THROUGH THE WEEK OF Feb. 28, 2016

It’s the final week of Black History Month, so why not celebrate the life of L. Martina Young, the only black dance artist to receive the state’s highest arts honor — the Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Martina will be putting on the third literary installation of her ongoing life work, “SWAN: a poetical inquiry in dance, text & memoir” on Friday, Feb. 26 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Veritas Empowerment Boutique. She will be investigating the image of the swan in world culture, literature, philosophy, art, and dance. She will also feature designs from Edward Coleman’s Black Swan Collection.

“Dancing is my mother tongue, the first and final act of freedom. Through this mode of being, I manifest the motivating force for what I do: to give love, to become love, to undergo and initiate change through love. To dance is to love, deeply. To dance is to undergo change, profoundly. The act of dancing is rooted to my past, informed by my present, and inspires a future. It is a living aesthetic by which we body ourselves forth through a dynamic system of moving thought,” she said in her latest publication.

Martina’s performance work has been presented in Italy’s 2014 & 2015 International Exhibit for Contemporary Art. Currently, she is in preparation for her next performance installation, “BLACK SWANS,” a multi-genre, collaborative, and world community-based work.
This promises to be a fabulous evening.

If you go:

What: “SWAN: a poetical inquiry in dance, text & memoir”

When: Feb. 26, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Where: Veritas Empowerment Boutique, 4001 S. Virginia St. (inside Reno Town Mall)

Details: Elegant dress is requested.