Lil Buck @ Chapel Hill A Jookin’ Jam Session coll abor ators-in -r eside nce
Directed by
Damian Woetzel
Friday & Saturday Apr i l
15/16
with special guests
Sandeep Das, tabla; Johnny Gandelsman, violin; Christina Pato, gaita; Wu Tong, sheng
About the PRO GRAM
PERFORMANCE BENEFACTORs The April 15 performance is sponsored by Paula Davis Noell and Palmer Page. The April 16 performance is sponsored by Wyndham Robertson.
Memphis jookin’ phenomenon Lil Buck came to international attention when ballet star/director Damian Woetzel paired him with cello superstar Yo-Yo Ma. This collaboration established Lil Buck’s astonishing gift as a dancing medium, engaging with music across geographic and stylistic boundaries. For his Chapel Hill debut under the direction of Woetzel, he performs with tabla player Sandeep Das, violinist Johnny Gandelsman, Galician bagpiper Cristina Pato and sheng player Wu Tong. Joining this extraordinary array of international performers is his fellow jooker and frequent collaborator, Ron “Prime Tyme” Myles. Together, these artists are Carolina Performing Arts’ Collaborators-in-Residence. Lil Buck Lil Buck began jookin’—a street dance that originated in Memphis—at age 13. Following hip-hop training from Terran Gary and ballet training on scholarship at the New Ballet Ensemble, he performed and choreographed in Memphis until relocating to Los Angeles. In 2011, Damian Woetzel paired him with Yo-Yo Ma in a rendition of The Swan. A Spike Jonze video of the performance went viral, garnering over 3 million views to date and leading to collaborations with artists including Janelle Monae, JR, New York City Ballet and Madonna. In 2011, Lil Buck was Artist-in-Residence at the Vail International Dance Festival and served as an artistic ambassador alongside Yo-Yo Ma at the USChina Forum on the Arts and Culture in Beijing. One of 2012 Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch, he starred in the award-winning 2013 show Lil Buck @ (le) Poisson Rouge directed by Woetzel and featuring Yo-Yo Ma and an array of international musicians. Lil Buck has performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show; with Madonna during her Super Bowl XLVI halftime show and on her MDNA and Rebel Heart tours; and in the Cirque du Soleil show Michael Jackson: One. Named The Wall Street Journal’s 2014 Performing Arts Innovator, Lil Buck is an Aspen Institute Harman-Eisner Artist-in-Residence.
Dam ian Woe t z e l , Di r ec tor Damian Woetzel has taken on multiple arts leadership roles since retiring from a 20-year career as principal dancer at New York City Ballet. He is the artistic director of the Vail International Dance Festival and director of the Aspen Institute Arts Program. Recent projects as an independent director and producer include tributes to ballerinas Natalia Makarova and Patricia McBride for the 35th and 37th Kennedy Center Honors and the award-winning show Lil Buck @ (le) Poisson Rouge. He holds a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and has taught as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. In 2009, President Obama appointed Woetzel to the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities. In 2015, he received the Harvard Arts Medal.
Additional Artist Bio graphies Please see page 21 for the biographies of Sandeep Das, Johnny Gandelsman, Cristina Pato and Wu Tong.
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