**Au bout du petit matin* (At the brink of dawn)**

Site-specific commission by The Studios of Key West for White Street Pier, Key West, Florida
Sunrise, April 16, 2016
Direction and choreography: Eryn Rosenthal
Music: L’Orchestre les Christophiles de Floride
Lighting design: El Sol Solèy
Text: Aimé Césaire

Dancers: Mary Kay Cottrill, Kevin “Kal” Kallaugher, Molly Ross, John Tishok, Paula Tishok
Dolphin Whisperer: Jim Dugan
Marine Antoinette (dolphin): created by Katrina Brees

Production: Erin Stover-Sickmen and The Studios of Key West
Video: Marky Pierson, Wonderdog Productions
Sound: Sammy the Sound Man
Part of the National Water Dance Project

*title from Aimé Césaire, Cahier d’un retour au pays natal (Notebook of a Return to My Native Land).

The inaugural Key West Water Dance, Au bout du petit matin, takes its inspiration from the poem Notebook of a Return to My Native Land by Caribbean poet Aimé Césaire, and considers the ocean in all its glorious complexity: from the threat of sea rise to the antics of dolphins, from the coral formation of Key West to water-borne migration. A free public event, this performance is part of a massive happening across the U.S. called National Water Dance, a platform for performance to focus attention on local water issues. The Southernmost island’s contribution is directed and choreographed by Eryn Rosenthal, and features movement by local community dancers and newly commissioned music by the Haitian super-group L’Orchestre les Christophiles de Floride.

Key West’s Water Dance is produced by The Studios of Key West and is free and open to the public. The program begins shortly before sunrise, and is comprised of sections that alternate between bursts of activity and hushed morning calm. The performance invites audience members to participate in sunrise-based migrations, and ends in a human mangrove that grows into a dance party.

Au bout du petit matin was made possible with generous support from:
The Community Foundation of the Florida Keys
The Goode Family Foundation
The Glad Tidings Ministry, Key West
Charles F. Troxel, Jr. DDS

Special thanks: Martha Goode, Corey Malcom, Erin Stover-Sickmen, Jed Dodds, Pastor Jonathan Carey, Jean LaRance, Shelley Jordon, and the White Street Pier Sunrise Club