Lincoln Center To Celebrate Juneteenth With New Commissioned Performance

The performance, titled “I Dream a Dream That Dreams Back at Me, a Juneteenth Celebration", was created by Amerian poet Carl Hancock Rux

As part of Lincoln Center's "Restart Stages" program, the special performance will take place across four areas of the Lincoln Center campus on June 19.

Part I features a musical performance documenting the journey of abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman. Vocalists Nona Hendryx, Marcelle Davies-Lashley, Kimberly Nichole will perform music by Vernon Reid and Nona Hendryx, with lyrics by Lynn Nottage. They will also be wearing original paper dresses created by artist Dianne Smith.

Vocalist Helga Davis will perform a rendition of the deconstructed National Anthem in Part II, which questions the true meaning of freedom.

Part III features a performance combining rock, blues, and R&B by Toshi Reagon, and the rest of the cast will join together for the last segment in Part IV.

Free tickets to the event are available through a lottery on TodayTix, open for entry two weeks before the performance date.

"When I was asked by Lincoln Center to craft a program for Juneteenth, I gave careful consideration to this annual celebration that began when enslaved peoples were finally informed (two years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation) that they were free," said Rux in a statement.

"The importance of an annual celebration that enables us to learn about the history and understand our past — where we came from and how we got where we are today— is without question.

"Slavery in the United States is not only a part of American history but of the world. It is very hard for many of us to understand how and why slavery happened in America. Yet, this history of human bondage and eventual emancipation makes me wonder if in fact any of us can be made free until we are all free of the ideological values of racism and injustice."

Find out more information, here.