GIRARD COLLEGE FOUNDATION

Artist in residence program - ""be holding":be holding , an original performance using ross gay's book-length poem by the same name as a libretto/text, meditates on three impactful themes: black flight, black genius, and looking . The poem structures itself around the famous lay-up by philadelphia 76ers leg endary mvp julius erving (aka "dr. J.), a revered figure among philadelphia athletes/role models. Dr. J's balletic athleticism in the 1980 nba f inals--during which he flies for a seemingly impossibly long time before making that incredible shot--is "seen" through various lenses gay's 70-page, elegiac homage. The work's themes are particularly meaningful for girard, where young people of color are spring boarded to seek "flight" from trauma: to college, a career, a way out of upbringings marked by poverty, hunger, homelessness, abuse, addiction, neglect, violence and incarceration. As there are approximately 120 students who are in high school at girard college, all of them will ultimately either participate in or experience this program as a spectator. The project has two components: (1) a multi-year residency where the artists meet at girard in the fall and spring each year for a short development residency that will involve students of all ages engaged as improvisors, documentarians, writers and/or performers and (2) a fully-realized production run of an evening -length through-scored live performance.