Cynthia Oliver

Turn. Turning. TURNT

Work in progress showing
Wed | July 16 | 8pm
Memorial Commons, Chase Hall
Free and open to the public

Cynthia Oliver Co Dance Theatre will be in residence for two weeks, working on their new work Turn. Turning. TURNT. This piece will premiere at BDF in 2026.

TURNT is a triptyc made up of three movement experiments explored before, during, and “after” (if there is one) the global pandemic. The first, Tether, is an AfroFuturistic aspirational experiment. A meditation on black girls’ creativity, drawn from double dutch practices as life skill training. The second, Fallow, was a direct response to where we collectively were in 2021– run ragged by ever changing threats, pivoting quickly and persistently. Yet determined to slow, to stop. The last of the trilogy, Summon. Sow. Reap. Considers post-fallow what we have summoned, what seeds are sown, and just or unjust rewards are reaped. We reflect and return, more fiercely, to moving, remembering, hoping, and recovering ourselves for a world anew.

Cynthia Oliver is a Bronx born, Virgin Island reared dance maker and scholar. Her work incorporates textures of Caribbean performance with African and American aesthetic sensibilities. She has toured the globe as a featured dancer with numerous contemporary dance companies, including David Gordon Pick Up Co., Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Bebe Miller, Tere O’Connor Dance and in theatre works by Laurie Carlos, Ntozake Shange, and Deke Weaver. She earned a PhD in performance studies from New York University, is widely published, and has won numerous awards including a New York Dance and Performance (BESSIE) Award, United States Artist, Doris Duke and Guggenheim Fellowships. She is a Gutgsell Professor of Dance at the University of Illinois and Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Arts Integration.