Seán Curran can rap!

Seán Curran recently held an open rehearsal of his newest work, Left Exit, which explores spirituality and faith.  

The work will premiere in October, so Seán has time to experiment with movement and text, using the time-tested method of trial-and-error.  One major theme that Seán is focusing on is the idea of how “dance of privilege” contrasts with “dance as spiritual practice”.  Sean and his dancers have blended a variety of international social and ethnic dances, and set this to Sonata V from John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes,  which is in a measure of 9 with a hip-hop sort of groove (you can hear it here).   Then, just to shake things up, he reset the movement phrase to a recorded lecture by philosopher and civil rights activist Dr. Cornel West.   

Toward the end of the rehearsal, Seán juxtaposed the same blended movement phrases with different text.  There were some really great little happy accidents - for example, a section of four people supporting and manipulating a fifth dancer met up with a section about “the society of disability” and the need for assistance.

And true to our title, Seán let the creative moment grab hold of him and surprised us all by rapping (to John Cage, nonetheless!).  Who knew that Sean Curran could rap?!?   Sadly, it is unlikely that this will make it into the piece, and we weren’t able to catch the moment on film, but if we’re lucky, maybe he’ll put on a repeat performance next time we’re able to visit the studio.