Indelible Dance’s ‘Us vs. Them’ Needs to Be On Your Calendar This Weekend

Robin Cantrell and her dance company are back!

We’re back with another Member Spotlight, because our members are FRIGGIN’ AWESOME and always worth bragging about!

Devotees of this Spotlight Series will be familiar with this particular Member, considering we’ve featured her amazing work not once, but twice! And since Robin Cantrell and her dance company, Indelible Dance, are consistently putting on some incredible performances, we are thrilled to feature her once more.

This time, she’s looking to promote Indelible’s latest insane performance, ‘Us vs. Them’, a fascinating hybrid of competitive sports meets fine dance. It’s being put on at the Lewis Steel Building, a huge converted warehouse in Williamsburg, and the show runs from tonight through Saturday.

This is the last thing you want to miss, and in fact, you’ll want to plan your weekend around ensuring you attend. So what are you waiting for? Get your tickets now!

First things first, can you elaborate on the inspiration behind this show and it’s unusual format? What got you jazzed about merging competitive sports and dance?

When I tell people that I’m a professional dancer or that I’m the Artistic Director of a dance company they’ll usually say something like, “oh, I’ve never actually been to a dance performance.” or “I saw the Nutcracker once.” And that’s a bummer because I think dance companies are pretty bad at marketing to the general public, and most people feel that dance is this sort of ivory tower art form. But it doesn’t have to be.

About a year ago I was reading about what’s going on in the brain of a sports fan while they watch a game. They have all of this adrenaline and excitement wrapped up in the athletes. They experience wins and losses very personally. They feel they have an effect on the outcome of the game. And they feel a real camaraderie with other people who are rooting for the same team. I wanted to see how much of that same sort of excitement and energy I could transfer into a dance performance. How could I get people’s adrenaline pumping during a show.

You mentioned in our last talk the research you’ve conducted on sports and psychology. What prompted you to begin this research and can you tell us more about why you started down this road?

After looking into it further I got really interested in the tribal or team mentality. The idea of us vs. them. It’s really hardwired into humans and evolutionarily it used to make a lot of sense. But now that you don’t have to differentiate a murderous tribe from your own on a daily basis, it seems like we channel a lot of that into sports. It’s almost impossible not to categorize people and groups into us and them and to imbue the “us” group with good qualities and the “them” with negative. It’s also so easy for humans to jump from one group to another. I’m going to play with this by assigning audience members to team red or team blue as soon as they enter the venue and place them in separate seating sections. I think politically this is really relevant right now, and something that’s on everyone’s mind. I don’t want to say overtly that the show is political, but you can draw your own conclusions.

You also mentioned variable outcomes, where not even the dancers would know who will win on any give night. Is that still the goal and how is this going to work?

There are two outcomes choreographed into each match. I have red and blue poker chips that I’ll pull randomly right before the show begins so the dancers will know which team is supposed to win each match. There will definitely be some unpredictability and excitement built into that since the dancers will never feel totally sure of what they’re about to do.

What are you hoping your audience takes away from the experience? How about what the dancers take away from it?

I hope the audience remembers the experience. That it’s indelible. I think the more senses you can activate, the stronger the memory will be. They’ll be able to see, hear, feel, and taste the experience. Maybe even smell it — is that a good thing? — I also hope they come out of it with more confidence in their abilities to appreciate dance. And I hope they love it so much that they’ll come back every year and bring their friends!

I hope the dancers continue to see the value in performing in non-traditional environments. I hope they have fun and feel proud to be a part of the company. They stick with me year after year, so I’m pretty sure they already do.

Can you tease some of the events that are going to take place?

I don’t want to give too much away because everyone should see this show, but there will be AstroTurf. There will be some competitive slip-n-slide action. And there will be giant humans plus some contortion. Also specialty stadium snacks and cocktails mixed up by my longtime food and drink collaborator.

Tell us more about how you’ll be making use of the space for the event.

This is a 10,000 square foot warehouse space in Williamsburg in an old brass Factory. We’ve created zones running the length of the space for the various “sporting events” and the audience will be asked to move to new seating sections to progress through the space with the performers. If you don’t like where you’re sitting you can always get up, get a beer, and find a new place to be. There’s nothing fussy about it. We’ve created a wrestling ring, and AstroTurf field, and a racetrack all inside the space.

Finally, is the next project already in the works?

I can’t think of anything beyond this show right now. It occupies every crevice of my brain. But after a show finishes, I usually give myself a month to decompress and then I’ll inevitably have the complete vision for the next show in the shower.

I’d just like to add that you will not be disappointed by this show. It will be a full sensory experience. You’ll feel a part of it. You can cheer and yell. There’s humor and beauty and incredible technical artistry. Basically, if you’ve never been to a dance show before this is the easiest entrance you’ll ever have to the art form. You’ll also be spoiled because you may not see something this fun again.

That’s it for this week’s Member Spotlight. Make sure you follow Robin and the Indelible Dance Company for updates on all of their amazing performances. And for the love of all that is holy, GO TO THIS SHOW!