Nine choreographers will share their visions of “American Portrait” when Evanston Dance Ensemble performs in the Josephine Louis Theater at Northwestern University, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, March 14-17.
Co-Artistic Director Enid Smith said that she and Co-Artistic Director Allison Kurtz Volkers chose that theme because, “It’s a broad theme so it’s widely open for interpretation by our guest artists. I’ve been really happy with all the different ideas that have crossed the table by the various choreographers.”
Volkers added, “There’s a lot of things going on in the world right now that are causing folks to question what does it mean to be an American? What is our American identity?”
Smith chose to focus on migration for a piece that she choreographed. “Bound Away” is the working title for Smith’s modern dance piece, which is set to the folk song, “Shenandoah,” performed by cellist Yo Yo Ma. 10 dancers perform the piece.
“Whenever there’s dancers onstage, there’s some other people from the cast running down the hallway to the theater to get back to stage left,” Smith reported. “I wanted to make something musical and—for lack of a better word—‘dancey,’ pretty and lush. I wanted to include the idea of groups of people moving together and caretaking that would take place along the route. There’s a lot of gentle touch and partnering in my dance.”
Volkers is creating a piece about the fact that Americans are achievement-oriented, “I was reading a lot of job descriptions and something that stood out to me was that a lot of the language in those job listings was: ‘Works well under pressure,’ ‘Driven,’ ‘Self-starter,’ ‘Achievement-oriented.’”
Volkers observed that “all the things that we value are also the things that burn us out.” She noted that when people were forced to stop because of COVID-19, there were things people liked about stopping.
When we are so achievement-driven, Volkers said we miss the opportunity to meander off the path and make discoveries we wouldn’t otherwise.
The working title of Volker’s contemporary piece is “Drive.” It features four dancers and four desks. The dancers perform to a variety of sounds including the noise of a photocopy machine.
Bea Rashid, founder and former artistic director of Evanston Dance Ensemble, created a contemporary dance piece focusing on immigration stories.
“I am an immigrant,” Rashid revealed. “I was born in Hungary and my parents escaped during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. I was just a baby.”
To create the piece, Rashid asked dancers to interview their families and learn their immigration stories in order to blend them into the choreography.
“It was amazing how many stories came forward,” she said.
The working title of the piece is “Things We Carry.” Seven dancers perform in the piece that is inspired by a poem about immigration, called “Things We Carry on the Sea” by Wang Ping.
It features music by Meredith Monk, Sibelius and David Chalman, with text from Ping’s poem.
Choreographer Imani English created a contemporary dance piece about the forced displacement of Native American tribes by the United States government starting in the 1830s, commonly referred to as the Trail of Tears.
English said she wanted to create a piece inspired by a part of her heritage she hadn’t yet explored.
“I do have Cherokee Indian in my lineage,” she said. “I found a piece of music that really inspired me. The piece is not very literal but it is inspired by the feelings that I can only imagine those people experiencing through forced migration.”
The music is “Experience“ by Ludovico Einaudi and Daniel Hope and the piece for 10 dancers is called “The Trail.”
Despite the pain of that journey, the choreographer believes there were likely little moments of beauty from things around them as they traveled such as the landscape, birds singing, or the stars.
The piece captures those diverse feelings through “dynamic shifts,” English explained. “I wanted to explore all the feelings—the desperation, the grief, and those little glimmers of hope.”
Other choreographers who created pieces for the dance concert are Eduardo Zambrana who created a jazzy swing number; Braeden Barnes and Michelle Meltzer who choreographed a contemporary ballet piece; a ballet duet en pointe by Olivia Mitchell and Pfifer Spruill, a student member of the Evanston Dance Ensemble.
There will also be some short transitioning pieces showcasing such iconic American dance styles as tap and hip hop.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14 and Friday, March 15. Saturday, March 16 has two shows at 1 and 4 p.m. with the final show Saturday, March 17 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $25; $15 children and seniors; $15 for March 14 preview. For tickets, call 847-491-7282 or visit evanstondanceensemble.org.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
