It’s hard to find words to describe DEEPLY ROOTED DANCE THEATRE’s performance. Phenomenal … wondrous … magnificent … incredible – all these and more apply but even all together they’re insufficient to the task.
DEEPLY ROOTED DANCE THEATRE, a Chicago-based dance company, has been expressing the transformative power of art through dance education and performance since 1996. In their own words, Deeply Rooted Dance ‘reimagines and diversifies the aesthetics of contemporary dance by uniting modern, classical, American, and African American traditions in dance and storytelling’. That last word, storytelling, is uniquely cogent. Friday night in the Auditorium Theatre every dance told its own story within a program that formed an artistic digest of Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre’s history.
The first chapter was Junto [translation “Together], choreographed in 1990 by Kevin Iega Jeff. Junto was comprised of three episodes: a duet with Rebekah Kuczma and Mekeba Malik, a quartet of Emani Drake and Ahmad Hill, Nyemah Stuart and Sam Ogunde, and a second duet with Alyssa MacCullum and Louis Pearson. Costume Designer Victoria Carot expressed Pat Metheny’s jubilant music in vivid primary colors: each pair of dancers wore leotards of radiant blue, red, yellow, or verdant green. Sarah Lackner was Lighting Designer for this and every piece, and was masterful, including in some numbers of various images projected against the back of the stage. Stage Manager Gwenne Godwin, with Assistant Razor Wintercastle, molded all components into an exultant whole.
The revival of 53 Inhale, choreographed by Gary Abbott in 2009, recounted Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre’s middle years, expressing Abbott’s ‘heartfelt tribute to the artists in my life’. Cherae Grimes, Joshua L. Ishmon, Mekeba Malik, Sam Ogunde, Taylor Ramos, and Nyemah Stuart performed in costumes designed by Victoria Carot.
NOTE: The Aud Theatre had a program kerfuffle, and I had no program to refer to and make notes on until Intermission; apologies in advance for any errors.
Vespers, a perennial favorite, was choreographed in 1986 by Ulysses Dove; he also designed the original costumes, redesigned by Lea Umberger. The dance began in a pas de deux with Emani Drake and a straightback chair; gradually she was joined by Taylor Ramos, Alyssa MacCullom, Heather Cagle, Rebekha Kuczma, and Nyemah Stuart. Mikel Rouse’s “Quorum” provided an electronic percussive score that displayed the dancers’ lithe and dynamic elegance. Gravity-defying leaps and the interrelationships and energies between the six women combined beautifully.
This was Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre’s company premiere of Mama Rose, a solo performance by Emani Drake to the music of Archi Shepp / Jasper Van’t Hof. Victoria Carot designed the beautifully austere black costume. Choreographer Keith Lee dedicated this work to New York dance icon Thelma Hill. Emani Drake’s brilliance is, naturally, most gloriously appreciated in solo performances, but I’m just as enthralled by her ability to integrate with other dancers without eclipsing them – like Cassie in A Chorus Line.
A pause followed Mama Rose, giving the stage crew time to carefully sweep the floor so the finale could safely be performed barefooted. Deeply Rooted often performs barefoot, a striking feature one doesn’t commonly see in professional dance, for the obvious reason that a dancer’s feet must be as cherished as a pianist’s hands and a singer’s throat. I experienced the absence of footwear as a powerful statement for the final chapter in this chronicle of Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre.
The finale was a World Premiere of the entire 30 minutes of Madonna Anno Domini, choreographed by the company’s Artistic Director Nicole Clarke-Springer. Costumes, an ‘inspiration from Men Ca Acnem’ were stylized street clothes, eloquently drab. The soundtrack was unique, as much spoken as musical, began with excerpts from President Barak Obama’s 2008 victory speech in Grant Park and Aretha Franklin singing The Long and Winding Road. Culoe de Son and Alev Lenz were followed by Sinead O’Connor, with a rich narration running throughout, one phrase of which stays with me: “take my ex-cannibal’s kiss and make a revolution”. Madonna Anno Domini was an anthem to 200 painful and triumphant years of struggle for racial equality, and specifically three generations of civil rights work in Clarke-Springer’s family history. Madonna Anno Domini was about persistence and about community, about tyranny and leadership, and the complex aftermath of all that empowerment.
The audience is a vital part of any performance, and never more so than with Deeply Rooted Dance. I’m not given many opportunities to be, as a white woman, in the minority. In a crowd. As always it was both compelling and effectual, but as a reviewer it was challenging. The Auditorium Theatre was packed, yet within the throng there was a powerful atmosphere of kinship; a kinship that did not include me: the stranger at a family reunion, writing a review from the outside looking in. I mention it to put my views in context.
It seemed that every dancer – certainly every one of the principals – had a squadron of family and friends in the audience. They applauded for every brief solo or pas de deux, never disruptive, just enough to herald their specific and loving support. And after the final curtain the dancers beckoned everyone – Artistic Director, Rehearsal Director, Executive Director, Choreographers and Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all – onstage for ovations, flowers, and hugs.
Family. Community.
Eloquent.
November 3rd’s was a single-night performance, but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you attend DEEPLY ROTTED DANCE THEATRE at the first opportunity.
