Dual identities, dual explorations

Mayuna Shimizu in Tom Pearson's Ceremony
(photo: Corrine Furman)

I was honored to be asked to moderate Dance New Amsterdam's post-show Q&A for choreographers Tom Pearson (Third Rail Projects) and Donna Ahmadi (Mantis Dance Theater) last evening. Listening to artists share their experiences, their concerns and their own questions draws us closer in empathy to the human being behind the phenomenon that we have just witnessed. Tom and Donna, as people of mixed ancestry (Euro- and Native American) seem so keenly tuned into the complexities of history, heritage, environment and contemporary context, that listening as they talk about their lives and work opens us up to a network of treasures beyond their immediate selves, stretching into the past and the possible future. The Third Rail Projects family of artists are not only collectors of quaint and quirky artifacts, as they assemble for their installation works, but also collectors and connoisseurs of the living spirit within places, things and people.

Choreographer Tom Pearson
(photo: Corrine Furman)

Now through Sunday, as part of its Heritage Series, DNA is presenting "Walking in Two." The show features Pearson's landmark solo, Ceremony (re-set on Third Rail's Mayuna Shimizu, who brings to the role her sensibilities as an immigrant from Japan); the world premiere of Ahmadi's powerful trio work, Scalp Lock; and the world premiere of Pearson's site-specific ensemble, Walking in Two, which messes with the showbiz roots of America's "cowboys and Indians" myth and delves into Pearson and Ahmadi's own roots as Native performers. DNA's galleries are hosting Pearson's visual art installation Kissing the Gunner's Daughter, part of which you may touch and explore. (Gallery admission is free, 9am-10pm, Monday-Sunday.)

Choreographer Donna Ahmadi (left)
with Rebekah Morin and Marissa Nielsen-Pincus
in Scalp Lock
(photo: Corrine Furman)

For more information and tickets for Walking in Two, click here.

Walking in Two

Dance New Amsterdam

280 Broadway, 2nd Floor, Manhattan (entrance on Chambers Street)

Also see this interesting exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, now through January 16, and look for the photo portraits of Pearson and Ahmadi!