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Fresno puts a spin on the powerful ‘teenage’ drama ‘Dance Nation.’ Here are 5 Things to Know before it debuts.

A few weeks ago I told you about an upcoming major moment for UR Here Theatre: its first fully staged production. The company opens the 2018 play “Dance Nation” at Fresno’s Cal Arts Severance theater on Friday, Sept. 16, and runs through Sept. 24. The play brings us a group of competitive teenagers, mostly girls, who make it into a national dance championship, sharing their stories along the way. From the pedigree of the play and the creative team and cast involved, it sounds like a must-see.

Here are Five Things You Need to Know:

1.

The premise sounds like it’s geared toward kids. It isn’t.

The 13-year-olds in the play, for one thing, are played by adults. In the Fresno production, the actors range in age from 28 to 58. Recommended for mature audiences (for graphical sexual language), the play addresses teen and sub-teen issues of sexuality, diet, ambition, suicide, pubescent reality testing, brutality of adolescence, ambition, and aging.

The unorthodox play conveys the joy and abandon of dancing, alongside the memories of growing up which live in the body and of the body.

2.

The playwright brings an interesting backstory to the project.

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Clare Barron, recipient of the 2014-2015 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award at the Vineyard Theatre, was a 2019 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in drama for “Dance Nation.”

Barron explains: “I was raised in a conservative, Christian community that told me that if I had sex before marriage I would go to hell.” It took years for her to “undo that knot” and shake off the shame she associated with sex — something her writing has helped with.

3.

Director Ruth Griffin was overwhelmed when she first read the play.

Griffin, a theater and dance professor at Fresno State, writes: “The sufferings of the girls and their stories, at times shocking, unsettled me. However, as I delved more deeply into the play, I understood the playwright’s agenda of transformation. I fell in love with the girls and the team’s only boy, Luke.”

For Griffin, the play includes touches of farce, epic, realism, magical realism, solo performance, tribalism and ritual.

“I love the freedom of not being in an institution and working with people from our community,” she says.

4.

“Dance Nation” stands on the shoulders of a progression of feminist art and performance art.

The play is dedicated to Joyce Aiken, a professor emerita of art at Fresno State, who took over the feminist art program developed by Judy Chicago.

Griffin says she sees in “Dance Nation” the footprints of Chicago’s “Dinner Party” (1979), Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” (1996), and Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ “Women Who Run with the Wolves” (1992). The contributions of Aiken, who was given a lifetime achievement award in 2001 by the Women’s Caucus of Art, helped cement Fresno’s own place in feminist art history.

5.

A strong cast and creative team are good signs.

The cast includes many familiar local theater veterans: Nwachukwu, Tracy Hostmyer, Camille Gaston, Haley Wallace, Anand Purewal, Haley White, Jared Serpa, Karina Balfour and Mason T. Beltram. Chris Mangels is technical director and is handling scenic and costume design. Ajay Davis is sound designer.

PLUS: Win a pair of tickets to ‘Dance Nation’

Opening weekend performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16; and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17. You can win a pair of tickets.

The contest is open to members, donors and individual sponsors of The Munro Review. I’m giving away two pairs of tickets.

Tax-deductible memberships start at $5 a month, and you can make a one-time donation of as little as $3. (Paid memberships help keep the site running, and paid members get special members-only benefits. Please consider a paid membership in support of independent, local arts journalism.) A free membership option is available.

For details on how to join, go to the Membership and Sponsorship page. No purchase, donation or membership is necessary to enter the ticket giveaway.

To enter the giveaway, leave a reply on this post answering this question: Did you ever compete in a dance competition? (Or just say you’d like the tickets.) Leave your entry in the comment field below. Deadline to enter is 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16. The winner will be picked at random and notified by email.


The Munro Review has no paywall but is financially supported by readers who believe in its non-profit mission of bringing professional arts journalism to the central San Joaquin Valley. You can help by signing up for a monthly recurring paid membership or make a one-time donation of as little as $3. All memberships and donations are tax-deductible.

 

Covering the arts online in the central San Joaquin Valley and beyond. Lover of theater, classical music, visual arts, the literary arts and all creative endeavors. Former Fresno Bee arts critic and columnist. Graduate of Columbia University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Excited to be exploring the new world of arts journalism.

donaldfresnoarts@gmail.com

Comments (9)

  • Karan Johnson

    I actually auditioned for The San Francisco Ballet when I was 13. I was very into ballet then but did not get in, alas.

    reply
  • J. Daniel Herring

    I never was in a dance competition, but I did do a fashion show in high school and had to do one runway walk in a swimsuit.

    reply
  • Patty Bennett

    I never entered a dance competition, but I did participate in a couple of rather humiliating dance auditions.

    reply
  • Dianne Kady

    I’ve never auditioned as a dancer, but I did see the
    “Vagina Monologues” twice. “Dance Nation” will in good company with it’s coming of age story-line.

    reply
  • Jackie Ryle

    Thank you, Donald. It’s helpful to have this information before seeing the production. I’m looking forward to seeing it – more than ever now

    reply
  • Steph

    Any script that blows away Ruth Griffin is a must-see. Tho we don’t know each other we both came up with the theatre of the absurd and of the grotesque, and she has demonstrated expert direction with those art pieces, along with her amazing work with dance.

    This cast is awesome, glad to see Severance back in action, and no one is more deserving than the legend Joyce Aiken.

    So how badly do I want tickets?? Badly.

    Can I sit thru a whole show (I’ve got long haul covid)? I don’t know. But I might have to force myself.

    And I have worked with dancers forever tho I have no real dance skills.

    reply
  • Bruce Morris

    Thank you for your High Quality contribution to th cultural arts world in the Central Valley. I was introduced to The Munroe Review by my brother Cultural Arts patron, retired teachrer, KFSR Morining Drive personality, saxaphonist & all-around Good Guy, Randy Morris.
    Sadly Randy passed away late Tuesday night after surviving, yet not waking from emergency brain surgery more than 1-week previously.
    The back story & most recent details are recorded on Fb pages
    (Randy, Anita Morris & KFSR)
    If your policy includes memorial pieces, please consider one for Randy.

    Thank you,
    Bruce Morris
    Fb messenger
    Södermannagatan 38, 4tr
    11640
    Stockholm, Sweden

    reply
  • Cleo Bauer

    Sounds like a pretty amazing play and commentary on teenage angst and desire to achieve.. with adults in the roles!

    reply
  • Dylan Gonzales

    Great article! I really like the headline!

    reply

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