Native Intelligence/Innate Intelligence
Native Intelligence / Innate Intelligence is a dance performance incorporating modern dance, hula, Hawaiian chant, and live music to examine home and belonging. The research for the work began with questions around what it means to be native in a time where this word is often politically charged, and yet everyone is native to somewhere. The piece explores ideas around nature versus nurture: how does what we inherit genetically influence who we become, and how much is shaped by our environment. Within all of these influences, where does instinct come from? Using the metaphor of lei making for the strands of our DNA, the work looks to weave together stories from varied identities as a way to build bridges that celebrate difference and respect unique individuality.
With live music by electric cellist Wytold and Hawaiian chanter/percussionist Patrick Makuakane, scenic design by Brenda Mallory, projection design by Kelly Colburn, lighting by Peter Leibold and costuming by Marques Hanalei Marzan, the work creates a comprehensive picture of the multiplicity of identities we all navigate, and invite audiences to reflect on their perception of Native people, their own identities, and instinct.
Joining long-time company dancers Tiffanie Carson, Abby Farina, and Deontay Gray are new company members Jamison Curcio and long time friend and collaborator of CKM&A Matthew Cumbie.
The work is co-commissioned by Dance Place (Washington, DC), the Maui Arts and Cultural Center (Kahului, HI), Pa’i Foundation (Honolulu, HI). The work is the recipient of a National Performance Network Development and Creation Fund, a NEFA National Dance Project Production Award (Tour subsidies available beginning January 2020, and is eligible for additional tour subsidies through the Western Arts Alliance’s Advancing Indigenous Performance (AIP) Touring Fund. It has received development support from the National Center for Choreography at the University of Akron, Bethany Arts Community, and the Emerging Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) in Troy, New York.
This work will premiere in the 2019-2020 season and will be available for touring in 2020.
Native Intelligence/Innate Intelligence was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National
Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation.
Native Intelligence/Innate Intelligence is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Maui Arts & Cultural Center and PA'I Foundation in partnership with Dance Place and NPN. For more information: npnweb.org
The creation of Native Intelligence/Innate Intelligence is made possible with funding support from the Western Arts Alliance's Native Launchpad Program.