Maker
Brian J. Evans has had the opportunity to work with diverse communities. Social Justice and Community building are at the heart of any choreographic endeavor, as he strives to make work from the community. There is always an aspect of the work that takes direct input from the community. This type of process lends to the embodied arts possibility of impacting the community in ways that make the process just as important, if not more so, than the product.
Do, Process is a creative arts framework tasked with generating work grappling with the first three words of the preamble to the United States Constitution: “We, the people…” A multi-disciplinary offering/sharing to engage audiences in community-driven art focused on creating spaces to process. How do “we” confront the implications that arise when the foundational document of the United States of America does not equally protect all of its citizens?
Photo Credit Kari Mosel Photography
LOPsided is an autobiographical work made up of original music, dance theater, and photography focusing on Evans’ understanding of his own biases as he wades through the impllications of being a Citizen Artist. The work premiered as a live show in Minneapolis, Minneasota in 2018 as a part of Off-Leash Area’s: The Right Here Showcase.
This version of LOPsided is a series of 13 videos made druing the COVID-19 Pandemic. Each video can be viewed on its own or all together in any order as an evening-length digital work.
“In many ways, I don’t want to make art about the pain and trauma of being mixed in America, but the hope is that by sharing my perspective, which is made up of many, it will help to humanize us.”
~Brian J. Evans (he/him/his)
Photo Credit Kari Mosel Photography
A three-part work commissioned by the Flying Foot Forum and presented at the Guthrie Theater, Passing Time, co-created by Rush Benson and Brian J. Evans, explores the complexities of masculinity through body percussion, rhythm, superheroes, and song.
Photo Credit The Flying Foot Forum
Crazy is a meta-cognitive audience-participatory invitation to support someone who’s openly asked for assistance.
Photo Credit Micheal B. Maine
Spoken word poem about the trials and trails of tokenism, being the only, and the joy of reaching the summit.
Photo Credit Kari Mosel Photography
An Off-Leash Area Garage Community Show, co-directed and created by Brian J Evans and Paul Herwig, attempting to embody the meteoric rise and tortuous fall of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Photo Credit Off-Leash Area
The Unavoidable Tactility was a collaborative exploration of belief systems that permeate culture. The undergrad cast and I discussed navigating this saturated landscape to uncover how we might find a sense of self. The piece was double-casted to expand the opportunity for a larger cross-section of community members to engage, and in each performance, the stage left crew and stage right crew swapped roles. In 8 weeks, we went from relative strangers to a tight community of care to witness and support each individual’s journey as we became a collective. I would recommend viewing it with closed captions active.
Photo Credit Warren Woo
This work tracks the ways in which we have protested from the 60's through today. Created with a group of Saint Paul Conservatory for the Performing Arts artists. The juxtaposition of the inherent violence of change with peaceful notions of what that change may bring.
Photo Credit Saint Paul Conservatory for the Arts (SPCPA)
A dive into the tensions that exist between society and the individual. 50% of this work is my choreography, and 50% came from the cast. The unison sections take on the ideas of communal living, globalism, and the perversion of unity. The cast was given one minute to ‘define themselves.’ Watch the weaving of these solos as they assemble into ensemble.
A cross-section of relationships. From stranger to partner, the piece collages the different types of relationships we pursue and are thrust into. The picturesque simplicity of the 'ideal' romantic relationship and how the 'ideal' is never quite attainable. A hihgly collaborative project with the cast of Young Dance, a community of all abilities, body types, and economic, social and cultural backgrounds, providing an environment in which diversity is authentically embraced and celebrated.
Photo Credit Bill Cameron Photography courtesy of Young Dance