What We Ask of Flesh

About the performance:

What We Ask of Flesh (WWAOF) is a seven year labor of true communion and collaboration. Conceptual Architect Christal Brown, has brought together a brilliant cast of movement artists, composers, writers, and technologists to create an immersive evening-length dance and installation. The cast not only explores flesh as the veil between the world and the soul but they also connect INSPIRIT’s 20 year history through legacy and lineage. In this work, the artists’ bodies become instruments that question, connect, and dismantle the tangible and intangible histories present within a human life. Inspired by the writings of poet Remica Bingham-Risher, the caregiver's journey through Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, the navigation of grief and the redemption of joy; Brown and her company explore the tapestry between our internal and external realities. Set to live music, five movement artists assisted by media projection, lights, and garments of art take the audience on a journey of truth and triumph.

About the artists:

​INSPIRIT, a dance company, was founded in 2004 by Christal Brown with the sole purpose of bringing together and showcasing emerging female artists and choreographers. Since its inception, INSPIRIT has grown to be an incubation tank, providing training in executive, artistic, and educational skills. In addition to having performed in various venues across the United States, the company has also been in residence at several colleges and universities while also creating strong ties with various communities of young women nationwide through Project: BECOMING.

By harnessing the transcendent power of dance, INSPIRIT, a dance company, strives to create and sustain social change. By investing in our artists and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in the arts as well as the world, we reap dividends for generations to come. In the classroom, in community, in rehearsal and in performance INSPIRIT lives up to our name by infusing new life, encouraging growth and invigorating all with whom we come in contact.

Christal Brown is the founder of INSPIRIT, a dance company, and Project: BECOMING; creator of the Liquid Strength dance training module; and CVO of Steps and Stages Coaching, Facilitation and Consulting. She serves as Asso. Professor of Dance, Alexander Twilight Artist in Residence, and Director of the Anti-Racist Task Force at Middlebury College. In 2022, Brown was honored with the Walter Cerf Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts by the Vermont Arts Council.

The presentation of What We Ask of Flesh was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

Host or Publisher The Dance Complex