Dance, Poetry, Music on tap Nov. 21-22

Louise Runyon Performance Company will present Language / Listening, an evening of dance, poetry and music, on Friday and Saturday, November 21 and 22 at 8 p.m. at Beacon Hill Arts Center Studio Theatre, 410 W. Trinity Place, Decatur. Tickets are $10 and available at the door. Dancers Louise Runyon and Tom Bell will be joined by poet Alice Lovelace and the women’s drumming group ConunDrums, combining the multiple languages of movement, touch, words and drums. Themes include drivenness and connection, mother/daughter relationship, evolution and the natural world, and gardening peace.

The evening will include four dance works. “Chairs: Unseated,” a new duet for Runyon and Bell, intertwines playfulness and compulsion, exploring the competition inherent in musical chairs as well as the seamless give and take of one chair between two people. Runyon and Bell will also present “Wait,” a lecture-demonstration about Contact Improvisation, a dance form in which two partners maintain contact of body surfaces while giving and sharing weight. Runyon will present her new solo, “Garden Peace,” in which she shares a garden harvest with the audience. Bell and Runyon will revive their 2007 “Water Rock Lizard Fire,” exploring evolution and the natural landscape.

Alice Lovelace will perform poems from her just-published book, forever, a collection of personal poems which represent a radical departure from her normally explosive political poetry. These extremely moving poems explore the complex mother/daughter relationship and the loss of Lovelace’s husband and companion of 28 years, Charles “Jikki” Riley. Louise Runyon will present poems from her recent book of poetry, LANDSCAPE / Fear & Love, also dealing with family and the mother/daughter relationship, as well as with the natural world. Both poets will have books for sale.

ConunDrums, the extremely popular, high-energy women’s drumming group, will begin and end the show performing West African rhythms. The show will open the door between artists and community in a number of ways – presented in partnership with Decatur Organic Farmers Market, DOFM will offer sample produce to the audience; ConunDrums will invite people onstage to dance; the lecture-demonstration “Wait” will offer a behind-the scenes view of choreographic process.

For information and directions: (404) 728-8991 or www.LouiseRunyonPerformance.com.