The Seldoms are a Chicago dance company, known for dance as an intersection of movement, intellect, and social consciousness. The Seldoms' performance, titled Floe, is a graceful yet urgent plea for action on climate change choreographed by founding artistic director Carrie Hanson. Floe is part of season 52, Moment and Movement, at the Columbia College Dance Center, dedicated to the dance center's late founder, Shirley Mordine, who envisioned dance as a means of cultural connection and education.
Floe has dance, dialogue, and voiceover announcements from World Ocean Radio. One of the announcements is about a family that takes a boat out to go fishing on a barrier island. A fishing boat is not fit for the sea waves now that the seas have risen due to floes melting. There is less food because seas are rising and erasing habitats. A flood occurs and the family of four are caught up in the water. Two drown, and two make it back to their indigenous village, which has mobilized to help the survivors. The ensemble of five dancers forms a chain that weaves itself and breaks apart around two giant ice floes.
Floe is a haunting 85-minute dervish of contemplative and elongated movements, pulling together and apart. It felt as if I was watching a live abstract art installation with graceful movements akin to undulating sea creatures or birds. It made me think of either the creatures mourning over a diminishing habitat or resistance to being adaptive. The floes moved around the stage, which was a good dramatic detail except toward the end, the floes blocked the view of some of the audience.
World Ocean Radio reported from Reykjavik regarding oil exploration, Shell Corporation, and OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies). The radio broadcast announcements and speeches by the dancers. They spoke of ideals and denial, and even threw Moby Dick in the dialogue as an example of epic battles with the sea and its inhabitants. The words were haunting. "There is a leak in the world and we are taking on water," resonated with me. The Seldoms have created an immersive experience of sight, sound, and movement. The visuals filled in for the other senses. I could smell and taste the sea, feel the chill of water spray.
The Seldoms have been dancing and stirring things up in Chicago for 25 years. They have partnered with most of the cultural entities in Chicago such as the Newberry and the Harris Theater, in addition to creating a sourcebook for makers of all types. The cast for Floes at Columbia College Dance Center was made ujp of Faith Balderrama, Laren Chang, Damon D. Green, Rachel Newton, and Dillon Zamora. I recommend getting yourself to a performance of the Seldoms. It will be a performance that will challenge you, thrill you, and maybe persuade you to pay more attention to the world around you.
Floes was performed March 12 and 13 at the Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S Michigan Ave. For more information, please visit theseldoms.org and dance.colum.edu.
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