Where is our Elysium?
Late May is the time of year in the Pacific Northwest when the golden light from a slowly setting sun seems to linger for hours.
That twilight filtered through the towering evergreens and rhododendrons on the opening evening of dani tirrell’s Elysium: Leviticus or Love and to walk amongst HUMANS! Book II. The sun, the trees and more than a dozen dancers we couldn’t always see combined to bring a special evening to an audience who roamed through the 20 acres that make up Kubota Gardens in south Seattle.
The day had started off chilly, windy and rainy, but as often happens, the sun broke through the gloom a few hours before the event had its premiere. I’m not sure how many audience members braved Seattle rush hour traffic to get there; it felt like hundreds of us wandered the dusty pathways to watch dancers clad in golden-yellow costumes and pink sneakers move slowly through the trees and shrubs, like a silent walking meditation. Other times they gathered in grassy, meadow-like spaces, or in a shady grove of trees where they stomped the ground in response to Keyes Wiley’s soundtrack, which seemed to follow the dancers on their path through the garden.
Book II’s premiere was announced about a year ago, when tirrell’s Book 1 debuted at Seattle’s Moore Theatre.
That was a joyous performance, a celebration of Black culture and community, commissioned by Seattle Theatre Group. Book II, on the other hand, was commissioned by a cohort of contemporary arts organizations: On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, and the Central District Forum for Art and Ideas primary among them. tirrell told the audience, after our foray through Kubota Garden had ended, that Kamala Harris’ defeat last November was the inspiration to tap a trio of female-identified dancers to take the lead in creating Book II. tirrell said aloud what so many of us were thinking: “How could a convicted felon motivated by revenge and the urge to punish have defeated a better, far more qualified candidate?”
All of us standing in the late twilight, especially the many women of color in attendance, knew that most of the answer to that was Harris’ own identity as a woman of color. tirrell told us that Elysium was intended as a response to the anger, sadness and exhaustion that tirrell and many others felt after Harris’ defeat. But its creators also intended Elysium to be a nod to one of the dictionary definitions of the word Elysium: an eternal paradise. tirrell told the audience it was time for Black artists to stop performing on demand and to take the time and space to care for themselves.
The golden twilit Kubota Garden felt like a (crowded) paradise. The free event issued a limited number of tickets, but on opening night it felt like anybody who wanted to come and roam the park, watch the dancers or simply meet up with friends was on hand. There were two more performances and some related Seattle-area events over the weekend, but in a social media post I saw the morning after the premiere, I happened upon a video that tirrell posted, announcing an imminent departure from Seattle. When I spoke to them last year, there was the possibility of Book III; now I’m not sure what will happen. tirrell has a devoted following in this area, as a teacher, performer and convener of fellow movement artists, almost all of whom participated in Leviticus Book II.
Many of tirrell’s cocreators and cast members were once students or collaborators in the loose company tirrell calls The Congregation. One of the co-choreographers, Nia-Amina Minor, told The Seattle Times in a preview article that she couldn’t predict what audiences would experience at Kubota Garden, but Minor said she expected each attendee to come away from the bucolic setting contemplating everything from the meaning of Elysium, to self-care, to the resilience of Mother Nature.