It's a wrap!
For both the performers and the audience members, 'creAtypical' was a mind-opening experience, from start to finish.
After months of brainstorming, creating, tinkering and rehearsing, ‘creAtypical’ had its premiere this past weekend in Sarasota Contemporary Dance’s black box theater. For the performers and audience members alike, it was an exhilarating and mid-stretching experience that illustrated both the challenges and artistic possibilities that come from living with a neurodivergent brain.
A blend of poetry/spoken word (by Shiloh Hartanowicz); original music (composed and played by The Jazzberries — Chris Cournoyer on bass and Keaton Williams on keyboards); dance (choreographed and performed by SCD director Leymis Bolanos-Wilmott and FACEing Mental Illness founder Carrie Seidman); and visual art (created live during the performance by Paul Mathisen), this short program was overflowing with creativity, artistry and insight.
Here are just a few of the comments from audience members:
“We, the audience, had the time to hear the poet speak; hear the music (so in step with the words)…while two dancers in black were carriers of the poet’s message and an artist painting across the back wall on a long sheet of paper expressed his response to the powerful poem…all working together in harmony…it was just damn amazing.” — Judy Bronstein
“We were so taken with the entire performance. The poet, the painter, the dancers and, most definitely, the musicians…who were able to create music that I would happily listen to by itself…yet never seemed to overshadow the production. Great job all!” — Carol Resigno
“Wonderful work!” — Tanya Vergara Perez, director EnDedans ballet company
As interesting as the program itself were the talk backs afterward between artists and audience members, which opened up a wide-ranging conversation about neurodivergences, mental health challenges and the therapeutic benefits of the artistic and creative process — as well as the unusual challenges of putting together this particular collaboration.
If you’d like to see a video of the show, click HERE.
To see/read the virtual program for the show — including the full text of Shiloh Hartanowicz’s poem, which was the creative catalyst for all the other performers — click HERE.
This project would not have been possible without a very generous and unsolicited grant from the Johnson Singer Education Foundation, which allowed the artists to be compensated for their time and talent and all performances to be offered free of charge. The performers were delighted to welcome three representatives from the Foundation at one of the performances and to hear them praise the result of their investment.
It also would not have happened without the collaboration with Sarasota Contemporary Dance — and its founder, director and human being extraordinaire, Leymis Bolanos Wilmott. Not only did she make the studio available for rehearsals and performances, she supplied us with a crew that handled ticket reservations, lighting, operations and financials for every aspect of the production. Her warmth, sensitivity and connection helped all the performers — including those who had never performed before a live audience or hadn’t in many years — feel comfortable, supported and inspired.
Following the weekend’s shows, multiple people inquired about the possibilities for ‘creAtypical’ to be shown elsewhere — high schools? senior centers? — to spark further conversations about mental health, the creative process and the neurodivergent brain. If anyone is interested in bringing ‘creAtypical’ to their school or organization, please reach out to us here. We will also be exploring other options to spread the word that having a neurodivergent mind is not — as some people in the federal government might suggest — an unsurmountable handicap, but rather a window into a world of imaginative possibilities.
