Imagine the world through the eyes of a child, a child handed a gift to see beyond the world in which we live and into the realm of the supernatural. Now add music, dance, and a beautiful performance that reaches into some of our biggest fears and emotional thresholds. “siGHt”, an original dance opera by Kimmie Dobbs Chan and Enoch Chan draws you into a world of artistic expression that few have ventured. With soaring aerial silks, intricate choreography, and a soundtrack that ties in the visuals seamlessly, siGHt is a must see performance.
The story is focused on a small family dealing with an emotionally depressed father, whose happiness in interactions with his wife and daughter cannot abolish an inner turmoil. The father is played by Josh Barnard in a magnificent performance. His expression and unfettered talent as a performer and aerial dancer is enough to bring chills; his fluid and dynamic presence make the character believable. Young star Sophia Atwell, who plays the girl, has been given the task of bringing innocence to a performance that is truly inspiring. Definitely a young dancer who is capable of tackling tough assignments, she carries the story throughout.
As the dance opera plays on, we are taken on a monumentally emotional ride as tragedy strikes the family. The young girl’s ability to see spirits eventually leads to encountering the spirit of a loved one. Ultimately the ability to help heal and mend her loved ones is her true gift. Kimmie Dobbs Chan and Enoch Chan have set the bar fairly high with this courageous and intimate tale that is siGHt.
siGHt is playing its last week at Joes Movement Emporium.
Thurs. Oct. 4 @ 8pm
Fri. Oct. 5 @ 8pm
Sat. Oct. 6 @ 4pm & 8pm
Sun. Oct. 7 @ 7pm
Maryland Underground had a chance to interview these amazing artists.
siGHt: An original dance opera.
Story By Josh Rudderforth Photos by Enoch Chan
MDUG: Tell me about your background- how you met, and when you realized that you wanted to work together not only as husband and wife but as artistic collaborators?
E: We actually met at a dance studio in Alexandria, VA where I was working at the time. I was their Technical Director and we had just finished their spring recital. I usually disappear for awhile after that to decompress, but just happened to come in one day when Kimmie was teaching their summer camp. That was it, saw her and it was done.
As for background, I’ve been an artist, photographer and in theatre of some kind or another for as long as I could remember. But the connection to dance came a little later. I went to Boston University for my BFA in Independent Theatre Studies, and my BA in Art History, I could never quite shake my interest in movement. How beautiful it was that one can tell a story with no words and how much more intimately and powerfully that story can be told.
We actually started doing a few pieces together for recitals at first. At that time I was doing a lot of photography and lighting design for dance companies in the area. It was all wonderful work, but none of it spoke to me in the way I wanted. Kimmie and I had spoken a few times about doing something together again, but the timing never seemed quite right. Finally, I was doing a photo shoot at Dance Place, and asked what it would take to do an off season performance… she said, “$1200.” (I think its gone up). I said, “we can do that.” Of course I didn’t take into account the additional tens of thousands it would take in rehearsal space and pay for dancers and set pieces, but hindsight is 20/20 right? Anyways I went home and told Kimmie, “guess what? We’re doing a show,” and we’ve been working together since.
MDUG: When I saw the show (siGHt) I noticed a lot of different styles and influences in the choreography. Can you tell us about what styles had the most influence when you where putting this together?
E: I’ll let Kimmie speak to choreographic style. However, as a director, I try not to limit the type of movement we use. It’s a pretty neat thing as we go through our process. We find that certain characters have a certain type of movement, of dance and the blend in style come out of how best it expresses that persona’s life and world at the time. We also use some very mundane movement and let the performers find succinct, specific motions that land just as words do, all without pantomiming. At the end of the day, if it tells the story, it’s in the show.
K: We like to call our work ‘dance operas’ or ‘operas of movement’ because we aim to create a seamless blending of storytelling and dancing. Many times in classical ballets or in traditional musical theater the progression of the story takes a pause in order for a dance or singing scene to be inserted; whereas, we try to use the presence of dance to continue to drive the story onward. Therefore, as a choreographer I must find the connection between the mundane aspects of a character’s physicality—such as posture, gestures, facial expression--and where it can overlap with dance technique. We joke that we have developed our own technique which will one day be known as ‘Dobbs Chan Technique’, and perhaps it will, but if you force me to mention specific styles in this piece I would try to categorize them as physical theater, aerial dance, and what is spoken of in the SYTYCD world as ‘contemporary ballet’. But all of these styles are then given a heavy dose of “character” physicality.
Personally I have been influence by Cirque du Soleil’s dreamy character worlds, by David Parsons humorous modern dance pieces (such as ‘Sleep Study’), by LA Choreographer Adam Parson’s incredible musicality, by San Francisco based choreographer Robert Moses’ shape changes, and New York based choreographer Laurie Kanyok’s emotionality. Enoch and I are also both very fond of Tim Burton’s style of creating dark and charming worlds, and we do create our work with the average American movie-goer in mind. You don’t need to know anything about dance or theater to come see one of our shows.
MDUG: The story of siGHt takes us through a very sad event. Where did the influences come to form this and how have reactions from the audience been?
E: Audience reaction is often one of shock at first, but they come around. The show is definitely a bit of a roller coaster ride, but that’s the fun of it, right? I believe that art is meant to communicate, and that it can and should be cathartic for an audience and the performers, that is why we yearn for it. If we let it, it can take us to places we can barely even imagine and lets us see the world through a different lens. It’s always hard to face up to something terrible happening, but I feel like we always throw a bunch of beauty out into the work, so that it is easier to accept the ugliness.
As for influences, I feel like all of us have had traumatic events happen in our lives. I know I have had a couple situations very similar to what happens in this piece. It is always a shock and never expected, but I think what is important and what makes being human so wonderful is how we endure, how we move through those times those times and hopefully how we come out better on the other end.
K: I remember as a child being sometimes visited by spirits—a skill I have somehow lost through growing up. For this show we were interested to explore the concept of seeing the world through the eyes of a child, where a lack of expectation for what is ‘normal’ allows the child to open up to additional perceptions. This is contrasted with the adult characters in the show whose history weighs them down, and in a sense shuts them off from their own ability to see possibilities in their everyday life.
Each of us by nature of being human has experienced loss and some sort of trauma that needs to be processed. Reality hit me pretty harshly when I ended up on 6th avenue downtown New York City looking up at the towers on September 11, 2001—I was attending NYU at the time. Trips home to MD were no retreat because the sniper parking lot shootings were happening at that time. I have suffered from my own depression and post-traumatic stress, and I have known friends who lost this battle and took their own lives. We could try to pinpoint one of these events as inspiration for “siGHt”, but really what interests me more is how the human spirit stretches to overcome inwardly what cannot be changed outwardly. What interested me most was to show that there is always guidance and help coming from the other side if we are able to open ourselves up to it.
Last year, our audiences wanted to know “why” things happened in “siGHt” as they did. This year, our show has been very well received. We have worked hard to craft the full story of the family characters in “siGHt”, which has received more acceptance and engagement from the audience all around and we could not have done it without the faith from our cast. It takes a delicate balance of entertaining the audience with aesthetically pleasing and athletically challenging movement so that you get them to a place where they will be willing to look honestly at some darker aspect of humanity. Then you have to entertain them again and give them hope
