By Caitlyn Swett, Triptych Collective

In their seventh season, the Triptych Collective will be continuing their mission of developing and performing socially engaged performance art in the Charlotte, N.C. community.  With assistance from a Cultural Innovation grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Triptych Collective will be creating socially relevant work by collaborating with experts from the community and by volunteering with Charlotte Family Housing, a transitional shelter for homeless families.  This spring, the Collective will perform in several area venues and will give free public performances.

The Triptych Collective’s goal is to make their work accessible by performing in unconventional dance spaces, such as music venues, art galleries, bars, and more recently, site-specific and outdoor performances. Audiences stumble upon their art, giving the Collective a diverse demographic of viewers and supporters, often sharing dance with those who would otherwise not experience it. Along with our performance spaces, their creative processes are also unique. Triptych Collective works collaboratively with choreographers, performers, musicians, and visual artists to deliver a distinctive blend of live music, dance, and visual art to repurposed performance spaces. The Collective’s processes also include research and volunteering with various local organizations, gathering pluralistic experiences in efforts to make work that truly honors history and community.

This season, the Triptych Collective will be continuing to develop last season’s works The Boundaries do not Hold by Caitlyn Swett and dancers and Poor Mouth by Eric Mullis and dancers. The Boundaries do not Hold contemplates the concept of home, gathering various experiences in efforts to work towards a pluralistic definition of home, and, this season, focuses on homelessness in Charlotte. The creative process of this piece has been fueled by the Collective’s volunteer efforts with Charlotte Family Housing through giving monthly creative movement workshops to residents. Poor Mouth examines the history of NoDa and its mill village strikes of the 1930’s. In addition to qualitative research, the piece worked in collaboration with Tom Hanchett, historian at the Levine Museum of the New South. Volunteering and local collaborations for these pieces will continue as Triptych Collective expands upon and performs these Knight Foundation-funded works through the spring season.

Triptych Collective show dates include:

• February 7^th at Getty’s Courtroom (Rock Hill, SC)
• February 28^th at the Milestone (Charlotte, NC)
• April 12^th public performance in NoDa (Charlotte, NC)
• April 18^th at Motorco (Durham, NC)
• April 24^th at Neighborhood Theatre (Charlotte, NC)