THE FOUR DIRECTIONS:

A WINTER SOLSTICE EVENT

Directed, with video projection, set design, and script by Billbob Brown;

choreography by Billbob Brown and others,

including Nanette Robinson,

director of Zuzi! Dance Theater.

Live musical performances by Pablo Peregrina with Sally Withers.

Sponsored by Zuzi! Dance Theater,

at the Historic Y in downtown Tucson

Thousands of years ago, out of Africa, we spread to the four directions across the globe.  We migrated out of necessity, for work, for food or shelter, someitmes by free will, sometimes by the force of slavery, in an ever-shifting landscape on this earth that we call home.

Now, as we continue to come from the four directions, and as our paths cross, do we build walls, or bridges?  The Four Directions explores our interactions with references to light from cultures around the world; coalescing in the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

OPENING:

The Shortest Day, the Longest Journey

Direction: Billbob Brown

Narration: Jasmine Roth

In which patterns of migration across the globe are visualized, and symbols of the Four Directions, from around the world, are brought to life.

THE FOUR ELEMENTS:
Where We Have Come From

Choreography: Billbob Brown

Narration: Jasmine Roth

Dancers: Sabrina Geoffrion, Bethanne Griffin, Karenne Koo, Sherry Mulholland

FROM THE EAST:

Air

Choreography: Nanette Robinson and Aja Squires

Performers: Youth Aerial Dancers

FROM THE SOUTH: FIRE

With My Orange/Red Fires

Choreography: Billbob Brown

Dancers: Billbob Brown and Jasmine Roth

FROM THE NORTH: EARTH

I Am the Earth

Choreography: Nanette Robinson and Karenne Koo

Performers: Members of the Zuzi! community and Arts for All.

CIVIL WAR:

US vs US

Choreography and performance: Billbob Brown

Some would have us believe that it's a case of Us versus Them.  Black versus White,

Masculine versus Feminine, North versus South,

But we are more complex than that,

and we are all

US.

FROM THE WEST: WATER

Choreography by Nanette Robinson

Dancers: Sabrina Geoffrion, Bethanne Griffin, Karenne Koo, Sherry Mulholland, Jasmine Roth, Raine Ugstad

FORGIVENESS:

Ho'Oponopono

Choreography by Billbob Brown

Performers: Sabrina Geoffrion, Bethanne Griffin, Karenne Koo, Sherry Mulholland

This piece is an ongoing video project, using messages of forgiveness sent from around the world in a multitude of languages. Those videos are danced with on cell phones and projected onto the sets, while the dancers continue their conversations across the world.

FINALE: WINTER SOLSTICE:

The Longest Night, the Shortest Journey

Choreography by Billbob Brown

Performance with full cast.

We celebrate the return of light through the festivals of Light: Chanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Yuletide, Christmas, and other Solstice traditions, bringing it all back to Africa, with a bit of African and world dance!