Experiences go beyond performances – including at the organization’s new creative space
Miami, Sept. 2, 2016 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) MDC Live Arts, Miami’s most eclectic performing arts series, announces its 26th season, designed to reflect and reflect upon the world around us. The organization affirms its commitment to deliver extraordinary programs and unforgettable experiences by selecting shows that generate conversations and broaden worldviews, and forging ways to engage community and provide context around what is being presented. The line-up includes fiery music from Spain and Brazil; provocative, site-specific performances in unlikely places — including a parking lot and a boxing ring; shows exploring issues from gender to gun violence; and a multimedia special event sure to capture the hearts and imaginations of all. It also includes a series of intimate conversations, workshops, open mics and more in its new creative space —the Live Arts Lab.
“With each passing year, we continue to refine and shape our programming to adapt to the world around us,” said MDC Live Arts’ executive director Kathryn Garcia. “We want to represent what’s happening in our communities, as well as bring something new, exciting or unexpected to the fore. We aim to highlight current topics, start conversations and sometimes, simply, entertain and bring joy. I’m confident this current season will do just that.”
The season is organized into three thematic series:
On Site offers thought-provoking pieces in unexpected settings, where the location can become the character, the backdrop or a transformational component forcing us to look with new perspective.
Leading this series in October is dancer/ provocateur Nora Chipaumire in Portrait of Myself as My Father, a performance that celebrates and critiques masculinity — the black African male in particular — all within the confines of a boxing ring.
Next, during Art Basel Miami, Steve Parker’s Traffic Jam project confronts gridlock and calls attention to alternative forms of transportation and music making — culminating in a public performance staged in a parking lot, where local musicians and participating audience members “play” their vehicles in a massive car orchestra.
The Mundo series brings the world to Miami, offering a diverse mix of shows and genres on the international circuit. Both Mundo concerts are at the Olympia Theater, which is a co-presenter of the series.
In early November — direct from Spain — comes Tomatito, the world’s greatest living flamenco guitarist. He honors the legacies of his mentor, Paco de Lucía, and his long time musical partner, Camarón de la Isla.
And in March 2017, the carnival spirit continues as one of Brazil’s hottest stars, samba sensation Maria Rita, returns to Miami for the first time in nine years. Daughter of the legendary Elis Regina, she continues to make her own mark in the Brazilian music world.
In Focus reveals powerful programs tackling today’s pressing topics and attests to the belief in arts as a means for social change.
Running Feb. 9-11, Scott Turner Schofield’s “Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps” provokes the deep questions and the locker-room jokes about living a new life as the opposite gender after “transitioning”. The irreverent and dynamic one-person show has been hailed as “funny, revealing, whip-smart and poetic” by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
April brings Trigger, a riveting oratorio about coming of age in the age of guns. Originally inspired by the Virginia Tech massacre, the project, a brain-child of Byron Au Yong, tackles themes surrounding gun violence in the U.S. by incorporating community perspectives into a theatrical choral project.
And rounding out the season in April is a one-of-a-kind special event, Nufonia Must Fall – a magical adaptation of a graphic novel by the renowned scratch DJ and music producer Kid Koala. The robot love story unfolds via real-time filming, editing and projection of dozens of miniature stages and puppets, under the direction of the Oscar-nominated K.K. Barrett and live score accompaniment by the Afiara Quartet and DJ Kid Koala.
As usual for MDC Live Arts, the experience doesn’t stop at the shows. The organization brings the artists past the stage, connecting them to the community through labs, lectures, residencies, conversations, and workshops as part of Live Arts Exchange and in their new creative space, the Live Arts Lab.
MDC Live Arts 2016-2017 Season Line-Up
Nora Chipaumire
Portrait of myself as my father
Category: dance | Series: On-Site
Friday & Saturday, October 14 & 15, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Matt Baiamonte’s Boxing Club | 222 NW 27th St., Wynwood
$10-30
Tickets at: www.mdclivearts.org | (305) 237-3010
Co-presented with Miami Light Project
Tomatito
Category: music | Series: Mundo
Friday, November 4, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Olympia Theater |174 E. Flagler Street, Miami
$10-65
Tickets at: www.mdclivearts.org | (305) 237-3010
Co-presented with Olympia Theater
Steve Parker’s
Traffic Jam
Category: music/ performance art/ multi-disciplinary | Series: On Site
Wednesday, November 30-Saturday, December 3, 2016 | Various times + locations
Free
Info at: www.mdclivearts.org | (305) 237-3010
Scott Tuner Schofield’s
Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps
Category: theater | Series: In Focus
Thursday- Saturday, February 9- 11, 2017, Thursday at 7 p.m., Fri & Sat at 8 p.m.
Live Arts Lab (formerly Prometeo Theater) | 300 NE 2nd Ave, Miami
$10-30
Tickets at: www.mdclivearts.org | (305) 237-3010
Maria Rita
Category: music | Series: Mundo
Saturday, March 18, 2017 at 8 p.m .
Olympia Theater |174 E. Flagler Street, Miami
$10-65
Tickets at: www.mdclivearts.org | (305) 237-3010
Co-presented with Olympia Theater
DJ Kid Koala’s
Nufonia Must Fall
Category: multi-disciplinary/ film, music, theater | Series: Special Event
Olympia Theater | 174 E. Flagler Street, Miami
Saturday, April 8, 2017 at 8 p.m.
$10-35; $50 VIP ticket includes afterparty with DJ Kid Koala
Co-presented with Olympia Theater
Byron Au Yong’s
Trigger
Category: music/ performance art| Series: In Focus
Friday, April 21, 2017 at 8 p.m.
Lehman Theater, MDC North Campus | 11380 NW 27th Ave., Building 5, Miami
Free
>> Click here for season photos.
>> Click here for season music.
>> Click here for season videos
To purchase tickets, and learn more about the 2016-17 MDC Live Arts Season, call 305-237-3010, or visit mdclivearts.org.
MDC Live Arts is Miami’s most eclectic performing arts series. Created in 1990 as Cultura del Lobo, MDC Live Arts has a celebrated history of bringing extraordinary national and international performing artists to Miami. The annual series presents today’s most exciting artists and designs meaningful engagement between these artists, the students of MDC, and the greater community. MDC Live Arts seeks artists from across the globe who push boundaries and honor traditions relevant to Miami’s diverse community, and aims to offer audiences opportunities to discover new ideas, perspectives and forms of expression. For more information, please visit www.mdclivearts.org.
The Programs of MDC Live Arts are made possible with the generous support of: Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council; the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; the National Endowment for the Arts; the City of Miami Beach Department of Tourism and Cultural Development, Office of Cultural Affairs; the Miami Beach Mayor and City Commissioners; Miami Dade County Cultural Passport in partnership with Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and the Foundation for New Education Initiative; the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts; and National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund. MDC Live Arts is a Partner of the National Performance Network (NPN). Major NPN contributors include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
MDC Live Arts Contacts: Alexa Burneikis, Marketing Manager, 305-237-7733, aburneik@mdc.edu
In Focus & On Site Series: Lisa Palley, Palley Promotes, 305-642-3132, lpalley@bellsouth.net;
Mundo Series: Jose Boza, Boza Agency, 786-326-7988. jboza@boza-agency.com