Choreography
I choreograph regularly for Blue Moves Modern Dance Company and also am available for commissioned works, or student-created, teaching artist-directed choreographic projects.
Here are a couple of my favorite projects, both of which have a human rights focus.
Breaking the Bones: A Plea for Tibet Premiered March 15, 2008
photo by Krystal Kinnunen
Choreography: Amanda Cantrell Roche
Music: Nawang Khechog
Narration: F. Lynne Bachleda and Ngawang Losel
Voice Recording: Rob Clark
Music and Voice Engineering: Ernie Gray
Costume design and creation: Kristen Hubbard
10 dancers/approximately 13 minutes
“I speak not with a feeling of anger or hatred towards those who are responsible for the immense suffering of our people and the destruction of our land, homes and culture. They too are human beings who struggle to find happiness and deserve our compassion. I speak to inform you of the sad situation in my country today and of the aspirations of my people, because in our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess.” — His Holiness the Dalai Lama
I’ve been drawn to the struggle of Tibetans for many years, but had put off starting a choreographic project about it because I felt I needed to go to Tibet before I could authentically start work on the choreography. Since that has not been possible logistically or financially, in the summer of 2007 I finally made the commitment to learn as much about the culture as I could here in Nashville. As part of my research, I went to a Concert for Tibet at the Unitarian Church in August, and I had the great fortune of meeting Ngawang, a Tibetan exile who lives in Nashville and speaks fluent English. He has been very kind and generous with his time, sharing with me the story of his life; about his experience growing up in Tibet and fleeing his homeland at age 13, his life in exile and the Tibetan philosophy. I feel I am truly beginning to understand the Tibetan mindset because of him and all the other stories I’ve read of Tibetan exiles. Through several books, documents from the International Campaign for Tibet, websites and documentaries, I delved into the situation and knew I must move forward on this project.
Apart from including a few representations of customs and movements such as the prostrations, I made no attempt to present this as authentic Tibetan dance or movement. Conversely, it is a response to the struggle and enduring spirit of Tibetans from a very Western viewpoint which uses modern dance – a form born in America – as the language through which to communicate. I think this is reflective of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s beliefs that, while we should honor the different beliefs and practices of other cultures, nationality is not really important. What is important is that we recognize we are all human beings and we need to treat each other with dignity and compassion.
Tibetans have endured such oppression, loss – some groups have called it genocide — at the hands of the Chinese government, and yet they remain peaceful in their struggle and their spirit is so resilient. Many former Tibetan political prisoners who endured torture for years will say they have compassion for their torturers. I hope this piece will offer a window of understanding on the Tibetan people and their struggle, and will inspire people to get more involved by joining an organization that works for human rights for Tibetans, or simply signing petitions to urge China to change its policy on Tibet.
The arts have the power to tap into our humanity and help us learn to care more deeply and to be more fully present in the world and in our daily lives. When you can create something that is beautiful that also helps people connect on a more intimate level to other human beings and perhaps even delve into their own identity, you are making art rather than entertainment.
“Freedom from Fear” 1996
Music: Dead Can Dance and Hans Zimmer – from the soundtrack to “Beyond Rangoon”
6 dancers / approximately 12 minutes
Choreography: Amanda Cantrell Roche
Program note:
Inspired by the efforts of Nobel Peace Laureate Auug San Suu Kyi, pro-Democracy leader in Burma whose party overwhelmingly won the 1990 election but were never allowed to come to power. Auug San Suu Kyi has been held under house arrest for years. Burma’s military government currently holds and estimated 1700 political prisoners, many of whom are brutally tortured for their support of democracy.
This dance opens with a reading from John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,”
“This you may say of man – when theories change and clash, when schools, philosophies, when narrow dark alleys of thought — national, religious, economic — grow and disintegrate, man reaches, stumbles forward, painfully, mistakenly sometimes. Having stepped forward, he may slip back, but only half a step, never the full step back. This you may say and know it and know it. This you may know when the bombs plummet out the black planes on the market place, when prisoners are stuck like pigs, when the crushed bodies drain filthily in the dust. You may know it in this way. If the step were not being taken, if the stumbling-forward ache were not alive, the bombs would not fall, the throats would not be cut. Fear the time when the bombs stop falling while the bombers still live – for every bomb is proof that the spirit has not died. And fear the time when the strikes stop while the great owners live – for every little beaten strike is proof that the step is being taken. And this you can know – fear the time when manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe.”
Throughout the dance, each dancer holds, dances with or at times wears a large square of flesh-colored fabric, which represents oppression and fear. At times the fabric is used to cover the dancers completely, or partially obscure their facial features and body while letting the audience see the outline of a face or hand. The fabric is also used as a tool to capture dancers and pull them back when they are resisting. At the conclusion, the dancers individually emerge from a large, sheer piece of fabric which has covered all of them, and individually and triumphantly cast off their own fabric.