It hardly seems possible but here we are at the last show of the season, Fathers and Sons at the Indiana Repertory Theatre May 15-18. I have been busy working on my newest work I Never Danced For My Father. It features the four men in the company at present dancing to some pretty fantastic percussion music by my friend Scott Deal. Scott is a new professor at the IUPUI School of Music, and the score is very exciting and perfect for the piece. In addition, we will be breaking new ground by showing short excerpts from video interviews that were done with the dancers’ fathers. You will get a chance to know both father and son as the piece progresses.

Also in the first part of the concert, I have invited Nicholas Owens, the very talented artistic director and choreographer of the Kenyettá Dance Company to perform a duet he has done with Gregory Manning II on the program entitled Children of Lights. In the fall I saw this piece in a Kenyettá concert and was completely blown away by it. I’m extremely happy to be able to share it with all of you.

The second part of the concert is a revival of the 1993 Seasons. Some of you may have seen this work before, as indeed I characterize it as a DK signature piece. Once again our most senior dancer Kenoth Shane Patton plays the lead role of Everyman who journeys through the different stages of life. Spring is about birth and discovery, Summer adolescence, Fall maturity and Winter death and rebirth. The tale is a universal one, the allegories to nature pretty self evident, and the inevitable joys and losses poignant and moving. No matter how many times you have seen this piece, you will see something new in it simply because you are now at a different “season” of your own life. And the music we use is varied and exhilarating, from Debussy to The Beatles, Astor Piazzolla to Arvo Pärt.

As you look around you and experience the awesome power of Nature that is happening right now, you can see how I was influenced to do a work based on the seasons. And as we contemplate life and family, and how important our beginnings are, I think that it is fitting to give tribute to our fathers and the roles they play in bringing us to where we are today.

See you in the theatre!

David