Extension of a Dream

Extension of a Dream is a memorial to the South African freedom fighter Steve Biko who met an untimely, brutal death at the hands of South African police. Originally composed in 1977, the work was premiered at the 1978 Styrian Autumn Festival in Austria and in 1987 Alvin Singleton expanded it with a commission from the Bremer Tanztheater. Whereas it might well have featured endless thunder in less expressive hands, Extension of a Dream is made up of endless contrasts from featherlike touches in the suspenseful opening to the single and embellished sledge hammer death blows leading to the closing section.