Columbia City Ballet revives its homage to Gullah culture

In “Off the Wall and Onto the Stage,” dancers emerge from two dozen of the colorful, Gullah-inspired paintings of celebrated South Carolina artist Jonathan Green.

“It really does bring the paintings to life — it’s not just good marketing,” said Manly Harrison, who attended a preview Saturday night at the Main Street studios of the Columbia City Ballet.

Many shows offered to Columbia audiences are classics, which makes “Off the Wall” — with its variety of musical styles, new dancers and Southern subject matter — the most exciting show of the season, Harrison said.

“It’s very moving. It’s very upbeat,” added Susan Cutter, whose daughter danced in a past production. “At the same time, it’s very spiritual and it really does capture the African-American experience and culture.”

Here, artistic director William Starrett offers some observations about “Off the Wall and Onto the Stage,” which depicts the daily lives of the Gullah people who’ve inhabited the sea islands of South Carolina after being enslaved and then freed there.

Explain the underlying story of the ballet and how it evolved. Is that where the collaboration between you and Jonathan Green is most evident?

It’s a mixed repertoire evening, so there are a lot of little mini-stories that come into play, especially in the first act. Jonathan would tell me the stories behind all the different paintings and then I got to go away and digest it all and decide which would make wonderful ballets. I wanted it to be very celebratory about freedom. When they were freed, they migrated to the barrier islands. There were no roads, so they formed their own culture ... a melting pot from West Africa and the West Indies and the Caribbean. The message is unity and the importance of working together.

How has the production changed since its 2005 premiere?

It’s kind of a complete week in the life of the Gullah culture (now), so it starts on Sunday afternoon and we go the whole week to Saturday night at the Silver Slipper Dance Hall. The dance hall, on Sunday, turns into the place of worship — the church on the Sabbath — much like it was in the ’70s when Jonathan remembers it. That’s the new part that no one’s seen. And it’s going to be directed by Darryl Izzard, with 50 live singers from the community, singing as they would have at the church.

Who are the “new” dancers featured in “Off the Wall”? It seems a couple, like Amanda Summey, have returned to Columbia for this performance. She had a big presence in the preview.

She’s a wonderful dancer. She’s studied with me since she was a little girl. She continued her dancing and acting training but she has discovered how she can put her love of acting and storytelling to great use through her abilities as a dancer.

There are some new Latino dancers like Christopher Miro ... Manu Navarro, Oscar Sanchez and Ronny Rodriquez Miro.

How many songs did Marlena Smalls, with the Halleluijah Singers, write for this show?

I think it’s four. When I was researching the Gullah culture and the music I wanted to use as the paintings came to life, I kept going back to the Halleluijah Singers. When I shared with Jonathan how much I loved Marlena Smalls and her music, he knew her very well. They were great friends. Then it came about to make her be in the production live. She took on the painting of the role of “Bessie Mae.”

How many of Green’s paintings are used in the ballet? How did you select them?

Twenty-eight. It was really just falling in love with the paintings and seeing how the movement could translate into ballet. Some of them are (reproduced as) paintings on muslin and some of them are scrims. Sometimes, they’re in the program. The difference with the scrims is that they’re painted on a netting so you can see the dancers through them.

Why bring “Off the Wall and Onto the Stage” to Columbia again?

We had this huge success with it this summer. The Links invited us in Washington, D.C. We performed for 45 minutes and there were 4,000 in attendance and it was at this huge convention center. It was unbelievable. We’ve been invited already to nine cities next year because of that.

Also, Jonathan has moved from Florida back to South Carolina. He lives in Charleston. I just felt if I mount it in Charleston and Savannah and Chicago, I didn’t want to cheat Columbia. So I’m kicking it off in Columbia, even though we just did it four years ago.

How has this production changed the Columbia City Ballet and you?

I think it’s helped me inspire more diverse dancers to want to make Columbia their permanent home. I think it’s helped our community see how ballet is different than maybe how they’ve preconceived it. It’s not just “Swan Lake” and “Nutcracker.” To keep art alive you want to keep it current and vibrant.

Columbia particularly has a long history of very actively supporting the visual arts. The Columbia Museum of Art is very embraced and loved. My theory is the citizens of Columbia thought if it was on the wall and the museum bought it, it was theirs.

What I’m trying to get them to understand is these dancers belong to Columbia.

I feel the dancers in the company need to reflect the fabric of our community. I want the art form to be current and up-to-date and not a museum ballet that is just showing the old work.

This story was originally published January 28, 2015 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Columbia City Ballet revives its homage to Gullah culture."