~ A dance production by NIA and Atlantis13 ~
“Atlantis Rebirth” – a collaboration between National Institute of the Arts (NIA) and sister dance company Atlantis13 based in Minneapolis, Minnesota – is slated to take spectators to a new world on March 27 and 28 – exploring ideas of diasporic liberation through dance.
Visitors at the Regatta Village in Port de Plaisance were treated to a special preview this past Tuesday and Wednesday, when NIA company performed an impressive “Standing on the Horizon”, along with choreographer Jonathan van Arneman.
Van Arneman, who danced with Atlantis13 when he previously lived in Minneapolis, wanted to bring a version of the production to St. Maarten shores, exploring local ideas of Utopia. In fact, voices of a few local figures – that will not be named in advance – will be dispersed throughout the show.
The show is split into two 45-minute segments, with each dance company exploring their own ideas and interpretations of what it means to be free. “We asked ourselves what different things are important to each group, and how to portray that in the art that we do,” van Arneman told The Weekender.
For Atlantis13, that means exploring social justice, police reform, the justice system, and love. The St. Maarten group explores issues such as immigration, loss of language, relationship to nature and land ownership. The common thread, van Arneman says, is “trying to imagine a system outside of colonialism.”
The contrast is in first portraying the effects of colonialism, and then diving into what could be – “very Afro-Futuristic, very celebratory… it’s critical, but not meant to be heavy, per se. It starts off intense and then builds in terms of joy, in terms of celebration, and things we explore.”
The dancers from Minneapolis will also be hosting workshops at NIA prior to the show.
Atlantis Rebirth takes place at 8:00pm, March 27 and 28, at Philipsburg Cultural Center. Tickets are available through students and teachers of NIA, as well as at the NIA studio at the John Larmonie Center on Long Wall Road in Philipsburg.
