The Ringling takes performance beyond the stage

At one point or another, all students ask themselves the same question:

When are we ever going to use this?

Luckily for Sonja Shea, this was a question she didn’t have to ponder. Last year, while earning advanced certification in performance-art curation at Wesleyan University, she was tasked with the equivalent of a thesis project: Curate a contemporary performance art program.

For her classmates, the project was purely scholastic in nature — an assigned, hypothetical billing. Shea, however, was already working in the field as project coordinator at The Ringling. Her thesis, if well received by her peers and professors, would actually be implemented at the museum,  Ringling’s Curator of Performance Dwight Currie told her.

On Feb. 17, The Ringling kicks off New Stages, its annual series of live performances in a variety of genres, designed to promote contemporary performance art at the museum, which is traditionally devoted to visual art.

This year’s program, subtitled “New Sincerity,” is the culmination of the last two years of her work, which began in the classroom. Now, in her first year heading up the series, which was originated by Currie, Shea will see her program brought to life.

“It’s really exciting,” she says. “I’ve always loved performance. I think Dwight saw that, and he helped me cultivate that interest. I feel really lucky.”

A CREATIVE CHALLENGE

Often, with the right perspective, a perceived challenge can actually become an advantage. When planning this year’s program, one obstacle immediately presented itself.

With the construction of the forthcoming Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion underway, the adjacent Historic Asolo Theater — usually home to the series’ performances — was out of the question.

Shea says she saw a chance to create something completely different — to bring the performance off the stage and into the museum’s already beautiful campus.

“Chick Austin, the museum’s first director, was big on that idea,” she says. “He saw the whole campus as a site for performance. So it started as a challenge, but it really became a huge part of the programming. At the center of all three performances is this idea of site and how performance transforms it. It wasn’t, ‘Let’s put this group in the rose garden because it’s pretty;’ site is an important part of what these artists consider when they’re creating.”

The series features three performances. The first, “SEESAW,” by Wise Fool New Mexico, will feature a group of performers interacting with a large, kinetic sculpture in the museum’s courtyard — intentionally contrasting with the surrounding static bronze Renaissance sculptures.

The other two performances include the New York City-based Institute for Psychogeographic Adventure, which will create a user-specific tour of performance throughout The Ringling campus, featuring at least 50 local performers, and Motionhouse, from the U.K., whose four dancers will blend dance and aerial work outdoors at the Bolger Campiello to explore the idea of human captivity.

In addition to the idea of site, Shea says another important component of the series is audience engagement — also central to each performance.

“All three performances see the audience as more than just a  crowd of people in the dark,” she says. “They want to interact. It’s about breaking that barrier of just sitting and watching — you’re actually engaging.”

All of this points to this year’s larger theme: New Sincerity. Referring to a movement in art, music, literature and poetry, New Sincerity pushes back against the irony and cynicism prevalent in postmodernism. Instead, it earnestly celebrates nostalgia, joy and romanticism. 

Put simply, the art is sincere. In this way, Shea sees it as a gift.

“I feel like the gift-giver,” says Shea. “I found this amazing, intriguing, beautiful performance that spoke to me, and I want that for you, too. Being a curator is about helping artists convey their vision, but it’s also about bringing your audience things that are going to intrigue them and make them think — it’s inspiring.”

‘SEESAW’ 

by Wise Fool New Mexico

Wise Fool. It sounds paradoxical, but in medieval times, the jester had the king’s ear like no one else. Similarly, these performers use levity and whimsy to tackle taboo issues. Kicking off New Stages is “SEESAW,” which will take over the museum courtyard, using kinetic sculpture to explore immigration issues.

‘EXPERIMENT #42.000 (Ringling)’ 

by Institute for Psychogeographic Adventure

For the last year, IPA has worked with The Ringling to customize individualized performances for one audience member to experience at a time. Described like a waking dream, the show surveys visitors before guiding them, based on their responses, through a series of performance encounters around The Ringling grounds, ranging from intimate to spectacular.

‘Captive’ 

By Motionhouse

Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem, “The Panther,” four dancers perform in a large cage, blending dance and aerial work to explore how humans, like animals, can be plunged into captivity.