ECU alumna shares new documentary, accessible dance with students, veterans, community

ECU alumna shares new documentary, accessible dance with students, veterans, community

By bringing "We Lift Each Other" to ECU, Pearson hopes to inspire the dance community to pick up on the BBDT's work so far and help others through dance. She already has received support and commitment from North Carolina and beyond. PBS purchased the film and will broadcast it at an unknown future date.

Secretary Jocelyn Mitnaul Mallette of North Carolina's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs attended the initial premiere and expressed support, with a plan to show the film in May to Gov. Josh Stein, North Carolina's cabinet, and the General Assembly, Pearson said.

"She's so enthused by this," Pearson said of Mallette. "She has it set up for 200 veterans service officers to see as a part of their continuing education."

Retired Buncombe County Superior Court Judge Marvin Pope appears in the film, presiding over the Buncombe County Veterans Treatment Court, which he founded in 2014. The court helps veterans suffering from substance use and mental health disorders, and has helped connect veterans with the BBDT.

"(Judge Pope) is calling it one of the most 'accountable and compassionate forms of justice' he's ever seen," Pearson said. "He's been writing letters to other judges saying this is what should be happening when they're in this treatment court phase; they should have some sort of art-making process because that was the treatment that carried them forward, gave them community, gave them the next steps in recovery."

Dance students viewed the film first, and several said they felt connected to the film because they have family serving in the military. Isabel Beck, a sophomore dance major who is an extended BBDT company member, is one of those. Her father has served for 24 years.

"I saw the film as a connection of two really, really major parts of my life," she said. "It just shows the impact we can have; you don't often think of dance being able to do these kinds of things. I loved being able to see that and experience it."

Beck laughs when asked if her dad has ever danced. She said he's been "super supportive" by attending her performances and escorting her to some military dances, but hasn't appeared on stage himself.

Many students felt the impact of the film, and of the lessons Pearson and her colleagues brought to ECU. Junior dance major Sarah Parks, who has attended two of the company's winter intensive sessions, said BBDT appreciates every person's ability in dance.

"They're really supportive, and they see dance as movement rather than talent," she said. "It was really eye-opening to see the things that people go through and how they can get through that and feel human again."

Hannah Lowe, a dance performance and choreography junior with a double major in communication with a public relations concentration, first connected with BBDT classes because she lives near Raleigh. She was happy to see people in the film she's danced with.

"You always feel welcome when you go and dance with them," she said. "Working with the veterans, I think it shows how impactful art is and how much it really does contribute to the world today, and how much of a positive impact it can have."

John Dixon, an associate professor of dance who came to ECU in 2009, has worked with Pearson on similar projects since his first years here. One of those was "Patriot," a performance similar to that in "We Lift Each Other," with participation by veterans and ECU students, performed on campus.

Dixon said Pearson's ability to connect with people in the world, and demonstrate that to students, is transformative.

"When we move, when something engages us at another level … it really changes the depth of the experience," he said. "And when students experience that, and they start to understand that when they're training they're not just learning how to move their body in some way, but that they're tapping into a whole different level of expression of who they are, that they're revealing parts of themselves, it's deeply beautiful without having to say exactly what it is.

"I think it's a gift that an ECU graduate is doing the kind of work that, creating transformation through dance art at a national, and I think through this film, an international level. I'm incredibly excited about it and happy for her."

The College of Fine Arts and Communication and the ECU Alumni Association hosted an evening screening of the film for the broader community. Pearson and her team - including Marissa Schroeder and BBDT founding member Alfredo Hurtado, a Purple Heart combat wounded U.S. Army veteran who found healing in dance - shared that the work continues. The veterans appearing in "We Lift Each Other" still dance and have performed in four more shows.

Audience members shared that the film's messages resonated with them, from the creation of community through shared experience and the isolation many of the veterans shared that they felt.

"The documentary showed me that sometimes all it takes is reaching out just a little bit," one audience member said. "People will catch you; you just need the inner strength to push through that invisible wall."

Pearson said her team often says they aren't therapists, but what they do is therapeutic, and that they simply invite people to bring whatever part of themselves they wish, and they create something as a group.

"We want to be sure that everyone sees it first and foremost as a story of dance," Pearson told ECU's dance students. "This is our art form. This is what dance does."

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