Always working to explode the boundaries of dance theater and installation, Jerome Robbins Award-winning choreographer/director Stefanie Batten Bland stages cross-disciplinary movement works sensitive to shifting environments. This spring, Batten Bland, a frequent visitor and artistic catalyst at Duke and in Durham over the past three years as part of her choreographic partnership with ABT and Studio Company, returns to campus with her Company SBB to present the world premiere of Embarqued: Stories of Soil.

Employing a performative shipmast as its material and conceptual centerpiece, Embarqued continues Batten Bland’s recent investigations into our cultural, political, and spiritual relationships with memorials. The new work centers African ancestral stories to insist on the full complexity of our country’s historical continuum and shed light on postcolonial histories and possible futures.

Saturday’s performance will be followed by a post-show Q&A with Batten Bland, moderated by Duke Dance Program Chair Andrea Woods Valdes.

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Current Duke Performances COVID-19 regulations