Slow dance

Why are so few companies addressing current events?
By Rita Felciano

At the first-ever National Critics Conference in Los Angeles last May, arts activist and writer Robert Atkins chaired a panel discussion, "Missing in Action: AIDS and Politically-Attuned Arts Writing Today." In the '80s and '90s, the premise went, AIDS had brought about the "most politically savvy, aesthetically satisfying, and consciousness-altering body of work" in recent years. "What has been the impact of this legacy on more recent nightmares, such as 9/11, breast cancer, the tsunami tragedy, or our impending eco-catastrophe?" the panel asked. "Has art with a political subtext been marginalized, and if so, what role have critics and editors played in this marginalization?"

These seem fair enough questions to raise in another context: at the end of another year. In the fall of 2005, musings on the link between politics and art were provoked by the Bay Area debuts of two companies from Africa. Compagnie Jant-Bi's Fagaala was inspired by a novel about the genocide in Rwanda; Studios Kabako's Triptyque Sans Titre grew out of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Both of these works beautifully, and even brilliantly, shone a light on horrific recent history. They did so without pointing fingers or engaging in political grandstanding. They succeeded by using the material at hand eloquently and convincingly.