CORE Performance Company presents four public performances of their new dance/theater work, Gaman/我慢、がまん in Arkansas this November. This richly layered evening-length performance of contemporary dance, art and music honors and remembers the U.S. citizens of Japanese descent who were interned on American soil during World War II. Of the 10 camps operated by the War Relocation Authority in the western United States, two camps were located in rural Arkansas. The Arkansas camps, Rohwer and Jerome, were the forced home of more than 8,475 citizens. The word, “gaman” is a Japanese word of Zen Buddhist origin which means “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity”.
The creation of Gaman was funded in part through a grant from the National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program as part of an expansive, multi-city art and history initiative to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the closing of the Japanese internment camps.
Gaman explores how challenges can be overcome by courage; and expresses the conflicting emotions of sorrow and joy, confinement and liberation experienced by the interned Japanese-American citizens. The professional artists of CORE Performance Company, under the artistic direction of Sue Schroeder, have collaborated with renowned visual artists, composers and writers to create a universal experience from the historical events.
Performance Information
- Friday, Nov. 6, 4:00 p.m., Lecture/demonstration, Mills Center, Hendrix College, 1600 Washington Ave., Conway, AR 72032. Free, no tickets required.
- Monday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m., Public performance, Reynolds Performance Hall, University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway, AR 72035. Box Office: (501) 450-3265. Free tickets can be reserved at edu/reynolds,
- Wednesday, Nov. 11, 7:00 p.m., Public performance, Great Hall, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 600 Museum Way, Bentonville, AR, 72712. (479) 418-5700. Tickets are $10 for non-members; the performance is free for members. To purchase tickets, visit http://www.crystalbridges.org/events. Sponsored by Demara Tizer and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation.
- Thursday, Nov. 12, 4:30 p.m. Lecture/demonstration, Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center, 4800 W. 10th Street, Little Rock, AR 72204. Free, no tickets required.
- Friday, Nov. 13, 10:30 a.m., public performance, McGehee High School Auditorium, 1902 East Ash St. (HWY 1 N.), McGehee, AR 71654. Free, no tickets required.
Context
On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan bombed the U.S. military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which ushered the U.S. into full military participation in World War II. The following year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which led to the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, which included men, women, children, the elderly and infirm, in camps throughout the United States for the duration of the war.
Related Programs at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Wednesday, November 11, 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Art Talk about Ruth Asawa
Like the late artist Ruth Asawa, Little Rock resident Richard Yada and his family were forced into a Japanese Internment Camp in Rohwer, Arkansas, during WWII. Join Yada and University of Central Arkansas Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication, Dr. Gayle Seymour, in a discussion about life in the camps, followed by a gallery performance by members of CORE Performance Company inspired by Asawa’s sculpture, Untitled. Free, no registration required.
“I was introduced to the existence of two Japanese-American Internment Camps in rural Arkansas by Art Historian Dr. Gayle Seymour of the University of Central Arkansas,” said CORE Artistic Director Sue Schroeder. “I was moved by the plight of these innocent Americans who were ordered into these camps after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. As we learned more about these citizens’ experiences in the camps, I felt that I needed to share this story. The artists of CORE and I have been inspired by the courage and resilience of these Japanese Americans. Their story has universal overtones that resonate today. Too often our national dialogue turns to defining the ‘enemy,’ and there is an impulse to define an entire community through the actions of a few. Through Gaman we will share multiple points of view, through multiple artistic disciplines, to open a dialogue as to how we define and treat the “other” in our society.”
Gaman Creative Team
Gaman project was initiated by its Co-Coordinators Sue Schroeder, CORE artistic director and Dr. Gayle Seymour, professor of Art History and Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Central Arkansas. Schroeder’s creative collaborators are Nancy Chikaraishi, professor of architecture, Drury University (visual artist); Scott Silvey (set design); German Composer Christian Meyer (sound design); Gregory Catellier (light design); D. Patton White (costume design) and Erin Weller Dalton (Dramaturg). D. Patton White, Company Manager for CORE Performance Company, will also act as Gaman Community Engagement Facilitator.
Gaman Funding
The performances of Gaman and the residency activities in Arkansas are made possible by the: University of Central Arkansas Artist in Residence program, Reynolds Performance Hall, Crystal Bridges Museum for American Art, Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arkansas Arts Council and foundations, corporations and individuals throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.
The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Conway Public Schools, Hendrix College, McGehee Public Schools and the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum are Community partners in the Gaman tour and residency activities in Arkansas.
The creation and touring of Gaman – is funded in part by grants from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program; Alternate ROOTS; and Goethe-Zentrum Atlanta.
CORE’s 35th season in Houston is funded in part by The Pattillo Foundation, The O Fund for New Work, Houston Endowment, the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, Lonestar Energy Fabrication, Intrua Financial and Cameron and Roberts Insurance Agency.
CORE, an award-winning contemporary dance organization, creates, performs and presents compelling and distinctive original dance works that ignite the creative spirit and foster cultural conversations. For over three decades, CORE has initiated and supported innovation, collaboration, artistic risk-taking and sustainable art-making in dance. CORE was founded in 1980 in Houston, Texas by dancer and choreographer Sue Schroeder. Five years later, the organization added Atlanta, Ga. as a second home base, and now cultivates dance awareness and education in both cities, as well as throughout the country and around the world. CORE is organized around three initiatives: CORE Performs, CORE Presents and CORE Connects. CORE Performance Company, the professional contemporary dance company of CORE, is internationally recognized for the physical and emotional range of the Dance Artists, as well as its innovative and compelling work. www.coredance.org
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