Ronald K. Brown: Performance Analysis

On Tuesday, April 24, 2018 I attended EVIDENCE evening length performance of Walking Out the Dark. EVIDENCE is a dance company that is in Brooklyn, New York that focuses on the fusion of African dance with contemporary choreography and spoken work. This piece was choreographed by Ronald K. Brown, originating in 2001. This piece signified a conversation between mother, brother, sister, lover and friend and aims to examine what hinders our ability to assist one another in a time of need. During this piece, Ronald K. Brown utilized a contrast between codified rituals of self-examination and healing to show how culture and ritual can affect us. This performance showcased 4 dancers including: Arcell Cabaug, Shayla Caldwell, Annique Roberts, and
The first dance, “meet me in the temple”, began with two females walking towards each other to the center of the stage with a direct pathway and a heavy intention. One of the females began dancing with a good sense of control and staying grounded. This female set the phrase for the rest of this piece. This phrase consisted of an angulation of the spine traveling backwards with arms out in front of the body with palms facing forward. She then moved into a deep second plié with arms continuing to stay in front of the body as if she was asking for forgiveness from the other female. In addition, this phrase, consisted of stillness with movements that moved into suspension. Ending this phrase, the second female began performing the same phrase. The quality of this performer looked as if she was arguing a different story, therefore, her quality matched her own story. As the females traveled back into their spotlights, the males walked towards each other, repeating the same phrase. Concluding their argument with each other. All four performers walked towards each other into a smaller circle in the center of the stage. The two female performers along with one male performer, repeated the phrase once again in unison. As the trio concluded, the second male began dancing as a soloist. His movement phrase was different from the original phrase as he
I personally enjoyed this because I could understand their own individual intention for the performance a little more. After reading the piece of poetry the performers entered the stage in different costumes. The females were wearing long ruffled dresses and the males were wearing pants and a shirt that wrapped around the waist. The movement quality for this piece was heavily influenced by the ruffles on the dress. There were angulations of the spine, punching with their fist, jumping, large kicks, and walking with a twist of the right foot. The dance starts in the center of the stage as if they were continuing their conversations and then traveled to upstage in a straight line. The females and males were dancing as a due. Each duet contrasted one another in terms of tempo. The performers traveled in a circular formation with one male standing in the center. His solo was movement that was performed from the beginning of the piece with more twisting of the foot around himself. As the lights faded, each performer walked in a semi-circle to the downstage right corner and touched the floor in their own individual way. As the last performer exited the stage, the lights