviction that it takes many stories and many sources to tell Americans who
they are and where they've been.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>The <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Chicago Tribune</I> noted that </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">“Fondly Do We Hope… Fervently Do We
Pray” is not perfect, but it “is not easy to dismiss or, for that matter, to
forget.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>The
production’s title comes from a phrase in Lincoln's second inaugural address,
spoken as the end of the Civil War was near and just two weeks before he was
assassinated. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Mr. Jones won a 2007 Tony
Award for his choreography in the hit musical “Spring Awakening,” which came
through Cleveland this past March.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>He is also the recipient of a 2007 Obie Award for his off-Broadway work,
a MacArthur Genius Award recipient and was recently named one of America’s
“Irreplaceable Dance Treasures” by the Dance Heritage Coalition.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>His dance company emerged
onto the international scene in 1983. It has since performed in over 200 cities
in 30 countries, and is widely recognized as one of the most innovative and
powerful forces in the modern dance world.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>After its Cleveland engagement, the troupe moves on to Italy and Israel.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Among the cast of dancers
is a Cleveland native, Antonio Brown, who began his dance training at the
Cleveland School of the Arts. A graduate of The Juilliard School, he joined the
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 2007.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Tickets for the
one-night, January 30 performance of “Fondly Do We Hope… Fervently Do We Pray,”
presented by DANCECleveland and Cuyahoga Community College, can be purchased at
216-241-6000 or </FONT><A href=""><FONT color=#0000ff
size=3>www.playhousesquare.com</FONT></A><FONT
size=3>.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
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