Arts Alive San Antonio

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor

Back in 1957, when a group of nine black high schoolers tried to integrate the Little Rock, AR, Central High School, they were met with animosity, including pressure from the state governor to deny them access. The situation became so tense that President Eisenhower decided to place Arkansas National Guard under federal command.

This historic event inspired choreographer Leah Glenn to develop a dance theater piece, titled simply “Nine” which was co-commissioned by the Carver Community Cultural Center in partnership with Xavier University and the National Performance Network’s Creation and Development Fund. The show will premiere this Saturday at the Carver.

“’Nine” started as a four-minute solo in 2016-17,” said Glenn during an interview at the Little Carver on Monday.

“I had decided to do a series of works inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, and I began by doing some research on the Little Rock Nine,” explained the choreographer. “I was intrigued by the story of the youngest of the nine students, Carlota Walls, who was 14 at the time. I was thinking about who I was at 14 and the emotional terrain associated with their experience, and just thinking what it would have been like for me. I wanted to look at details of their experience that were not necessarily documented in history books, things like going to the lady’s room or sitting in the lunch room, or walking to school. Anyway, that short solo premiered at the Dance Place in Washington, D.C. and was very well received.”

Even before that performance, Glenn had contacted visual artist Steve Prince to ask if she could use his print called “9 Little Indians” as a backdrop. It had also been inspired by the Little Rock Nine. (It’s a 2’x5’ linoleum print). They eventually agreed to develop a larger project on the same theme, which is now a 28-minute, multi-media production.

“One of things that was clear to me was that, while we have made a lot of progress, we still have a lot to do,” said Glenn. “So that is a major theme of this work. I pulled my images from the historic images I looked at, and I recreate them through movement. By the end of the piece, we bring it to the present, showing that we are still dealing with some of those issues. So, you’ll see images from 2021 and 2022.”

Only two of her dancers were in San Antonio Monday, Amanda Prince, who happens to be Steve’s Prince niece, and Antonella Nicholas who will appear in the show as one of the white students. The rest of Glenn’s company – called the Leah Glenn Dance Theatre – will arrive in San Antonio later in the week. Altogether, the show will feature 15 dancers. “Nine” will be the last piece at the Saturday show, preceded by seven shorter dances, including Glenn’s “signature piece,” “Hush,” inspired by her son who is autistic. She also mentioned another number, “Letter to the editor” based on a such a letter that her father wrote years ago when the family lived in Connecticut.

“We were one of only five black families living in Manchester, CO, and he and the other four heads of households were trying to integrate the school system and the fire department in town. They came across some resistance and an editorial was published in the paper. My father’s letter was in response to that,” explained Glenn. Yet another dance, “A Loft” deals with women’s issues and how women deal with challenges and struggles, “often in silence.”

The music they will be dancing to is a mixture of well-known songs, such as songs by Sweet Honey in the Rock, and original compositions by Stephen Hayes, all interspersed with poetry by Hermine Pinson. The visual aspects are all handled by Prince, from stunning backdrops to costumes on which he painted symbols and text by hand.

“There’s a process that I use that’s called the “dense pack” by which I force together a lot of imagery and elements that are in essence like graffiti, with layering of text and information,” he said. The viewer has to sift through it in order to extract meaning. Those are showing on the clothes of the Little Rock Nine. And there’s also a little shield with the letters AOG on it.” He further explained that those letters refer to Paul’s letter in the book of Ephesians, in which he encourages the faithful to put on the full Armor of God (AOG).

The four artists spent a couple of weeks as artists in residence at the Carver, and during that time performed at Ruby City, and at the Eye of the Beholder Gallery, in addition to an impromptu performance during the Book Festival on Saturday. They also made a presentation at Warren High School and taught master classes.

As our conversation wound down, the two dancers left the table and started warming up for yet another rehearsal while the space filled with the beautiful sounds of the song “Guide My Feet as I Run this Race,” in an original arrangement by Stephen Hayes.
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May 28 at 8 p.m.; Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N. Hackberry; $30; call 210-207-2234 or through Ticketmaster.