A wildly entertaining fusion of music and motion awaits!
The dynamic 2024 Grammy Award-winning Imani Winds return to collaborate with Portland's dance darlings BodyVox on the latest chamber music and dance creation— BEAUTIFUL EVERYTHING—co-presented by Chamber Music Northwest and BodyVox.
As a special treat, joining Imani Winds, on piano, will be Portland’s own Yoko Greeney. Ms Greeney has graced the stages of Chamber Music Northwest for many years, and has also collaborated with Bodyvox on several special occasions.
BEAUTIFUL EVERYTHING (BE) will be an extraordinary, fully immersive evening of inspiring music, audacious innovative dance, and richly detailed video environments. BE is a celebration of beauty, hope, optimism, and joy in a time in which popular media often ignores these elements of our world. BE pulls back the veil of negativity that obscures the true nature of beauty as a choice.
Music selections draw from the catalogues of Imani Winds, John Adams, Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo), Chick Corea, Brian Eno, Philip Glass and Debussy. The production will also include the Imani Winds performing the West Coast Premiere of Shawn E. Okpebholo’s Rise for Wind Quintet, a CMNW co-commission. Creating arrangements for the production will be the gifted NY artist Dan Schlosberg, a frequent partner of CMNW. Equally at home in opera, chamber music and symphonic spectacle, Dan is the bridge from DEVO to Philip Glass. Choreography is by BodyVox founders Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland, with input from the dancers. Extraordinary costumes are designed and built by Ashley Roland. Video environments are designed and executed by Jamey Hampton.
“BEAUTIFUL EVERYTHING is a manifesto that resists polarization, violence and negativity” say Ashley Roland and Jamey Hampton, BodyVox Artistic Directors. It is inclusive, vast and intimate. Beautiful Everything has been central to the foundation of our creative process throughout our careers, but we have never claimed it so vividly as being the source material for a show in itself. The times demand it. “In this production, our tenth collaboration with Chamber Music Northwest, we join forces once again with the extraordinary Imani Winds. And for our return to the Patricia Reser Center for the arts, we are absolutely thrilled to premiere this work.”