Discover Dance with Aria Evans
We continue to create rituals of gathering, meeting in the virtual space with our featured artists to consider their work, inspirations and journey through dance and life.
Rachana Joshi on Aria Evans
While listening to Aria Evans speak about her choreographic work In The Abyss during December’s Discover Dance session, I was captivated by her statement: “We are all made of stardust”, the idea that commonalities between humans extend past physical experiences and tangible words to a deeper, molecular level.
“She built a tension and vulnerability amongst the dancers that extended very clearly to every audience member”
I have felt this internally for a long time, but seeing it embodied, and unfolding in a choreographic work between dancing bodies reached me in a very visceral way. Watching the dancers’ relationships and emotions evolve throughout the work revealed palpable emotions, encompassing both the pleasant and unpleasant experiences of being human.
I was particularly drawn to Evans’ ability to take the audience on a journey along with the dancers “in the abyss”.
She built a tension and vulnerability amongst the dancers that extended very clearly to every audience member, even myself over a screen. Then, in a second, the tension was released with a simple moment of humour between dancers and there was audible laughter and released breath from the audience.
Hearing her speak about this moment in the work and her emphasis on the importance of release and balance was a reminder for myself of the idea that pain and pleasure can only exist in equal measure; that both emotions are polarities, and experiencing the positive and negative in their full force is what makes us human.
As we continued to speak with Evans, her grounded, welcoming energy encouraged us to peer into our own personal abysses and truly embrace the multidimensional, multifaceted nature of what it is to be moulded from stardust.
Discover dance with Aria Evans
December 2020