Charleston’s MOJA Arts Festival is spreading its wings in February by offering three events during Black History Month, including a dance performance that will kick off a community read of a major book.
At 7 p.m. Feb. 6 at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center, the Collage Dance Collective will offer a dynamic program of mixed repertory that includes “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” a new neoclassical ballet based on the 1937 novel of the same name by Zora Neale Hurston. The book tells a classic tale of freedom, love and self-realization. The ballet is co-choreographed by Amy Hall Garner and Kevin Thomas. Tickets are $20 plus fees.
“MOJA is thrilled to present to the Charleston community the South Carolina premiere of Collage Dance Collective’s ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ to kick off its winter 2025 NEA Big Read programming celebrating Zora Neale Hurston’s landmark novel,” said Scott Watson, director of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs.”
The office was the only South Carolina cultural organization to win a federal NEA grant last year to support programming around a book from the NEA Big Read Library. The $20,000 grant has a goal to inspire “meaningful conversations, celebrating local creativity, elevating a wide variety of voices and perspectives and building stronger connections in each community.” Charleston’s NEA Big Read will continue through June.
But the Feb. 6 performance by the Memphis-based Collage will be particularly special, he said.
“Collage is one of the Southeast’s most dynamic arts ensembles, having been named a Southern Cultural Treasure by South Arts and the Ford Foundation,” Watson said. “Hosting a vibrant, young dance company here with work that illuminates the Black experience is the perfect way for MOJA to add to the cultural offerings for Black History Month here in the Lowcountry.”
Also part of the Collage performance will be “Rise,” a piece choreographed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech as well as a tribute to the music of legendary blues musicians.
In the past, MOJA typically offered only a fall festival. But two other events that are part of its new February performances are:
Voices of Carolina: The Power of Our Stories: 7 p.m., Feb. 11, Dock Street Theatre, Charleston. The ZD Experience, in partnership with the MOJA Arts Festival, will present musical and spoken word interpretations of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” as another special event in MOJA’s continuing NEA Big Read programming. Tickets are $25, plus fees.
Mike Brown: 7 p.m., Feb. 12, Dock Street Theatre, Charleston. Friends of MOJA will present festival favorite Mike Brown. He will offer a vocal concert that blends gospel, jazz, and rhythm and blues with a line-up representing a who’s who of Lowcountry musicians. Tickets are $25, plus fees.
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