Behind the unassuming doors and stained-glass windows of Studio 1, for the past several months, two artists have been hard at work as part of the Integrated Artists’ Residency Exchange (I-ARE). Through months of rehearsals, concerts, and showings this recently-revived program aims to bring resident choreographers’ artistic next steps to the Dance Complex community.
The first of these artists is Senegalese teacher, choreographer, and performer, Papa Sy. Walking into Studio 1 during Papa’s rehearsal last week, a casual observer might have been surprised by the striking prop use of an overturned trash can, lid laying carelessly open, as Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour’s “Wake Up! (This is Africa Calling)” trumpeted over loudspeakers.
Papa was born in Africa and trained at Senegal’s National Dance Academy, before touring Europe with choreographer Susanne Linke (of Tanztheatre fame) and traveling to New York’s National Dance Institute. These international experiences have helped shape the piece he is creating through I-ARE, “Kanassu.” Derived from the Wolof word for “crazy,” this title can mean “crazy” in the traditional sense of madness or insanity, but it can also mean “extraordinary,” or “great.” When he began to develop the piece in Senegal in 2001, Papa aimed to use this double meaning to critique other forms of hidden “craziness” in society, such as political corruption and colonization, while pointing out the subjectivity of socially-assigned labels like “kanassu,” or even “good” and “bad.”
According to Papa, I-ARE has given him the opportunity to translate these ideas to a new setting. In its 2018 form, “Kanassu” will include speaking and singing in English, French, Chinese, and other languages, as well as African pop music. But despite its evolving context, the idea behind “Kanassu” remains the same; in the poem which accompanies the piece, Papa challenges the audience with the thought, “Is it not the fools who hold the reins of the world?”
On another day in Studio 1, I-ARE’s other resident artist fills the room with of tinkling piano and plaintive strings. Brian Feigenbaum, sock-clad and chipper on a Saturday morning, demonstrates movements which are mediated by emotions and imagery; instructing his dancers to hunch over “like pain,” or stand at attention “like military,” gives rise to slow, controlled, and beautiful movement.
With a professional dance career spanning five decades, and a twenty-three-year directorship of the dance program at private high-school Lawrence Academy, Brian is a veteran of the Northeastern dance world. Although he has worked with professional dancers at a very high level, Brian cites his work teaching teenagers as central to his choreographic philosophy of helping individuals find their personal “movement force,” and valuing individuality and expression over uniformity.
For his I-ARE residency, Brian has enjoyed the ability to “work without constraints, to be able to do a longer piece and not be limited.” He also describes both the ease and challenge of working with adult professional dancers, rather than high-school students, in helping them adapt to his unconventional, imagery-based choreographic style. This non-traditional, non-normative modus operandi is reflected in the central questions he wants to ask in his I-ARE piece, namely: “How can we give birth to new parts of ourselves and break out of patterns? How can we become stronger as human beings?”
While these two impressive artists have worked to create meaningful, engaging work, both are also helping to propel the growth and development of I-ARE. The 2017-18 season marks the first time since its inception in 2013 that I-ARE has taken place, evolving since then to incorporate more opportunities for showings and feedback, as well as a culminating performance.
According to Caitlin Klinger, Dance Complex Project Lead and I-ARE concert organizer, what distinguishes I-ARE is its ability to link not only artists of different styles, but also the different functions of the Dance Complex. While many people think about classes first and foremost when they think of the building, I-ARE helps to provide “a curated space for people’s voices to be expressed…encourag[ing] people to try things they haven’t tried before.” Through the contributions of veteran teachers and artists like Brian and Papa, I-ARE can be “the most full-bodied way to tie together the performance and the class aspects of the Dance Complex.” She adds that she is excited to see the final product, to be revealed at the Teaching Artist and I-ARE performances on May 4, 5, and 6.
By Eleanor Woodward
You can learn more about the I-ARE Artists Concert, and purchase tickets, HERE.
