DOROTHEA GLORIA AND HANDAN OZBILGIN CREATE A HEALING RITUAL THROUGH THEIR SHOW; CONNECTIONS
Dorothea Gloria and Handan Ozbilgin presented an immersive show at the La Guardia Performing Arts Center which invited audience members to bring an object that represented their pandemic journey. Both creators have been working on this show since 2020.
The show starts off with the two performers, Dorothea Gloria and Carmen Whiip, and they started off by calling themselves shamans. They then both magically weave words into chanting which settles the audience into a reflective trance-like state. Gloria and Whiip’s voices echoed through the theater in an unearthly manner that helped everyone drop into a more somber state.
Gloria then starts a re-enactment of her grandmother’s story. She skillfully recalls her grandmother’s strength, her teachings, and how she survived the Japanese occupation. Gloria’s strong and overpowering voice as she recounted the story is a sight to behold. She then passes a necklace around to the audience which she then shares to all of us that this necklace contains her grandmother’s bones. As we looked closely inside the necklace, it indeed contained small fragments of human bones. Gloria shares that this is a practice that they do to the bones of their loved ones back in the Philippines. She shares how wearing the necklace during the pandemic has helped her embody her grandmother’s strength.
After that, Whiip presents a Ghanaian figurine called the Sankofa. She tells us how she made the Sankofa by hand and how the Sankofa represents looking back on your past memories. She then invites everyone to close their eyes and remember different moments of what we experienced during the pandemic. We recollected our fear during the first few weeks of the virus, our joy whenever we would hear and join people clapping for our first responders, and fleeting moments like looking out the window or sweeping the floor.
Both Gloria and Whiip continue to take us on a journey down memory lane but in a way that was both open and nurturing. Even though there were instances where they brought up some painful memories, it was done in a way where everyone in the room felt safe and secure.
The show’s powerful conclusion was for audience members to offer up their object and talk about their own pandemic journey. A lot of people stood up on stage and volunteered to share their stories. I was struck by how raw and vulnerable people became in front of strangers. All throughout this process, both Gloria and Whiip took great care of each person who shared by guiding them through their story, encouraging them to say what needed to be said or keep what needed to be kept.
Connections is a type of show that really blew my mind away. I have never experienced any other show like this where by the end of the two hours, I felt connected to everyone in that theater. Having listened to and empathized with both the performers and the stories of other audience members, I really felt like I was part of a community. This show is really one that I will never forget.
