Silk Road Dance Company Comes to SU September 19

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University explores Middle Eastern and Asian culture through performance as the Silk Road Dance Company of Washington, D.C., takes the Holloway Hall stage 7 p.m. Saturday, September 19.

Founded by Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray in 1995, the ensemble specializes in traditional dances, as well as those that are seldom now performed in their countries of origin, including Uzbekistan and Qadir. The company was the first American dance ensemble to earn an invitation to perform at the prestigious Sharq Taronalari International Festival in Samarkand, Uzbekistan and was featured in a Uzbek television special.

The company has been invited to the embassies of Egypt, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and Russia and has won the International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance Award for best dance company.

Nationally, Silk Road has been seen at the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Chicago’s Field Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum and Warner Bros. Studios, among others. Its members have given special performances for the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, the National Geographic Society and the National Peace Corps.

The Washington Post calls the company a “highlight.” The Washington Examiner says its performances are a “cultural explosion.”

Sponsored by the Office of Cultural Affairs, admission is free and the public is invited. Tickets are not required. Admission is on a first come, first served basis. For more information call 410-543-6271 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.