Sonkiss’d The Chronicles of Creation

Photos by Laurie Perez

The Chronicles of Creation

By Lydia Hance

Christopher (YungChris) Thomas is the choreographic and faithful force behind SonKiss’d Dance Theater, a group devoted to mixing faith and urban artistic expression to bring new audiences and hearts to church/art/church. Befitting the troupe’s inaugural solo dance concert, SonKiss’d Dance Theater premiered “The Chronicles of Creation” on April 27^th at ARTReach Studios.

From the first step inside the venue, this felt more like an awards show than a dance concert.  Greeters (or should I say bouncers?) checked our names off the list and stamped our hands.  I’ve been flaunting the ink residue ever since.  Once inside, guests mingled to the mellow sounds of a DJ until the bouncers reappeared around 9pm to usher an anxious crowd into a third room filled with smoke.

Audiences found seats on three sides of the dance floor, and green laser lights illuminated the large-scale tags of the fruit of the spirit (love, patience, peace…) by Mark Deleon.  We found the first dancer lying on the floor with an arm crossed over his face and at the back a young woman undulated her way around scaffolding.  The Biblical story of Adam’s creation and commune with God commenced through hip hop and modern dance.

With Spoken word poetry by Olga Hernandez and Chris Gamez, three male dancers appeared on stage, and I soon realized this physically fluid trio was the triune God personified. The dancers bounded with physical energy and emotional conviction, making the dance floor look too small to contain their zeal.  Through a seamless conversation between modern dance and street dance, the lead character Adam was created as the triune God breathed life into him and even sprouted legs.

Right away,Adam named the animals, and we were introduced to Eve in a fluid and playful contemporary duet set to “We found love” by Rihanna.   The Devil entered with seven child demons dressed in red t-shirts luring Eve into their grasp. The children scattered around the space and back into a hip hop routine as charming as demons could be.  The sinister Devil reached for Eve’s neck to tear the couple apart.  He approached the audiences seeking to kill and destroy, whispering “I’ll kill you” to the very few close enough to hear.  There was no symbolism here.  He carried a noose.  Only Jesus, a man with brilliantly articulated arms, brought solace and freedom through a commanding and compassionate presence.  His movement was liquid enough to keep my eyes off of the noose.  Although this work was one evening-length narrative, the choreography provided bits of abstraction through urban voice as to tell this story afresh.

Physically, the most notable quality was a reckless abandon that at different times launched each of the lead characters into the air and seamlessly into the floor with a rebound most modern dancers would covet.  Their roles were clear, Jesus had stopped the Devil’s evil pursuit of man, and I was along for the ride until the story dissolved.

As the piece drew to a close, trampolines were brought onto the stage, and the characters began circling and leaping en ménage.  In this piece where the battle between God and Satan is paramount, and we were believers, this scene unnervingly dissolved the tension.  In a cast of some of the most boundless jumpers, trampolines turned the spiritual journey into spectacle.  The Devil joined in a kum ba ya celebration led by the triune God.  It was at this point that I realized we were chronologically past the creation story–and certainly beyond my reasonably solid understanding of Biblical end times prophesy.

The challenge of telling a story specifically about creation is finding the ending.  Aside from the weak conclusion, these artists ached with faith both physically and spiritually.  Fortunate for Houston, this is only a beginning for SonKiss’d Dance Theater.