6 Degrees was featured on the cover of OutSmart Magazine September 2023 Issue.

Full article:  "Bam! Pow! Save Democracy Now! 6 Degrees Dance Fights Back with Pop Demo."

by Neil Ellis Orts  September 1, 2023

https://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2023/09/bam-pow-save-democracy-now/

6 Degrees and George Heathco pair up for the 2024-2025 Season

 

Testimony: Seen and Heard

September 18, 2024

Louise J. Moran Fine Arts Courtyard, enter through Blaffer Art Museum

4173 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004

Testimony: Seen and Heard is a multidisciplinary collaboration between composer George Heathco, choreographer Toni Valle, and visual artist Shelby Craze, with costume design by Ashley Horn Nott. Performers include Craze, Veronica Ordonez, Michelle Reyes and Talia Saulsberry. 
 
Testimony: Seen and Heard is an artistic response to the sculpture “Witness” by artist Shahzia Sikander that explores the theme of justice and traditional representations of power. “Testimony: Seen and Heard” is an aerial dance performance/visual art installation with an innovative sound score celebrating the original intention of the sculpture – to honor the strength and resilience of women within a patriarchal society and magnify the importance of feminism and bodily autonomy through sociological, historical, and Biblical references embedded in the sculpture. 
 
Testimony: Seen and Heard will premier as part of Convergence Research, a platform for interdisciplinary inquiry supported by the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and the Blaffer Art Museum. The performance will be held in the Louise J. Moran Fine Arts Courtyard at the University of Houston’s main campus on September 18, 2024.

 

Aerial dance is uniquely suited to interpret the floating sculpture. Like the sculpture, the dancers are suspended above the earth, exploring physical interpretations of the sculpture’s design – twisting, winding, braiding, and weaving – to an original sound score by Heathco.

 

The performance is followed by a moderated Q&A on the importance of artistic freedom of expression and free speech.

 

Choreography - Toni Leago Valle

“Testimony: Seen and Heard” draws upon the sculpture’s design. The choreography magnifies both the theme of the sculpture (bodily autonomy and unearthed roots), the structure of the sculpture (braids, roots, a woman not bound by earth), and the significance of its original location in front of the New York Appellate Courthouse.  Valle and Composer Heathco researched various ideas that Sikander embedded into the full art installation, titled "Havah…to breathe, air, life."  Havah translates in various languages into breath, air, life, and the name for Eve in Hebrew, which influence both the choreography and the music. 

 

Valle’s choreography portrays the dichotomy of Biblical creation through a feminist perspective. Valle revisits the Genesis story of God breathing air into clay and then providing humankind the choice of forbidden fruit.  The central theme is choice/free will. Eve exhibits her courage and intellect by the act of choosing/free will. God rewards Eve with the ability to create, to provide breath, to birth humankind; a choice that cannot be taken away, as it is women’s birthright through their anatomy. 

 

The choreography mirrors the elements: earth, fire, water, and air. Rooted into the ground, the dancers are symbolic of the sculptures roots and the clay figures of scripture. As each section progresses, the performers take to the air: a low trapeze trio revolves circular and braided paths much like the sculpture's braids. They give way to a soloist climbing blue silks, reminiscent of water. She winds and curves, resembling the sculptures mosaics.  The finale is the unleashing of a woman in a harness flying into the air, an homage to breaking through the glass ceiling, much as Sikander’s sculpture breaks through her skirt to command the sky.

 

Music - George Heathco

The four musical sections correspond loosely to each of the four stylized Urdu characters that spell “Havah”(1) around the base of the skirt on Sikander’s sculpture. Sikander's allusion to Havah led Heathco to follow an ancient feminine figure on her hero’s journey to become the ultimate bringer of life.

 

While evoking the elemental framework of the choreography, each movement features a musical gesture whose development underscores a new scene in the story of Eve, imagined as if from distinct sources, times and spaces: a bombastic ritual to an ancient goddess; an ode to growth and the spreading of life; a cold look back on a biblical sentencing; a tumultuous climb with a burning message on the lips of a witness destined to be delivered to the world.

 

Sculpture/Visual Art – Shelby Craze

 

Costuming - Ashley Horn Nott

Elements of the courthouse’s architectural design, statues, and mosaics within the building are represented in both Horn’s costume design. Horn leans into the duality of the patterns and colors of the sculpture. Blacks and metallic golds embedded in a one-piece pantsuit complete with a jabot to honor Ruth Bader Ginsberg, symbolizes the black robes of the Appelate Court. One performer wears a gold and black petticoat, mirroring the sculpture’s skirt. As the dance accelerates, the blacks are sheds to reveal the colorful pinks, blues and greens of the mosaics.

 

Freedom of Artistic Expression

“Witness” has been interpreted by a few conservative/ religious organizations as demonic and honoring reproductive freedom of choice.  The appearance of anti-abortion protestors at the “Witness” sculpture and the vandalization of the sculpture itself on the University of Houston campus has prompted conversations on the importance of free speech in art. Valle, who served as a clinic escort at an abortion facility for five years to help women through anti-abortion protestors, and who also creates political artwork with polarizing themes, understands that both sides are not portrayed equally through the media, and that most women do not feel safe in expressing their support for bodily autonomy within that environment. “Testimony: Seen and Heard” aims to counter the mythology surrounding the statue, offering an alternative point of view that the sculpture celebrates feminism. The performance provides a response to that of the anti-abortionists, who often catch media attention and headlines. Valle recognizes that the artist Shahzia Sikander has the constitutional right to express her views through art.

 

One of Valle’s goals as a political activist and artist is to open doors for discussion and education surrounding topics of contention.  After the performance, the CWM Center for the Arts will moderate a Q&A on the value of free speech and artistic expression. This platform allows audience members to speak honestly and openly, and promotes a generalized discussion on the value and place of art to express the artist’s views within a sociopolitical atmosphere.

 

This project is funded through an Innovation Grant awarded by the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts.

This project is supported by the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts School of Theatre & Dance

and Dance Source Houston's Groundwork Grant.

 

(1) https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/01/13/shahzia-sikander-female-figure-manhattan-courthouse-madison-square-park

 

Dancer Tempest McLendon

Mix-MATCH Festival

January 18, 2025

3400 Main Street, Houston TX 77002

6 Degrees and Geroge Heathco premiere "Make/SHIFT" a new collaboration of music composed by Heathco, played live on stage, and aerial and contemporary dance choreographed by Valle, as part of MATCH's second festival highlighting organizations that use MATCH.

https://matchouston.org/

 

Artists for Hope

February 21-22, 2025

San Jacinto College South
13735 Beamer Rd, Houston, TX 77089

6 Degrees joins companies from the Houston area to premiere a new work in support of Artists for Hope, a charity dance concert whose proceeds benefits Texas Charities.  In 2024, Artists for Hope will be gifting all proceeds to Grace After Fire, an organization for women veterans.

https://artistsforhopehouston.net/

ROADWomen Partnership

2024 Various Locales

6 Degrees partners with ROADWomen, the oldest Democratic Organizations in Houston that promotes social justice and equal rights for all people, and educates Houstonians about important political issues affecting them. 6 Degrees premieres new works at local political events to engage young voters in the current issues going into the 2024 election.

https://www.roadwomen.com/

 

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