*Fifth Annual East Liberty Celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. * *Noon, Monday, January 20, at KST* KST honors Dr. King’s legacy of peace and unity with an afternoon of free performances by Pittsburgh groups working toward a greater cause through art. A KST FAMILYtime event, festivities kick off at noon with community partners Union Project, Assemble, and MGR Foundation. Live performances will begin at 2 p.m. Free *Dreams of Hope: Season Preview * *8 p.m. Friday & Saturday, January 24-25, at The Alloy Studios* Dreams of Hope will preview an original piece that investigates pride, based on the performers’ own experiences, research, and interviews with LGBTQ leaders in Pittsburgh. Dreams of Hope provides the region’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and allied youth a welcoming environment to grow in confidence, express themselves, and develop as leaders. Pay What You Can *Sixth Annual Next Stage Dance Residency Showing * *8 p.m. Saturday, February 1, at The Alloy Studios* Next Stage Dance Residency supports the creation of fresh work by giving talented choreographers the opportunity to explore and develop new material at The Alloy Studios. The residency includes five days of creative rehearsal time and this work-in-progress showing. This year’s resident artists are Mana Kawamura and Gia T. Cacalano. Previous Next Stage resident artists include Kyle Abraham, Sidra Bell, and the Murphy/Smith Dance Collective. $10 *Fresh Works with Alan Obuzor * * 8 p.m. Friday, February 7, at The Alloy Studios* Fresh Works is a creative laboratory for Pittsburgh-based artists who seek to make connections between dance and the rest of the world. Lead artists are given 80 hours at The Alloy Studios to explore cross-genre collaborations. The program culminates with a performance during Unblurred: First Fridays on Penn. $10 *Beautiful Struggle: Pittsburgh Premiere* *Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project* *8 p.m., Friday & Saturday, February 21-22 at KST* Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project ponders the visibility and invisibility of race and privilege and how violence and love live on in the body's memories. Drawing from the text of white anti-racism activist Tim Wise and theories of the African Diasporic movement, *Beautiful Struggle* is a highly physical dance theater work that integrates live music, text, and performance art. $15 Artists/Students; $20 15206; $25 General http://kelly-strayhorn.org/events/baker-and-tarpaga-dance-project-beautiful-... *Soundwaves Steelband * *8 p.m. Friday, February 28, at KST* Soundwaves is Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s premier youth ensemble. Designed for talented students to develop and enhance musical skills, Soundwaves features students from several schools including Pittsburgh Obama, CAPA, Pittsburgh Urban Christian School, and St. Edmund’s Academy. Rehearsing under the direction of KST resident artist Mat Docktor, students learn steel band techniques, music theory essentials, and elements of ensemble performance. http://kelly-strayhorn.org/events/soundwaves-steelband-february-28-2014/ *garment: World Premiere* *Sidra Bell Dance New York* *8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 7-8, at KST* KST is proud to present the world premier performance of *garment*, which was developed by internationally acclaimed choreographer Sidra Bell during an artist residency at The Alloy Studios. Exploring bending and shifting identities in a playful and interactive stage arena, Bell’s evolving movement vocabulary rejects the ordinary. $15 Artists/Students; $20 15206; $25 General http://kelly-strayhorn.org/events/sidra-bell-dance-new-york-garment/ *SUNSTAR: Tribute to Ladies in Jazz * *8 p.m. Friday, March 29, at KST* Impassioned women pioneers of jazz overcame decades of sexism and racism, making known their undisputable talents. With an evening of contemporary interpretations of the Great American Songbook, KST pays homage to female trailblazers like Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne who advanced innovations in jazz from the bandstand and carved a place for themselves in history. $15 Artists/Students; $20 15206; $25 General *The Secret History of Love * *Sean Dorsey Dance * *8 p.m. Friday & Saturday, April 4-5, at KST* Based on remarkable real-life stories from decades past, the performance reveals how people in the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community survived tremendous obstacles and found love. Speakeasies, wartime love affairs, police raids, and steamy underground cabarets explode onstage in this powerful work by transgender trailblazer Sean Dorsey of San Francisco. $15 Artists/Students; $20 15206; $25 General *Wade in the Water Residency Showing * *Mukwae Wabei Siyolwe & Daniel Bernard Roumain* *8 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, at The Alloy Studios* This performance explores modern-day revolutions spurred by social media in Africa while simultaneously looking back in time to an ancient ceremony on the Barotse Floodplain that relocated the masses to higher ground. This multi-generational encounter allows indigenous and Western identities to collide and blurs the lines between exhibit, documentary, and performance -- between old and new -- and between photos, video, and sound. *Let’s Move! Family Dance Party * *11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturday, April 12, at KST* Put on your dancing shoes and bring your family to join the fun at our dance party, one of KST’s four signature FAMILYtime events. This party has just the right mix for toddlers and their families to get down! Enjoy kid-friendly music spun by our guest DJ, dancing, hands-on art activities, and more. Pay What You Can *BlackStar Film Festival * *Saturday, May 10, at KST* Originating in Philadelphia, the BlackStar Film Festival illuminates the global black experience through films by and about people of African descent from across the world. Each Thursday in March, KST will share a film from the festival, an outlet for often-overlooked cinema by directors, writers, and producers working in narrative, documentary, experimental, and music video filmmaking. -- Duane Binion *PROGRAMMING ASSISTANT* Kelly Strayhorn Theater 5941 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15206 412.363.3000 x212 | duane@kelly-strayhorn.org With your generous support of the *KST RENAISSANCE FUND*, we break boundaries and strengthen community connections through provocative theater, music, and dance programming that sparks dialogue. Make your secure donation online today at www.kelly-strayhorn.org/support.