Program II Featuring Blue Pencil

Friday, February 28, 2025 | 8:00pm          
Miami Theater Center
9806 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami Shores

Advance Purchase Tickets $20 - $40 / Day of Show $45

Challenging political and social moments often lead to creative artistic responses. With the World Premiere of “Blue Pencil,” Dance NOW! Miami tackles the issues of authoritarianism and repression head-on. The politically charged ballet takes its title from Portugal’s “Blue Pencil” censorship under the Salazar dictatorship from 1933 to 1974. The world premiere, choreographed by Co-Artistic Directors Diego Salterini and Hannah Baumgarten, will highlight the power of the arts to resist illegitimate authority with stories of resilience and hope from across the globe and in different decades.

For this piece, DNM Artistic Directors Diego Salterini and Hannah Baumgarten join forces with Portuguese-based Dança em Diálogos Artistic Director Solange Melo to tell stories of cultural repression, highlighting the power of the arts to resist and overcome. Baumgarten, Salterini and Melo will approach the subject matter as a cautionary tale about government driven censorship in the United States and specifically in the State of Florida, made even more poignant after the radical cuts to the arts this year.

This performance will feature Dance NOW!’s portion of the ballet and one week after the premiere, DNM will travel to Cascais, Portugal to perform the complete work with sections by both companies March 12 at the RHI Festival. The company will join a Miami Beach Sister Cities International diplomatic delegation, further demonstrating the power of arts to bridge cultures and unite countries.

As part of the company’s ongoing 25th anniversary celebration, the Program II evening will also include the audience favorites “Court Dance”, Baumgarten’s Machiavellian “political tribal dance,” and Salterini’s “Drawing Circles”, a tribute to MiMo architecture.