Each individual's experience with a painting, film or novel is unique simply because we each delve into the world of art in different roles and for different reasons. Some are creators, some are spectators, some seek to dive headfirst into the world of their own making and some yearn to lose themselves in the conjured reality of their favorite artist or filmmaker. However, there are those that seek to uphold the notion that art is ultimately a reflection of the world around us-real life.
Thus, documentary art, including films, photographs and theatrical performances, has itself made a comeback within the art world. Durham has had a hand in this movement by becoming host to the Full Frame Documentary Festival and housing several prestigious documentary institutes. With Durham quickly becoming what Duke Performances called the "nexus of documentary art in America," the timing of their newest festival, Statements of Fact, is especially fitting.
While featuring documentary art in many shapes, form and sizes, Statements of Fact particularly highlights the world of choreography as a documentary medium and its take on reality. Within a 10-day span during the festival, Duke is fortunate to play host to performances of the works of two world-renowned choreographers, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Ronald K. Brown/Evidence Dance Company. Fortunately, neither artist is a stranger to Durham-both are veterans of the American Dance Festival, which takes place annually at Duke University.
The reality that is conveyed in "Chapel/Chapter" by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company is not a particularly lighthearted or frivolous one. Jones's production is centered on the telling of three stories: the mass murder of a family, a father's killing of his daughter and a tale of two boys' camping adventures. Through these stories, Jones explores the U.S. court and prison system, however grim it may be, since the first two tales sound as if they are taken from headlines detailing previous atrocities.
For "Chapel/Chapter," Jones drew inspiration from everything from court transactions to jailhouse interviews, culminating in a full-scale dance production scored by Daniel Bernard Roumain. The production was praised by The New York Times as Jones's "most affecting, most disturbing, most powerful and most compassionate work." In addition to the March 19 performance, "Chapel/Chapter" is presented with an exhibition featuring Bruce Jackson's photographs from Cummins Prison Farm.
On a slightly different end of the spectrum, Ronald K. Brown's "One Shot" draws inspiration from the life of Charles "Teenie" Harris-an accomplished African-American photographer nicknamed "One Shot" because he rarely made his photographic subjects sit for more than one photo.
Harris chronicled everyday African-American life in Pittsburgh and also shot celebrities that came through the area, including Louis Armstrong, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. As Brown and the Evidence Dance Company perform "One Shot," original photographs from Harris will illuminate the back of the stage.
"'One Shot' was just the metaphor I needed to create a new work about legacy," Brown said. "The work itself is about lifting up the history of a community and people so they have something amazing to share, especially in Durham where the history is immense."
The New York Times calls "One Shot" an "attempt to reveal the stories of the photographs through Mr. Brown's glowing mixture of ballet and African and contemporary dance." The story is presented in seven sections, set to music by Ahmad Jamal and the songs of Lena Horne.
As each section attempts to tell the stories of Harris' photographs, "One Shot" ultimately succeeds in reflecting on the real lives and stories of the African-American population in a language of movement and bodies.
"If we don't document tradition, we don't have a realization of what has come before us-we think everything is brand new," Brown said. "We need that one shot, we need the evidence of what has come before us to really fully understand where we are today."
After being presented as a 15-minute preview at the American Dance Festival in 2006, "One Shot" debuts in its entirety tomorrow. Teenie' Harris's: Rhapsody in Black and White is also on exhibition at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies.
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