Dance - America, the beautiful

Patriotism is an ample-bodied dancer in black underwear and red shoes vigorously waving a 3-by-5-inch “fun size” American flag, like the kind boosters hand out at parades. She stands apart from the other underwear-clad celebrants of the human tribe as they bounce and stomp their feet in unison, as they bow their heads and bend their palms up to the sky. Her face lit up bright with 50-starry-eyed pluck, she waves her flag among them, but they keep sending her away. Why? An electronic squawk at irregular intervals disrupts any opportunity for prolonged reflection.

Are you proud to be an American?

Really, think about it. Forget about whatever you believe you’re supposed to say. Three years after 9/11, are you proud of our nation’s asserted ideals? Proud of what we strive to be? Proud of what we do and what we are?

These are some of the questions posed by the collaboration of Berlin’s Tanzcompagnie Rubato and the Core Performance Company of Atlanta’s Several Dancers Core. On the third anniversary of 9/11, they present America! Question, a multimedia modern dance performance built around videotaped interviews (projected onto a large screen) in which Georgians from all walks of life talk about the meaning of America in the present age.

The interviewees’ answers are thoughtful, candid and wildly diverse. One woman says we should support the president for doing the best that he can, then chastises the poor for making bad decisions. A quietly weeping homeless woman says she still loves her country and enjoys her lunch-hour soaps. A professor says we have redefined liberty to mean “freedom to buy what you want,” a paltry proxy for freedom of independent thought and meaningful action.

Do you feel free in America?

Not just free to do, to believe or to reject, but free to turn away from the endless info-spin and ask the hard questions — not slogans with a question mark and a partisan reply — questions about the justice, wisdom and, yes, even the beauty of our nation’s present course.

“So many Germans had been inspired by American democracy [after World War II],” dancer Blake Dalton says, reflecting on the audience’s response to the dance at its premiere in Berlin. “They told us, ‘You helped us learn that. Where is that now?’” Some Americans in the audience cried.

See, this isn’t some sterile thesis in political philosophy. Look, Dalton is lying on the ground like a dead ideal, his long red dreads spread out around his head. Perched intimately on top of him, Juana Farfan rolls him across the stage until he finally comes to life and wraps an arm around her. Now he’s standing rigid, staring off at some distraction. Kim Klieber rubs her stomach against his hand, self-stimulating a caress. She rolls her head in figure eights to make his still hand a seduction. She turns her body into him and wraps his arms around her, but his hands just fall away. See, these choices we make as a nation have consequences for the human heart.

What was your reaction at the moment of 9/11?

Dalton wrings his hands and scrubs his arms. Patton White works his mouth, looking as though he’s vocalizing the haunting sound of ringing glass.

We’re not supposed to ask why it happened; the treason of seeking a reason. But here it is: We’re all interconnected. The force we turn on others always moves us, too. The dancers bump shoulders in their unyielding paths. Now they’re holding hands. They hurl one another and, still connected, end up throwing themselves as well. One tries to jump, the others hold him fast. And yes, when one falls, the others are there to catch.

What is beauty?

The skyscrapers of Atlanta are projected onto the screen. The interstates are filled with fancy cars. The dancers dress themselves in funky clothes and sling hip urban accessories over their shoulders. Is this America, the beautiful?

Long, lean Jhon Stronks dances in blue jeans.

The trance jazz of St. Germain’s “Rose Rouge” starts thumping, with its looped sample of Marlena Shaw singing, “I want you to get together.”

The dancers are colliding again, by twos and threes, but playful this time, like a swing dance. Blocked by Stronks, Farfan looks up at him with a delighted smile on her face and beckons him to follow her as she bounces back the way she came. And now they’re all onstage, moving through each other with Zenned-out grace, standing together. No one is waving a flag.

Thomas.bell@creativeloafing.com


On Sat., Sept. 11, Several Dancers Core will hold a workshop on the “Intersection of Arts and Activism,” from 1-3 p.m. Artists of all disciplines and levels are invited to learn about the city of Atlanta’s Percent for the Arts ordinance and develop a street theater demonstration through a collaborative, multidisciplinary process. From 4-6 p.m., Creative Loafing’s Cliff Bostock will moderate a panel discussion on “The Media and American Culture.” Both events will be held at 7 Stages. Free. 404-373-4154.