University of Illinois, Krannert Center for Performing Arts

Choreographed/written/directed by David Roussève, Halfway to Dawn is an evening-length work weaving dance, music, sound, video, and text to uncover the deeper ‘truths’ of African American gay jazz composer Billy Strayhorn’s life (1915-67) while creating a dialogue on urgent social issues of our own. The work is danced to a score of Strayhorn and Duke Ellington songs from raise-the-roof jazz anthems to emotion-laden ballads and performed by the wildly diverse company David Roussève/REALITY. Halfway to Dawn intersects fact, conjecture, comment, abstraction, and fantasy to create an abstract portrait of Ellington’s most important though largely unknown collaborator.