Liz Lerman's Healing Wars

Nearly 40 years on, Lerman is internationally known, a MacArthur "genius" award grantee, and she continues to extend her vision of what dance is and might be, bringing shipyard workers and Parkinson's sufferers into her work, embracing such seemingly unartful subjects as the genome an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTheatreForum (La Jolla, San Diego, Calif.) no. 48; p. 20
Main Author Welsh, Anne Marie
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published La Jolla TheatreForum 01.01.2015
Subjects
Armed forces
Barton, Clara (1821-1912)
Choreography
Dance
Dancers & choreographers
Military personnel
Prostheses
Veterans
War
Middle East
Washington DC
La Jolla California
Afghanistan
United States > US
Al Fallujah Iraq
Baghdad Iraq
Israel
Iraq
Bahrain
New Jersey
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Summary:Nearly 40 years on, Lerman is internationally known, a MacArthur "genius" award grantee, and she continues to extend her vision of what dance is and might be, bringing shipyard workers and Parkinson's sufferers into her work, embracing such seemingly unartful subjects as the genome and the Big Bang, and expanding her spaces to include streets, shipyards, parking garages, and the Lincoln Memorial. Each scene was a tableau vivant in which a costumed performer gestured in character-Clara Barton (Tamara Hurwitz Pullman) writing letters to lonely soldiers, a young woman revealing her true gender beneath a military uniform, an emancipated slave digging a grave, an injured soldier suffering grievous pain and loss. Lerman mixes strong and propulsive group choreography, including a powerful evocation of a 19th century frontal attack, with intimate dance episodes: a powerful duet in which a soldier (Meghan Frederick) seems impaled upon a wall, her rag doll body manipulated by the imposing and impressive dancer Ted Johnson; a lovely earthbound duet for Denman and Hurwitz Pullman as well-intentioned if impotent contemporary healers.
ISSN:1060-5320
2169-1169