EAD Mixed Repertory Programfeaturing:It's Just a Smatter of Time (spring 2027 premiere)
Option to perform with Third Coast Percussion live or with recorded music.
Choreography: Ephrat Asherie, in collaboration with EAD
Visual Design: Mo Willems
Music performed by: Third Coast Percussion (live or recorded)
Lighting by: Kathy Kauffman
In this exuberant evening, Bessie Award-winning artist Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie brings together her electrifying company for a riveting repertory program. Early work, including Asherie's seminal duet Step 4.2. live side by side with brand new works, including the premiere of It’s Just a Smatter of Time. A special collaboration with beloved illustrator and author Mo Willems and Grammy Award-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion, It’s Just a Smatter of Time is a playful, deeply imaginative exploration of rhythm, movement, and visual storytelling, and an invitation for audiences of all ages to join the conversation! Willems’ drawings unfold in dialogue with Third Coast Percussion’s richly layered score that includes music by Jlin and Ivan Trevino, while Asherie’s choreography — deeply rooted in street and club dance — brings Third Coast’s other-worldly sounds and Willems’ captivating visuals to life.
Running Time: Approx. 60 minutes, plus intermission
Touring Party: 6-7 dancers, 2 admin/tech, 4 musicians (optional)
Shadow Cities (2025)
Performed with live music, recorded music optional
Director: Ephrat Asherie
Choreography: Ephrat Asherie, in collaboration with EAD
Original Music by: Arturo O’Farrill
Lighting Design: Kathy Kaufmann
Ephrat Asherie Dance (EAD) collaborates with Grammy award-winning pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill on its newest creation, Shadow Cities, a contemplative and multi-faceted reflection on the beauty, vastness and joy of the in-between. The company, deeply rooted in a multitude of Afro-diasporic dances, including breaking, hip hop, house and waacking, explore the myriad ways they often feel split between cities, memories, and generations, encountering their most enlivened selves in unexpected moments. Featuring live music by Arturo O'Farrill and friends, Shadow Cities is a conversation between O'Farrill's vast compositional voice and EAD's dynamically expressive choreography.
Shadow Cities is made possible by Lead Commissioning support provided by Modlin Center for the Arts, University of Richmond, Jody and John Arnhold, and in part by Harkness Dance Center’s Artist-in-Residence Program at 92NY. Co-commissioning support is provided by Penn Live Arts Accelerator Program, Duke Arts, La Jolla Music Society and the ProtoStar Foundation. Additional support provided by O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, New Music USA’s Organization Fund and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Development support provided by the Studio Artists program of the NYC Public School’s Arts Office. Additionally, Ephrat Asherie Dance gratefully acknowledges the support from members of its Commissioning Circle, with lead gift provided by Deborah and Charles Adelman.
Running time: Approx. 60 minutes, no intermission
Touring Party: 7 dancers, 4 musicians, 2 admin/tech
UNDERSCORED (2022)
Direction: Ephrat Asherie
Choreography: Ephrat Asherie in collaboration with EAD and club legends
Lighting Design: Kathy Kaufmann
Costume Design: David Dalrymple
Projection Design: Cornelius “Neil” Henke III
Created and performed by members of the company with special guest artists from New York City’s underground scene, Asherie’s newest work is inspired by the intergenerational memories of club dancers. EAD invites audiences to join them on an exhilarating journey through the ever-changing musical and physical landscape of New York City’s underground dance community.
UNDERSCORED received lead commissioning and development support by Works & Process, for world premiere at the Guggenheim. UNDERSCORED was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable foundation and Mellon Foundation. This project is made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals for a residency at The Jay and Linda Grunin Center, made possible through support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. UNDERSCORED is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Works & Process in partnership with ArtPower at UC San Diego, The Momentary and The Yard. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information, visit www.npnweb.org.
Running time: Approx. 60 minutes, no intermission
Touring Party: 6 dancers, 3 club legends, 3 admin/tech
ODEON (2018)
Performed with live music
Choreography: Ephrat Asherie, in collaboration with EAD
Music: Ernesto Nazareth
Musical Direction: Ehud Asherie
Percussion Arrangements: Sergio Krakowski
Lighting Design: Kathy Kaufmann
Costume Design: Mark Eric
ODEON, an evening-length work for six dancers and four musicians, takes a hybrid approach to movement. Remixing and reconnecting various street and club styles while exploring their roots in West African rhythms and movements, ODEON blurs time, tempo and genre. The score, composed by fin-de-siecle Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth, blends popular Afro-Brazilian rhythms with classical European melodies. Musicians and dancers cross paths seamlessly on stage through choreography that reflects Nazareth’s fluid approach to music – layering breaking floorwork, house-dance footwork, New York style hustle and vogue – ODEON invites you into a world wholly its own. ODEON was developed in part during two residencies at Jacob’s Pillow and through a co-presentation with MASS MoCA. Asherie is the inaugural recipient of the Jacob’s Pillow Fellowship at the Tilles Center for Performing Arts at LIU Post, where she further developed this work. ODEON premiered in the Doris Duke Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival on June 27, 2018. ODEON was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Mellon Foundation.
Running time: Approx. 55 minutes, no intermission
Touring Party: 6 dancers, 4 musicians, 2 admin/tech
