After a successful run of shows at parks in depressed urban areas of Toronto, A. Dick Nowakowski Dance Inc. brings his dance extravaganza to the UK for a series of six presentations of his eye-popping one-man show, “Baghdad Dick”. Two parts Lord of the Dance and one part Rockette, A. Dick Nowakowski will leap and twirl his way into your heart with this modern dance tour de force combining recurrent Nowakowski themes of peace, children, religion and peace in a whirlwind of light and movement.
Never having received formal training in dance, Nowakowski found his way to the stage after a chance encounter with a drunken bar owner in Tempe, Arizona. Two nights later he was on the stage at Tommie’s Tanker working his way through an improvised set of Irish dancing numbers. Perhaps dodging beer bottles and flying chairs played a role in the development of Nowakowski’s unique personal dance style, but he hasn’t looked back since. Pirouetting his way across the southwest of the United States, he took a series of odd jobs to support his dance passion, including one stint as a seamstress for Sarah’s Wedding Gown’s and Stuff. It was between dresses there that Nowakowski cobbled together from scrap material his patented luminescent unitard, the same unitard whose twinkling sequins audiences have grown to love in shows such as “Baghdad Dick”.
“Baghdad Dick” was a labour of love for Nowakowski, developed over 7 years in Salt Lake City at the same time as he was guiding his petro-chemical business – Decontaminants by Dick - to multi-national status, and defending his business against a rash of lawsuits arising from the side-effects of certain products which were rushed to market. The trials and tribulations of this experience, including one settled claim by a young girl who sprouted hair on her face and back after using Dick’s Foamy Facial and Back Scrub, led Nowakowski to become disenchanted with the capitalist system. Leaving the business to the direction of trusted henchman, he set out on a one-man mission to dance his way to a better world.
Fusing ballet with folk, jazz and random movement, “Baghdad Dick” is the result of this mission – a stirring dance statement on the geopolitical environment in which children co-exist with religion and vice versa, all set to the haunting music of Enya. A keen observer of the international scene, Dick regards world peace as being under threat as a result of large-scale invasions of cities such as Baghdad. Nowakowski’s outdoor dance shows are one way to change that and take many dancy steps towards peace for the children. A. Dick Nowakowski Dance Inc. in co-production with A. Dick Nowakowski Sports and Entertainment implore you and yours to get yourselves out to one of the shows in Leister and Lothian and show Baghdad Dick your support for his dance initiative.
