Event Concerts and Performances Anna Sokolow and the Reimagined Roots of Anti-Fascist Dance

Date and Location

  • When: Friday, January 26, 2024

    7:00 pm - 8:30 pm EST

  • Where: Thomas Jefferson Building - Coolidge Auditorium (LJG45A)

    10 1st Street SE, Washington, DC 20540

Part of Concerts from the Library of Congress

Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov.

Participants 
Samantha Géracht, Artistic Director, Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble 
James May, Founding Director, Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble 
Lakey Evans-Peña, Associate Director Ailey School Horton Pedagogy 
Ilana Ruth Cohen, dancer  
Erin Gottwald, dancer 
Margherita Tisato, dancer 

Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble’s Artistic Director Samantha Géracht introduces the story of restoring early activist dances of American choreographer Anna Sokolow with a program of performance, panel discussion and movement as demonstration. When the Library of Congress Music Division made the extraordinary discovery of handwritten scores composed by Alex North for two of Sokolow’s dances, Géracht reimagined the dances using archival evidence and the music. Ballad in a Popular Style is a wistful lyrical excursion into jazz first performed in 1936. Slaughter of the Innocents is Sokolow’s 1937 lament for Basque women suffering under Nazi aerial bombing. Both will be performed by members of the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble to the original scores for the first time in 80 years, showing that the creative collaboration of Anna Sokolow (1910-2000) and Alex North (1910-1991) remains fresh, compelling, and relevant for today’s audiences. A panel discussion of the revival of the music and dance and the lives of North and Sokolow will be followed by an audience Q&A session.  

Seating will be by general admission. You will receive a confirmation of your registration by email, with information about the Library of Congress Health and Safety Protocols. 

Schedule

Program 

ALEX NORTH/ANNA SOKOLOW 
Ballad in a Popular Style 
Slaughter of the Innocents 

Event Resources