{"id":846,"date":"2014-03-27T15:49:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T15:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebzbproductions.ebzb.org\/review-the-clothesline-muse-aion-productions-it-all-comes-out-in-the-wash\/"},"modified":"2014-03-27T15:49:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-27T15:49:00","slug":"review-the-clothesline-muse-aion-productions-it-all-comes-out-in-the-wash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/2014\/03\/27\/review-the-clothesline-muse-aion-productions-it-all-comes-out-in-the-wash\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Clothesline Muse, Aion Productions. It All Comes Out In The Wash…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Review of The Clothesline Muse…<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nThINKing Dance Blog<\/b><\/div>\n
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\nhttp:\/\/thinkingdance.net\/articles\/2014\/03\/21\/43\/It-All-Comes-Out-in-the-Wash\/<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIt All Comes Out in the Wash<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBy Lisa Bardadrson <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Clothesline Muse, an evening-length work, is not just about family lineage and the impact that previous generations bring to bear upon its fledgling members but is also a testament to the creative talents inherent within the Welsh\/Freelon\/Asante family. Kariamu <\/span>Welsh conceived the multi-media work with written collaboration by Maya Freelon Asante (Welsh’s daughter-in-law) and Nnenna <\/span>Freelon (Freelon Asante’s mother). Additionally, Welsh supplied the choreography, Freelon the music and musical direction, and <\/span>Freelon Asante the set and projection design. <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe tight direction by Serena Ebhardt gives consistent momentum to The Clothesline Muse’s narrative.<\/b>  The two central characters are a teenager; Mary Mack Douglass, performed with exuberance by Baset Sat-Ra, and her grandmother, Grandma Blu\/The Clothesline <\/span>Muse, inspiringly played by Nnenna Freelon. In this story, Mary Mack Douglass has just received a letter from her college-of-choice and <\/span>is now tasked with the dubious challenge of writing an essay to convince the school that she should receive much-needed financial aid. <\/span><\/div>\n
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\nGrandma Blu, a laundress by trade and griot by rights, gives Mary Mack pithy grist for her essay (and for life) by leading her on a journey of self-discovery via storytelling and family lore.  <\/span>In this fable, the clothesline is not just a place where clothes are hung to dry but where the important stuff of life happens. And as we <\/span>learn through Grandma Blu, laundry isn’t just about dirty shirts and socks; it’s about coming clean on what we stand for and believe in. <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Clothesline Muse is a work so densely rich with metaphor, symbolism and reference to the African diaspora that I, a white woman from the suburbs of Seattle, likely missed much of it. But no matter; the universality of the message was crystal clear: we are all <\/span>connected by the actions of our ancestors, whose humble beginnings can yield rich rewards to future generations.  <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe set design by Maya Freelon Asante features her signature tissue paper\/fabric artwork.  The colorful swaths that draped the back wall of the stage created a stunning image that harmonized handily with the laundry theme. Her projection design, in collaboration with <\/span>Chris Charles, flowed with archival images depicting African Americans and financial ledgers that gave the work historical heft. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nWelsh’s choreography brought kinetic dimension for a chorus of six white-clad women (Shaness Kemp, Adrienne Abdus-Salaam, Jessica Featherson, Stephanie Padilla, Sakarah Hall-Edge and Leila Anglin) whose movements in one section evoked the fluttering of <\/span>laundry drying on the line.  In another, the chorus employed a lively hand clapping game in a rollicking one-upmanship challenge. <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nGrandma Blu recalled her experiences of lovemaking, which were humorously enacted by Kemp ironing a white shirt.  Who knew sex could be described in the details of proper shirt ironing? Steam was in plentiful supply. <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFreelon sings the African American spiritual, There is a Balm in Gilead.  It is a song that asks for healing and grace and Freelon soars with it; her powerful presence anchors the show. In her fantasy talk show, \u201cWhat’s On Your Line?…it all comes out in the wash,\u201d Freelon <\/span>as Blu supports, admonishes and guides her guests to spiritual wholeness by leading them to the righteous path found in good laundry <\/span>practices. If you put your expensive wool sweater in hot water, then you need to pay closer attention to care instructions.  If you stole a <\/span>designer shirt from your neighbor’s hanging laundry, you have most definitely\u2026crossed the line. <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAppearing many times throughout the work is a woman who wears a long touring coat (circa 1900?). She carries a bundle atop her head and glides ghost-like through various scenes. Towards the end of the piece, Grandma Blu follows her from the stage in a solemn <\/span>processional. Mary Mack is left to pick up the symbolic line: which she does with love, clarity and understanding. The Clothesline Muse <\/span><\/div>\n
\nis a fully realized work that I found deeply gratifying. The line, in the end, connected and closed, forming a perfect circle. <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Clothesline Muse, a collaboration between Kariamu Welsh, Nnenna Freelon and Maya Freelon Asante, The Painted Bride Art Center, March 14-16, 2014.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBy Lisa Bardarson<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMarch 21, 2014<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
EbzB Productions – Your World Is Our Stage!
\nhttp:\/\/www.ebzb.org<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review of The Clothesline Muse… ThINKing Dance Blog http:\/\/thinkingdance.net\/articles\/2014\/03\/21\/43\/It-All-Comes-Out-in-the-Wash\/ It All Comes Out in the Wash By Lisa Bardadrson  The Clothesline Muse, an evening-length work, is not just about family lineage and the impact that previous generations bring to bear upon its fledgling members but is also a testament to the creative talents inherent within the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[63,67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","category-serena-ebhardt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}