THEM, created by choreographer Ahmad Simmons and director Kacie Smith, is a dance theatre exploration of the fear, discrimination and violence that result from categorizing ourselves and creating an “other” or “them” in our community. It will explore how we are externally stereotyped and how we internally segregate ourselves by class, race, religion, political affiliation, gender and orientation. With so many different perspectives and experiences, is there a way to actually see ourselves as one body? One species?
“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love” –Rainer Maria Rilke
THEM is supported by a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award and an Individual Artist Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.