Description: In collaboration, choreographers David Riddick and Marshall Swiney are creating a full evening multimedia dance theater collage (60-90 with one intermission). The performance is in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the writing of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech I Have a Dream for the famous March on Washington in 1963. By placing Dr. King’s very important speech, I Have a Dream to the performance setting, the two choreographers explore not just the meaning of the text, but create a fusion of contemporary movement vocabulary with sounded oration, blurring the boundaries assumed to lie between the speech and dance performance. The production calls for eight dancers and dance students to bring this dance theater to life, and for an integration of historical black&white footage of the March on Washington and of Dr. King that along with other video clips, stills, and print images will enhance the choreography during the performance by means of projection. Choreographed into segments, both the darker and lighter aspects of the civil rights struggle are set to movement, light, and sound, inspiring the audience to reflect on what may cause Dr. King to write this remarkable speech. The audio material includes recorded voices, soundscapes, and wide range of musical selections. The costumes are styled after photographs of students’ sit-ins during the 1950 and 1960’s, but with an artistic freshness. The lighting works in harmony with the moods and tonal variants of the speech to support the dancing on the stage, augmented by projected video footage and still images. The technical specs of the stage at Ella Fitzgerald Theatre can meet the needs of The King Project well. The choreographers require a six hour technical rehearsal with two runs of the show on the day before the first scheduled performance. They are responsible for creating the program notes, bios and photos for the printed program. The choreographers ask to have a two-day run of the performances. Downing Gross Cultural Arts Center will be responsible for community outreach and publicity for the project as well as gala and a post-performance discussion. With The King Project: I Have a Dream, the choreographers are looking forward to an evening of sharing a fusion of important US-American history and performance art with the community of Hampton Roads.

Collaborating Choreographers: David F. Riddick , Marshall Swiney
Run Time: 1HR 30MIN.
Sound Director: Dave of The American Theatre
Lighting Designer: David F. Riddick
Premiere: Company Hampton Virginia, The American Theatre 2017, World 2016