THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 26, 1995 TAG: 9508250082
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUE SMALLWOOD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
A FORWARD-MINDED modern dancer, a classically schooled ballet dancer and a young actor and playwright. All eager to experiment beyond the bounds of their respective forms. And all frustrated by the area's rather conservative attitude toward the performing arts.
What to do? Launch an adventuresome new movement troupe called Synthesis Motion Theatre.
Ballet danseur Michael Barriskill, modern dancer Terry Crews and thespian Tom Rhodes are the principals of the fledgling company, which makes its official debut Sunday with ``Art for Refugees,'' a charity concert to benefit Cuban refugees newly arrived in Hampton Roads. The program, which also includes Steve's House Dance Collective of Richmond, Jerome Shannon of the Virginia Opera and vocalist Ruth Ann Miliken, takes place at Old Dominion University's Technology Theatre.
``We're really trying to synthesize many different art forms,'' artistic director Crews explained of the independent, experimental group during a rehearsal break at ODU's dance studios. ``We're hoping to bring in poets, musicians, visual artists. We're really trying to bring all the arts together, cross boundaries, synthesize into one piece that's something different - something that's about more than just showing off your technique, something that explores human conditions.
``We've been working with the Cubans, we've become friends with them, and their story, which brings up a lot of issues, was our starting point. We're going into some of the issues that the refugees have had to face that are universal: decisions of having to leave your family, good and evil, having to start fresh in a new place, being independent.''
As fellow instructors at the Governor's School for the Arts, Crews and Barriskill - a Virginia Beach native who joined the Houston Ballet at age 16, appeared in the musical ``Cats'' on Broadway and returned to the area 2 1/2 years ago - had worked together previously. Crews, also a dance professor at Christopher Newport University, had worked with Rhodes, who is a theater student at CNU and a national finalist in the esteemed Irene Ryan Scholarship competition.
But aside from the group's improvisational appearances at a few outdoor art festivals, ``Art for Refugees'' will mark the first formal performance of Synthesis Motion. The trio began work in July on a 30-minute piece for the benefit program. They've found the creative interplay between dance and drama both exhilarating and challenging.
Rhodes, whom Crews describes as ``a very physical actor,'' explained: ``These two (Crews and Barriskill) communicate - the way they speak, their perspective - from dancing, from movement. So I try to learn how they think to begin with, then I pick up the essence of initiating movement. We try to create the text, or the script, out of experimental work with move-ment.''
``I tend to feel things more non-literally, with the body, to find the essence, the quality of a situation,'' Crews added. ``Tom is coming from the other extreme, he comes from a more literal place. So we kind of come in from different directions and then try to find common ground and change things around.''
The group has incorporated Cuban music and folk dancing into their first program. Their piece will feature the dancing of Leonardo and Dania Navarro, a couple from Havana living in Norfolk who have been teaching the Synthesis Motion members some of the indigenous dances of Cuba.
``Especially with the traditional spiritual dancing, it's really been a neat opportunity to learn their culture,'' Barriskill said.
It has also pointed up the very different emphasis placed on dance in Cuban and American societies.
``I've learned so much about Cubans through the way they dance and the way they express themselves,'' Crews said. ``But I was thinking, `Well, what could we show them? What's our dance?' Americans, we're just very individual, very separated, we don't dance together anymore. In America, everybody likes to do it their own way.''
``In Cuba, dance is very important,'' said Navarro, who was a nurse and prize-winning dancer in Cuba before arriving in the United States two months ago. ``Every Cuban dance(s). We have a very old tradition, an African-Spanish tradition. We have, more or less, 20 or 30 dances.''
Dance in Cuba is learned at home at an early age, Navarro said. He first learned to dance by watching his father.
Money raised from ``Art for Refugees'' will go to Refugee and Immigration Services of Norfolk, a non-profit, non-government organization affiliated with the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. RIS works to re-settle refugees like the Navarros, finding them housing and employment and offering counseling and English language tutoring. Nearly 100 Cuban refugees are in Hampton Roads.
Synthesis Motion became involved with the Cubans' plight after Crews' husband, Julian Crews, a WVEC-TV news reporter who is of Cuban descent, worked on a story about refugees living in the area.
``They were just like family,'' the dancing Crews said of the Cubans. ``More started coming and we realized the problems RIS has - understaffed, underfunded, like all non-profit agencies. We wanted to perform and we wanted to help them, and it just seemed like a good time to get together.''
The new troupe plans to obtain non-profit status and embark on a schedule of regular performances throughout the region.
``I think this area is scared of sometimes really reaching out experimentally,'' Barriskill mused. ``Yeah, we have the Generic (Theater) and other venues, but not so much in dance. I think our company will really fill a void in this area.'' ILLUSTRATION: BETH BERGMAN/Staff
From left, Terry Crews Michael Burriskill, Leonardo Navarro and Tom
Rhodes rehearse for "Art for Refugees."
``Art For Refugees,''
WHAT: Benefit concert for Cuban refugees featuring Synthesis Motion,
Steve's House Dance Collective, Jerome Shannon, Ruth Ann Miliken.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: ODU Tech Theatre, 46th St. and Hampton Blvd., Norfolk.
HOW MUCH: $5 donation.
CALL: 489-2948 for reservations.
by CNB