Dancers celebrate bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth on auditorium stage

The auditorium was pitch black and silent. A young woman began to sing softly in the center aisle. She held a flashlight in her hand. A bright beam of light on stage illuminated a hanging circle of veils, and the woman joined her fellow dancers within the circle. With her presence, the performance of the Bill T. Jones Arnie Zane Dance Company began.

The performance of “Fondly Do We Hope... Fervently Do We Pray” on Thursday was a celebration of the bicentennial of President Lincoln’s birth. It portrayed the life of Lincoln, as well as other important Americans, through live music and song, modern dance, audio and video clips.

Four performers sat at the left edge of the stage, playing instruments and providing vocals for the program.

After doing their first dance in a sea of white, grey and black, one of the dancers began to speak. As dancers participated in solos, duets and ensembles, dancers either on- or off-stage were reciting monologues, the first of which brought light to the biography of Lincoln’s life.

“He has seven brothers and four sisters,” the dancer said. “He never marries, but sex and cohabitation he knows very well.”

The history element of the program was what brought some audience members to the show. Bloomington resident Steve Rolfe said he was a “history freak” and thought dance was an interesting way to observe Lincoln’s birth.

“I’m fascinated by what dance can do for Lincoln,” Rolfe said.

The summary of Lincoln’s life was followed by other monologues about a variety of different people — a soldier who fought in Iraq, a woman who fights with her husband about politics, the daughter of a slave-owner and a dancer who is in love with the idea of freedom. During each monologue, a dancer did his or her own solo.

As the show progressed, tension rose as the music switched from orchestral to bass and electric guitar and even banjo. The sound of a whip snapping repeatedly filled the auditorium. A dancer portrayed the role of a slave getting sold. He thrashed around on the ground as his shirt became twisted on his body; he looked in pain.

“Did you hear me? Ankles, instep, foot-ball, toes, toes-joints, the heel, going, going, going, sold,” one of the dancers shouted.

During the piece called “Debates/The Boil That Bursts,” the dancers held a verbal debate about state rights and popular sovereignty, raising the question of equality between the races, yelling at each other in rage. The music grew louder with each progressing minute, and finally, all action stopped.

A whirlwind of words and images floated across the circle of veils, giving the effect of a time warp. The dancers performed one last dance as an ensemble, and their shadows faded in and out of the veils.

Graduate student and audience member Juan Belmonte said he liked the different combination of all the performing elements, and the message “was a good one,” yet he wasn’t sold on some of the dialogue.

“Even when they were trying to be progressive, I thought they were still a little conservative,” Belmonte said.

Audience member and IU faculty Adrienne Sewell said she studied dance as an undergraduate and that Jones was important in her development as both a thinker and dancer.

“His work is very educational in a very emotional way,” Sewell said. “It combines emotion and politics through movement and sound.”