Crossing the Line Festival 2019FIAF Crossing the Line Festival 2019 FIAF
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When Birds Refused to Fly

Olivier Tarpaga

DANCE

NY Premiere
Thu, Oct 10 at 7:30pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th Street, NYC

Buy Tickets

View Ticket Info
Individual Tickets
FIAF Members $25
Non-Members $35
Students & Under 30: $15
CTL 2-Pack
FIAF Members: $65
Non Members: $80
Students / Under 30: $50

Discounted package includes a ticket to Opening Night, Thu, Sep 12–Sat, Sep 14, plus a ticket to your choice of one of these shows: Isadora Duncan on Wed, Sep 25, Radio Live on Wed, Oct 2, or When Birds Refused to Fly on Thu, Oct 10. All shows are at 7:30pm.

“Steeped in social relevance.”
— The Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Award-winning musician, dancer, and choreographer Olivier Tarpaga makes his highly-anticipated Crossing the Line debut with the New York premiere of his joyful and deeply personal work, When Birds Refused to Fly.

Set to a powerful soundtrack by Tarpaga’s father’s band, Super Volta—combining traditional sounds from Burkina Faso and driving contemporary rhythms—the piece contrasts the hope of independence movements across Sub-Saharan Africa in the 60s to the painful fight for Civil Rights in the United States.

Currently a lecturer at the Lewis Center for the Arts and director of the African Music Ensemble at Princeton University, Tarpaga has invited four visiting Burkinabe dancers from Ouagadougou to perform When Birds Refused to Fly.

75 min approx

View Production Credits
Concept, Artistic Direction and Choreography: Olivier Tarpaga
Performers: Salamata Kobré, Jean Robert Kiki Koudogbo, Stéphane Michael Nana, Abdoul Aziz Zoundi
Dramaturg: Aristide Tarnagda
Lighting Design and Technical Director: Cyril Givort
Set and Prop Concept: Olivier Tarpaga in collaboration with V. Mitch McEwen
Architectural Concept and Design: V. Mitch McEwen
Additional Set Design: Sada Dao
Sound Design: Yvan Talbot
Video Design : Tiziana Manfredi
Costume Design: Martial Yeo
Rehearsal Director: Ousséni Dabaré
Project Managers: Francois Bouda (Burkina Faso), Anna Drozdowski (USA)

Music:
Oye Ka Bara Kignan, Fanta Wonderful and Johnny by Amadou Traoré dit Ballake et L’Orchestre
Super Volta de la capitale
Yele by Amadou Traoré dit Ballake
A Son Magni by Abdoulaye Cissé et L’Orchestre Super Volta de la capitale
La Guitare de Tinga by Désiré Traoré et L’Orchestre Super Volta de la capitale
Father Otis by Tô Finley et L’Orchestre Super Volta de la capital
Wënd Mondé by L’Orchestre Super Volta de la capital
In Together by Olivier Tarpaga and Boubacar Djiga,
Goodbye by Olivier Tarpaga and Seydou Koita
Boussanga by Yvan Talbot
And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

Production: Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project
Co-production: Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Denison University, Choreography Development Center (CDC la Termitiere) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Tour Partners: Kelly Strayhorn Theater (Pittsburgh), FIAF (French Institute Alliance Française, New York), Lewis Center for the Arts (Princeton University), Biennale Charleroi Danse (Charleroi, Belgium), Michael Eisner Center for the Performing Arts (Denison University, OH), Mahaney Center for the Arts (Middlebury College, VT), Festival International Dialogue de Corps (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso), Haba na Haba Dance Festival (Dar Es Salam, Tanzania), IN-OUT Dance Festival (Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso).

Special thanks to Seydou Boro, Salia Sanou, Bienvenue Bazie, Serge Aime Coulibaly, and Esther Baker-Tarpaga

Olivier Tarpaga
Read Bio
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The presentation of When Birds Refused to Fly was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with leading funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Photos
When Birds Refused to Fly © Géry Barbot

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Get the CTL 2-Pack & Save!

Package includes a ticket to Cyril Teste's Opening Night (Thu-Sat, Sep 12-14) plus a discounted ticket to a second show of your choice at FIAF. Select from Jérôme Bel's Isadora Duncan (Wed, Sep 25), Aurélie Charon's Radio Live (Wed, Oct 2), and Olivier Tarpaga's When Birds Refused to Fly (Thu, Oct 10). All shows are at 7:30pm.

Steps to purchase:

  • Buy your ticket for Opening Night. On the Ticketmaster ticket page, click on the displayed ticket price to open additional ticket options. Select one of the 2-pack options and place your order.
  • Email boxoffice@fiaf.org with the name & date of your preferred second show. Make sure to include your Opening Night Ticketmaster order number.

Olivier Tarpaga

Olivier Tarpaga is a Lester Horton Award–winning dancer-choreographer and musician, a dance guest lecturer at the Lewis Center for the Arts, and a music lecturer and the director of the African music ensemble for Princeton University’s Department of Music. Tarpaga’s major works includes When Birds Refused to Fly (2019), Declassified Memory Fragment (2015), Not Because You’re African (2010), Disorder Inside Order (2008), Sira Kan (2007) with Esther Baker-Tarpaga and Wilfried Souly, Duna (2006) with Lacina Coulibaly, and Tin Suka (2001) with Companie Ta. Tarpaga is the founder and artistic director of Dafra Drum and Dafra Kura Band, and co-founder of the Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project. He danced with David Rousseve/REALITY from 2006 to 2010, when he was also a State Department Art Envoy in South Africa, Botswana, Burkina Faso, and Sri Lanka. He has been commissioned by Malaysia’s HANDS percussion, MAYA dance theater of Singapore, and the Temple of Fine Arts in Perth, Austrailia. Tarpaga has performed and recorded with celebrity rock star POE at Capitol Records in Hollywood. In 2008, he was invited to re-interpret Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with West African instruments for a sold-out concert with Billy Bragg in Santa Monica. Tarpaga is the artistic director of the Nomad Express International Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and has performed and taught dance and music in 50 countries throughout Africa, Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania.

When Birds Refused to Fly
Olivier Tarpaga
DANCE
NY Premiere
Thu, Oct 10
FIAF Florence Gould Hall

Olivier Tarpaga

Olivier Tarpaga is a Lester Horton Award–winning dancer-choreographer and musician, a dance guest lecturer at the Lewis Center for the Arts, and a music lecturer and the director of the African music ensemble for Princeton University’s Department of Music. Tarpaga’s major works includes When Birds Refused to Fly (2019), Declassified Memory Fragment (2015), Not Because You’re African (2010), Disorder Inside Order (2008), Sira Kan (2007) with Esther Baker-Tarpaga and Wilfried Souly, Duna (2006) with Lacina Coulibaly, and Tin Suka (2001) with Companie Ta. Tarpaga is the founder and artistic director of Dafra Drum and Dafra Kura Band, and co-founder of the Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project. He danced with David Rousseve/REALITY from 2006 to 2010, when he was also a State Department Art Envoy in South Africa, Botswana, Burkina Faso, and Sri Lanka. He has been commissioned by Malaysia’s HANDS percussion, MAYA dance theater of Singapore, and the Temple of Fine Arts in Perth, Austrailia. Tarpaga has performed and recorded with celebrity rock star POE at Capitol Records in Hollywood. In 2008, he was invited to re-interpret Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with West African instruments for a sold-out concert with Billy Bragg in Santa Monica. Tarpaga is the artistic director of the Nomad Express International Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and has performed and taught dance and music in 50 countries throughout Africa, Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania.

When Birds Refused to Fly
Olivier Tarpaga
DANCE
NY Premiere
Thu, Oct 10
FIAF Florence Gould Hall