Chatham Life & Style

by Serayah Silver, staff writer

Made in North Carolina

Presented by the American Dance Festival

Reynolds Industries Theatre

Durham, NC

June 21, 2022

Learn more about the program at americandancefestival.org/event/made-in-north-carolina

See the full ADF season at americandancefestival.org

It is amazing what bodies can say in conversation with one another, with music, or within the context of stage. What one might see as a simple gesture or extension of limb without the frame of “performance art”, can suddenly become an emotion understood in the collective heart of an audience. Dance has the unique ability to express the narrative beneath the words. Our bodies know the understory; the record of drama both perceived and understood. 

Each of these four acts were commissioned by the American Dance Festival to highlight pieces  created in North Carolina by artists based in-state. Two of these world premiere performances exist on and off the stage in deep cultures of expression, while the other two find culture in context on stage. All came together to implore the audience to look further than the movement; to ask “what the moves meant”. All are thought provoking, and compelling works which represent the level of artistry found in Our Great State of North Carolina. 

Justin Tornow

COMPANY

★★★½ 

Justin Tornow’s Mesa is an experience of shifting realities. The stage is laid bare, without even its back curtains to avoid any illusions. Five Performers move diagonally across our view, underscored by a deep metallic warbling that is at first unsettling, but over time becomes a sixth performer, changing and moving alongside the human dancers. Those on stage wear earth and jewel tones, moving together and yet out of time, as if to merely suggest formation across the play space. They circle back, retrace their steps; sometimes slowly, others erratic, always in sync with one another, ever affected by the shifting environment suggested by the music and the movement of their fellow players. 

The piece seems to ask us, “How do we move forward?” especially in the context of those around us. Why do some dance while others struggle to maintain their feet? When one falls, whose responsibility does it become to carry them? Who does that labor tend to fall on repeatedly, and why? 

Always in motion, the players rely on each other, on each new step to cross the plane. Some grow weary, and fall short, while others go off on their own only to return with the knowledge that only so much can be done alone. All express their understanding of self and surrounding in movements unique to their particular path. Though each movement exudes emotion, everyone remains stoic, and focused; intent. Even when they’ve reached the other side of the stage, having been through so much, some–even those who worked the hardest, carried the most–were still left uncertain of what lay before them. 

Ramya Sundaresan Kapadia

Natyarpana School of Dance & Music

★★★★

A woman is a goddess in the morning, then again when she falls into sleep at night. In between, she must take on many roles; teacher, lover, warrior, guide (to name a few) and in all this, she must lead herself back to the knowledge of her own divinity. When Time Stood Still is a series of precious moments woven together by the memory of emotion. It is a picture book animated by movement; the story of an entire life made accessible by dance. 

Ramya Sundaresan Kapadia held the attention of the audience from the very start, evoking applause at her very presence, alone on stage, and gasps as her silhouette, cloaked in the deep orange of sunrise, gave the appearance of a patient, waiting God. Working the entire stage with only the accompaniment of song, Kapadia considers the passing of time. Though we may attempt to live in one moment forever, time moves along, urging us forward into different experiences of emotion. This constant motion compels us to make even more memories. The story told here through dance is a marvel of expression. Each movement harbors a fierce delicacy through which an elaborate narrative unfolds in less than ten minutes time. 

The Artist seamlessly blends what we understand as a traditional art form of dance with modern elements (pantomiming actions we recognize from our everyday lives; speaking on the phone, or picking herbs from the garden) leaving the audience with a fully fleshed, understanding of a story of human yearning and rememory. The Character reminds us, as she is reminded, to recognize otherwise ordinary moments, and cherish them as monuments marking significant change in our lives. 

Chris Yon & Taryn Griggs 

★★★

Chris Yon and Taryn Griggs’s darkly humorous ensemble piece, a bird you must not miss, is an abstraction of understanding; an act of distorted familiarity. Whenever the viewer thinks they “get it” a shift occurs again and again until you are left with no choice but to allow the experience to simply happen. When this occurs, the happening becomes its own reward. The Viewer finds themselves in conversation with the artist, asking the necessary questions, noticing certain choices, and making their own meaning. 

Movement here is not quite “dance” as one would conventionally describe it, but rather a series of gestures and implications meant to suggest the relationship between pairs. When these pairs change suddenly, what does it mean for each individual involved? How do group dynamics shift when introduced to the presence of another? How can a singular individual be defined if not by the perception of a witness, however skewed? 

This piece is purposefully disorienting, asking the audience to do their own work of interpretation. Popular songs, such as Todd Rundgren’s version of "Hello It’s Me" loops over itself to undercurrent odd movements made in repetition. This creates random synchronicities that become choreography on stage. When the viewer allows their mind to relax over the experience, they find their questions answered by their own willingness to enjoy. It doesn’t matter what it means if we’re all having a good time. 

Because this piece asked the most of the audience by way of meaning-making, I was left with an intriguing conclusion. We are all organic machines, acted upon by and in collaboration with  the frequencies of each other and our environment. This one “really makes you think” which is a writerly way of saying “It was odd but it was fun”. 

Jose Velasquez

Soul Struck

★★★★★

Unwanted Heroes was the perfect note to end the night. The piece displayed the most impressive physical feats while expressing a storyline that was both mythological in its scope, and deeply personal in its delivery. Five Performers posed in spotlight while a voice directly addressed the audience. This voice told the story of Gods, those who made magic and bestowed on humans their mighty rite. Each stanza activated a different performer whose movements mirrored the spoken narrative. According to this mythos, those found in “the sleeping streets”, born of melanated skin, were to be the true recipients of this divine power. Those who would interpret that power as both dangerous and profitable deem those who wield it enemy and because they have capital, the magical are treated as lesser than. This piece is about what it means to be an artist in the context of our society. It speaks to the challenges necessary to overcome obstacles, and to discover our talents, flaws and super powers. 

Jose Velasquez leads Soul Struck through a series of break out solo scenes; each of the five performers representing a different genre of dance. Together they showcase their expertise in krumping, break, B-boy and ballet, all wearing vans, and street clothes. This is a welcomed departure from the flowy earth tones and monochrome jumpsuits that have become commonplace in modern dance performance.

These were the most active on stage, performing physical feats of movement that seemed to overwhelm the audience at Reynolds theater, though they would have been commonplace in certain cultural circles; cyphers, parks or basketball courts wherever Black and Brown people are found. In either context, these were amazing acts of artistry; exhibits of tremendous commitment to craft and physical control. 

This was the most impressive performance of the night and served as the perfect bridge between what would typically be described as “street dance” and what has been mutually agreed (mostly by white academia) to be “classical” or “performance art. This is the performance with which I could most easily identify, the one that let me know that “we” were in the building, at the table, a part of the larger conversation about what Art is and can be. -- S. Silver

Serayah Silver (they/them), staff writer, is an artist, writer, and dramaturg living in Durham, North Carolina. They hold a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction and Screenwriting from Queens University of Charlotte and serve as the Literary Manager and In-House Dramaturg for MOJOAA Performing Arts. Serayah's passion lies in building engaging worlds by telling resonant stories as well as encouraging and equipping Black Queer Southern Artists to do the same. They write to fund their painting, and radical rest. Their goal in life is to always be engaged in the experience of making, doing, and being Art.