Supper, People on the Move: Mirroring the immigration experience

Dance is movement and so is migration. Choreographer Silvana Cardell has created a work that expresses her own story of migrating from Buenos Aires to Philadelphia in 2002 as well as the experiences of other immigrants who have come here. On her website, she says, “I started focusing on my personal experience, leaving behind loved ones and places, but inevitably I wanted knowing more about other migration experiences, especially on the American–Mexican border, because it is the closest experience geographically, and because it has a lot of media attention.” Some of the dancers have experienced migration as well: One came over in one of the Marielitos boats from Cuba, while another was brought in by coyotes from Mexico when just a baby.

Cardell’s creation isn’t just an artistic event for an audience to watch — she wants them to become participants as well. “The entrance area will reflect the immigration experience,” she says. “Not only we will ask for a ticket, we will ask for state ID — perhaps a number of times. We will take pictures and grant ‘waivers.’”

Barren and inhospitable

The performance space mirrors the immigration experience, too. The Icebox Project Space was selected for its “barren, inhospitable qualities: a white cube that is a non-destination, in between places,” Cardell says. It represents the waiting rooms and official buildings through which the immigrant must pass.

The experience doesn’t conclude with the end of the dancing: It includes a chance to sit down together for a communal supper to talk about the state of immigration today. Of course, being part of an immigrant experience that involves waiting, answering questions, and carrying around lots of documents, this supper will not just involve sitting down with your friends and talking; it will involve waiting to be called to participate.

On Saturday evening, the performance will take place in two venues simultaneously: There will be a live performance at the Crane Arts Center and a free broadcast of a performance at Independence National Historical Park. (For logistical reasons, it will not be simulcast but a performance recorded earlier that day.) At the end, instead of sitting down to a communal supper, the audience will be invited to participate in small group discussions led by members of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.

Supper, People on the Move. Choreographer-director, Silvana Cardell; Soundscapes, Nick Zammuto; special guest artist, Merián Soto. Cardell Dance Theater. June 25–28, 2015 at the Icebox Project Space at Crane Arts, 1400 N. American St., Philadelphia. http://supperdance.com/ Tickets: supper.ticketleap.com/dance.

Free Independence Mall outdoor broadcast: June 26 at 8pm (rain date: June 27 at 8pm).

Portraits of People on the Move: an exhibition of stories of Philadelphia-area immigrants. Curator artist, Jennifer Baker. At Crane Arts Building’s Grey Area, adjacent to the performance space.

Additional stories are posted on the project’s blog.

The supper is being developed in partnership with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Independence National Historical Park, and the Crane Arts Building’s Icebox.