Word Dance Theater's Chambers of the Heart  is a one-of-a-kind journey, transforming one of Washington DC’s most beautiful and historic mansions into a total immersive experience of love in its many manifestations. Through the weaving of dance, theater, music, opera, and media design, each room of the 1927 Renaissance revival mansion will be re-imagined into an environmental and artistic expression of the many ways love appears in our lives. Attendees of this unique performance will freely explore various scenes thus creating their own journey of emotion and remembrance both personal and collective.  Chambers of the Heart is a ‘total and transformative experience’ full of powerful emotions and eye-opening adventures.

 

Presented at the Josephine Butler Mansion; Washington DC; November 11, 12, 13, 2016


Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas

Photo by Theo Kossenas


The Production Team

Concept: Cynthia Word
Directors of Dance: Cynthia Word and Ingrid Zimmer
Director of Theater: Jenny McConnell Frederick
Director of Music: Carlos Cesar Rodriquez
Choreography: Cynthia Word, Ingrid Zimmer, Hannah Goldberg, Julia Smith
Technical Direction and Light Design: Robbie Hayes
Sound Design and Engineering: James Bigbee Garver
Costume Design: Judith Hansen

The Artists

Dancers: Alison Crosby, Phillip Fletcher, Jordan Gehley, Hannah Goldberg, Jenifer Golden, Zachary Scott, Jr., Cynthia Word, Ingrid Zimmer 
Actors:
McCaul Baggett, Farah Lawal Harris, Scott McCormick, Jennifer Osborn, Sarah Taurchini
Musicians: Carlos Cesar Rodriguez, Peter Burroughts, Fairouz Foty, James Bigbee Garver



Reviews

"[Chambers of the Heart] left one with a lot to think about on the nature of performance - and how we relate to it."
-Sarah Kaufmann, The Washington Post 

"Word Dance Theatre's Chambers of the Heart offered a much needed escape into the immersive reality full of breath and love."
- R.K. Pendergrass, DC Theater Scene   

 "Duncan was not known for constraint, she was known for passion. And at this Word Dance Theater succeeded. They truly put it all out on the table, and the audience ate it up."
-  Taryn Packheiser Brown, DC Dance Journalism Project