Eisenhower Dance Detroit to perform in Hart April 12

HART — Eisenhower Dance Detroit will appear in Hart Friday, April 12, as part of the 2023-2024 Hart Community Performing Arts Series. 

Moving into its 33rd season as a professional contemporary dance repertory company, Eisenhower Dance Detroit gives life to the work of nationally and internationally known choreographers along with that of its founding artistic director, Laurie Eisenhower, and current artistic director, Stephanie Pizzo. This year, Pizzo leads EDD into its seventh season under her artistic guidance following Eisenhower’s retirement in 2017. 

The company continues its artistic mission through collaborations with artists across genres including film directors, composers, visual designers and musicians. Recent collaborators have included film creative Zachariah Hagy and electro-pop violin band, Nuclassica. EDD also engages in collaborations with arts organizations including the Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings, the Rackham Symphony Choir, Detroit Opera, the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, The Toledo Opera and the Detroit Institute of Arts — to name a few. Since its inception, Eisenhower Dance Detroit has grown from a small pick-up company into an 11-dancer roster employing seven professional company dancers and four apprentices. These artists have joined the EDD family from regions across the country. 

As the company’s mission states, Eisenhower Dance Detroit aims “to be a professional repertory company that, through outstanding performances and educational services, strives to deepen the understanding and appreciation of contemporary dance regionally, nationally, and internationally and to reflect on and explore issues of social significance.” Pizzo continues to expand the company’s innovative style and artistic vision while still honoring the legacy of Eisenhower Dance Detroit’s founder.

Considered one of the finest contemporary dance companies in the Midwest, EDD has been hailed for its artistry from sources including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Hour Magazine and Detroit Free Press. Eisenhower Dance Detroit presents an annual Detroit Metro performance series and tours nationally and internationally. In 2015, 2017, and 2018, EDD was featured at the Ladek Zdroj International Dance Festival in Poland and Tel Aviv, Israel. In 2019, the company performed to a standing ovation at the iconic dance mecca, Jacob’s Pillow, in Beckett, Massachusetts. The company has performed works by choreographers Hope Boykin, Marc Brew, Tamisha Guy, Norbert De La Cruz III, Maleek Washington, James Gregg and Rauf Yasif, Micaela Taylor, Nicolo Fonte, Edgar Zendejas, Lar Lubovitch, Ron de Jesus, and Darrell Grand Moultrie — to name a few. This season, EDD welcomes Joshua Peugh and Tess Voelker for choreographic residencies with the company.

EDD has also produced several evening-length touring productions including “ARC”, a dramatic and highly visual look at labeling and stereotyping; “The Rite of Spring” set to Igor Stravinsky’s iconic score; and “The Light Show” which pairs four choreographers with four lighting designers for a visually stunning evening of dance. 

During the pandemic, EDD pivoted to offering virtual dance experiences highlighted by a major dance for film collaboration with the Detroit Institute of Art and Zazu Productions. “The Five Tangos,” an original production first conceived for the stage, was scheduled to premiere at the DIA in November 2020. The collaborators reimagined the project for film and utilized four iconic metro Detroit locations for the setting of each tango. The film premiered online in December, 2021 and was selected as the winner of BEST EXPERIMENTAL film, 2022 Dancecentric Film Festival (Florida); semi-finalist, 2022 Inspired Dance Film Festival (Australia); and featured online in Dance Magazine’s “Friday Film Break.”

The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Hart Public Schools Auditorium, located in the Hart Middle School at 308 W. Johnson St. in Hart. Tickets are available at the door or online at hartseries.org.

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