A humanitarian dance
Wallflower Order moves for a change
Generating great receptions, packed
houses and rave reviews from the
Village Voice to the Kansas City Times,
the nationally-acclaimed dance troupe
the Wallflower Order has been touring
together for five years throughout the
country.
But Eugene is home
And, the Wallflower Order is coming
home for a few days: Tonight, Friday
and Sunday the Order will be joining
the Latin American musical group,
Grupo Raiz, to perform a benefit tour
for humanitarian aid to El Salvador and
Chile at the Community Center for the
Performfng Arts (Eighth Avenue and
Lincoln Street).
The Order embarks on two to three
major tours a year and performs at
numerous local benefits in Eugene.
Recently the group has danced ben
efits for White Bird and the Nestle's
boycott in Eugene.
The Wallflower Order is a women's
collective dance troupe which caters to
predominantly women's audiences.
Strongly linked to various women’s
groups in the community, the dances it
performs relate to the character of each
member's experiences as a woman.
Members include Krissy Keefer, Lynn
Neely, Pamela Gray, Nina Fichter, and
Suchi Branfman, and as a women’s
collective dance group, the Wallflower
Order uses no director. Rather, each
member puts an equal amount of en
ergy into the composition and execu
tion of the dances. Continuing this
individualistic mode, the members are
also all involved in various political
study groups in Eugene.
While the dance of the Wallflower
Order reflects a study in politics —
particularly class differences, anti-im
perialist, solidarity and liberation strug
gles, the group has become increas
ingly connected with politics and prob
lems of other groups not specifically
tied to the Women’s Movement.
"Art is political work,” producer of
the WOW Hall performance Coleen
Gragen says
“The group is committed to people
developing their talents who would not
necessarily be recognized by the tradi
tional dance scene,” she adds.
Wanting to disassociate themselves
from the “traditional dance scene,” the
group members met at the university
dance department and formed the
Eugene Dance Collective; the
Wallflower Order followed.
The collective and Grupo Raiz come
to the CCPA after sell-out per
formances in Santa Cruz and the Bay
Area. They will continue the benfit tour
up through Corvallis, Portland, Olympia
and Seattle.
Along with Grupo Raiz, the Order
performed three dances on the down
town mall at the April 18th demonstra
tion against United States intervention
in El Salvador. Along with the dance,
both groups encouraged the crowd to
sing along with them "Nicaragua is
Free, El Salvador soon to be."
Krissy Keffer, a dancer with the col
lective, feels the April 18th demonstra
tion was a well organized, exciting and
wonderful experience.
"We are involved in this because it is
part of what is happening in a big way in
the world We want to raise the people’s
conscious to the point that they will get
involved, write their congressmen, do
something — guns, ‘economic aid’ and
other intervention has to stop in Latin
America,” Keffer says.
The troupe has dealt with the no
iuke and anti-draft movements, Ira
lian-American Friendship Committee,
Solidarity with the Black Movement,
and freedom for the peoples of Latin
America in its dance.
THE
PHAROAH
SANDERS
GROUP
IN CONCERT
with special
guest
CAM NEWTON
Friday April 24
8:00 p.m. EMU Ballroom
S4.50/U of O Students
$5.50/General Public
AN ALL STAR JAZZ GROUP
Pharoah Sanders-Sax
Idris Muhammad-Drums
John Hicks-Piano
Walter Booker-Horns
A benefit for the U of O Survival Center
For more information 485-1411 or 485-1451
TICKET OUTLETS:
Everybody's, EMU Main Desk, Real to Reel Recording (1135) and Mr, Mike’s Records
Gragen says that as other groups in
the country are doing, the Wallflower
Order is becoming increasingly con
nected to the problems of other people,
which are larger than one specific
group.
Incorporated in the tour is a dance to
a Holly Near song entitled “Au Una
Mujer,” which portrays women politcal
prisoners in Chile. Also performed in
the benefit tour is a dance which stems
from the book “Torture and Re
sistance,’’ written by Ashraf Deghani, a
woman guerrila fighter in Iran.
Another dance, entitled "Z Ballet for
Z People," depicts a waitress in a rest
aurant involved in the class struggles of
the aristocratic and lower classes;
while still another composition employs
colorful costumes and depicts the
plight of the near-extinct flamingos in
Chile.
Grupo Raiz is part of the Latin Amer
ican Song Movement that draws on the
traditional music of the Andes, the
Nueva Cancion from Chile, Caribbean
percussion and touches of North
American jazz. The Wallflower Order
met Grupo Raiz at the People’s In
auguration Demonstration benefit for
El Salvador held in Eugene last
January. This tour is the first time the
Wallflower Order has worked with
another group.
“Both groups are united in this ben
efit tour because they are strongly
committed to the victory of the El
Salvadorian people and are willing to
spend two months of time and energy
to benefit the cause," Gragen said.
The funds generated from the tour
will be used partly for humanitarian aid
to El Salvador, and partly for the
purchase of traditional cultural musical
instruments in Chile. (The Chilean
government forbids these traditional
musical instruments because, histor
ically, Chilean people have used music
as a political art to organize).
Gragen says that she cannot stress
enough the importance pf the political
cause attatched to this tour. “The Latin
American peoples should possess the
right of freedom unhampered by in
human intervention from foreign
powers,” she says. “El Salvador will
win.”
Keefer says the Wallflower Order is
committed to supporting progressive
political groups anywhere, particularly
victims of U S. intervention.
“We want to keep a momentum going
in this country to stop initiating war,”
she says. “We will keep working and
working until the situation clears, and
intervention ceases.”
The performances, which will run two
to three hours each night, promise to
be an excellent union of North Amer
ican and Latin American culture.
The five musicians in Grupo Raiz all
play a wide variety of traditional Latin
American instruments including
charangos, zamponas, congas, and
five varieties of indigenous flutes. And
the Wallflower Order performs with a
wholistic blend of various dance forms
including ballet, modern, and jazz with
gymnastics, martial arts, sign
language, theater, singing, and
comedy.
Tickets are available at Zoo Zoo’s
Restaurant, The Book and Tea, and
Better Days Clothing Store. Curtain
time is 8 p.m. Childcare is available, and
the CCPA is wheelchair accessible.
Tickets will be available at the door at
6:30 p.m. on the day of the shows. For
more information call 484-7456 or
343-9130.
Story by Sheri Scully
Photos provided by
the Wallflower Order
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