Continuing to Tell, a performance event (2019)
Durham Civil Rights History Mural
Durham, NC
Photos by Zoe Litaker
Continuing to Tell, a performance event was an original, collaborative work created by cellist Shana Tucker, choreographer Kristin Taylor / KT Collective and visual artist Cynelsa Broderick. Rounding out the all-female creative team on lights and sound was the radiant Tess Mangum Ocaña of Sonic Pie Productions. This marked the first outdoor production that Proxemic Media conceived and produced along with the stellar team of creative women. Inspired by the Durham Civil Rights History Mural, the vision of this production came to Weise on a walk through the heart of downtown Durham where the mural is located. The small-sized parking lot that stands before the mural lends itself perfectly to live performance, especially with partners like Downtown Durham, Inc. and the Durham Arts Council who helped navigate the closure of the lot for the artists and audience safe experience. The intersection of rich visual content adjacent to a space with the capacity to house live performance was so powerful that once Weise envisioned dance in the space, there was no way to unsee it. Almost like a gravitational pull, it seemed as if the production needed to manifest.
The mural was originally painted by a team of a dozen Durham artists 2013-2015, facilitated by Brenda Miller Holmes and informed by the stories, experiences and personal histories of hundreds of Durham community members. In bright hues than span the facade of what is the back of the Carolina Theatre, painted vignettes of Durham Civil Rights leaders, historical moments allow viewers to feel the magnitude of these powerful visions of persistence. The performance event brought these stories to life through visual art, music and dance. Prior to the show beginning, attendees were invited to assist in the creation of a ground mural by Cynelsa that extended from the original mural. The culminating experience turned out to be akin to a spiritual experience where jazz and modern dance were woven gracefully through Tucker’s sultry vocals (and for one song a hymnal sung together by KT Collective dance, Darian Moore, and Tucker), punctuated by musical nuances that only a cello and chellist can achieve. It was an evening to remember, most certainly.
