With the influx of Black residents between 1911 and 1929, Five Points became a requisite stop for the world's premier African-American jazz musicians -- including Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker and countless others who stopped in Denver on their way between Midwest and West Coast tours to play the clubs and performance halls. The area became well known for its after-hours jazz scene and its openness to all races and cultures.

Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble continues its 35th Anniversary Season, paying homage to one of the most prosperous and historic Black communities in the West with Breakin’ the Rules; A Multi-Media Tribute to Five Points.

Born in Denver’s Five Points to artistic interracial parents, Cleo Parker Robinson has a life-long association with the location of this production. Cleo Parker Robinson Dance has been an integral part of the Park Hill and Five Points neighborhoods for 35 years and based in the historic Shorter AME Church building in the Points for more than 16 years. Her father, Jonathan “JP” Parker, was the director of the Houston Fine Arts Center, which is now the Kay Schomp Theatre. Cleo is a graduate of the Colorado Women's College, the site now occupied by the Denver School of the Arts. Breakin’ the Rules celebrates Cleo and her Ensemble’s legacy in Denver’s historic Five Points community and her ensemble’s roots on the Houston Fine Arts Theatre stage where she and her father collaborated.

Breaking the Rules will showcase four works, each of which broke the rules of social acceptability. The legendary 96 year-old Katherine Dunham’s Barrelhouse Blues was created in 1934, and recently performed by Parker Robinson at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House for the Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, will be showcased.

Also featured will be Nocturne, created in 1952 by the iconic Donald McKayle as a wedding gift for his bride and set to the music of legendary blind urban jazz percussionist Louis “Moondog” Hardin. This passionate and sensual choreography was inspired by the art of Paul Gauguin.
McKayle was named by the Dance Heritage Coalition as "One of America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures: The first 100."  He has choreographed over 70 works for dance companies around the world. Five Tony nominations have honored his choreography for Broadway musical theater. He received an Emmy nomination for Free to Be You and Me. His work for film includes Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Great White Hope, and The Jazz Singer. A documentary on his life and work, Heartbeats of a Dancemaker (which features Cleo Parker Robinson Dance rehearsal director and premier dancer Marceline Freeman), has aired on PBS stations throughout the United States. McKayle has set eight ballets on the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, the largest number he has set on any repertory company.

Also on the evening’s program will be Church of Nations, created for the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble in 1991 by the visionary Kevin “Iega” Jeff. He is an accomplished choreographer, director, teacher and performer and has more than 15 years of experience in artistic direction and management. Jeff formerly served as artistic director of the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theater. In 1982, he founded the internationally acclaimed JUBILATION! Dance Company, which had a tremendous impact in the New York dance community. He received choreographer fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, merit awards from the National Council for Culture and Art and the International Conference of Blacks in Dance and was nominated for a Bessie

(New York Dance Performance Award). Jeff is the founder and artistic director of Deeply Rooted Dance in Chicago.

The evening’s crowning performance, featuring live music by some of Denver’s best jazz musicians, will be the world premier of the multi-media Breakin’ the Rules, created through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble by dance innovator Chester Whitmore. Dancing since 1974, Whitmore originally studied to be a cinematographer. An encounter with legendary tap dancer Fayard Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers changed his life. Whitmore is considered one of the premier archivists of vernacular dance. His life’s work is the preservation of the traditions of Black dance from its roots in African dance taking us through slave dances, swing, lindy, jive, be-bop, jazz and tap eras and into present day hip hop traditions.
Lately, he has been traveling around the world on tour as a dancer, teacher, choreographer, director and entertainer. He and his dance company, Black Ballet Jazz, have performed with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, and the great Miles Davis. Whitmore is actively involved in projects teaching young people through the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs events and in schools and universities throughout the United States. Whitmore has taught almost everyone who has made a name in the swing scene.

McKayle, Jeff and Whitmore  will be in Denver for final rehearsals for Breakin’ the Rules.

Performances for Breakin’ the Rules are Saturday, April 1, Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8 at 8 p.m., as well as Sundays, April 2 and 9 at 2 p.m. at the Kay Schomp Theatre, 7111 Montview Blvd. in Denver, on the campus of the Denver School of the Arts

Tickets are $25 and $35 and are available from the Schomp Theatre Box Office by calling 720-424-1713, through cleoparkerdance.org or through TicketsWest at all metro-area King Soopers Stores (1-866-464-2626 or Ticketswest.com).