A new interdisciplinary work, River Flow: Confluence of Music, Words and Dance premieres April 1st at the Cambridge Centre for the Arts.
With text by Rae Crossman, music by Owen Bloomfield, and choreography by Michele Hopkins, River Flow features the performance group SlanT and the students of Academy Ballet Classique with guest dancers Mateo Galindo Torres and Clara Isley.
Supported by the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund, the collaborative work explores the interconnectedness of river ecosystems, warning of threats to habitat and celebrating a reverence for the natural world.
Starting with the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus’ idea of “flow” as a fundamental principle of reality, River Flow evokes the dynamic changes of water movement throughout the course of a river’s journey to the sea. In addition, rivers become metaphors for social, political and environmental change.
Confluence, the flowing together of rivers, is an apt descriptor for the collaborative process that has characterized this artistic work with creative contributions coming from all members of the production, including the performance group SlanT comprised of soprano Marion Samuel-Stevens, bass clarinetist Tilly Kooyman, pianist Owen Bloomfield, and speaker Rae Crossman.
River Flow “lifts and carries you, sweeps you away, quickening the senses, buoying the spirit.”