Max Roach 100

The ICA joins the centennial celebration of the iconic drummer, composer, and activist Max Roach with an evening of dance made in tribute to the legendary jazz pioneer. Curated by Summer Stages Dance co-founder Richard Colton, Max Roach 100 celebrates Roach’s legacy with new dance works choreographed by Ayodele Casel, Rennie Harris, and Ronald K. Brown, featuring some of the late musician’s most acclaimed recordings.

Characterized by its Afro-Cuban percussion, the 1961 album Percussion Bitter Sweet becomes the soundscape for choreographer Ronald K. Brown and Arcell Cabuag’s latest work for dancers from Havana-based Malpaso Dance Company and Brown’s own EVIDENCE, A Dance Company. In Jim Has Crowed, Roach’s band joins a recording of Martin Luther King Jr. in an aspirational and urgent conversation, now amplified by the streetdance storytelling of Rennie Harris Puremovement. Tap artist Ayodele Casel performs an explosively theatrical solo set to a series of duets between Roach and fellow Jazz pioneer, pianist Cecil Taylor. The program opens with Max Roach Live: Video Art by Kit Fitzgerald, a short film by video artist Kit Fitzgerald with footage from her decade-long collaboration with Roach, highlighting Roach’s influence across artistic disciplines. 

On Saturday, John Andress, Bill T. Jones Director/Curator of Performing Arts, and Richard Colton, curator of Max Roach 100, will join the artists for an audience Q+A following the performance.

Read the performance program