Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre opens season with “Autumn Nights”

Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre (GHDT) will open its 27th Season with Autumn Nights at the Tarkington at Allied Solutions Center for Performing Arts. Performances are 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25 and 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26. Come to the theater early and then enjoy dinner and performance conversation after the show. Click here to purchase tickets.

Autumn Nights welcomes the return of two of GHDT’s most popular works:

The Seven Deadly Sins features an eclectic collection of music to depict the Seven Deadly Sins of Pride, Sloth, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Envy, and Lust in contemporary settings. Also marking its return is The Visit which celebrates nature, autumn, and the magic that the season brings.

Executive Artistic Director Gregory Glade Hancock will premiere his latest work, Beyond These Gates the Land Groans, a poignant new work inspired by the Salaspils Memorial Ensemble in Latvia, which was erected where a prison and labor camp created by Nazi Germany was located from 1941 to 1945. The camp was built by Jews from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, and imprisoned Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, and Soviet citizens, dissidents, military prisoners, and transit prisoners. Almost one-third of the prisoners at this camp were young children. During the period that the camp was in operation more than 20,000 people passed through its gates. Close to 3,000 people died at the camp due to heavy labor, illness, starvation, and inhumane treatment.

In 1967, the memorial monument commemorating victims of Nazism was created. The memorial creates a symbol of life and death with a concrete wall, inscribed with the words “Beyond these gates the land groans.” The memorial, placed in a large forest clearing, contains six massive, Soviet-style, concrete sculptures that depict the variety of people imprisoned in the camp.

“When I saw this powerful, but sorrowful place, I instantly knew it was a new dance work,” Hancock said. “The six sculptures had human-like movement quality, and I could see and hear the dance immediately. I am honored to bring this story from a terrible past to new audiences, in hope that we will never forget.”

Autumn Nights will also mark the premiere performance of three new GHDT company dancers.