LIFE ISSUES –Workshops and Performances
“These beautiful, graceful women - encompassed through their dance the full range of response to a sudden family tragedy. We were swept along with them through the inevitable surprise and shock, the
frustration and anxiety, the periods of light-heartedness and overwhelming sorrow.”
IMPACT Dance is known for compelling “life issue” oriented dance theatre performances and workshops. With Bejarano and her company members acting as performers and facilitators, participants are able to experience the arts as a meaningful bridge between societal and personal challenges. IMPACT Dance can tailor projects to meet the needs of many populations. The following topics are some of the most recent successful projects:
Grief and Loss: Workshops and performances that explore grief, loss and saying good-bye. The most recent example is the evening length work Threshold: Dances and Stories of Love and Love. Bejarano collaborated with Veronica Patterson, award-winning poet and author, to distill work from the Writing Through Loss classes offered by Hospice of Larimer County. These stories are woven with movement and music to create a show that explores the complex process of grief, the joy of living and the universality of memories shared. Workshops that use movement and writing exercises to explore these issues are also available.
Body Image and Self-Esteem: Bejarano has created several works that center on issues of the illusory and popular image of physical beauty as it exists in our society--the pageant, the princess in the fairy tale, the beauty product. This work has been presented in an evening-length dance theatre, short repertory dances and in workshops and can be targeted to teenage girls in particular, or women in general who are dealing with body image issues. The purpose of this work is to allow viewers and participants to focus on beauty in a more spiritual sense…stressing that the shape of one’s body and the idiosyncratic nature of one’s gestures is gift and an inheritance from those who have lived before.
Discrimination and Violence: IMPACT Dance has explored difficult issues both physical and verbal violence in workshops and in performances in the attempt to allow help facilitate the healing of the participants. Examples include “BORDER/Lines” a multimedia performance exploring our personal and political landscape and “Words As Weapons” a workshop and performance centering on when words have been used to hurt and “The Healing of a Rape” a collaborative dance theatre event for which Bejarano was invited to choreograph. The process involved working with the rape victim and the director to develop the text and overall direction of the show. Rape victim’s advocates were on hand for the performances and intense feedback/response sessions were held following each show.