This month, Blue Lapis Light is presenting A Prayer for Peace, their latest site-specific dance work. In the signature style of artistic director Sally Jacques, it will feature dancers performing on the outside of a building, above the heads of the audience.
“It is absolutely incredible,” says aerialist Alyssa Johnson of the feeling of performing up in the air as part of a Blue Lapis Light work. “And I've been on buildings in different companies and there's nothing like what I experienced working for Sally. Because when you go up there on the building, you aren't just performing, you aren't just going from trick to trick. You have her in your ear telling you what you're supposed to be tapping into and she invites you to be in this energetic communication with people all over the world. And all of a sudden what you're doing has purpose far beyond spectacle and performance. And any fear that you have – fear of heights or fear of gear or just the adrenaline of being up there – it falls away because you are tapping into this narrative and you understand the importance of what you're doing. And so while there is this incredible freeing sensation of being literally in flight, there is also this really humble moment where I'm up there, not just to fly but to communicate something and that's amazing.”
“I view this work as a poem in movement actually,” Jacques says of A Prayer for Peace. “There's different sections that highlight different journeys of our humanity and also are very, very beautiful. We hang in mid air. So all of it has this quality of risk and beauty. And I think that risk and beauty are always holding hands.”
Most of Jacques’ work is based on her hopes for a better future and a A Prayer for Peace, as the title implies, is no exception. That sense of hope is something she works to keep alive even as we move through troubling times.
“I think that's a struggle for a lot of people right now,” she says. “I think the sense of despair, the sense of fear of the unknown because everything feels very, very… in the shadow of chaos is what I call it. And so there's a sort of feeling, energetically, of that. And I definitely go through that, but I don't want to be sunk into feeling that consistently. I think all artists are moved to the challenges of their time, all of them – whether it's painters or poets [or] dancers – their work will, if they don't subtly allude to it, they will dramatically allude to it.”
Though she’s communicating a message through her works, Jacques says she doesn’t have expectations for what audiences will take away from a performance. “I never anticipate what I want them to experience,” she says. “I think they experience… what they want to experience. And I hope at some point they get a sense of wonder and a sense of feeling of peace and a sense of the beauty of a moment. Our lives are full of just moments. We think we have control and we can control. But something comes into your life unexpectedly that you don't know will happen, and then you're in a whole other whirlwind of reality. And so I think that if anything, I would aspire that they can have this moment of being with something beautiful and something that is risk and something that will inspire them to find more of those moments in their lives.”
“I remember in rehearsal once [Sally] brought up, why do humans continue to choose war as the answer and as the method to go about whatever it is anyone is trying to achieve?” Johnson say. “And I think that when you show up to work and you bring your artistry in this way, I think it's a reminder to people that there are other ways to exist. There are other ways to look at the world. There are other ways to meet moments that is not just drenched in horrific violence, whether it's physical or emotional or the violence that is existing in your mind. And so I hope that audiences come to these shows and find pause and meet you in that meditative moment that reminds us that there is something else to be done here. I hope that they feel that invitation to meet this moment with a radical sense of peace and committing to peace.”
'A Prayer for Peace' runs from September 18 - 29 at 5508 Parkcrest Drive.
