W&L’s Lenfest Center Presents ‘UNDERSCORED’ with Ephrat Asherie Dance The Oct. 23 performance is an exhilarating adventure through a living archive of the New York City’s club underground scene, rooted in connection, celebration and memory.
Editor’s note: the following release was written by Allison Munck ’27 for W&L’s Lenfest Center for the Arts.
The Lenfest Center at Washington and Lee University presents Ephrat Asherie Dance’s “UNDERSCORED,” a stunning journey through the vibrant eras of New York City’s underground club scene, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23, in the Keller Theatre. A question-and-answer session with the dance company will follow the performance.
Tickets are required and available online or in person at the Lenfest Box Office.
Ephrat Asherie Dance (EAD) is led by award-winning choreographer and dancer Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie and is rooted in African American and Latinx street and club dances. EAD created “UNDERSCORED” as a collection of magnetically energetic dance, deeply personal histories, rare archival footage and a colorful musical landscape that investigates and celebrates the heritages within the underground dance scene in New York City. With cast ages ranging from 28 to 80, the piece brings memory to life through the narrative qualities of street, club and social dances. Highlighting styles like breaking, hip-hop, house, vogue, waacking and hustle, the dancers explore movement as a medium of storytelling and a powerful mode of expression.
“The house dance community in New York City represents the beauty and strength that emerges when the collective consciousness celebrates each individual as their own special creation,” Asherie said.
“UNDERSCORED” embraces this connective nature of dance, investigating from the roots of the seminal parties of the 1970s (like the Loft and Paradise Garage) through the thriving movements of today.
At their Oct. 23 performance, EAD will be accompanied by three New York City club legends — Archie Burnett, Brahms “Bravo” LaFortune and Michele Saunders — turning “UNDERSCORED” into a living archive of five generations of NYC club dancers.
Asherie is a recipient of a 2016 Bessie Award for Innovative Achievement in Dance. In a 2016 performance review, the New York Times wrote, “[Asherie’s] movement phrases — compact bursts of choreography with rapid-fire changes in rhythm and gestural articulation — bubble up and dissipate, quickly paving the way for something new.”
In addition to their Oct. 23 performance, EAD will host masterclasses with W&L Dance and the Rockbridge Ballet. The group will also be highlighted during a “club” theme dinner hour at the Marketplace on Tuesday, Oct. 21.
Order your tickets online today or call the Lenfest Center box office at 540-458-8000 for ticket information. Box office hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The cost is $35 for adults, $32 for seniors, $29 for W&L faculty and staff and $8 for students.
This performance is sponsored in part by the Class of 1964 Performing Arts Fund.
For a full list of performances, visit the Lenfest Center’s website.
The Lenfest Center for the Arts, home of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Film Studies, the Department of Music and Department of Art and Art History is a multi-use facility designed and equipped to accommodate a broad spectrum of the performing arts, including theater, musical theater, opera and operetta, choral and band music, dance and performance art in one energizing complex.
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