I believe that Tongues/Gather (like all contemporary performance works) has infinite possible meanings. Each person’s interpretation of the work is equally valid, as every one of us has a unique perspective from which to experience the mysteries of existence.
But I also recognize that it can be helpful for many to know how we understand this performance and our intentions for it.
I see three primary “meanings” in this work. Tongues/Gather is about:
1. The story of a man in the moment before his death, when he suddenly has access to voices and beings from the past, present and future simultaneously and they help him to make the transition beyond the known.
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2. A community ritual of entering intuitive realms of the subconscious together, like a dream or spiritual quest–using death as a metaphor for transformation. What we find each time we enter is constantly changing.
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3. A deep commitment to inclusion and accessibility, wherein each person plays a unique and crucial role to make something much larger than the sum of our parts.
Tongues/Gather has been cooking in various forms since 2007. Every community that we bring it to ends up shaping it anew. And yet some essential energy carries the work through each incarnation.
I used to think that there would be some kind of final version of the work. I now recognize that is has a life of its own, and will continue to evolve on its own schedule.
This process has brought together a hugely diverse and unexpected collection of artists that continues to stretch me. I am deeply grateful to all who have participated, and to you for completing our circle today.
Tongues/Gather
Created by: Dandelion Dancetheater’s Bandelion ensemble, and the Dandelion/CSU East Bay Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble
Director/Choreographer – Eric Kupers
Text – Sam Shepard and Joe Chaikin, with additions by Eric Kupers and the performers
Music – Eric Kupers, Ysaye M. Barnwell, and the performers, with inspiration from Sweet Honey in the Rock
Associate Choreographers – Anne-Lise Reusswig & Dawn Holtan
Costume Design – Ulises Alcala
Guest Collaborators — Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell, Shira Cion, Melanie DeMore, Laura Elaine Ellis, Jack Gray, T-Bird Luv, Dr. Trina Nahm-Mijo, Kumu Kaui Peralto, Dr. Taupouri Tangaro
Performer/Collaborators for Culminating Bay Area Performances:
Liv Ayon, Kenton Barks, Rodney Bell, Bill Bombria, Megan Briceno, Cristina Carrasquillo, Diamond Castro, Shira Cion, Laura Elaine Ellis, Jordon Ellis Dabney, Chris Evans, Christopher Gallegos, Ari Holtan, Dawn Holtan, Mia Holtan, Corissa Reese Johnson, Nils Jorgensen, Eric Kupers, Jay Lowman, Marjorie Ortiz, Keith Penney, Kumu Kaui Peralto, Kati Pienimäki-Schenker, Kate Pinedo, Estrella Ramirez, Anne-Lise Reusswig, Belgica Rodriguez, Isabel Schenker, Maya Schenker, Aaron Spencer, Deborah Trudell
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Tongues/Gather has been created and evolved by an ever-expanding network of students, artists and creative adventurers. The piece would not be complete without the contributions of these fellow travelers –artists that for various reasons cannot perform with us today: Judy Andrade, Andrew Balarao, Bradford BJ Barnes, Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell, Jasmine Betts, Julie Brown, Annie Bunker, Dannia Ciolo, Shaeeda Deal, Dana Deguzman, Melanie DeMore, Haneefah Evans, Victoria Fadenipo, Adriana Fonseca, Tatsiana Franco, Jack Gray, Caitlyn Greene, Karis Griffin, Wakana Hirose, Dorine Hoeksema, Devin Holbert, Noah James, Erika Jimenez-Hernandez, Mickey Kay, T-Bird Luv, MaryAnn Mackey, Fernie Miguel, Trina Nahm-Mijo, Flo Nakamura, Yumi Nomura, Matthew Payne, Justin Sharlman, Ian Stewart, Carolina Texeira, Hiroki Saito, Stacz Sadowski, Denise Hampel, Grace Khasar, Michelle from Down Under, and students from the Hawai’i Community College Dance Program.
The Tongues/Gather project is supported by grants and shared resources from The CSU East Bay Department of Theatre and Dance, Dandelion Dancetheater, The Princess Grace Foundation-USA, The City of Oakland Cultural Arts and Marketing Program, The San Francisco Arts Commission, The Zellerbach Family Fund, Hawai’i Community College and the University of Hawai’i Hilo, Kalani Honua, Volcano Arts Center, Live Arts Los Angeles, The FURY Factory Festival of Ensemble Theater, Jim Tobin/Bay Area Dance Watch, SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts, ODC Theater, an anonymous foundation, and many individual donors.
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BIOS
Bandelion is Eric Kupers’ collaborative ensemble within Dandelion Dancetheater, existing somewhere in between the constructs of band, performance ensemble, dance company, tribe, extended family, research team, gang of misfits, and legion of artistic missionaries. Bandelion is a group of dancers, actors, musicians, and designer/technicians. Also diverse in terms of size, age, sexual orientation, ability/disability, and cultural background, these artists are dedicated to in-depth research into the ways in which their multifarious backgrounds and artistic forms intersect. Built collaboratively both over intensive rehearsal periods and in spontaneous gatherings, Bandelion’s works are both performative and an expression of community ritual. Performances dismantle the distinction between artist and ordinary person; inviting the audience to both see themselves reflected in and become a part of the experience of live art. Bandelion began in 2006 when Kupers called together dance, music and theater artists to spend a year of intensive interdisciplinary investigation, which culminated in the evening-length work Drop. Since then the ensemble has been working almost non-stop to delve deeper and deeper into interdisciplinary exploration through cross-training, rehearsing, performing, teaching, writing, recording, filming, staging public performance spectacles and touring. Bandelion is: Rodney Bell, Cristina Carrasquillo, Chris Evans, Chris Gallegos, Dorine Hoeksema, Dawn Holtan, Corissa Johnson, Eric Kupers, Keith Penney, Anne-Lise Reusswig, Belgica Rodriguez, and Stacz Sadowski.
More info available at: www.dandeliondancetheater.org/bandelion/
The Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble (IIE) is an unusual performing ensemble. In one room, we have bright young students who are just beginning their artistic careers working alongside accomplished professional artists, as well as people who never even knew they wanted to perform before they stumbled into dance classes at CSU East Bay. We have people with extremely varied abilities and disabilities, of all sizes, all ages, and all gender identities. Once we’re together, all focused on a shared vision, there is tremendous energy and vitality. The IIE is a collaborative project of Dandelion Dancetheater and the Theatre and Dance Department at CSU East Bay.
The IIE is directed by Eric Kupers. It creates an original, full-length performance piece each year, that is performed in the CSU East Bay Faculty Dance Concert, as work-in-progress excerpts throughout the Bay Area, and when possible, on tour.
The IIE’s works push everyone involved into unfamiliar territory. We simultaneously work towards full inclusion for anyone that is interested in performing, and towards making works that are provocative, complex and courageous. More info available at: www.dandeliondancetheater.org/iie/
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