A National Park Service video production team, an African-American dance company, a storyteller, a jazz musician and his band who play conch shells, and a synchronized swimming team will descend on St. John next month to spend a week taping material for a multi-media performance production that will be presented on Sept. 8 at a theater outside Washington, D.C.
Images of St. John – both physical and artistic – will be featured in the program to be presented at Wolf Trap, America's National Park for the Performing Arts.
For the program, called Face of America 2001, Wolf Trap has commissioned world premiere performances by choreographer Donald Byrd and his dance company The Group; jazz artist/composer Steve Turre and his group Sanctified Shells; and African-American storyteller Alice McGill. They will all be on St. John the week of April 4-11 to record their work for high-definition television (HDTV).
The production will also feature an island-theme performance by Guggenheim award-winning choreographer Ronald K. Brown and his company, Evidence.
This will be the second annual production in the not-for-profit Wolf Trap Foundation's Face of America series, which is subtitled "Our Parks, Our People, Our Heritage." The series has been developed to showcase specific sites in the national park system and highlight the roles they play in the preservation of natural and cultural resources. The productions use "the language of the arts to celebrate the parks and their beautiful landscapes, rich histories, and special people," according to information on the foundation web site, at www.wolftrap.org.
"Our national parks reflect the face of America," each with a character and stories of its own, the web page states. "Wolf Trap Foundation joins forces with the Park Service to help tell the stories of our parks and the people who live and work in and around them. This year, Wolf Trap invites you to voyage to the stunning Virgin Islands National Park on St. John."
According to Terrence Jones, Wolf Trap president and creator of the series, "The combination of original performances in non-traditional spaces – such as underwater, on the beaches, and in historic sites on St. John – allows us to produce performance art that is innovative and unparalleled." He said Face of America 2001 "pushes the artistic vision for this series to new dimensions."
Wolf Trap is collaborating with the National Park Service at the Virgin Islands National Park and Coral Reefs National Monument on the effort. "We are extremely fortunate to have been selected as one of the venues for the Face of America project," V.I. National Park superintendent John King said. "We trust that this union with the creative arts community will further promote an appreciative understanding of our natural and cultural heritage – and of the responsibility that we all share to protect and preserve these wonderful spaces."
The video crew will tape performances of The Group dancing original works by Byrd, to be staged at scenic and historic sites on St. John, and of an underwater ballet by members of the U.S. Olympic Synchronized Swim Team, to be shot beneath the surface of the sea off St. John. There will also be documentary taping of preparations for the live performances by jazz master Steve Turre, who will be on St. John developing a new work that will feature the sounds of conch shells he and his group will play; and by storyteller Alice McGill, who will be on the island to build a performance celebrating the history and heritage of its people.
Byrd founded The Group in Los Angeles in 1978, then moved the company to New York in 1983. He has won acclaim for his tense, hard-hitting jazz-based choreography. "To witness The Group perform a Donald Byrd work is to experience the human body's potential to exceed physical and emotional limits of energy and control," publicity states. "Bodies fly, fall, crash and roll, tearing through space at breakneck speed. Passion, aggression, anger, love and fear become tangible, creating a catharsis of emotion." Byrd is said to have "created a movement style which is distinctly American in its integration of black vernacular dancing with classical ballet and modern techniques."
Thaddeus Davis, a member of The Group, will conduct two master dance classes at the St. John School of the Arts for students from the Julius E. Sprauve School during the week of taping.
Turre's Afro-Caribbean-inspired performances and recordings with Sanctified Shells have given the conch shell contemporary legitimacy as an instrument of communication. At the invitation of University of the Virgin Islands Jazz Band director Martin Lamkin, he visited St. Thomas a couple of years ago to conduct a workshop and give a public performance on the UVI campus.
McGill, who is based in the Washington area, is a performing artist and author who brings historical characters such as Sojourner Truth to life through dramatization and seeks to inspire modern-day interest in oralture as a means of appreciating the past for today's audiences and preserving the present for generations to come.
Brooklyn-born choreographer Brown and Evidence, the company he founded in 1985 in New York, will not be coming to St. John in April but will perform live at Face of America 2001. "Like rich African batik," publicity states, his choreography "offers vibrant colors, complex patterns and powerful images. His dancers speak through explosive jumps, layouts, gestures and distinctive body formations. Bursts of physical energy hang in the air long after the performers have moved into new space." His high-energy choreography merges African dance, ballet, hip-hop and modern dance, employing narratives that address social and cultural themes, for an effect that is physically and spiritually powerful.
Wolf Trap is a stop for many visitors to the nation's capital each year. Tickets for the Sept. 8 performance will go on sale March 31.
A Face of America 2001 poster design competition is being held. It is open to students at accredited colleges and universities across the nation. Students interested in submitting entries should request information via e-mail to lauriew@wolftrap.org or by calling (703) 255-1900.
