North Carolinians Praise Pets, People, Places, and Peculiarities with Liz Lerman

By: Laura Beth Scholz

North Carolina University’s Center Stage production of the Hallelujah Project’s In Praise of Animals and their People was co-sponsored by the university’s veterinary school. The work that grew out of the collaboration illustrates the powerful connections between people and animals, many of which came to light following Hurricane Floyd. Seen here is dance participant Autumn Winds Semper Fi, known affectionately as Sy the Great Dane.  Photo Courtesy of Southern Arts Federation

Dogs, dancers old and young and even a horse converged on stage for an evening of celebration at North Carolina State University’s Stewart Theatre. Based upon stories gleaned from the community at large, the April 2002, performance featured diverse members of the Raleigh community in a series of dances illustrating the powerful bond between humans and animals. This event -The Hallelujah Project: In Praise of Animals and Their People - was the culmination of intensive residency activities conducted by members of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and grew out of three years of planning by North Carolina State University’s Center Stage in partnership with the University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

While not your usual evening of modern dance, this event is quite typical of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, which has been revolutionizing the field since its founder established the company in 1976.

"Liz Lerman has made a vibrant, provocative career out of fixing a moment—an idea, an emotion, an everyday event—and making it come alive in simple, plain-spoken dance. God is in the details of her work," wrote the New York Times in an August 2002 review of "In Praise of Fertile Fields" at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Her works are also unique in that they feature intergenerational and community dancers, a rarity in the age and appearance obsessed dance world.

Hallelujah Project performances were based on community input in all parts of the country. Here, members of the DanceExchange are seen performing In Praise of Fertile Fields, commissioned by the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts. Photo by Lise Metzger

Expressing Personal Stories Through Dance

According to Ms. Lerman, the idea for her company grew out of her mother’s death and the profound need to express her grief through dance. She envisioned a piece in which elderly people portrayed angels that escorted her mother to heaven. The only problem was that most dance companies at the time consisted of dancers in their teens, twenties and thirties, and those any older were discouraged, even ostracized from the world of professional dance.

Determined to find a creative outlet for her grief, she began contacting local senior centers and requested permission to teach dance classes for interested residents. Though initially timid and skeptical, residents eventually embraced dance, resulting in renewal and healing for both teacher and student alike. This type of community-building, rejuvenating and deeply personal work would become the hallmark of Ms. Lerman’s company, which describes itself as "a national performance company, shaking up ideas about what makes dance, who gets to dance, and where dance happens," as well as "a civic resource, inspiring broad participation in art as a path to understanding, community development, personal insight and healing."

Conceived in 1998, the Hallelujah project is an extension of this mission. The company describes the project as a national initiative in praise, participation and performance. In a spirit of celebration and recognition of hard times endured, this project conducts a series of residencies in which community members contribute to a series of dances ‘In Praise Of….’ topics vital to them…The resulting performances…celebrate the vividness, beauty, strength, and quirkiness of edge-of-the-millennium America. Community participation [is] an integral element in an artistic statement of uncompromising quality.

North Carolina’s Hallelujah Projects Take Shape

The catalyst behind the North Carolina-based Hallelujah project was Sharon Moore, director of North Carolina State University’s Center Stage in Raleigh. A fan of Liz Lerman’s transforming work, she had worked with the company several times during her years as a presenter. Intrigued by the Hallelujah project and fresh off a successful North Carolina-based residency of the David Dorfman Dance group, she was convinced the project would be an excellent next step in community and audience building in Raleigh and in other areas of the state.

DanceExchange company members worked with Cary (NC) Senior Center residency participants on community-building exercises. Seen here is an exercise called "blind lead".  Photo Courtesy of Southern Arts Federation

Moore and Vicki Vitiello, presenting and touring director at the North Carolina Arts Council, met with Liz Lerman in Maryland to discuss the possibility of developing a Hallelujah project in North Carolina. After her positive response, Moore organized a meeting of interested North Carolina presenters with Lerman and Jane Hirschberg, the company’s producing director. Three presenters—Appalachian State University in Boone, City Arts in Greensboro, and Pack Place Performing Arts in Asheville—agreed to join with Center Stage, and plans got underway to identify community partners, develop project themes and raise funds to support the four residencies. Michelle Pearson, a former dancer with Liz Lerman Dance Exchange who had relocated to the Raleigh/Durham area, coordinated the four North Carolina residencies and helped partners communicate with Lerman and members of her company.

In each of the four partner communities, local dancers and novices alike took part in a series of workshops to share stories and assist members of the Exchange in turning them into a series of dance sketches. Many of these community members appeared with the company during the culminating performances.

Initially, the four communities wanted to develop a common theme to tie the projects together, but this proved difficult. Instead, the presenters worked with community groups to develop their own project themes. In Greensboro, City Arts worked with local partners around the theme "in praise of our differences." Appalachian State University in Boone developed "in praise of common ground and sacred places" with local partners while Asheville’s Pack Place Performing Arts worked with community and arts groups to develop a project anchored in the theme "in praise of the ‘perfect’ place." Finally, in Raleigh, the community decided on the theme "in praise of animals and their people."

Raleigh Project

Sharon Moore called the selection of theme the most difficult aspect of the Raleigh project. "North Carolina State University is a very research, agricultural-based university, so we had to choose a theme that would resonate with the campus, as well as the community at large," said Ms. Moore.

The university’s Veterinary School agreed to partner with Center Stage in developing the project, and the two eventually settled on the animal theme. This theme really solidified with the community following Hurricane Floyd, which devastated half of the state in the late summer of 2000.

According to Moore, "after Hurricane Floyd, the Veterinary School became a sort of triage center for lost and abandoned animals. A wealth of stories came out of that experience, and I think that really helped in localizing the topic and bringing the community together around the ‘in praise of animals’ theme."

After distributing information to several community groups and holding a series of public meetings about the project, Center Stage developed a host of partnerships with an extraordinarily wide range of groups, including the North Caroline State University’s Pre-Veterinary Medical Association, Sea Turtle Club, Companion Animal Club, Second Chance Private Pet Adoption, Wildlife Club, American Dance Festival, Even Exchange Dance Company, Raleigh Association of Viet Nam Veterans, Town of Cary Cultural Arts Division, Wake County Chapter of Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Autumn Winds Dog Training and Agility Center, Enloe High School Dance Program, Cary Academy Dance Program and Brentwood Elementary School. Working intensively with the Dance Exchange, these groups and other individuals from the community shared stories and watched them develop into a series of "in praise of" sketches.

Many of these sketches fell into two primary themes: sacrifice and reward and rescue and recovery. For example, one local police officer shared the story of his dog, Nero. During a violent altercation, a suspect fired a gun at the officer. Nero valiantly jumped in front of a bullet meant for his owner, thus saving his life. This demonstration of loyalty, and Nero’s long and miraculous recovery, were brought to life during the culminating performance featuring Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and members of the Raleigh-Durham community.

Samantha Hartford, an employee of the NC State College of Veterinary

Medicine and a horse owner, understands sacrifice and reward. Her 22-year-old horse, Lestat, sustained a serious leg injury three years ago that required surgery and 16 months of rehabilitation.

As Samantha explained, "We really went through it together. And, you know, a lot of people told me, 'Boy, I wouldn't do that for a horse. I would just turn him out - and just say, well, that's just a horse I can't ride any more.' But I wasn't willing to give up on him. He had his surgery when he was 19, and it was a significant financial investment for me to make. So I thought that Lestat's story certainly fit that theme of sacrifice and reward--how much is too much. Because at least as far as LeStat goes, I haven't found that out yet." Samantha and Lestat's story was a part of the final performance with Lestat's appearance on the stage as the grand finale of the In Praise of Animals and Their People dance piece.

Success Through Partnerships

The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Hallelujah project brought together a dedicated, intergenerational group of dancers to help North Carolina communities express their stories and celebrate what is important to them. Support for this project came primarily from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program, through the Southern Arts Federation, which administers the program in the southern part of the country. The program provides support for artistically excellent, community-based performing arts residency projects that seek to increase access to the live performing arts in underserved communities throughout the United States. The power of this participatory, community-based dance residency exemplifies the goals of the Regional Touring Program.

See the Southern Arts Federation web site at www.southarts.org for more information on support for residencies and touring performances by music, theatre, opera, musical theatre, literary, and dance artists in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

This Hallelujah project also received generous support from the North Carolina Arts Council, the Wallace-Reader’s Digest Funds and the Town of Cary Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources.

Related links:

Appalachian State University Office of Cultural Affairs: http://www.highsouth.com/oca/

Liz Lerman Dance Exchange: www.danceexchange.org

NSCU Center Stage: www.ncsu.edu/centerstage

Pack Place: www.packplace.org/

National Endowment for the Arts
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