Local women put on "Weerd" show
 Weerd Sisters , Diana Tokaji of Silver Spring, and Josephine
Nicholson of D.C., entertained audiences at the first ever Capital Fringe
Festival in July. Their gutsy dance-stories were, as one audience
member expressed: "clever, funny, and so real," ranging in
style "from vaudevillian, to quiet and powerful."
These choreographers often use words--poetry, song, or conversational
text - to enhance their works. When dance is layered with music
and spoken word, the textures of a piece grow richer, according
to these women, both writers.
Sign Language Dramatist, Marcia Freeman, added another language layer
through the facial expression and gestural communication of sign. And
not just stuck in one corner--Freeman moved past the usual interpreter
boundary, onto the stage, one time dancing a solo as a turtle, another
time in signed conversation with a dancer eating breakfast cereal.
Lisa Buchsbaum, violinist and vocalist of Silver Spring, added her haunting
tones to the performances, and Elijah Balbed, 16-year-old Silver Spring
student at Einstein High School, brought his mellow, full-bodied saxophone
to the stage. Both musicians composed original music for the Weerd
Sisters production. Patricia Dubroof, visual artist in Montgomery
County, enlivened the theatrical staging with her paintings of "the
sea" and "the perfect woman;" movement specialist
Jeanne Feeney of Takoma Park danced and led improvisation for one of
the pieces, and Silver Spring's Catherine Eliot designed the lights.
Nicholson and Tokaji say their goal is to create work that reflects
life with all its beauty, twist, and ridiculousness. Nicholson,
described as a "relaxed and whimsical" performer, and Tokaji
as "funny and intense," were born within a week of each other
(both are 52), and are unusually long-limbed, a visual likeness that
makes them look, for all their differences, like odd sisters.
Said another audience member, leaving the theater laughing with her
children and husband, "they have a unique way of making dancing
so personal but universal, and also accessible to everyone, even those
who aren't dance people. There really should be a new word for
what they do."
To find out more about the Weerd sisters, visit www.dianatokaji.com/fringe_festival.htm.
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