ACCLAIMED CHOREOGRAPHER LONNIE J. HIGHTOWER III PERFORMS AT THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION ON MARCH 4

Performance marks new partnership between The Phillips Collection and YoungArts

Nationally recognized choreographer Lonnie J. Hightower III, 1999 YoungArts winner in dance and Presidential Scholar in the Arts, presents O’Keeffe and the Line of Dance on March 4 at The Phillips Collection. This dance interpretation of Georgia O’Keeffe’s radical abstract paintings launches the partnership between The Phillips Collection and YoungArts, the core program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

       Hightower choreographed O’Keeffe and the Line of Dance in response to the Phillips’s current exhibition Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction.  He was inspired by the dynamic relationship between Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz and its effect on O’Keeffe’s art.  Hightower has invited Amanda Kay Vercamen, the 2010 YoungArts winner in dance to perform with him.  The dancers will be accompanied by the acapella vocals of Ashlee “Luna” Searles, 1999 YoungArts winner in theater. 

       “I am absolutely delighted to be partnering with such an esteemed organization as The Phillips Collection.  Their museum is renowned worldwide, and YoungArts is fortunate to be able to provide our alumni with the opportunity to be involved with such a fantastic cultural mainstay.  I look forward to a long-lasting partnership,” said Christina DePaul, president and CEO of YoungArts.

       As part of this new relationship, The Phillips Collection will feature YoungArts alumni in performances at the museum throughout 2010.  The next YoungArts alumni performance is a Sunday Concert on April 4 by Ricardo Morales, 1989 Presidential Scholar in the Arts and principal clarinet for The Philadelphia Orchestra. 

The Phillips Collection
1600 21st NW
Washington, DC 20009