The month of July always brings up the question of freedom for me.

With the proliferation of flags flying and fireworks bursting, I wonder – is America, are all Americans really free? Is where we are now, the present state of America, what we envisioned/hoped it would be?

In 2017 as the then-President Trump began to radically revamp immigration policy, reducing humanitarian protections and stoking anti-immigrant public sentiment, I felt a certain urgency to create a piece about immigration. (US), a site-specific performance, came into being in October 2018, at the Hartford Public Library, a central hub for immigrants in Hartford. In March 2019 it became a proscenium piece at the Theater of the Performing Arts at GHAPA.

A collection of vintage suitcases was the sole visual element that the dancers incorporated into the environs of the library to tell the story. Music and spoken word, including the voices of Hartford-area immigrants, filled out the scene. (US) acknowledged the wall, #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, and #AbolishICE and hearkened to a better place – a connection to a better universal condition, glimpsed but not yet achieved.

There is solemnity in its sorrow, rather than retribution, and temper in its joy that leaves plain that we have a long way to go to achieve a more perfect union. In the words of a chant that accompanied one of the dances in (US):

 

We came from there not here

From everywhere

Free-dom

 

You Me She He

We

All of us

Free-dom

 

All of us

Travelled to

Amer-ica

 

With the hope of building

Free-dom in

Ameri-ca

 

That receives

That be-comes

That contributes

Free-dom

 

Work, Struggle

Laugh, and Cry

And be-come

Free-dom

 

And we

Cherish

This place

To be-long

Free-dom

 

Be-longing to

The dream of

Amer-ica

 

Land of multiplicity

Not of duplicity

Can we truly be

The land of the free?

 

Doors not walls for Ameri-ca

Doors not walls for Ameri-ca

Doors not walls for Ameri-ca

 

Can we truly be the land of the free? The question exists even more starkly in 2024.

In this month of July, even closer to November’s election, let’s think about what we can do to make freedom a reality here. Through the arts, the message rings clear—Doors not walls in America—our votes can make the difference. 

 Note: JDPP continues the celebration of our 35^th year anniversary through these blog posts by founder Judy Dworin, highlighting the Ensemble’s repertory and their messages throughout these decades