Core Dance Presents the Atlanta Premiere of Life Interrupted Feb. 23-26, 2017 at 7 Stages Theatre

Core Dance, the award-winning contemporary dance organization based in Atlanta and Houston (www.coredance.org), will present the Atlanta premiere of Life Interrupted Thursday-Sunday, Feb. 23-26 at 7 Stages Theatre, (1105 Euclid Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307). This dance/theater work has been created to honor and remember the U.S. citizens of Japanese descent who were interred on American soil during World War II. Tickets are $22.50 in advance and $25 at the door, and may be purchased at http://coredance.org/life-interrupted. Performances will be at 8 p.m. Feb. 23-25 and 2 p.m. Feb. 26.

In addition to the performances, Core Dance will host:

• A post-show reception Thursday, Feb. 23 in the theater lobby with the dance artists of Core Performance Company, Core Dance Artistic Director Sue Schroeder and Visual Artist and Life Interrupted collaborator Nancy Chikaraishi. Several pieces of Chikaraishi’s art will be on display.

• A post-show conversation with the dance artists of Core Performance Company, Sue Schroeder and Nancy Chikaraishi Friday, Feb. 24 in the theater.

• A Pre-Show Conversation in the theater at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25 with Sue Schroeder and Nancy Chikaraishi. All three pre and post performance events are free and open to all audience members.

Life Interrupted has been funded in part through a grant from the National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program as part of an expansive, multi-city art and history initiative that began last year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the closing of the Japanese internment camps. The production explores how challenges can be overcome by courage, and expresses the conflicting emotions of sorrow and joy, confinement and liberation experienced by the interned Japanese-American citizens.

“The 2017 performance dates are significant since February 2017 marks the 75th anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066 authorizing the creation of the Japanese-American Internment Camps,” said Sue Schroeder, artistic director of Core Dance. “The week before our Atlanta performances, Core Dance will have the privilege of performing Life Interrupted at the Asia Society Texas Center in Houston. Both the Atlanta and Houston performances will be augmented by community engagement activities developed in collaboration with local partners. While rooted in the specific story of the camps and those who were forcibly imprisoned there, Life Interrupted ultimately creates a universal experience from historical events. I believe it has deep resonance for what is happening today across the globe with post-war emigration and the xenophobia that erupts in response.”

The creation and touring of Life Interrupted was initiated by its Co-Coordinators Sue Schroeder and Dr. Gayle Seymour, professor of art history and associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Central Arkansas, Conway. Schroeder’s creative collaborators are Nancy Chikaraishi, professor of architecture, Drury University (visual artist); Scott Spivey (set design); German composer Christian Meyer (sound design); Gregory Catellier (light design), D. Patton White (costume design) and Erin Weller Dalton (Dramaturg). D. Patton White, who is also the Company Manager for Core Performance Company, additionally served as Community Engagement Facilitator.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan bombed the U.S. military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which ushered the U.S. into full military participation in World War II. The following year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which led to the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, including men, women, children, the elderly and infirm, in camps throughout the United States for the duration of the war.

“While in working as an artist in residence in Conway, Arkansas, I was introduced to the existence of two Japanese-American Internment Camps in rural Arkansas by my colleague Dr. Gayle Seymour of the University of Central Arkansas,” said Schroeder. “I was moved by the plight of these innocent Americans who were ordered into these camps after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. As we learned more about these citizens’ experiences in the camps, I felt that I needed to share this story through the medium of dance. The dance artists of Core Dance and I have been inspired by the courage and resilience of these Japanese Americans, and their story has universal overtones which resonate today. Too often our national dialogue turns to defining the ‘enemy’, and there is an impulse to define an entire community through the actions of a few. In this performance work we will share multiple points of view, through multiple artistic disciplines, to open a dialogue as to how we define and treat the ‘other’ in our society.”

The creation and touring of Life Interrupted was funded in part by grants from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, The Pattillo Foundation, the O Fund for New Work, Alternate ROOTS and Goethe-Zentrum Atlanta. Life Interrupted was the centerpiece of a broader project, “A Season of Remembrance: Rohwer and Jerome at 70”. The commemoration included a series of public events including lectures, readings, exhibitions and workshops, primarily in Arkansas, where the two camps were located.

Core Dance Funding

Core Dance’s 31st season in Atlanta is supported by the O Fund for New Work, Gwinnett Industries, Inc., Pattillo Construction Corporation, Cameron and Roberts Insurance Agency, Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund, Relish Marketing, Kroger Community Rewards, Physical Culture, Primary Care Chiropractic, Still Hot Yoga and many generous individuals from the community.

About Core Dance

Celebrating its 31st season in Atlanta beginning fall 2016, Core Dance, an award-winning contemporary dance organization, creates, performs and presents compelling and distinctive original dance works that ignite the creative spirit and foster cultural conversations. For over three decades, Core Dance has initiated and supported innovation, collaboration, artistic risk-taking and sustainable art-making in dance.

Core Dance was founded in 1980 in Houston, Texas by dancer and choreographer Sue Schroeder. Five years later, the organization added Atlanta, Ga. as a second home base, and now cultivates dance awareness and education in both cities, as well as throughout the country and around the world. Core Dance is organized around three initiatives: Core Dance Performs, Core Dance Presents and Core Dance Connects. Core Performance Company, the professional contemporary dance company of Core Dance, is internationally recognized for the physical and emotional range of its Dance Artists, as well as its innovative and compelling work. Core Dance’s Decatur, Ga. studios host classes and events for teachers and dance students of all experience levels. www.coredance.org