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"EMBARQUED" made it’s New York City premier at BAM: Brooklyn Academy of Music in November 2022. It is the brainchild of Jerome Robbins Award winning choreographer, Stefanie Batten Bland for her dance ensemble COMPANY SBB. This dance piece is an abstract exploration of The African American Freedom Trail on Martha's Vineyard... the Middle Passage...the Transatlantic Slave Trade...human migrations... displaced bodies... searching and surviving. Stefanie charged me with designing convertible costumes fashioned as ship sails that the dancers use to create a sea vessel. The sails are dismounted from the ship’s mast and worn as cloaks. Then the ships rigging become flag poles as their robes transform into banners manipulated in a ceremonial gesture. Photos by Maria Baranova @photo_by_baranova

© Shane Ballard 2022. All rights reserved.