WP Theater
Streaming through March 14, pay-what-you-can
wptheater.org/show/keep-moving
For arts institutions now facing a pandemic lockdown that has lasted nearly a year with no immediate end in sight, it helps to have a sense of humor. And that’s precisely what Monica Bill Barnes & Company have plenty of in Keep Moving. Presented by WP Theater, Keep Moving is a ten-chapter series conceived and created by Monica Bill Barnes and company creative producing director and performer Robbie Saenz de Viteri that looks at how a group of women have dealt with the health crisis.
The digital presentation is hosted by Saenz de Viteri with a wry smile as he speaks with Barnes and several of the dancers, mostly via Zoom but a few over the phone, with no visuals. Chapters such as “Get. Ready. To. Go.,” “The Only Tedious Part,” “It Is Super Essential,” “Oh Hey I Do Exist,” and “Then I’m Gonna Fix the World” introduce such participants as Julieta Rodriguez-Cruz, Manuela Agudelo, Nadjie Forte, Kai Chen, Anakeiry Cruz, mentor Wendy Rogers, and others as Saenz de Viteri focuses on how everyone has been surviving the lockdown, with a specific focus on the company’s collaboration with Hunter College on a project called The Running Show. It’s both funny and poignant as the young women talk about what it means to be a dancer and the older ones discuss how that changes over a career. In “Even Though I Was Alone,” Barnes thinks she’s out of shape and Naja Newell, Esther Nozea, and Amanda Konstantine Perlmutter dance in their kitchen or bedroom or out on the street as they keep moving despite all the current limitations. Extended through March 14, Keep Moving offers a tantalizing inside look at the creative process during a time of crisis, stagnation not an option.