>>PREVIEW
RULAN TANGEN: TREE OF LIFE, TIME OF DROUGHT
Friday, June 16
Margaret Greenham Theatre (The Banff Centre)
Rulan Tangen is a renowned Native contemporary dancer who has performed in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe. While indigenous themes and narratives inspired her latest project, Tree of Life, Time of Drought, she says the "Tree of Life is an almost universal image in all cultures.
"It is a symbol of Mayan culture, in Iroquoian, as well as other indigenous cultures around the world. In the southwest desert where I live, we are experiencing a drought which makes us very aware of the fragility of life and dependency on conservation of water."
Tangen adds that drought can be seen as a metaphor for what is happening to the world at this time. "(There is) a disconnection from the source, from traditions, from functional spirituality, from the sense of interconnected life forms," she says.
Enter her latest project, Tree of Life, Time of Drought. "The dance begins with a tree image and an umbilical cord-like connection between two beings. But as drought represents the separation from the source, the two beings onstage are fighting against each other, selfishly, for their own goals – not acknowledging what naturally connects them, but trying to disconnect, or grasp onto each other. The metaphor is a driving need for water, but it can be read as different things."
The dancers include Tangen and Alejandro Meraz, who was raised in the Tarasco First Nation of Arizona. Tangen herself is of Blackfoot-Metis descent.
"Once they are separated, the dancers undergo their own searches and find themselves seeking to find sustenance within themselves. The inner water source is that of tears, blood, body fluids," Tangen says. "Eventually they find the courage to be compassionate, to share what little they have with each other, which draws them and the world around them back into balance."
The show’s powerful music includes the Mayan inspired rhythms of Alfredo Roel, as well as compositions by musicians as varied as Tulku, Primeaux and Mike, Soni Moreno and Edgardo Moreno.
"I chose the music intuitively to create a mood for the dance," says Tangen. "Soni Moreno is a beloved colleague and friend who I worked with for the Aboriginal dance opera Bones, produced at The Banff Centre. Edgardo Moreno had composed that composition for me in the creation process for the International Aboriginal Choreographers workshop in Toronto, set up by Earth in Motion."
Last winter, as Tangen was working on the film Apocalypto, directed by Mel Gibson, she was given a CD with Mayan rhythms that inspired her work in Tree of Life.
"My travels internationally have made me ever more aware of the richness of culture that is still alive in global cultures worldwide," says Tangen. "It makes me aware to speak and carry myself with protocol, respecting that what we have heard or read about other cultures and situations are very different than what those cultures are actually experiencing. My travels also make me aware of dancers from global indigenous nations that I would love to work with.
"It is of incomparable importance for students of art and of life to travel and experience other cultures," Tangen adds, noting she hopes to create projects of cross-cultural dance creation with indigenous communities around the world.
As Tangen focuses her practice within the field of indigenous contemporary dance, she is currently developing theatre, film and cultural exchange projects that look at dance’s role within social and environmental causes.
"My future projects that I am working towards include collaborations with filmmakers to create dance films in outdoor settings to highlight issues of ecology, as well as creating simple movement, breathing and relaxation exercise DVDs for cancer patients. This is in keeping with my ambitions to bring dance into the realm of functional ritual for the purpose of social, personal and environmental healing." |
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