By Ashley Mackin | SDUN Editor
The Eveoke Dance Theatre in North Park has one mission: cultivating compassionate social action through dance.
Erika Malone, a dancer in the company and artistic director for Eveoke, said they are able to adhere to that mission by implementing three facets of their program, which are arts education, evocative performance and community building.
“Eveoke has a legacy doing social activist work, so [we take] issues in the community and create dance theater pieces out of them,” Malone said.
Malone added, “People in our company and people on our leadership staff team get really inspired by what I would call the listening they do in the community. Who’s story needs to be told? Is there a way to tell that story and relate it to something a little more global?”
Two years ago, the directors at Eveoke decided to take Julia Alvarez’s historical novel “En el tiempo de las mariposas” or “In the time of the butterflies,” a true story of three sisters who were assassinated in the Dominican Republic, and create a performance piece based on the story. In adherence to their mission, they reached out to graduate students at San Diego State University to further educate themselves on the history behind the book.
“The graduate students actually read the book that Erika adapted into Las Mariposas, and came to educate our dancers about the history of the Dominican Republic; their music, cultural history [and] political history,” said Evoke Community Arts Activist in Residence, Catherine Kineavy.
After several performances of the Las Mariposas piece, the U.S. Embassy sponsored a trip for the company to the Dominican Republic in November 2011.
“It was outrageously incredible to go to the Dominican Republic as a group of people who have been working on a show for two years and really fell in love with it. We met the author of the book, partnered in so many different ways with the community on this topic,” Malone said. “Everything we hoped would come to light in the Dominican Republic really did.”
Having returned from the Dominican Republic in December, Eveoke is now preparing for their next performance piece, “Reflections.”
Hosted by Art Produce, this collection of group and solo pieces is based on the stories of six women throughout history. Kineavy said these women are little-known, but have done great things in their lives.
“The intention of the show is to have everybody see a reflection of themselves in the women’s stories. The women’s lives scope from the 1800s to present day and across countries….It spans the globe and spans hundred of years as far as stories told,” she said.
One of the women highlighted in the show is Rachel Corrie, who was killed in 2003 in Palestine trying to prevent the demolition of a home. Another is Michi Nishiura Weglyn, who went from incarceration at a Japanese internment camp to a costume designer.
Malone explained the solo pieces take place throughout the Art Produce gallery. “There’s one that takes place in the loft, some take place in this hole in the wall and then [another] on this DNA spiral staircase that was built,” she said.
“Reflections” starts Jan. 27 and runs through Feb. 12 at Art Produce, located at 3139 University Ave. in North Park. Eveoke is located at 2811 University Ave.
“Eveoke represents a very unique niche in San Diego, Malone said. “There are people who just fall in love with Eveoke’s work and really are able to see the whole picture of Eveoke beyond the production and there are some people in the community that [are] still trying to figure out what to make of us.”
For more information about upcoming shows, visit eveoke.org
