artistic directors jamey hampton + ashley roland
By Frank Lee • fclee@stcloudtimes.com • September 20, 2009 • St. Cloud Times
ST. JOSEPH — BodyVox will make you see contemporary dance in a whole new way.
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“Our mission is to inspire and entertain our audiences,” said Jamey Hampton, co-artistic director for the boundary-bending dance company, which will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Benedicta Arts Center at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph.
Part of the 2009-2010 Fine Arts Series, the multimedia performance has been described as “whimsical” and “innovative,” characterized by “bold athleticism and fresh theatricality.”
“ ‘Inspire’ is different from ‘entertain.’ ‘Entertain’ means they come away from it going, ‘Wow. That was really great. I had a great time.’ ‘Inspire’ means ... you might seeing kids rolling around on the carpet in the lobby,” Hampton said.
Brian Jose, executive director of fine arts programming at St. Ben’s and St. John’s University in Collegeville, was responsible for bringing the Portland, Ore.-based company to Central Minnesota. Jose recently replaced Anna Thompson, who now works at the University of Notre Dame.
“I saw BodyVox in New York, and I said to myself, ‘That will be the first artist that I bring when I’m executive director of a fine arts facility,’” Jose said of learning of the company at an Association of Performing Arts Presenters event, a kind of trade show of performing artists.
“What they do that’s different is that they dance and they use short films during the dance. One of the particular pieces I saw recreated a wedding reception, and it just pulled people in ... even though we weren’t on the stage,” he said of the “fun” and “zany” dance company.
For Friday’s performance, the company will present Reverie, which creates “a world of beauty, strength and delight with a bit of humor.” Reverie is inspired by the impressionist era and builds from an overriding belief in the power of beauty.
“BodyVox is distinguished by a very athletic style that has a narrative to it, so every piece has some kind of storyline behind. Some are more obvious than others, but our work tends to not be just movement and very abstract,” Hampton said of the seven dancers who will be performing.
Hampton and co-artistic director Ashley Roland came up with the idea for the show around the time Sept. 11 happened. The horror of that day motivated the development of a show focused on beauty.
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“They were so completely creative, yet in touch with everyone in the audience; it wasn’t one of those things where you go and wonder, ‘What the heck are they trying to do?’ ” Jose said.
BodyVox will present a matinee performance for K-12 school groups as well as workshops with film studies and dance students from CSB/SJU while in residence at St. Ben’s.
The company will wrap up its time in Central Minnesota with a special performance at St. Scholastica Convent in St. Cloud, the assisted living facility for the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict.
“When we thought of bringing BodyVox out here, we thought, ‘What would be a way to say thank you in some small way? How could I thank the sisters who had the vision to make the BAC a reality?’ ” Jose said of the idea to have BodyVox perform at St. Scholastica on Sept. 26 for the nuns only.
The Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict built the performing arts program at St. Ben’s, and their patronage and support sustain the program to this day.
The monastery also has a long tradition of artists and artisans.
“One of the things that I was most struck by when I first came here a year and a half ago to see the college was that commitment that the sisters had made to the arts back in the ’60s and that really touched me,” Jose said.
“The thing that struck me about BodyVox was whether you are seasoned with your experience with dance or whether it’s your first time, they’re the kind of group that everyone can get on board with.”