In an era of political and social uncertainty, the bravest in the local creative community consider difficult themes like chaos and uncertainty.
20 Moons, our resident modern dance company, will do just that when it presents “How to See in the Dark.” The provocative title emerged over a yearlong process of creating an original work for our time.
Five performances will be given beginning April 11 at The Light Box, Stillwater Music, 1316 Main Ave.
If you haven’t been to this relatively new performance venue, its spacious setting is perfect for different audience configurations. And there’s plenty of parking, always a welcome addition to any local cultural event.
If you go
WHAT: “How to see in the dark,” an original work by 20 Moons Dance Theater.
WHEN: 7 p.m. April 11, 12, 13, 18 and 19.
WHERE: Stillwater Music, 1309 East Third Ave.
TICKETS: Adults $30, students and children $20.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit https://tinyurl.com/ynsmk5yy or call 769-7515.
Few realize how unusual the creative cohort known as 20 Moons is. Durango’s small size and remote location do not automatically suggest a platform for engaged, contemporary art in general. A few local arts organizations explore challenging works or themes, and 20 Moons consistently stands apart. The company, a collaborative group of dancers and musicians, devises annual programs that rise out of contemporary concerns. To say their labor-intensive process and singular results are a kind of miracle is an understatement.
Last year’s major work, “Facets. A life reflected,” opened the annual Bach Festival with musicians from the San Juan Symphony. It was a multilayered evening of modern dance choreographed to the high-energy music of Bach’s domain.
Last week in an interview with the company’s co-artistic directors, Anne Bartlett and Jessica Perino, the company’s yearlong creative process became clear. If anything, 20 Moons relishes a labor-intensive collaboration full of experimentation, open-ended questioning, deep listening, and months of working through ideas, dreams and imaginative possibilities.
After the 2024 Bach performance, Bartlett said, “We debriefed – as usual. And then we asked: ‘What’s next?’”
Perino added: “We opened up the discussion to the company about what might be inspirational to work on in the next year. We asked: What is ‘home?’ And we meant that for ourselves and for our community.”
Company members, including musicians Jeroen van Tyne and Tamara Turner, considered the question, wrote private thoughts and discussed the meaning of “home.”
“Later that summer, Anne went on a visualization retreat and an unexpected idea emerged,” Perino said.
Bartlett described her experience out of which came the idea of the body as home. Then, “Body-earth-home” became the key for the fall performance: “Habitat.” And, out of that experience, “How to See in the Dark” emerged. Grants from The Ballantine Foundation, Durango Friends of the Arts and the lodgers tax enabled the company to develop the full-length dance theater piece over the winter. Now it’s about to open. Spring has come.
“The grants have helped us to create and clarify what we’re doing,” Perino said. “It’s an interesting process and a lot of work and time are involved in shaping, letting go and polishing.”
When asked if “seeing in the dark” operates as a metaphor for the time we are living in, Bartlett and Perino smiled.
“We’re speaking to that indirectly,” Perino said. “We don’t have the answer, but we provide the question.”
“We’re exploring current themes represented in movement, music and text,” Bartlett said. “There’s a subtext about finding ourselves at ‘home’ on Earth and in our bodies – what it feels like trying to see in the dark.”
Founded in 2012, the contemporary dance theater company crafted its mission early. The company “believes in the power of art to guide people into profound relationship with themselves, others and the true nature of the world we live in. We explore, examine, illuminate and connect people to the depth of our shared experience as human beings – alive now, in this world.”
The dancers collaborate with “musicians and other artists to shake up our perceptions of reality.”
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
