The Vail Series presents Baker Tarpaga Dance Project

Denison University’s acclaimed Vail Series presents its 2019-20 season, celebrating the series' 40th Anniversary. 

The Vail Series presents Baker Tarpaga Dance Project presents “When Birds Refused to Fly” choreographed by Olivier Tarpaga. “When Birds Refused to Fly” is a contemporary, evening-length dance theatre project, set to the music of Orchestra Super Volta. Super Volta’s music reflects the celebratory, post-independence fevers raging across sub-Saharan Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, in stark contrast to the painful struggle African Americans faced during their fight for Civil Rights in the United States. This ensemble piece explores, through music and movement, a generational transformation both cultural and geographic; examining what it is to build up and break down.