by Kit OConnell
Saturday Art: Flam Chen (#ArtOutside)
2:07 pm in Uncategorized by Kit OConnell
Flam Chen's Rites of Spring, Art Outside 2012 (Photo: Kit O'Connell)
Flam Chen combine modern dance, stilt walking, fire dancing, experimental theater and aerial dance with colorful costumes, modern projection technology and electronic music. They lead Tucson’s annual All Souls Procession, an annual participatory street festival. They expect 50,000 people to attend this year’s procession and 30,000 will participate in some way. This event trains new performers, then draws them into the streets for a weekend-long ‘Day of the Dead’ style festival.
Flam Chen's Stiltwalking Workshop, Art Outside 2012 (Photo: Kit O'Connell)
The troupe performed twice at Art Outside 2012. On Friday night, they performed Rites Of Spring, which artistic director Nadia Hagen calls one of their seminal works. About every five years, the troupe revives and revises it for new audiences. This year’s combined fire, quadruped ‘stilt walkers’ dressed like insects, and even a gorgeous aerial silk performance. In keeping with their work at the Procession, they taught over 50 new stilt walkers their first steps during the course of the weekend.
Flam Chen dancer at Art Outside 2012's Closing Ceremony (Photo: Kit O'Connell)
Flam Chen returned to close out Art Outside’s Sunday night. As the brilliant remixer Pumpkin finished a high-energy set, six members of Flam Chen appeared among the crowd wearing bright balaclavas, with the men’s woven masks looking like devils (or perhaps a Mexican Guy Fawkes). They cavorted, flipped, and danced then led the crowd into dancing with them. Finally, they encouraged the entire festival into a gigantic howling, ohm-chanting group hug.
Flam Chen lead Art Outside 2012's Closing Ceremony (Photo: Kit O'Connell)
For more from Flam Chen, see flamchen.com
If you’re near Tucson, Arizona on November 2-4, be sure to check out the All Souls Procession.
