Dance for World Community Festival

          On Saturday June 11, 2011 I attended the 3^rd annual José Mateo Dance for World Community Festival in Cambridge, MA. Despite being a rainy cool June day many dancers, community members, and tourists bared both the elements and the atrocious lack of parking to attend.   Created by the José Mateo Ballet Theatre, Dance for World Community aims to “harness the power of dance to improve the social and environmental health of our communities locally and beyond”. It aims to invite people to take part in collaborative action and celebration for the well-being of the entire community.

         This years festival involved 3 outdoor stages, 1 indoor stage and 2 days of free performances, classes, and seminars about the role dance has in today’s society. The festival also included an area called “Advocacy Way”, where non- profit and social service organizations have booths to speak about their work within the greater Boston community. There were 55 diverse groups performing and giving introductory lessons. Most of them were Boston area dance companies, or schools of dance. There were modern dance companies, belly dancing schools, flamenco performers, west African groups, ballerinas, hip hop dancers, children’s groups, polish dancers, Persian dancers, and many many more.

I felt as though the diversity of the types of performers and types of classes offered was reflected in the many types of people attending the festival. Children stood dancing in front of the stages, attempting to reflect the moves they saw in the shows. Dancers with bandaged toes, perfect buns, and beautifully turned out feet stopped to watch other dancers as they passed by. Parents and families of performers came and went, often assisting dancers with all of the costumes they were carrying. Many people were taking tours of Harvard and simply happened upon this vibrant festival. Some seemed to be drawn because of the vendors, pedaling jerk chicken, seafood, barbecue, kebabs, ice cream, and more. It seemed as though this many people could relate to this festival because it was a sort of celebration of the human body.

One performance which stood out to me was the late afternoon show by Luminarium Dance Company. Luminarium is a contemporary dance company founded in the summer of 2010 by choreographers/ filmographers/ lighting designers/ thinkers Kimberleigh A. Holman and Merli V. Guerra. The company describes themselves as “a new outlet for the performing arts”, and a “think tank, museum, and gallery” for not only contemporary dance but also contemporary ideas. Guerra and Holman incorporate fascinating video projection and ingenious lighting choices to illuminate the dancers of their diverse company and enhance the senses of viewers. A typical Luminarium show never underwhelms, and audience members should be prepared to cry, laugh, smile; and through these emotions be brought closer to their fellow human beings.  Despite being outside under a tent, on a stage with puddles in the corners, this performance did not fail to uphold the high esteem with which I regard the company’s work.

The piece performed was entitled, “You have hands, too?” and was co- choreographed by both Holman and Guerra. Even before I saw any bodies on the stage, I was moved by the implications of this title. The words were quirky and simple but my mind easily projected other meanings as soon as I heard them. I could not stop thinking about one person turning to another and saying “You have hands, too?”. It captures a moment where one becomes aware that there is more to their world than themselves. That the inhabitants of their world, who may talk, dress, look, or act differently, are the same as they are. The festival emcee then announced a written description of the piece that I found quite relevant.

“This piece is a celebration of the amazing capabilities of the mind and body that every one of us has been given.  Remember not to take for granted each step, each thought and each gesture.  We hope that this piece inspires our audiences to go forth to find their personal limit within the untapped physical potential that their facility possesses.”

The performance began with all dancers in the rear left corner of the stage. As the music began, the dancers began somewhat of a game to line up diagonally across the stage.  Each seemed to have a number that, upon it being spoken, would instigate them to move forward in the line.   They wore white men’s dress shirts covered in hand written phrases. One dancer emerged from the group dressed in black being propelled forward by another dancer, who hurriedly crawled ahead of the dancer in black rolling out a piece of fabric for her to step on, and fussing with her appearance. With the contrast between costuming of the group and singled out dancer I was left with imagery in my head akin to Seuss’s “Star-Bellied Sneetches”. Soon the dancer and her attendant reached the end of the diagonal (where a white shirt magically tumbled out of the unrolling fabric) for her to put on, to join the group.  Just after that, a dancer in a white dress shirt without writing on it stumbled onto the stage, the group of dancers running over to attack her with uncapped Sharpie markers, and to make her shirt match theirs with writing covering the body and sleeves.  Later in the piece dancers chase each other around the stage and read the text off of each other’s backs, before the piece burst into a very physical portrayal of what the human body can do. The musical score to the piece ranged from a voice speaking out numbers, to hands clapping, to waves crashing on a beach, to electronic distorted fuzz ; there was frantic and chaotic music woven into it all, blending seamlessly with the clapping and vocal insertions that Guerra and Holman had concocted.   

Overall, the work of Luminarium choreographers Guerra and Holman is full of emotion. Rather than making their dancers identical clones of one another, they give out roles and have each dancer play a character. On the faces of the dancers you can read a story.  One is unsure about being left out of a group but has a look of panic on her face when the group comes to assimilate her into their kind.  One is a curmudgeonly old man who taps his foot while waiting for his usual bus, only to be copied and made fun of by other characters on the stage who notice this strange man. Guerra and Holman know their dancers well and as a result they make choreography to bring out the individual talents that make their company spectacular as a whole.

I feel that in today’s fast paced world, where we are always looking for the next best thing before it even exists, it is nice to be reminded of how alike we all are. And through the varied performances, classes, and spectators at the Dance for world Community Festival I was reminded again and again that despite appearing different at first glimpse, we all dance to the same beat.

About Town

        It was a humid, steamy Thursday night around 10:00. I was walking back from Cambridge with some fellow band members talking and laughing. We were making our way down Mass Ave, which seemed to be much emptier than usual. Maybe it was the extreme heat and humidity, the first of its kind this year, that drove everyone inside. After too long a walk, we parted ways across from Symphony Hall and I mentally calculated the amount of walking I had left to do before I reached my apartment.   

          Amidst mentally browbeating myself for half a block for not packing a pair of flat shoes, and trying to get my mind off of the pinched and numb feeling in my toes, my thoughts were interrupted by a strange voice.

                 “Hey girl, you look like heaven…”

               I looked to my left to see a strange man sitting on the stoop of an apartment building. At first I was scared and intimidated, looking over at him, but then I quickly looked straight ahead again, completely ignoring the remark. I am from an average sized town in Southern New Hampshire, population 25,000, where strangers walking on the same street wave or stop and say, “Beautiful day it is today, perfect day to do some planting!”. Where fathers teach their daughters to wave and chat with the canoe full of people passing you by on the lake. So, it might have been the lack of politeness in the voices of these complete strangers when they called out on the street that offended me so. Not 2 minutes later, I heard a similar,

                 “You lookin’ so beautiful tonight…” and began to feel extremely aggravated.

            What is the goal of shouting supposed compliments after women you see on the street? Is it to be considered a compliment? Is it to let women know you are interested? Maybe it’s some macho accomplishment thing when doing this in front of other men? Whatever the reason, I grew angrier and angrier thinking over these questions in my mind. I was hot and sweaty and bedraggled, the street was dark. I was pretty sure no stranger who had never seen me before could judge what I looked like besides a dress and heels.  To me, these shouted words, or even the ones that were softly spoken, were more demeaning than complimentary.

In Spanish culture, there is a form of pick up lines called “piropos”. These are told to beautiful women when seen in public in Spanish cities. However, these lines are more comical than serious. Some of the lines are like “tantas curvas y yo sin freño”. Which literally translates to “so many curves and me without brakes”. Maybe these types of lines used in Barcelona, Madrid, Burgos, are similar to the types of lines used in American cities. Maybe these same lines are used all over the world by all types of men. Either way, these types of lines are something that makes me miss my hometown. Where neighbors are polite and men are chivalrous. Where houses are left unlocked all day long because crime rarely happens. Where little rows of vegetable gardens line the backyards of houses…

But the city brings so much more. Even with strangers who may be less than polite. Even with surprising transportation problems, strange smells, high rent. I left home because of a big fish/ small pond kind of phenomenon. And I love that in the city I rarely feel this way.

So while finishing my walk down Westland Avenue I smirked a little bit to myself. I figured that if these men were so inspired by the sight of me- frizzy haired, dripping with sweat, in visible pain from sore feet, loaded up like a pack mule with various musical equipment, then I would allow them to get away with their silly lines. I guess meeting strange people on the street is something that comes with all of the remarkable things it has to offer. And when I think about it, I would rather have strange people who have well known quirks and do bizarre things than people who are extremely polite yet also very predictable.