They Are All
“It's about bodies rejoicing within limits rather than despairing beyond them. It's about age and time moving in and out of phase, now concordant, now grinding. It's about how each person's reality is scaled to the spread of their arms, the length of their stride. It's about the beauty of the possible and the possibility of transcendence.” - INDYWEEK
They Are All (2019).
They Are All is both an original dance performance and a project centering the role of artistic technologies in seeding the ground for new scientific research. It is a multi-generational collaboration between choreographers, professional dancers, amateur dancers, data informaticists, researchers in physical therapy, neuroscientists and people living with Parkinson’s Disease.
For nearly four months, Murielle Elizéon and Tommy Noonan led workshops in Durham, NC, exploring the relationship between cognitive engagement, interpersonal relationship and movement. The workshops made use of improvisational movement as well as mindfulness and somatic tools often employed in contemporary dance practice, in order to foster a common experience in which dancers, medical researchers and people with Parkinson’s participated on equal terms. The workshops happened concurrently to a rehearsal and creation process for a new dance work. As the project progressed, rehearsals and workshops influenced one another, eventually dovetailing into a single creative process directed towards these performances of They Are All during the American Dance Festival’s 2019 season.
The scientific hypothesis of the project is that not only the tools and physical techniques employed in the creation process generate beneficial outcomes for people living with Parkinson’s Disease, but that also the cognitive-emotional engagement required to participate in a movement-based creative process itself further enhances those outcomes.
They Are All is therefore not a project “about” Parkinson’s Disease, nor is it a statement about the relative abilities or achievements of those members of the cast living with Parkinson’s or traumatic brain injuries. It is a dance work that is the result of a carefully crafted set of conditions and methods, peopled by diverse bodies and relationships on stage: many of the performers are caregivers, lovers, spouses, parents, former teachers, old friends or near strangers to one another -- a network of related bodies that have their own stories, complex histories and unknown futures, together and apart.
Concept & Creation: Murielle Elizéon and Tommy Noonan
Creative Assistance: Angelika Thiele
Choreography and Performance: Annie Dwyer, Murielle Elizéon, Tommy Noonan, Angelika Thiele, Matthew Young
Additional performers: Mary Cantando, Vivian Ford, Dawn Hintgen, Julie Insley, Paul L. Molina, Pamela B. Moore, Cathy Moore, David Murray, Ruth Zweidinger
Stage assistance: Maya Noonan
Music composition and performance: Shana Tucker
Additional music: Fennesz and Elvis Presley
Costumes and stage design: Sarah Marguier
Lighting design: Carl Faber
Video support: Alex Manass
Production management: Gil Paon
Culture Mill Program Assistant / Production support: Lauren Monroe
PT and neuroscience advisor: Dr. Jeff Hoder / Duke University
Biometric data and informatics advisor: Dr. Robert Furberg / RTI International
Music therapy advisor: Allie Chandler / Ossia Music Therapy
Mentorship: Dr. Glenna Batson, Monica Gillette, Clint Lutes
Special thanks: Julia Pleasants, Julian Almeida, Bridget Ryan and the ADF staff, John Colba and the Rubenstein technical staff, Ben Krall, Mindy Oshrain and Steve Jaffy, Carol Vollmer, Elisabeth and Simon Barbier, The Culture Mill Sustainers, Studio Marie Lenfant, Emily Miller, Liliane Dotta.
They Are All is a production of Culture Mill and an original commission by the American Dance Festival with major support from the William R. Kenan Charitable Trust, sponsored by RTI International and supported in part by Studio Marie Lenfant (Le Mans, France).
Performances
Premiere: 25th of June, 2019 — The Rubenstein Arts Center at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina.
ADDITIONAL SHOWS
26th of June, 2019: American Dance Festival, Durham, North Carolina.