Survival, magic, and deep roots intertwined on stage with We Are Collective’s performance of “and the sequoia stood tall." The evening of works, which moved audiences this past Thursday and Friday, February 8-9, consisted of three choreographed works including a premier of “and the sequoia stood tall” and one improvisation-based piece.
The show took place in the intimate Hamlin Park Theatre as part of the Chicago Moving Company Performance Project, part Chicago Park District’s Arts Partners in Residence Program. The event had a community atmosphere including a silent auction and Zine’s for purchase that included poetry by the company and community.
The evening opened with “CRUDE” (2023), choreographed by Nik LaMaack and Reign Drop and explored the effects of oil spills in our oceans along with other man-made environmental disasters. The piece opened with dancers Reign Drop, Nik LaMaack, Tristen Sanborn, Alyssa Simpson, and Leana Welker standing in a circle under low light. Under the sounds of oil dripping and running, designed by Robyn Wilson, the dancers eerily pulsed and oozed, and movement rippled around the circle until the dancers floated away from each other, looking down at their hands as if with remorse. Suddenly the ocean scene is cut by a driving dance beat. Under jarring pink and green lights, the dancers jostle to the beat and slice hands through the air. The piece bounced between these dynamics, the dancers sometimes waving their hands like fish, other times cutting with agitation or shaking with desperation. It is only when the dancers reach out, hold each other's hands, and support each other in weighted balance at that the piece moves toward an end, and we flow through a world of isolation and disruption towards the hope of reestablishing a responsible relationship with our environment.
The evening continued with “Things Long Forgotten” (2018), a duet between Audrey Hartnett and Brady Neher. This piece was the first choreographic collaboration between LaMaack and Drop at Columbia College Chicago. Set to the melodies of Hozier’s “Like Real People Do” and “Cherry Wine”, the dance builds a relationship that is deeply intimate yet filled with tension. The dancers ride along every beat and lilt of the music. It’s ingenious how seamlessly the choreography intertwines the bodies of the dancers and how quickly they disengage and reject these moments of intimacy. Both dancers move with great musicality, clarity and finesse – they endow each movement with meaning, weaving through fleeting gestures of frustration, closeness, dependency, and control. Hartnett especially gives a moving performance – it's through her facial and physical expression that the pain and claustrophobia of the relationship is viscerally felt by the audience. As Hartnett finally throws Neher off, what’s most clear is that LaMaack and Drop are a great choreographic match, creating works that are both captivating and moving.
(L-R) Audrey Hartnett and Brady Neher; Photo by Phylinese Brooks
Next, the collective presented “A Dreamer's Almanac,” an improvisational dance scored by LaMaack, Drop, and Hartnett that explored the “wildness of childhood”. The piece opened with a solo by Alyssa Simpson where she swirled around the space, soon joined by Drop, LaMaack, Sanborn, and Welker. The dancers ran around the space in a circle and suddenly froze, but Simpson started a game of tag where the tagged dancer breaks out into improvised joyful movement until passing the movement along to another dancer. There is a real exuberance to the piece. The improvisational nature adds to the spontaneous and authentic atmosphere. The dancers frolic, skip, and find moments of play with each other, mimicking and teaching each other moves like children on a playground. It was impossible not to smile as the dancers coupled off and began waltzing around the space with tenderness and exuberance. In a flash Simpson’s childhood world vanishes. She raises her hand, and with a snap the circling dancers vanish and lights come up, leaving her starkly alone on stage and leaving the audience inspired and longing to reconnect with the freedom of childhood.
The evening concluded with a premier of “and the sequoia stood tall” choreographed in collaboration by the performers: Reign Drop, Nik LaMaack, Tristen Sanborn, Alyssa Simpson, and Leana Welker. The piece begins as each dancer hangs a handful of string from the ceiling and then emerges holding an orb of green light. As each performer sways and dances with their light, the low hanging strings in combination with green curtains framing the stage transform the space into a canopy of trees lit only by moon and fireflies. However, as the piece continues, we are taken through physical moments of survival that are both intense and profound. The dancers support each other through the spoken word landscape of Nik LaMaack’s poem “Why not?”, voiceover by Phylinese Brooks. Leana Welker has an impressive solo to the frantic, pacing sound of “God is Alive Magic Is Afoot” by Buffy Sainte-Marie. Eventually the dancers greet each other, sit around a makeshift campfire of orbs, and begin to recite Emma Parson’s poem “Where I am going and who I will become when I get there” in turn. They repeat the poem over and over like a prayer, eventually standing, taking their orbs, pulling apart the strings, and nesting their orbs in the ropes. They then set their orbs into motion. The dancers mimicking their pendulum, swinging and swaying side to side, side to side, into a reassuring eternity.
We Are Collective presented a beautiful evening of works with “and the sequoia stood tall” that was both enthralling and deeply connected to the earth. As a conclusion to only their second season, We Are Collective is sure to leave audiences both inspired and eager for more.