Pillow Lab:
Sekou McMiller
At Perles Family Studio: Nov 4
Event Dates
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About
Pillow Lab:
Sekou McMiller
Residency: October 25 – November 5, 2023
Showing: November 4, 2023
Sekou McMiller is developing a new installment within his “Afro Latin Jazz and Soul Experience” series, tentatively titled Shine. In Afro Latin partner dances, “shines” are expressive sequences of footwork and body movements performed during musical breaks, enhancing the dance experience and inspiring friendly competition among salsa/mambo dancers. Inspired by the golden age of mambo at the Palladium nightclub in New York City during the 1950s and ’60s, this new work critically explores how individuals separate to express their unique voices, fostering motivation and progress in everyday life, relationships, and communities. To bring the work to life, Sekou has curated a collective of skilled dancers, musicians, composers, and performers “Sekou & Friends.” Shine will be an experience that fuse music and dance, celebrating their rhythmic nature while uniting once interconnected cultures.
In partnership with Works & Process at the Guggenheim, McMiller will be performing Shine on Sunday, November 5, 2023, as a culmination of his Pillow Lab Residency. Learn more here.
About Sekou McMiller
Sekou McMiller is a New York City/Chicago-based famed choreographer, teacher, curator, and producer at the forefront of a new movement in Afro Latin dance. McMiller’s unique fusion style has a strong Afro-Caribbean essence that is laced with many different dance techniques combined with an explosive energy. McMiller’s choreographic work has been featured at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Dance Chicago, The Actors Fund Theater, New York City Center, Ailey CitiGroup Theater, Symphony Space, Edison Ballroom, the United Nations General Assembly, Olympic Park Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, the Great Wall of China, Harbour Dance Vancouver, and Winter Gardens in Blackpool, England. McMiller’s diverse career ranges from performing off-Broadway to choreographing for Bravo, NUVO TV, and Good Morning America. He has also performed and choreographed for top Latin artists including Gilberto Santa Rosa, Willie Colón, Ismael Miranda, Cheo Feliciano, Johnny Pacheco, Tito Rojas, Tito Nieves, Pitbull, as well as the pop icon Madonna. McMiller can be seen in the Warner Bros. theatrical feature In the Heights (2021), directed by Jon M. Chu, and in the newly released documentary Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance.
Location
Perles Family Studio
Want to see the work? Jacob’s Pillow Members at the $500 level and above, as well as our College Partners, are invited to Jacob’s Pillow to attend an in-person, COVID-compliant showing by the artists at the end of the residency. Video livestreams may also be available for certain showings. This opportunity is offered by email invitation in advance of the event.
Please consider making a donation. Your contribution supports Jacob’s Pillow’s mission in dance creation, presentation, education, and preservation, and in harnessing the community-building power of dance.
Lead support for the Pillow Lab is provided by the Mellon Foundation
