When Mason Artist-in-Residence Music From The Sole performed in New York two years ago, they earned a rave review from New York Times critic Siobhan Burke. “Electric” was the word she used to describe the effect of the tap and live music company, whose energy immediately jolted the audience out of its seats.
This exhilarating energy infuses I Didn’t Come to Stay, which Music From The Sole will perform at the Center for the Arts on September 26. The work, whose title comes from the prologue of Maya Angelou’s classic memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was created during the isolation of the pandemic when the group’s members were forced to quarantine together. It’s a brightly colored celebration of togetherness, one that summons up the joy of a carnival. But its exuberance is also balanced with moments of stillness and quiet that evoke “a meditation as it builds to a call-and-response,” Burke observed, “like a religious ritual.”
Music From The Sole prides itself in crossing artistic boundaries. Its work incorporates Afro-Brazilian, jazz, soul, house, and rock among other influences. But the group’s true magic comes from the way the group exists in what Leonardo Sandoval, the company’s choreographer, called “the blur,” a place where the boundaries between dance and music dissolve, allowing movement and sound to become one—and inviting you to groove along.
In the week leading up to its culminating performance, the company will lead the following residency activities:
The events listed below are not open to the general public.
Monday, September 21
Members of Music From the Sole join a digital discussion with graduate-level Arts Management Program students in the Performing Arts Management class, moderated by Professor Eric Oberstein.
Wednesday, September 23
Members of Music From the Sole will lead a tap master class for the Beginner Tap Dance class, taught by George Mason University School of Dance Professor Christopher D’Amboise, Director of The LIVE (Live Interactive Virtual Education) Center.
Thursday, September 24
Members of Music From the Sole will visit Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences for an assembly and body percussion workshop.
Friday, September 25
The company will lead a schooltime matinee performance for local schools who have registered through the field trip program.
Friday, September 25
Members of Music From the Sole will lead a body percussion workshop for local homeschool students.
Friday, September 25
Members of Music From the Sole will participate in a lecture/demonstration and Q&A hosted by the Brazilian Student Association at Mason. The event will include a dinner catered by The Brazilian Place.
Open to the public:
Wednesday, September 23 at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Members of Music From the Sole will visit local nonprofit Metropolitan School of the Arts for two tap master classes (the first for intermediate/advanced-level tap dancers and the second for advanced-level tap dancers).
More information about Music From The Sole’s September 26 performance of I Didn't Come to Stay can be found on the Center for the Arts calendar.