The sarus crane, the tallest flying bird in the world, is famous in India for its unique dance ritual. Its annual namesake SARUS Festival in Wilmington, which opens Aug. 15, is quickly becoming renowned for more than only dancing, leading planners to expand the event from four days to nine this year to accommodate the workshops and art-related events.
“The SARUS Festival used to be a dance festival. Now it’s opened up to all performing arts,” said Karola Lüttringhaus, the festival’s founder and director.
The 2014 event lasted four days and attracted thousands of spectators from near and far.
“It’s hard to say how many because we had a lot of events outside,” Lüttringhaus said. “It was at least 2,000 or 3,000.”
This year’s nine-day festival will run Aug. 15-23 and feature works of art pertaining to the overarching theme of borders, barriers and territoriality.
Lüttringhaus’ self-produced documentary, “Terra Nullius,” Latin for “no man’s land,” explores the concept of home.
“It’s a hybrid documentary and art film,” she said.
The 30-minute film shows dance performances interspersed with interviews questioning the dancers about their perception of home.
“I’m from Germany, and for me home is an interesting concept,” Lüttringhaus said. “We had a couple North Carolina artists involved and we came up with very different definitions of what home is.”
The film also poses and answers the question, “How does it affect your art when you live in another country?”
The documentary’s dance performances and interviews were completed collaboratively with the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C. All scenes were filmed on site.
“Terra Nullius” will screen at Jengo’s Playhouse on Aug. 22 at 8 p.m., with tickets priced at $10.
SARUS will also offer events for children.
“There are two tracks to the children’s programs: one is performances for children and one is performances by children,” Lüttringhaus said.
Performances by children are geared toward audience members of all ages, she added.
“I’m doing a performance for children 5 and up called ‘The Suitcase Garden.’ It’s a 30-minute performance,” Lüttringhaus said. “It was originally a performance for adults. It has a lot of interesting visuals and a magical element, so I decided to extrapolate a children’s performance out of it.”
The dance theater production focuses on the cycle of life. The protagonist is a woman who holds a suitcase filled with memories of the house she grew up in, the river nearby and the garden. Performances will take place at the Community Arts Center’s Donn Ansell Studio on Saturday, Aug. 15 at 10 a.m., and Aug. 17-18 at 4 p.m.
Children of Peace Rose Montessori School will take the stage during “Bama Speaks,” a dramatic performance preceded by a film of children speaking about artwork they painted under the guidance of project leaders Rachael Crawford Goolsby and Amanda Cordova. Cucalorus resident artist Jen Ray, from Vancouver, Canada, worked with the children during the school’s Dance and Theater Week to create performance pieces that pertain to the barriers theme.
“That part is not necessarily meant for children but it’s by children,” Lüttringhaus said. “We think that children have very interesting things to say about life and about living together and society and their fresh point of view on life can be very illuminating. We would like to add young voices to the grown-ups.”
“Bama Speaks” will be held in the Community Arts Center’s Donn Ansell Studio on Saturday, Aug. 22 from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for children.
The festival will also offer performance workshops. The Community Choreo Lab, designed for people young and old, focuses on creating dance movements that bridge age caps. Participants will study body language and artistic expression through dance. No prior experience is required. The workshop is a collaboration between the SARUS Festival, Peace Rose Montessori School and the Dance Cooperative and will take place in the Donn Ansell Studio on Saturday, Aug. 22, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for children.
The festival schedule and passes are available at www.sarusfestival.org
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