“The Unexpected Perks of Traveling with Your Family,” shouts the notice on my screen this morning. How apropos. The column I am immersed in now calls out to the joys of getting inside the emotional core of amazing places with people I connect with on a visceral level. Family, after all, infers much more than matching surnames. We’re a family of humanity moving forward from long-ago times, events, and places that relate to us in a continuum.
Insightful choreography by David Hochoy and Stuart Lewis asks the company of eleven DK dancers to interpret built environments as living, breathing parts of human life. Imagine your home, your favorite park, and your workspace breaking out from its inanimate core with a story of what it feels like to be servicing your needs and whims. Merging of real-time events happens when we step onto a space and feel the imprints, the footprints, that preceded us in this here-and-now space. Dance, as a form of time travel, celebrates our powers of imagination—as artists, as consumers of the arts. In the seats, we are part of the process.
“This concert features treasures from Dance Kaleidoscope repertory, including “Writing on the Great Wall ” and “El Salon Mexico,” and world premiere trips to Chichen Itza (Mexico), Machu Picchu (Peru), Taj Mahal (India), Great Wall of China (China), Christ the Redeemer (Brazil), Petra (Jordan), and the Colosseum (Italy),” cites Kim Gutfreund, DK CEO, adding, “[While] Dance speaks for itself, in the case of our performances on January 12-15, we’ve added something extra to enhance your experience. For Wonders of the World, David Hochoy and Stuart Lewis are both the choreographers and our travel guides. Prior to each place we visit, David and Stuart introduce the art and architecture and share their inspiration for the choreography, music selection and costumes.”
In 2007, the New 7 Wonders Foundation held a contest to name the “New 7 Wonders of the World.” The foundation reported that “Tens of millions of people voted for the UNESCO World Heritage Sites that made the list. They span four continents and attract thousands of tourists each year. They are:
The Great Wall of China (Built 220 BC to 1644 AD)
Petra, Jordan (Built 4 Century BC-2 Century AD)
The Colosseum in Rome, Italy (Built AD 72-82)
Chichen Itza, Mexico (Built 5-13 century AD)
Machu Picchu, Peru (Built mid-15 century AD)
The Taj Mahal, India (Built 1632-1648 AD)
Christ the Redeemer statue, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Built 1926-1931).”
I spent two days raiding my bookshelf to read about all these ‘wonders of the world.’ Sometimes I can’t rush with a column; sometimes, I need to think INSIDE the box[or book] for why it’s ok for me to invite nuvo.net readers to attend and to admire strong dancing and daring choreography.
The Program starts with a work I have witnessed three times before, with three different sets of dancers. :
El Salon Mexico premiered in 2000 on the then Indianapolis Civic Theatre stage at the IMA and returned in 2006 and then in 2015 on the IRT stage. David Hochoy reveals how he was inspired by a visit to Chichén Itzá, a complex of Mayan ruins on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Choreographed to music by Aaron Copland, the dancers now are Adrian Dominguez, Marie Kuhns, Cody Miley, Paige Robinson, Sarah Taylor, and Manuel Valdes. They physically become the massive step pyramid, and each of the other still-standing buildings, including the ball court, Temple of the Warriors and the Wall of the Skulls. The dancers’ fearlessness is as breathtaking as the site.
Cheryl Sparks’ hand-painted sandstone tinted costumes showcase six different sets of stone carvings we can see on the structures.
Historical records show that Chichen Itza was a major focal point in the Northern Maya Lowlands from the Late Classic (AD 600–900) through the Terminal Classic (AD 800–900) and into the early portion of the Postclassic period (AD 900–1200). The National Geographic book I have at hand notes, “Cultures fed on conquest throughout Mesoamerica’s postclassical period, from AD 900 to 1500. Hochoy’s choreography depicts The Toltecs as artists, builders, and military personnel.
Following the breathtaking, heart-thumping circus-like daring of human pyramid-building, Stuart Lewis’s world premiere of Niyam eases us into a tender love duet reflecting the essence of the Taj Mahal, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648. Emily Dyson and Kieran King float along the music by Ravi Shanker to personalize the majestic structure’s rhythmic combination of solids and voids, concave and convex, and light shadow. Barry Doss’s costumes dramatize the loss and remembrance between the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in and his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
With Trinity, a World Premiere inspired by the Christ the Redeemer colossal statue of Jesus, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Stuart Lewis introduces three solos that organically move into a trinity to music by Hector Vila-Lobos. Holly Harkins, Paige Robinson, and Adrian Dominguez, in Erica Johnston’s matching costumes of white trousers topped by reflecting azures and emeralds, feel at one with the essence of Art Deco and three levels of faith—positive, negative, and non-existent.
This statue of Jesus Christl was created by French sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot. Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida sculpted the face. It is the largest Art Deco statue on Earth, standing 98 feet in height. When measured across from Christ, the Redeemer’s outstretched arms it has a width of 92 feet.
Writing on the Great Wall, an excerpt from Hochoy’s work that premiered in 2006, is set to music by The Silk Road Ensemble. In costumes of red and black with an array of Cheryl Sparks’ costumes become ever-moving sets of calligraphy as the full company moves from an opening solo to a constantly shifting populace of people coming and going across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China from nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe.
It’s busy along a total length of more than 20,000 kilometers, continuously built from the 3rd century BC to the 17th century AD.
Holly Harkins, Marie Kuhns, Vivien Mickels, Paige Robinson, and Julie Russel, clad in grey shifts attributed to Butler Ballet, depict a City of Sandstone. Lewis’s choreography brings us into constantly shifting patterns for this World Premiere inspired by Petra in Jordan, dating to around 300 BC. Karl Jenkins’s plaintive music picks up speed as the archaeological site in Jordan’s southwestern desert is revealed. What once was a vibrant crossroads economy on the way to the Mediterranean Sea from sites eastward fell into ruin through a series of events—a siege and an earthquake. Its comeback is delightfully spun out in Dan Gibson’s travel guide, “The Nabataeans: Builders of Petra” [CanBooks, 2013]
Concierto, David Hochoy’s excerpt from a 2000 premiere to music by Joaquin Rodrigo, features
Adrian Dominguez, Holly Harkins, Kieran King, Vivien Mickels, Cody Miley, Paige Robinson, Julie Russel, Sarah Taylor, and Manuel Valdes.
Lydia Tanji’s costumes showcase Inca majesty.
Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a 7,970-foot-high mountain range. Referred to as the “Lost City of the Incas,” it is the most familiar icon of the Inca civilization. The Incas built the estate around 1450 but abandoned it a century later, at the time of the Spanish conquest.
Echoes in Eternity, Lewis’ World Premiere, inspired by the Colosseum in Rome, to music by Ottorino Respighi, features Marie Kuhns, with Adrian Dominguez, Kieran King and Emily Dyson; Holly Harkins, Vivien Mickels, Cody Miley, Paige Robinson, Julie Russel, Sarah Taylor, and Manuel Valdes, in elegantly layered costumes by Erica Johnston.
Lewis builds this three-part work on “What we do in this life echoes into eternity,” attributed to Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD, and a Stoic philosopher, who also reminded, “Death smiles at us all; all a man can do is smile back.”
Throughout, daring physicality and precise storytelling enliven what seems to be immobile.
Lighting by Laura E. Glover and Emm Socey, assistant lighting designer; sound design by Mike Lemirand. Costumes/wardrobe management by Michele Hankins and Terri Moor, costume assistant; videography by ED Stewart; Michael S. Drury, technical director; Matt Shives, stage manager and Rebekah Radloff, assistant stage manager.
When I got home following DK’s costume-check rehearsal, this animation of inanimate objects took on WOW dimensions as mail on my table reminded me to pay attention to forthcoming events surrounding our built environment:
Indiana Landmarks Center at 1201 Central Avenue, Indianapolis 46202, on February 3, 6:00-9:00 p.m., presents a free talk and First Friday gallery opening on the architectural works of Mies van der Rohe in Indiana between 1947-1953. On March 26 at 4:00 p.m., storyteller Lou Ann Homan speaks up for the City of Wabash’s Eagles Theatre and why it deserves our visits to new programming. [Get tickets at storytellingarts.org ] “Sacred Spaces Indiana” is an ongoing initiative to restore and save “Historic houses of worship.”
Frederick Douglass Park at 1616 East 25th Street, Indianapolis 46218, located in Indianapolis’ Martindale-Brightwood community, is celebrating its centennial with a makeover and in-depth historical relevance. February 22 at 7:00 p.m., attend the Indiana Historical Society program at 450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis 46202, relating Frederick Douglass with the state of Indiana.
Also, visit the IHS Library to examine a pamphlet describing “Distinctive Houses of Indiana Limestone.”
March 3: DK joins the Harrison Center for the Arts for First Friday
March 23-26: “Magical Decades Tour at the IRT
May 4-6: Intimate DK Studio Series featuring an immersive Martha Graham experience
June 1-4: Scheherazade at IRT
June 9: Gala and Tribute to David Hochoy at Biltwell Event Center
At the same time that I was experiencing DK’s “Wonders of the World,” I was reading Dean Nicholson’s memoir, “Nala’s World: One Man, His Rescue Cat and a Bike Ride around the Globe.”
If you have not yet come across this book, take the time to check it out. Among the worldwide environment and animal charities he assists are eleven in the USA: 1 nationwide, 3 in California, 2 in Florida, 1 in Kentucky, 3 in NY, 1 in the state of Washington. Readers and followers in Indianapolis apprise me that he might not be writing about UNESCO-ascribed “Wonders of the World,” but what he is sharing is the wonderment of ordinary people who care about our Planet Earth and who reach out so everyone and everything can experience the best parts of humanity.
Gratefully, readers of nuvo.net remind me to pay attention.
Cover image by Drew Endicott
