The Family Series (2019-2020)

L->R top row: Nora Sharp, Grace McCants, Doreen Vanunu, Vic Wynter, Christina Chammas. L->R bottom row: Maliyah Londyn Arnold, Sydney Sullivan, Hal Cosentino, Bea Cabrera. Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis, Winter 2020.

L->R top row: Nora Sharp, Grace McCants, Dorian Vanunu, Vic Wynter, Christina Chammas. L->R bottom row: Maliyah Londyn Arnold, Sydney Sullivan, Hal Cosentino, Bea Cabrera. Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis, Winter 2020.

Incorporating both Family Portrait (2019, Synapse New Works) and Family Reunion (early 2020, Steppenwolf Theatre’s LookOut Series), the Family Series was a phase of improvisational, movement-based ensemble performance work driven by an interest in the ways that self-understanding for queer and trans people is shaped through generous witness, through our reflections and refractions of each other. It was inspired and cast in part via a therapy group for gender expansive people, and motivated as well by an ongoing departure from, and charting alternate pathways out of, upright/virtuosic set-choreography contemporary dance influences. Through incorporation of video into the process of Family Reunion, as well as the ongoing practice of investment in the backstory, this series was a live performance precursor to current & ongoing film series The Real Dance (2021 - present, linked in navigation).

Project History:

  • Premiere of the original work-in-progress Family Portrait - Hamlin Park Theater, Chicago, April 2019

    • Original cast: Maliyah Londyn Arnold, Christina Chammas, ALEXA GRÆ, Robin Lee, Dorian Vanunu

    • Commissioned and supported by Synapse Arts - New Works

  • Premiere of full-length Family Reunion - Steppenwolf Theatre’s LookOut Series, Chicago, January 2020

    • Movement, sound, & video cast: Maliyah Londyn Arnold, Hal Cosentino, Vic Wynter, Christina Chammas, Bea Cabrera, Sydney Sullivan, Grace McCants, Nora Sharp, and Dorian Vanunu

    • Partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts

  • Process and footage In/Motion Dance Film Festival, Loyola University, Chicago, February 2020

  • Excerpt at Midwest RAD Fest, Kalamazoo, MI, early March 2020

  • Press: recommended by the Chicago Reader

  • All project phases directed by Nora Sharp

Original cast of Family Portrait, developed via Synapse Arts New Works. L -> R: ALEXA GRÆ, Robin Lee, Doreen Vanunu, Christina Chammas, Maliyah Londyn Arnold. Photo by Nora Sharp, Spring 2019.

Original cast of Family Portrait, developed via Synapse Arts New Works. L -> R: ALEXA GRÆ, Robin Lee, Doreen Vanunu, Christina Chammas, Maliyah Londyn Arnold. Photo by Nora Sharp, Spring 2019.