Culture
‘Emergence: the Sacred Feminine Dances Once More’ Feb. 17-18
By: Emily Votaw
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It was over 10 years ago that Athens-based musician Megan Cameron was inspired to create Emergence: the Sacred Feminine Dances Once More, a performance piece that will be staged at ARTS/West on February 17 at 7 p.m. and February 18 at 2 p.m. Emergence will feature Cameron’s band, Amethystone, and performances by the Calliope Feminist Choir, as well as choreographer and dancer Missy Whaley and mezzo soprano Melissa Brobeck.
“At the time, I was working a job in the field of domestic violence, and I had just read The Dance of the Dissonant Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd, and everything just sort of came together to inspire me to tell the story of a woman pulling herself up and out of a difficult situation,” said Cameron in an interview with WOUB Public Media in late January. “Back then I didn’t have any specific music or a specific story or anything, just some ideas and images. Over the years I kept developing more of a focus for the story, and eventually I realized that I didn’t even need to write all new music for it, I could pull from my band’s catalog.”
The performance will explore the journey of “every woman” as she attempts to form meaning in a chaotic, violent world that is seemingly indifferent to her struggle. Along the way she meets a “wise woman” who takes the “every woman” alongside her in an exploration of the paths of several men and women as they attempt to find wholeness, struggling all the while to reconnect to “the sacred feminine.”
“Talking about “the sacred feminine” is a tricky thing, it’s something that seems to weird people out a little bit,” said Cameron. “As a culture, we have decided that certain attributes are feminine and that others are masculine, and throughout history the masculine attributes have had more importance placed on them, while the feminine have been persecuted and even demonized. Emergence is exploring the idea of the divine, which is really everything. In our culture there are many references to the divine being masculine, and Emergence explores the divine as a sort of creative spirit. Men are also affected by a disconnection with the sacred feminine, and with themselves, which is something we also explore in the performance. I even wrote a song, “Hey, Hey, Hey,” which is told from a masculine perspective, based on what I have observed in my son and in male friends, on the persona that men are societally taught they must keep up.”
Cameron expressed that she is unsure of how the performance may be perceived in light of certain political events.
“As a society, we are very raw right now from all this discussion of sexual assault. Although women have known this as a reality forever, it is now something that is openly spoken about, which leaves us feeling raw,” said Cameron. “I hope that the performance is very powerful, and that audiences feel that it is coming from a place of strength. Even though the main character is going through difficult times, we all go through difficult times, and the story is all about how she is going to deal with that. The performance is all about how we all have this flame inside of us – this immense ability to create – and there are obstacles that come from everywhere, and there are different barriers for everyone, but we all have such immense potential, especially when we come together.”
“Emergence: the Sacred Feminine Dances Once More” will be performed at ARTS/West on Saturday, February 17 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, February 18 at 2 p.m. Tickets are pay what you can, $5-$25 with a suggested price of $15. Tickets are available online at amethystone.com and will also be available at the door. The project is being funded by a Kickstarter, the link to which is here.