Just Ahead is Darkness is an evening of episodic performance inspired by how time transforms the relationships between fact, story, and truth. This is part of our Soundwave Festival 9, "Time."
$15 Early Bird; $20 General Admission
Doors 7:15pm, Show 8pm.
Inspired by the tradition of bon dances in Hawaii, the evening will feature dance company Sharp & Fine, composer Cory Wright, and author Ben Loory in an interactive theatrical experience: "Just Ahead is Darkness" uses dance, live music, spoken text, and audience participation to explore how family histories become ingrained in our imaginations and bodies through storytelling and over time. This performance features excerpts of material being developed for Sharp & Fine's new evening-length piece that will premiere February 7-9, 2020.
About Soundwave:
Soundwave is a Bay Area festival featuring the most captivating sound art and performance experiences. This year the festival's theme is "time" and will feature art parties, performance, dance, video, and music for our boldest, most interdisciplinary festival to date. Artists explore subjects like intergenerational history, the cultivation of safe spaces for healing and joy within black, brown, and queer communities, art grown out of migration and displacement, and our current political reality.
Artist Statement:
"Bon dances are part of a traditional Japanese celebration of the spirit of family ancestors and a ubiquitous aspect of summer culture in Hawaii. As Japanese American sisters whose family has lived in Hawaii for generations, we attended bon dances almost every summer while growing up.
In 2016, we attended a bon dance for the first time in about a decade at an assisted living facility in Maui for seniors with memory loss. Watching seniors do gestures from the dances with their hands, despite having lost so much of themselves and their history, ignited an interest in exploring how stories get passed on through families and how history persists in the body.
We are purposefully excavating this cultural and familial material with collaborators from different backgrounds to see what themes and details cross cultures and personal histories."
-Megan and Shannon Kurashige
Guest curators: Megan and Shannon Kurashige (co-artistic directors, Sharp & Fine)
Sharp & Fine performers: Christian Burns, Sonja Dale, Megan Kurashige, Shannon Kurashige, Sarah Woods-LaDue
Composer: Cory Wright
Musicians: Steve Adams, Tim De Cillis, Cory Wright
Author: Ben Loory
Photos of Sharp & Fine by Benjamin Hersh
Cost: $20