Chicago-based dance company The Seldoms to present ‘Power Goes’ at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Using the backdrop of Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency, The Seldoms open up a discussion about the concept of power in their new program “Power Goes,” at Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse on February 23 at 7:30 p.m.

This performance is presented by Purdue Convocations with support from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts and Cline Chiropractic.

Ticket Holders are invited to the Purdue Memorial Union Lafayette Room at 6:30 p.m. for a discussion about the history of The Seldoms dance company and the “Power Goes,” project with Columbia College Professor Bonnie Brooks. Attendees are also invited to discuss the performance with Brooks and The Seldoms dance company immediately following the performance.

“Power is where power goes.” These five words were an ethos for Lyndon B. Johnson — one of America’s most contentious presidents but also a champion of progressive change for the public good. Those five words are also a springboard for “Power Goes,” a dynamic project from Chicago-based dance company The Seldoms that explores power within LBJ’s presidency and among those he governed. Dance theatre and LBJ seem like strange bedfellows until considering how LBJ maneuvered his towering physique to gain or wield power — cajoling and controlling through firm clasps and comforting touches. Combining precision, humor, and athleticism, “Power Goes,” showcases physical expressions of power by activists, soldiers, politicians, and the proletariat, augmented by spoken word, soundscapes, and visual installations.

“Power Goes,” is not only a performance but also a platform for thought and discussion. Each engagement includes a “Bodies on the Gears,” workshop that invites students and community participants to explore questions raised by the piece, including issues of power, politics, negotiation, conflict, cooperation, justice, civil rights, and social change. The workshop uses dance and movement as avenues into both the history and continued relevance of how bodies assemble, move, resist, protest, change, and struggle. The workshop culminates in the onstage inclusion of workshop participants and the material they have created in a section of “Power Goes.” Participants can visit https://www.purdue.edu/convocations/powergoes/ to sign up for the workshop.

Founded in 2001, The Seldoms create “intelligent, visually rich dance theatre driven by inquiry,” that is a natural fit for inspiration from America’s transformative Civil Rights Movement, the nation’s escalating involvement in Vietnam, LBJ’s Great Society legislation, and LBJ’s legacy in today’s sociopolitical arena. In naming choreographer Carrie Hanson its 2015 “Chicagoan of the Year in Dance,” the Chicago Tribune praised her “hard-hitting looks at charged issues from as many perspectives as possible … (creating) some of the liveliest, most entertaining dance theater around.” “Power Goes,” is no exception, combining the Great Society and great moves to examine timeless issues — power’s tremendous benefits and tragic costs, how power relations play out in backrooms and backyards, and how politics itself constitutes a performance of ideology, physicality, and choreography.

Tickets are $30 for adults and $22 for people 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Stewart Center box office at 765-494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW. Group tickets are also available to groups of 10 or more. Call 765-496-1977 or visit https://purdue.edu/convocations/group-sales/ for more details. 

Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations was one of the first professional performing arts presenters in the United States. Each year, Convocations offers the region 30-40 performances of widely varying genres: Broadway-style shows, theater, dance, children's theater, world music, jazz, and chamber music, along with rock, pop, country and comedy attractions. With a vision for connecting artists and audiences in artistic dialogue and for drawing in academic discourse, Purdue Convocations aims to promote frequent exposure to and familiarity with human cultural expression in a multitude of forms and media. 

Source: Abby Eddy, Purdue Convocations director of marketing, 765-494-9712, aeeddy@purdue.edu 

Note to Journalists: Publication-quality photos are available at http://www.convocations.org/press