On Friday, July 31, 2020 at 4PM, DIAVOLO/Architecture in Motion will return to The Soraya, but this time the company will be performing Artistic Director Jacques Heim’s This Is Me: Letters from the Front Lines as part of The Soraya Online Performances. This will be fourth online performance presented by The Soraya, the last one being the Martha Graham Dance Company performing Immediate Tragedy.
DIAVOLO’s performances at The Soraya have included Heim’s Ibuku and A Long Journey Home performed on Veteran’s Day 2017, when The Soraya hosted a day long 25th anniversary DIAVOLO celebration featuring the performances of eleven the company’s works. The Soraya states that This Is Me: Letters from the Front Lines “captures the resilience, determination and hope of the human spirit, following the paths of military veterans and first responders as they share what it means to be true warriors on the front lines – and fight the invisible enemy that all humanity is currently battling. At a time when most have been asked to halt and withdraw, others, like soldiers are charging forward”.
DIAVOLO – “This Is Me: Letters From the Front Lines” – (L to R) Aaron Mendez (Co-Director, Cinematographer, Editor), Jacques Heim (Director) – Photo by George Simian
DIAVOLO started The Veterans Project in 2016 and since then more than 500 Los Angeles area veterans have participated in the project. Heim created the program to help span the gap between the veteran community and the civilian population, as well as to help “restore veteran” physical, mental, and emotional strengths through workshops and public communities.” Since its beginning, Diavolo has worked with military veterans around the world.
I interviewed Heim last year when he premiered his work IBUKI at The Musco Theatre. When reflecting on working with veterans he said, “To be honest,” Heim confessed. “I did not know who they are or what to do with them. I have no idea how to talk to them.” He was sure that they would “kick my ass” and think him strange. “I was not that courageous a human being.”
“It was actually three years ago when I started working with the veteran community that I started to connect the dots,” Heim said. “DIAVOLO/Architecture in Motion is not your traditional modern dance company. I realized that what I am doing is not about creating only art. That is not my mission. My mission is to help young men and young women discover who they are.” While working with the veterans, Heim understood that this was the essence of what he had been working at for the past 27 years with DIAVOLO.
DIAVOLO – “This Is Me: Letters From the Front Lines” – Foreground; Lex Shimko (Performer), Background; Majella Loughran (Rehearsal Director & Performer) – Photo by George Simian
“I realized early on that I am a different kind of choreographer/artistic director.” Heim said. “I am not in the studio, standing in front of a mirror trying to come up with new movement. No! I love architecture for many reasons. I love the relationship of the human within the architectural environment. How it is affecting us emotionally, physically, and mentally.” Heim looked at me intensely and said, “Through the work of DIAVOLO, you cannot hide! You will discover your strengths, your weaknesses and what you’re about.”
I asked Ejay Menchavez, Jr., one of the veterans performing in IBUKI, if the workshops brought up any war time memories. His answer was very moving. “I think what it brought up for me,” He said. “was the feeling of being needed. After I got out, I went from being a big part of a team; I was needed every day. Not only were the men part of my team and I told them what they were supposed to do, I also had to take care of their personal problems.”
This Is Me explores how the current climate of isolation has encouraged us to look within ourselves. It helps “illustrate with the words of veterans and first responders, interwoven with DIAVOLO choreography expressive of their thoughts. At a time when most have been asked to halt and withdraw by sheltering in place, others, like soldiers, are heroically charging forward” – Davidson & Choy Publicity, June 29, 2020.
DIAVOLO – “This Is Me: Letters From the Front Lines – (L to R) Derion Loman (Performer), Aaron Mendez (Co-Director, Cinematographer, Editor) – Photo by George Simian
Heim puts it this way: “Even though these men and women do not like to be called heroes, we consider them to be. They sacrificed their lives for a giant cause – their country and its people. Who can do that? I cannot do that. It is beyond courage, and the reason we’re in the land of the free, because all those men and women gave their lives. Beyond thanking them for their service, we have to embrace them as our brothers and sisters, as part of our own family. The work and mission of DIAVOLO and this film, This is Me, is about celebrating humanity. Veterans and COVID 19 responders are beautiful humans. That has to be shown.”
Christopher Loverro, an Army Iraq War veteran who has participated in past The Veterans Project works and This Is Me, said, ”Working with Jacques Heim and DIAVOLO challenged me in different ways on my long journey to find myself in centeredness and peace since returning from war. I want to honor the brothers and sisters I served with, and I want them to know I am obliged to be the best person I can be, because of them. I know those who are fighting the pandemic – a different kind of battle – are also needing to express their feelings. Art is the most powerful form of catharsis for me, and the combination of a challenging movement and mental regime, with its community-building and trust-building aspects, builds the sense of tribe we had in the military and provides the tools for us to heal.”
The personnel for Ths is Me: Letters from the Front Lines include: Jacques Heim Director; Jim Vincent Creative Director; France Nguyen-Vincent Dramaturg; Aaron Mendez Co-Director, Cinematographer, Editor; Jean-Yves Tessier Lighting Designer; Chris Mendez Assistant to Aaron Mendez; Noah Alexander Sound Operator; Simon Greenberg Sound Engineer; George Simian Photographer; Dusty Alvarado Producer; Amy Tuley Project Manager; and Jose Hernandez General Manager.
DIAVOLO performers include: Majella Loughran, Kate Dougherty, Steven Jasso, Matt Wagner, Abraham Meisel, Derion Lohman, Daniel Jacob Glenn, Evan Turner, Kelsey Long, Lex Shimko, and BethanyRose Boutwell
Veteran and other performers include: Shannon Corbeil, Air Force; Anthony Keating, Paramedic (TK); Mariella Keating, Nurse Practitioner; Tyler Grayson, Army (TK); Christopher Loverro, Army; Sasan Najibi, MD; and La’Vel Stacy, Navy.
This is Me: Letters from the Front Lines will premiere online, on Friday, July 31 at 4pm (PDT) during Fridays at 4 on The Soraya Facebook page at www.facebook.com/events/
For more information please click HERE.
Written and compiled by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
To visit the DIAVOLO/Architecture In Motion website, click HERE.
Featured image: DIAVOLO – This Is Me: Letters from the Front Lines – (L to R) Majella Loughran (Rehearsal Director & Performer), Derion Loman (Performer) – Photo by George Simian
