The Story Through Dance

Some of us tell stories using our words, some of us tell stories using the oils on canvas, some of us beat the drum and call out in song, gasping for another breath, holding onto a note until tears fall from the eyes of people who witness our telling.



Perhaps the most beautiful and powerful way to tell a story is through the art of dance. Arms, legs, and muscles move the air and we see heatwaves between people caught in a trance. Would the performers tell the story the same way if we were not watching? Are we voyers, peering in on the expressive interaction between dancers. The performance is intimate between the dancers. They really do not need us. We are the spectators. We are stopping to affect ourselves and be moved. We sit still in awe. The dancers sweat and exhaust themselves. We sit still in amazement trying to anticipate the next move asking ourselves who in our lives do we trust. Everyone will leave the performance affected. The dancers will know how hard they worked. The choreographer will want to change something to make it better. The audience will leave inspired.



Next Friday, I am attending the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company's production, Fondly Do We Hope...Fervently Do We Pray, at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's Carolina Performing Arts Center.

I do not know what to expect. The production imagines a world "what if". If Lincoln had completed his second term in office, then what world would we have created? Fondly Do We Hope...Fervently Do We Pray imagines such a world.

In conjuction with the production is the exhibit, Jacob Lawrence and The Legend of John Brown, at the Ackland Art Museum.

How will I be affected? I will let you know after the performance.