Clarence Brooks to perform Beatty’s “The Mourner’s Bench” at Library of Congress

Associate Professor and Director of Dance at FAU Clarence Brooks will perform Talley Beatty’s “The Mourner’s Bench” (1947) at Concerts from the Library of Congress (Thursday, April 19, 2019, Thomas Jefferson Building). One of several dances that speak to social justice issues created during the New Dance Group era (1930-1960), it was originally created in response to Beatty’s reading of Howard Fast’s book Freedom Road, about the annihilation of utopian communities by the KKK.

Says Brooks, “My interpretation speaks directly to continued evidence of racism via police in/accountability, #TakeAKnee, and Black Lives Matter.”

 

A post-concert panel discussion and Q&A will follow immediately after the performance.