JCWK Dance Lab Tours to Philly as Part of Torrent: Dancing in the Churn

By Jessica Warchal-King, JCWK Dance Lab

Part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Torrent: Dancing in the Churn, a contemporary dance showcase, premieres at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 28, at CHI Movement Arts Center, 1316 S. 9th St. Torrent: Dancing in the Churn features new dances by Evalina “Wally” Carbonell/Seed II Crown, Mijkalena Smith (Philadelphia), Jessica Warchal-King/JCWK Dance Lab (Reading), Karen Fox/Bella Deluxe Entertainment (Bethlehem), and Malcolm Shute/Human Landscape Dance (Washington, D.C.). The show is family-friendly. Buy tickets at www.tinyurl.com/fringeshow.

JCWK Dance Lab’s work explores current pressures on artists to not only survive, but respond to our culture’s attempts to silence dissenting viewpoints. Smith explores the use of education as protest, keeping the arts alive through mentorship. Shute’s “Waiting Room” explores the anxiety of waiting for the next attack. Dancers twitch, shift, and jump with restless energy, swarming and settling, waiting to be caught. Fox imagines activists as superheroes, weapon-wielding truth talkers, and advocates of intergenerational inspiration and hope. Carbonell performs a ritual of regeneration through spirals and undulating phrases. Warchal-King focuses on the body as a source of healing through rhythm, gesture, and touch. Five dancers strike angular poses in articulated unison, beating a steady pulse on both the floor and their bodies. The range of approaches reflects their belief in the power of embracing multiple views, allowing all voices to be heard.

A quartet, “Waiting Room,” compiles anxious gestures related to prolonged waiting. Dancers on a bench lean, slump, stand, cross knees, stretch, and shift uncomfortably. It is a fast-paced montage of anxious hours awaiting news, a doctor, principal, or boss. In the context of the culture wars, “Waiting Room” relates to waiting for the next blow to fall: the gutting of the National Endowment for the Arts, the canceling of Obamacare, the further degrading of LGBTQ+ protections, etc.

Torrent: Dancing in the Churn presents five different approaches to artmaking and surviving in a hostile climate. Enjoy this unique offering within the Philadelphia Fringe with two shows, one at 4 p.m. and one at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 28, at CHI Movement Arts Center, 1316 S. 9th St. Space is limited, so reserve your seat early by visiting www.tinyurl.com/fringeshow.

About the Dancers and Dance Companies

Seed II Crown is the creative umbrella of Evalina “Wally” Carbonell. They create art that speaks to intergenerational connections, physicality, energetic awakening through the senses, and connection to the natural world through sound and spirit vibrations. Seed II Crown invites audiences to go deeper into their personal experiences and sensory explorations as they relate to each performance and to one another. As dance makers, teachers, and performers, they enliven communities with performances, classes, and workshops which help participants to communicate through art making and to learn more about themselves in relationship to nature and humanity. Seed II Crown invites people into shared experiences that traffic in empathic understanding and ignite the spirit for change through movement. Learn more at evalinacarbonell.com.

Mijkalena (Mijka) Smith (she/her) is a dancer, educator, and choreographer based in Philadelphia. Mijka centers bodily understanding as the foundation for her work, striving to find a balance between pushing physical abilities and maintaining a practice that is physiologically sustainable. She uses this unifying factor, the body, to create work that bridges gaps across artistic mediums, collaborating frequently with musicians and visual artists. Mijka also shares her joy for dance as an educator and choreographer at several studios throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, working with students ages 3 to 18. Learn more at mijkalenasmith.com.

JCWK Dance Lab‘s mission is to Create Joy, Connection, and Wellness through Kinesthetic stories. Founded and directed by Jessica C. Warchal-King, the company builds community through performance and education in Reading, PA. JCWK Dance Lab also develops Creative Placemaking projects and is available for touring and teaching. Learn more at jcwkdancelab.org.

Karen Fox, artistic director of Bella Deluxe Entertainment, is a multi-disciplinary artist. Her work as performer and deviser spans theatre, dance, music, poetry, aerial arts, and film. She has worked with artists and companies in the US, England, India, and Mexico. Karen, also a mindful movement and somatic practitioner, is presently offering workshops in “embodying activism in troubled times.” Learn more at bella-deluxe.com.

Human Landscape Dance was founded in 2006 and has since brought contact choreography around the world. Specializing in artist partnerships, they have given performances, held workshops, and shot video footage in Europe, Asia, and South America, as well as cities across North America. Noted for “ingenious choreography and staging” by the Washington Post, Artistic Director Malcolm Shute’s dances are characterized by intimate portraits of people undergoing change. Using touch to communicate, bodies mold with their environment to create a collage of images. Learn more at hldance.org.

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Source: bctv