Press

   

March 2019

Delving Into History In Order To Move Forward

"HAWA (The Ride) was a brilliant tribute to Black jockeys while also interrogating contemporary issues of race, appropriation, ritual, and Black sexuality. Not only did it delve into Black American history through the narrative frame, HAWA also elevated non-European diasporic dance forms, both American and global. In other words, not only did the piece tell the stories of the unsung heroes of Black American culture, it offered a movement narrative outside of the white-centered traditions that dominate so much of American concert dance."

January 2018

The Best Dance Performances of 2017; Critical Round-Up

"With a party and haunting vocals provided by the incredible songstress Starr Busby. That is how to survive a plague according to Orlando Zane Hunter Jr. and Ricarrdo Valentine...There is an ongoing discussion regarding how to solve the crisis of under-representation in art; the obvious solution is by supporting more work like this."- Juan Michael Porter II, Contributor, The Huffington Post

December 2017

The HOTTEST Men of 2017: Dance Review

"Woke as FUG and just as pretty to boot. If being true to oneself is the greatest form of activism, then Hunter, Jr. is the sexiest version of truth that I have ever seen."- Juan Michael Porter II, Contributor, The Huffington Post

InfiniteBody Honor Roll 2017

"@how to survive a plague by Brother(hood) Dance! at Danspace Project, October 19-21"-Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

November 2017

how to survive a plague? With dance: REVIEW

"Rousing, they continue with a galloping dance of great abandon and spiraling leaps: Valentine’s dancing is always cool and finely attuned with razor sharp precision that etches in unseen dimensions. Hunter matches him blow for blow with an endless bounty of energy that is more lion than gazelle. It is Hunter who drives Valentine, but it is Valentine who catches him before he falls."- Juan Micheal Porter II, Contributor, The Huffington Post

October 2017

Movement Research/Critical Correspondence: Benedict Nguyen in Conversation with Brother(hood) Dance!

"Benedict Nguyen speaks with Orlando Hunter and Ricarrdo Valentine of Brother(hood) Dance! about the evolution of their work “how to survive a plague” which was seen in Danspace Project’s 2016 Platform: “Lost & Found” and will be brought back in a shared evening at Danspace October 19 - 21, 2017. This work looks at the AIDS epidemic and seeks to rewrite its patchy history by incorporating methods of healing, care-giving, and living testimonies." -- Tess Dworman, co-editor

 

Sharing, surviving: Black men dance at Danspace Project

"You will find exuberant dance (with superb technique, always) overlapped with poetry and humor and glorious singing and visuals and kooky-fun costuming and booming voiceovers and, for a precious few, a chance to get up and shake your body."- Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

 

January 2017

"Native American Realness": Address/redress cultural appropriation

"It should be noted that not every cultural institution would have the integrity to share their failure so publicly and be willing to host the provocateur and many others who stand in solidarity. And they did this only a month after the controversy arose. Response plus action."-Orlando Zane Hunter, Jr- Guest Contribute, InfiniteBody
 

December 2016 

Orlando Zane Hunter, Jr: Receiving our spiritual nourishment

 "It’s up to us as growing citizens of our communities to look at these finite yet very embodied experiences of love and forgiveness as tools of resistance. "

We Will Not Rest In Peace: Lost and Found Ends 

"This story stung noticeably and sent my attention into reckoning with the specifics of the issues raised long after the guys had shifted to a light-hearted Soul Train line with members of the audience."-Maura Donohue, Culturebot

My Year In Arts-Eva Yaa Asentewaa ----Eva Yaa Asantewaa's List: Most Memorable Arts and Cultural Experiences of 2016

 

October 2016

Down on the ground and out on the streets: towards cultural equity

 

"These guys ma-hoooo-ve through space and command our attention. They clearly love to dance, dance, dance but they also have to bios stating that they use “art as a vehicle for activism” or to “tackle issues resulting from a capitalist imperialist patriarchal white supremacist system.”-Maura Donohue, Culturebot

They'll Perform and Talk to Remember Those Killed by AIDS

"Mr. Hunter acknowledge the influences of those who came before him: "Now we have the courage, the support, the power to say, 'Yes, I'm living with H.I.V.'" But He and Mr. Valentine noted that while Mr. Bernd's paper are archived in the Harvard Theater Collection, the archives of Mr.Bernd's black contemporaries are harder to find."-Brian Seibert 

 

May 2016

Black Lives Matter: Un Noveau Soffle Pour Les Voix des Noirs (A New Breath for the Black Voices)

"Young activists Blacks like Ricarrdo Valentine and Orlando Hunter, a couple of dancers aged 29 and 25, created a show, Black Jones , to highlight the complexities of the black male identity."-Rokhaya Diallo

Memories of Blood. To Brother(hood) Dance! and All Black Movers

"The performance of an excerpt from Black Jones by Brother(hood) Dance provided a number of ways to think about blackness. The thoughts I offer here zero in on those aspects of the piece that provoke questions about blackness and nothingness through the visual, the sonic, and the kinesthetic."-Mlondi Zondi

 

April 2016

Dance:Dance/NYC Symposiem. What is Equity?

"Young, but mature enough that, in their calmly concentrated presentation of the everyday situations facing black men and their manhood, via their strong, agile bodies, they were able to reach out and draw in their audience."

 

October 2015

BWW Review:Back To Afro-Futurism

"What can I say about the tremendous performer that is Orlando Hunter? With a seamless blend of acting, poetry, ritual, song and dance Mutiny/When Will You Re-Cog-Nize was a powerhouse solo performance."-Olga El

 

May 2015

Seeing Through Side Eyes

 "I watched Ricarrdo Valentine and Orlando Hunter embrace in every way I cannot describe."-A Nia Austin-Edwards

 

March 2015

Dance review: Richmond Choreographers Showcase

"The intricate choreography and graceful dancing by Hunter and Valentine left the audience pondering difficult subjects and impressed."- Sheena Jeffers Special correspondent