Kelly Strayhorn Theater presents East Liberty LIVE!, a series of vibrant summer programs that engage and energize the community. Kicking off with FULL BLOOM Summer Dance Party, East Liberty LIVE! continues with KST Presents, family matinees, youthMoves, dance classes and more.

Throughout the summer, all KST Presents tickets are just $10. FAMILYtime programs are pay-what-you-can, which is a KST initiative to make quality arts programming for families available to everyone in the community. East Liberty LIVE! programming is supported in part by PNC Bank, PetSmart, and 91.3 WYEP.

“It’s our goal to have programs happening in East Liberty all summer long,” says janera solomon, executive director of Kelly Strayhorn Theater.” Patrons experience high-caliber performances that are just $10 each, plus our FAMILYtime series is pay-what-you-can. We want our space to attract people to the neighborhood to support the arts and contribute to the growth of the community. East Liberty LIVE! really brings the community together.”

The Kelly Strayhorn Theater is pleased to partner with Bike Pittsburgh to sponsor car-free Fridays. When patrons walk, bike or skateboard to performances at the theater on Fridays, they will receive a voucher good for two tickets to a future performance during the summer.

 

Programs

>> SOUNDWAVES
May 30, 7:30 pm at KST
Support this seven-member youth steeldrum band that participated in an intensive six-week program consisting of 18 sessions. Their spring classes culminate with a free showcase.

>> FULL BLOOM Summer Dance Party
June 2, 2012 7 pm to 1 am at KST
Break out your best party wear for a night of street theatre, food and drinks from your favorite East End spots, and nonstop dancing! This premiere party celebrates the community and kicks-off our summer series, East Liberty LIVE! Expect avant-garde. Expect groundbreaking. Expect a fundraiser in signature KSTstyle. Voted one of the top ten parties of 2011 by the Tribune Review. Presenting sponsors: PNC BANK and PetSmart Corporation

>> Lostwax
KST Presents (work-in-progress); Friday, June 22, 2012; 8 pm at KST; Tickets: $10
Master Class: Wednesday, June 20; 10:00–11:30 am at the Alloy Studios
Lostwax, based in Rhode Island, makes multi-media dance works, exploring the dramatic relationship of live performers to the saturated image-world of digital culture and the human imagination. The interplay of inner and outer landscapes is reflected in electronic as well as environmental forms of ritual and digital media, and in the dialectic, which emerges at the intersection of living bodies and cinematic habits of viewing. Performances are at once mesmerizing, electrifying, and striking. 

>> idiosynCrazy Productions: Private Places
KST Presents; KST premiere in Dec. 2012; at KST
Tuesday and Thursday, June 26 and 28 and at 7 pm for airline and service employees
Friday, June 29, 2012; 8 pm at KST; Tickets: $10
Master Class: Wednesday, June 27; 10:00–11:30 am at the Alloy Studios
idiosynCrazy productions aims to use movement as its source to push live performance to imaginative edges. Many of the Philadelphia-based company’s performances incorporate the popular hip-hop dance style J-Setting, which is characterized by sharp, synchronized group movements. Private Places is inspired by the intense emotional management demand placed upon flight attendants, who occupy a very theatrical place within the service industry. 

>> Luke Murphy: Drenched
KST Presents (work-in-progress); KST premiere in Nov. 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012; 8 pm at KST; Tickets: $10;
Master Class: Wednesday, July 4; 10:00–11:30 am at the Alloy Studios
Originally from Cork City, Ireland, Luke is a performer and choreographer currently based between New York City and Ireland. Drenched is a metaphor for the layers of information we subconsciously take in about our romances. The expectations we don’t realize we create for ourselves and how we navigate relationships. This duet includes a film and set collaborator. 

>> Family time Series: Mama Kadiatou
Friday, July 13, 2012; 11 am and 7 pm; Saturday, July 14; 11 am at KST; Tickets: Pay-what-you-can
Set in a traditional African village in Guinea, this Cinderella-like African fairy tale shares the story of a talented young girl who loves dancing but is jealously prevented from pursuing her passion by her stepmother and stepsisters. Rich percussive rhythms of the native Soussou, Malinke, and Toma set the tone for powerful ensemble of more than 15 dancers and drummers. Bring the whole family to enjoy this fantastic production. Mama Kadiatou is the director of Balafon West African Dance Ensemble in Pittsburgh. Supported in part by PNC Charitable Trust.

>> Miguel Gutierrez: Ineffable, Intangible, Sensational Workshop
Wednesday and Thursday, July 18 & 19, 2012; 3 pm to 6pm; $50 at the Alloy Studios
Please note the information in this workshop is accumulative, participants must attend both days.
Mentor of Kate Watson-Wallace, Miguel Gutierrez, comes to Pittsburgh to present a two-day dance intensive. This workshop looks at some of the ways in which Gutierrez approaches a practice of movement and improvisation in his work. Working from the proposition that dance is a mode of perceptual inquiry, and working against the idea of dance as a non-verbal “language,” students will be led through a series of movement explorations that prioritize sensation, non-rational action, and that trigger automatic, unprepared physical response. Some of the questions that guide this workshop are: What does movement do? How does it operate as a framework for complicated, nuanced, embodied meaning?

>> Kate Watson-Wallace Residency
Thursday, July 19, 2012 at the Alloy Studios; Behind the Curtain talk with Kate Watson-Wallace and Miguel Gutierrez, moderated by janera solomon; Tickets: $10
Philadelphia-based choreographer Kate Watson-Wallace begins her year-long residency at Kelly Strayhorn Theater during newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival, May 10–12. Watson-Wallace returns to Pittsburgh July 16–20 to continue developing her new work, Mash Up Body. In place of a public showing, she will participate in a Behind the Curtain talk on July 19 with her mentor Miguel Gutierrez, moderated by janera solomon, KST’s executive director.

 

>> Family time Series: Reenah L. Golden: No Child
Friday August 3, 2012; 11 am and 7 pm and Saturday, August 4, 2012; 11 am at KST
Tickets: Pay-what-you-can
Golden is a performance poet, spoken word artist, actress, social activist and educator. For more than 15 years, Reenah has been using the power of the spoken word publicly to affect social and political change and create new ways of thinking. The nationally acclaimed and award-winning, No Child, set in a tough Bronx high school traces the efforts of a young teaching artist to engage a class of uninspired and underachieving 10th graders by challenging the students to put on a play. Funny and buoyant, yet never shying away from the sobering truths of the urban lives and neighborhoods it depicts. No Child, celebrates the positive difference one passionate person and a class of inspired kids can make in a troubled place. Supported in part by PNC Charitable Trust.

>> Family time Series: YOUTHMOVES
Friday, August 10, 2012; 7 pm at KST; Tickets: Pay-what-you-can
YOUTHMOVES gives local youth dance programs the opportunity to showcase their work and experience performances designed for the young dance enthusiast. Dance companies and community arts organizations convene to share information and resources before and after the show. Bring the whole family for this energetic performance! Supported in part by PNC Charitable Trust.

>> STAYCEE PEARL dance project: Study
KST Presents (work-in-progress); Friday, August 24, 2012 at 8 pm at KST; Tickets $10
Master Class: Wednesday, August 22; 10:30–11:30 am at the Alloy Studios
Staycee Pearl dance project (SPdp) interprets and mirrors culture and community, while experimenting with innovative conceptual possibilities. SPdp intends to participate in meaningful collaboration with artists, musicians, choreographers, educators and activist, and serve as the movement component to PearlArts: movement and sound, co-founded by Staycee Pearl and sound designer/engineer/DJ, Herman “Soy Sos” Pearl.

>> Nora Chipaumire: MIRIAM
KST Presents (work-in-progress); Behind-the-Curtain: Friday, August 31, 2012 at KST; Tickets: $10
Master Class: Wednesday, August 29; 10:30–11:30 am at Alloy Studios
With Miriam, renowned choreographer and dancer Nora Chipaumire creates her first character-driven work—a deeply personal dance-theater performance that looks closely at the tensions women face between public expectations and private desires; between selflessness and ambition; and between the perfection and sacrifice of the feminine ideal. In April 2013, KST will co-present the full version of this work with The Andy Warhol Museum as part of KSTmoves. 

>>Classes at Alloy School
Designed for dancers of all skill levels, summer classes at the Alloy School begin Monday, June 11. Classes for teens and adults are offered in Salsa/Merengue; Modern, Bhangra and Belly Dancing. Kids’ Dance Classes include: Creativity & First Steps for three-year olds and Beginning Movement for four and five year olds. Dance classes are held at 5530 Penn Avenue and run through July. All Master Classes for professionals and experienced dancers are at the Alloy Studios. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit our website or call 412.363.3000.