Columbus audiences will finally get long-delayed “Spirituals II”
Four years have passed since the Xclaim Dance Company first found artistic inspiration in traditional spirituals.
In 2017, the central Ohio jazz troupe performed a program called, simply, “Spirituals.” In addition to dance, the show featured spirituals — religious songs that were developed and sung by Black people during slavery — sung live by Diane Ransom.
Xclaim Artistic Director Mariah Layne French intended to return to what had been fruitful territory, but before the follow-up program, “Spirituals II,” could reach stages last March, the coronavirus pandemic got in the way.
“Of course, COVID hit and we had to put the plans on hold,” French said. “We literally got shut down right before the show was scheduled.”
Now, a year later, the long-delayed “Spirituals II” will finally reach central Ohio audiences. The show will be performed May 7-9 at an outdoor stage that has been set up behind Xclaim’s building at 2141 Indianola Ave.
“We’ll be bringing all of our theatrical lighting out and laying a dance floor on the stage,” said French, whose company generally performs at the Columbus Dance Theatre’s Fisher Theatre.
Reserved seats will be available for $20, but audiences willing to sit away from ideal sight lines can take their own chairs to watch for a requested donation.
In bringing together a variety of dance styles, not just the jazz genre for which Xclaim is best-known, French hopes the program will reflect the range of movement to emerge from the African diaspora.
“We’ve been primarily a jazz-based company, and without those African diaspora roots, we’d be lost,” French said. “There’s no jazz without it. Artistically, for me, it’s expressing an appreciation for the richness of that diversity.”
To pull off the program, Xclaim decided to join forces with Tru Kingdom Mega Crew, a hip-hop dance troupe run by J. Shannon Filmore, also a dancer with, and the resident choreographer of, Xclaim.
The 12 dancers who will be seen in next weekend’s program represent a mix of those associated with Xclaim and those who perform with Tru Kingdom. The dancers have been rehearsing and training together over the past year.
“We talked about diversifying not just the look of the company but giving and enriching the company with a different style as well,” Filmore said. “That’s what (Tru Kingdom) really brings to the table.”
Although the companies have collaborated previously, they have not undertaken a season-long blending before. And the two sets of dancers are learning from one another.
“We have primarily ballet/contemporary dancers learning hip-hop movement, and then the latter: hip-hop dancers learning more contemporary or ballet type of movement,” Filmore said. “We’re usually in our own genres.”
As with the earlier performance, “Spirituals II” will feature traditional spirituals sung by Ransom in between dance pieces, including “Go Down Moses” and “This Little Light of Mine.” But, true to the eclectic nature of the program, other types of music will be heard, too.
“There’s some funk, there’s some soul, there’s some hip-hop,” French said.
The two-part program will open with “A Prophet and a Parable,” a jazz piece choreographed by French to recordings of the spirituals “Elijah Rock” and “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning.”
“It’s kind of in a (Bob) Fosse style,” French said. “I trained under one of Fosse’s dancers, so that would make me second-generation.”
Other works on the bill include “Exodus.” Choreographed by French and Xclaim dancer Corinne Wood, the dance uses modern dance and Afro-fusion movement to evoke the story of the Underground Railroad and abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
“People in the Pews” — choreographed by French, Wood and another Xclaim dancer, Megan Blum — takes a look at the role of organized religion in the development of the civil rights movement.
“It’s an unexpected juxtaposition of things: We’re playing funk music in the context of a worship service, which is not something you would hear,” French said. “It’s telling those stories in a unique, collage sort of way.”
Also featured in the program will be an all-female group of African immigrant or refugee amateur dancers from Praise Chapel International, a church on Sinclair Road, who have been training with French for about a year and a half.
“I’m trying to help them feel comfortable with their roots and even proud of their roots,” French said. “We’re doing some African-based movement together on a weekly basis.”
The Praise Chapel group, which will perform to music including a version of The Lord’s Prayer in Swahili, initially included just girls but soon grew to include adult women.
“We invited some of their moms, who would be sitting in the halls watching,” French said. “It’s been a lot of fun to help them through the movement. A lot of them had not ever moved expressively before this.”
“Spirituals II” will conclude with Filmore’s “Now is the Time,” a dance mixing excerpts from the “I Have a Dream” speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with gospel and jazz tunes. All 12 dancers will be featured in the piece.
“The piece is really a call to action,” Filmore said. “What are you doing? Are you doing what you can? Are we all doing what we can to fight for peace and freedom?”
At a glance
The Xclaim Dance Company will perform the outdoor show “Spirituals II” at 8 p.m. May 7–8 and 4 p.m. May 9 at the Xclaim Centre for the Arts, 2141 Indianola Ave. Tickets for reserved seating cost $20; donations are requested for “bring your own chair” seating. For details, as well as up-to-date seating information, visit xclaimarts.org.
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