Odetta Holmes – one of the most influential singers of the 20th century – is rediscovered as renowned Ailey dancer Matthew Rushing marries soul-stirring movement to songs by the artist anointed “the queen of American folk music” by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rushing’s world premiere for Ailey pays tribute to Holmes's life as a singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. With a musical repertoire encompassing American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals, Odetta influenced many key figures of the 1960s folk-revival scene including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples, and Janis Joplin. Her song "Take This Hammer" was included on TIME magazine's list of the All-Time 100 Songs. When President Clinton honored Odetta at the White House with the National Medal of Arts and Humanities, he remarked, “Odetta reminds us all that songs have the power to change the heart and change the world.”
With projections by artist Stephen Alcorn, ODETTA is Matthew Rushing's third ballet created for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater following Acceptance In Surrender (2005), a collaboration with Hope Boykin and Abdur Rahim-Jackson, and Uptown (2010), a celebration of the Harlem Renaissance.
The New York Times has listed ODETTA as one of 100 events in the Fall 2014 season that "have [them] especially excited.
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