Take a step, or a dancer, out of a New York immersive-theater company, and you’ll find Javon Jones, 25, performing a solo show for Merely Players starting Aug. 18.
The Michigan-born, Durango-influenced and Juilliard-trained dancer appeared last summer at Merely Underground with an autobiographical, storytelling work-in-progress. Now, “A Slow Crawl Towards Heaven” is ready for its world premiere. Jones’ dance-theater piece is an unusual work with links to all the above, especially New York’s theater scene.
“This show aligns with Merely Players’ vision of bringing quality and unique theatrical experiences to our area,” said Mona Wood-Patterson, artistic director of the Players. “We are excited to share it as the prequel to our main stage season.
If you go
WHAT: “A Slow Crawl Towards Heaven,” an original dance theater piece by Javon Jones.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Aug. 18, 19, 25, 26 and 2 p.m. Aug. 27.
WHERE: Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Drive.
ADMISSION: $25 or as part of a Flex pass.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.merelyplayers.org or call 749-8585.
“I first met Javon almost two years ago. He had come to Merely Underground to see ‘Men in Boats,’ and he loved the space. Later, Javon asked if Merely Players would be interested in helping him create a full-scale dance-theater production. Charles (Ford, co-founder of the Players) and I decided to pursue this. We met with Javon several times. In the summer and winter of 2022, we offered to let him use our space for two residencies,” she said. “Last summer, he presented a Seed Showing with our Studio Series. It was met with enthusiasm and awe. He has since created all of his own music and continued to develop the piece with other residencies around the country.”Javon Jones in his original solo dance theater piece “A Slow Crawl Towards Heaven.” (Courtesy of Christine Alexander)
“A Slow Crawl Towards Heaven” exemplifies the Players’ Seed program. Last summer, Jones presented a one-hour “rough draft.” Created as a dance narrative, the work unspooled by intertwining music, dance and spoken-word elements. Jones moved around and through a square-playing area in a variety of ways. Periodically, he walked the perimeter in a ritualistic fashion as if walking on a journey of discovery. Often, he returned to key places for more ritualized moments or points of enlightenment. Although sometimes cryptic, Jones’ multimedia storytelling shaped the work and gave it deeper meaning. His talkback session added more and seems integral to his performance, a Part Two, as it were.
“Talkback sessions are important,” Jones said. “I hope people will bring questions. This is a multidisciplinary work that includes movement, text, music and sound in a new set where everything comes together to create a meaningful story. There’s room for the audience to create meaning, too. Dance is a language, and I’ve added a script. There will be monologues. My purpose is to integrate everything and tell a story.
“My work is based on ancestral traditions, my stories and studies,” he said. “During the pandemic, I wanted to fill the void by creating something of my own. My elders read the ‘Book of Moses,’ for example, and reading it again inspired me. So, that’s one of the three ancestral traditions I focus on – a search for freedom of mind, body and heart.”
Thanks to the Durango Lodgers Tax Arts and Culture Grant, Merely Players will bring “A Slow Crawl Towards Heaven” to Durango.
Javon Jones was born 25 years ago in Detroit. He graduated from Cass Technical High School with a concentration in performing arts. After he won a young artists competition, he auditioned for The Juilliard School in New York City and won a scholarship.
Jones has family in Durango, and he said he enjoyed many summers here plus one year of schooling. After Juilliard, he affiliated with the New York City Ballet and is now part of the company staging “Sleep No More,” a vanguard work in what has come to be called immersive theater.
Based on Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” “Sleep No More,” takes place in a many-floored, multiroom space where the story unfolds for a traveling audience.
Immersive theater has an unusual history where the content may be familiar (Goethe’s “Faust,” Shakespeare plays, Edgar Allan Poe stories) but the performance style is different. Scenes take place not on a single stage but in multiple settings. It’s the audience that’s on the move. Conceived around 2000 first in New York then Boston and London, immersive theater now has productions around the world.
“Sleep No More” began its life in 2003, by the Punchdrunk Company affiliated with the American Repertory Theater. The show formally opened in October 2009 in Manhattan and restarted again in 2011 by the newly named production company called Emursive. The COVID-19 pandemic caused another shutdown. but it is up and running again in Manhattan.
Open-ended, participatory storytelling ultimately has its origins in 1960s Happenings when so much in the art world changed. And lest anyone think this is unfamiliar, immersive form has its deepest connections to street theater and participatory rituals. Think about that the next time you go to Meow Wolf.
That said, Javon Jones’ solo show is not participatory but his concept of dance theater rises out of all these traditions.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
