Ayodele Casel, Rennie Harris Puremovement, and Ron K. Brown’s EVIDENCE, A Dance Company

The Wex joins a nationwide centennial celebration of Roach, with one of many presentations across the country. Curated by Richard Colton and commissioned by the Joyce Theater, this special program brings artists together in conversation with Roach’s lasting legacy set to recordings of the late musician performing his greatest works.

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 EVIDENCE, A Dance Company, in their return to the Wex. In “The Dream/It’s Time,” 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. Ayodele Casel approaches her solo dance performance as a “trio,” adding her singular percussive improvisation to the free jazz duet by Roach and fellow jazz pioneer pianist Cecil Taylor.