Evidence Dance Company delivers uplifting message

The lights illuminated a man as he rocked and bounced to the funky beats that pounded through the auditorium.

He was joined by a woman who reached to him and rocked along to Stevie Wonder’s voice, which repeated, “All I do is think about you.”

“I hope that when people see the work, their spirits are lifted,” said Ronald Brown, founder and artistic director of Evidence, A Dance Company. “I am interested in sharing perspectives through modern dance, theater and kinetic storytelling. I want my work to be evidence of these perspectives.”

Ten Evidence dancers told stories of the African diaspora with their movements on the IU Auditorium stage Saturday. An audience of 700 people watched expressive jumps and turns set to music ranging from funky rhythm and blues to African drumming.
The three dances each contained a message, bringing to light topics of self-image, slavery and universal compassion.

“You can see the details of the choreographer’s thought process in the dances,” graduate student Elizabeth Clark said. “You can see the story being portrayed.”

Brown has been perfecting this type of storytelling since he founded the company in 1985. He has been awarded numerous times for his work, which he and his company share with an annual audience of more than 25,000 people. Brown said he takes inspiration from Latin American, Caribbean and African dance combined with urban and social movements to tell stories about the human condition.

A fog rolled off the stage as a woman dressed in black strutted to the pounding bass at the beginning of the first piece, which was called “Ebony Magazine: To a Village.” The tight, black costumes later transformed into flowing fabrics with colorful patterns.

“I really liked how the story went from the dancers being vain and obsessed with beauty to more natural and into the ground,” junior Renee Hinesley said. “As the story progressed, the dancing changed.”

The dancers showed a variety of movements that combined traditional African dance with contemporary styles. Their high kicks and arms were paired with moves low to the ground.

“They have so much energy on stage and are so powerful,” Hinesley said. “It was great to watch.”

Five women in white dresses embraced one another after throwing their bodies to the ground during the second piece, “Incidents.” Brown illustrated the experiences of African-American women whose characters were shaped by slavery.

“I see dance as text,” said Iris Rosa, director of the African American Dance
Company. “I think that Brown’s story telling is very clear by the text in the movement married with the music.”

Senior Xavier Medina experienced Brown’s techniques first-hand in workshops Evidence offered to the Contemporary Dance Program and the African American Dance Company dancers the Thursday and Friday prior to the show.

“I learned a great deal about how to express my story,” Medina said. “The classes also gave me a new perspective on what people consider to be dance. He showed that even walking is dance.”

The final piece of the performance contrasted the others by portraying a lighter message of love and compassion. “On Earth Together,” Brown’s most recent work, focused on interactions between the performers. Their urban style moves fused with influences of modern technique were set to joyful songs by Stevie Wonder.

“I think the last piece was a good way to end the show,” freshman Haley McElwee said. “It was uplifting and showed that we always have each other.”

The performers took their bows and then finished with style, dancing around in a celebration of life and dance as the curtain dropped.

“The freedom of movement and the released quality of everything they did was really great,” said Satsu Holmes, sophomore and contemporary dance major. “I wish it had lasted longer.”