Line dancing and fight, flight or freeze response are ways dance companies take on ArtBeat theme

The theme of the year’s ArtBeat festival, “Freeze,” will be explored in dance too. Alexandria Nunweiler presents “Shoulder,” a duet that is a part of a longer piece called “Salvage” dealing with religion. “‘Shoulder’ explores this idea of liminal space and sacred presence – the name comes from the concept of having an angel and a devil on your shoulder,” Nunweiler said. “We explore what it means to be overcome with emotion and simply freeze because of it, leaning into the fight, flight or freeze reaction.” Courtney and Camryn Spero of Spero dance takes the theme in another direction in their first show for Greater Boston. “‘Line Dance’ explores the idea of being frozen in time while time continues to move forward,” Camryn Spero said, unlocking a double meaning in the title: “The phrase ‘timeline’ is often used colloquially, and then line dance is permeating the social scene – so a dance about time’s insistence on moving forward on the line.” Pasy Naay Leer Dance, Dara Capley, Clara Ramona and Jo-Me Dance also have pieces at ArtBeat. 

This post originally ran in Cambridge Day