WWW.BROOKLYNPAPER.COM 1 METROTECH CENTER NORTH • 10TH FLOOR • BROOKLYN, NY 11201
Color commentary: The bright costumes
in “Pepperland” recall the mod
styles of the 1960s. Robbie Jack
We got the Beat!
Sgt. Pepper’s-inspired dance comes to BAM
COURIER L 24-7 IFE, MAY 3-9, 2019 61
By Colin Mixson It’s Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts
Club Dance! We hope you will enjoy
the show!
Members of a Fort Greene dance troupe
will pirouette, jump, and groove to the
tunes of the Beatles in a show opening
at Brooklyn Academy of Music on May
8, giving fans young and old a chance to
relive the sensation from Liverpool —
with dance!
“Their music is beloved even now, and
this helps audiences hear, feel, and see the
music in a deeper way all these decades
later,” said Lauren Grant, one of the piece’s
15 dancers.
The Beatles-inspired dance bonanza
“Pepperland,” features six Fab Four classics
from the “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts
Club Band” album, including the title track,
“With a Little Help From My Friends,” “A
Day in the Life,” “When I’m Sixty-Four,”
and “Within You Without You,” along
with “Penny Lane” — originally slated for
the album, but released separately. Those
songs will be matched by an equal number
of original, Pepper-inspired tunes crafted
by jazz composer Ethan Iverson, all performed
live by a quirky ensemble featuring
the sax, trombone, keyboard, vocals,
and a theremin, the psychedelic electronic
instrument played without any physical
contact. The odd assembly propels the
dancers in a unique direction, said Grant.
“This is not the type of band we typically
work with. To have these sounds
accompany our movement is super fun
and atypical, it really feeds us on stage,”
she said.
The show started when the city of
Liverpool, home of the Beatles, contracted
choreographer Mark Morris, founder of
Fort Greene’s Mark Morris Dance Group,
to create a dance piece celebrating the 50th
anniversary of the 1967 album. The show
premiered at Liverpool’s “Sgt. Pepper at 50
Festival” in 2017, and has since toured the
world. The May 8 opening will be its first
appearance in New York City.
Morris’s choreography incorporates
an eclectic variety of dance styles, which
reflects the inspiration that the Beatles
found in music throughout the world,
said Grant.
“There’s a pop dance feel in some of
this, there’s ballet, and Indian dance, especially
during the ‘Within You, Without
You’ section, which has some basis in
Indian music,” she said.
Catch “Pepperland” at Brooklyn
Academy of Music 30 Lafayette Ave. at
Ashland Place in Fort Greene, (718) 636–
4100, bam.org. May 8–11 at 7:30 pm.
$30–$100.
/WWW.BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
/bam.org