“An exceptional finale…loud and real, Ude accomplished something unimaginable”
The New York Times
“The drill is uplifting, the energy euphoric, the dancers, heart-poundingly wholesome. Yet they give just enough hip swagger and chin thrust to remind us we can’t look away.”
Fjord Review
Six dancers take the stage in MAJOR to explore the power, memory, and physicality of majorette dance, a form that originated in the American South within Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the 1960s. In this dance-theater work, six Black femmes revisit the rhythms of their girlhood and rediscover the bodies they shaped through choreography, spoken word, and a music score by Lambkin blending Southern rap, horns, drumlines, and melodic R&B and soul.
The work is created by Brooklyn-based dance and interdisciplinary artist Ogemdi Ude, whose performances explore Black femme legacies, grief, and futures, grief, and memory through movement and voice. Ude describes MAJOR as “a nuanced love letter to the folks who taught the team how to be proudly Black and proudly femme.”
MAJOR is presented in partnership with American Dance Festival.
Reynolds Industries Theater
125 Science Drive
Durham, NC 27708
Visit our Reynolds Industries Theater FAQ page for more information.
Venue DetailsApproximately 50 minutes, with no intermission
Limited late seating available
Tickets available starting at $40. Student tickets always $10.
Dance and Interdisciplinary Artist
Ogemdi Ude is a dance and interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. Her performance work focuses on Black femme legacies and futures, grief, and memory. Her work has been presented at Kampnagel, The Kitchen, Gibney, Harlem Stage, Danspace Project, Abrons Arts Center, BRIC, ISSUE Project Room, Recess Art, and for BAM’s DanceAfrica festival.
As an educator, she has taught at The New School, Princeton University, Sarah Lawrence College, and University of the Arts. She is a 2026 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists recipient, 2025 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Choreography, 2025 Princess Grace Honoraria in Choreography, 2025-2028 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, 2024 NEFA National Dance Project Production Grant recipient, and a Live Feed Residency Artist at New York Live Arts.
In January 2022 she appeared on the cover of Dance Magazine for their annual “25 to Watch” issue. She has published a book Watch Me in a collection edited by Thomas F. DeFrantz and Annie-B Parson: Dance History(s): Imagination as a Form of Study published by Dancing Foxes Press and Wesleyan University Press.
Artist Website | Facebook | Instagram
Choreography and Direction: Ogemdi Ude in collaboration with the performers
Performers: Kayla Farrish, Jailyn Phillips-Wiley, song tucker, Camile Phelps, and Junyla Silmon
Original Collaborators: Selah Hampton, Chanel Stone
Archivist: Myssi Robinson
Composer: Lambkin
Set and Lighting Designer: Simean “Sim” Carpenter
Production Stage Manager: tania “t” saiz perez
Costume Designer: Celeste Jennings
Producer: Sara Pereira da Silva
This event is part of We the People: A Duke & Durham Initiative
World Premiere: International Summer Festival, Hamburg, Germany August 7-10, 2025
US Premiere: New York Live Arts, New York, NY January 2026
MAJOR is commissioned by New York Live Arts and International Summer Festival Kampnagel with additional support from Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Danspace Project, Mercury Store, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
MAJOR has been supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, MAP Fund, a Brooklyn Arts Council grant, the Dance Advancement Fund from Dance NYC, Café Royal Cultural Foundation, and a Support for Artists Grant from the New York State Council for the Arts.
Major is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by New York Live Arts in partnership with On the Boards, Bates College, Wexner Center for the Arts, John and Mable Tinglign Museum of Art, Duke University, and NPN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation.
Pick-4 Packages Available Now! Save 20% when you book four or more shows.
Single Tickets Available Tuesday, June 23 at 11 AM.
Please note: For online orders, seats are automatically chosen based on best availability. To choose specific seats or price levels, please call the Box Office at 919-684-4444.
Tier 1: $50
Tier 2: $40
Students*: $10 (Log in through Shibboleth to access Duke-exclusive discounts)
Duke Employees: 25% Off (Log in through Shibboleth to access Duke-exclusive discounts)
*All high school and college students are eligible for student tickets with valid ID shown at event.
HopeBoykinDance returns to Duke with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for the premiere of “Troubled No More,” a celebration of gospel legend Pastor Shirley Caesar.
In this evocative work, hundreds of oranges spill across the stage—passed hand to hand, scattered and crushed underfoot—as dancers reshape the space in an ever-shifting meditation on loss, survival, and human connection.
Parched uses intricate puppetry, visuals, a live band, and sharp humor to explore ideas of revenge, scarcity, greed, and finding hope in a tumultuous ride among the tumbleweeds.
Duke Arts and Theatre Raleigh present Tony Award–winning performer Sutton Foster, joined by fellow Broadway star Megan McGinnis, for a concert celebrating their shared love of musical theater.
In Sacred Spaces, Alvin Ailey’s Associate Artistic Director Matthew Rushing and Co-creator and Musical Director Du’Bois A’Keen revisit the legacy and spirituality of Revelations.
Duke Students & Employees save more!