CARNIVAL VITAS: DANCE OF THE ANIMALS

CHOREOGRAPHER AND DIRECTOR NEILE MARTIN knew when she first started sketching out the Department of Theatre and Dance’s first dance performance of the 2022-23 season, it would be different than anything she’d ever staged before. The UofM graduate had just wrapped up a retelling of the ballet “Firebird” in the spring of 2022, which helped shift her interest and laser-like focus to narrative storytelling through modern dance for her next project. And this would be a performance like no other she’d ever produced, because she wanted to not only use dancers, but also wanted those dancers to be puppeteers.

“With puppets,” Martin said, “The logistics of doing something like that, you need a huge cast and you need lots and lots of support.”

People and support are the two resources Jill Guyton Nee had. The department’s head of dance knew Martin wanted to create a brand-new performance with giant puppets and had several candid conversations about making it happen. But Martin was nervous about getting dancers in Memphis to commit enough time to pulling it off. So Nee asked Martin, “What if you did it for the University?”

“I have a lot of super students who are reliable because their degree depends on it and I have rehearsal space and I have all of these designers,” Nee told Martin. That was all Martin needed to hear.

She said yes immediately. “It just took off like wildfire from there,” she said. Martin only had six weeks to get the performance written, produced and in front of audiences.

“That was definitely an interesting and amazing whirlwind,” said Martin. “I could have never done it without all the support and amazing ‘go-get’ed-ness’ of the dancers. It was a new process and a stretch. You’ve got to push yourself as an artist.”

The 13 puppets used in the show were the creation of several local middle school students and were handcrafted by local artist and sculptor Yvonne Bobo.

“The puppets were [originally] all over the place,” said Martin. “So, I was trying to create a narrative around that.”

Three of the 13 were mystical creatures, including the main character, the Cosmic Creation Rainbow Snake.

“I had to do a fair amount of research looking into different origin stories, different mythologies, original mythology and Norse mythology along with popular narratives and build it all off of that,” Martin said. “It took quite a lot to fully visualize and write the first draft.”

In Martin’s imagination, the Rainbow Snake created the entire galaxy by making mountains and rivers, shedding her scales to make the animals we know today, then slithering on. But every once in a while, the Rainbow Snake returns, and all the animals come to see and greet her.

“The first to arrive are the birds because they can fly,” said Nee. They greet the snake and dance — and every animal that comes to see her has a different dance.

“For Neile, creating a story, the way she and her daughter create imaginary plays, that’s not difficult for her,” said Nee. “They have wild imaginations and can make things up on the spot. It was challenging, but it wasn’t like something where she was totally stumped.”

Senior dance student Kennedy McCaskill said her greatest challenge was learning how to move with the puppets.

“These are life-sized puppets,” said McCaskill. “They’re bigger than us. It was interesting to move with them because you’re used to just your own body, but then adding something just as big or bigger to dance with was interesting and different.”

Three of the performances were staged specifically for elementary and middle school students, and two of those were open to the public. In the end, more than 400 students from Memphis-Shelby County Schools got to see the show.

“The students who created the creatures were enormously proud to see their work on stage,” said Nee. “Of course, art is tangible, but this was a different way of using their artwork – and their artwork was a part of something bigger and something other people could see.”

“I always tried to watch the show from a different place in the audience,” said Martin. “One time I sat in the middle of all the kids. One time I sat up in front so I could look back at them. One time I sat all the way in the back behind them so I could hear them witnessing it, see their responses to it. It was truly magical.”

“This is the most rewarding show we’ve ever done,” said McCaskill. “Seeing how we made an impact on these children, whether they just had a fun time away from school, or we impacted them to where they now want to become dancers — that was the most rewarding part of it.”

Both Martin and Nee say watching the children’s reactions during the performance was incredibly emotional.

“I think the kids really loved seeing the whole process of taking an idea in their heads and it literally being onstage and alive,” said Martin. “It was amazing to see that.”

“There was this kindergartener from Campus School,” said Nee. “Who came up and hugged me with tears in her eyes saying, ‘I never knew anything was this good!’.”