The Dancer’s Journey: Virtual Storytelling Across Borders

On September 5th at 6PM PST, Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center will return with a third Virtual Theater installment: The Dancer’s Journey, a collage of compositions from professional and pre-professional dancers, and a live Q &A with Virtual Theater commissioned artist, Nathan Hirschaut.

This performance portrays the cross-cultural stories of young dancers from Santa Cruz, California, and from Final Year BFA students in Kingston, Jamaica, who have reflected on their strengths, vulnerabilities, desire to change the world, and their own artistic sensibilities and vessels. The Dancer’s Journey is a powerful palliative for this isolating and unsettling moment.

The Dancer’s Journey features "In the midst of it,” by Nathan Hirschaut, a TWDCC Youth Program teacher and Winter Dance Festival featured soloist, 2020 graduate of the Juilliard School of Dance, and the founder of HIVE Dance Company. During the TWDCC 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive, Nathan guided dancers ages 10-18years old in composing a short dance film stemming from their “hero’s journey,” a storytelling structure used almost ubiquitously by cultures around the world - from Gilgamesh to Star Wars. The Summer Intensive dancers used this project to discover what they desired to change, how they would overcome obstacles, and what it would feel like when they got there. Exploring their own hero’s journey in the context of a global pandemic, a movement for human rights, and a tense political climate resulted in truly special storytelling dances from our youth.

Alongside “In the midst of it,” the evening will feature dancers under the tutelage of TWDCC leadership. A selection of the Summer Intensive compositions chosen by Micha Scott, TWDCC Artistic Director, will play alongside videos made by final year BFA students of Cat Willis, TWDCC Executive Director and Guest Lecturer/Artist in Residence in Business Management and Planning at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica.

TWDCC’s Virtual Theater is representative of its own developing story through COVID-19, and its radical, resilient, cross-cultural transformation as an organization. Since April, TWDCC has created online opportunities to bring the domestic and international dance community together through Virtual Theater events, virtual classes and programming, and is currently working to build safe opportunities for Santa Cruz youth to practice their training in-person.

Despite the many obstacles and adjustments this season, TWDCC has risen to each occasion with adaptability and innovation. As we head into the end of the year, TWDCC needs support to continue pushing forward. The Dancer’s Journey is the launch event of the TWDCC End of the Year Fundraising campaign, and is a call to action for the community to aid in this reformation of Santa Cruz’s Best Cultural Center of 2020.

Tickets for The Dancer’s Journey will be sold online through the TWDCC website on a sliding scale. Attendees will also have the option to donate throughout the duration of the performance. The evening will be presented through Zoom webinar. Attendees will be directly emailed the Zoom link to attend on September 5th before the start time of 6PM. Ticket sales end at 5:30PM on September 5.

In response to the recent damage done by the CZU fires, 50% of the funds raised through this event will be donated to TWDCC community members impacted by the fires and to local organizers and support groups.