Featured Member: Synapse Arts Collective

The Chicago-based performance group Synapse Arts Collective creates opportunities for all types of artists to work collaboratively on performance-based projects. Integrating movement experimentation, theater, photography, music, visual art, video, creative writing, and stage design, the group strives to both inspire their audiences and evoke critical thinking and emotion. Artistic Director Rachel Damon elaborates…

Rachel, tell us about the mission of Synapse Arts Collective.

The goals of our work center on artistic development — both the creation of new work and also the professional development of individual artists. We’ve found that creative collaboration and co-presentation beget innovative performance works, and also provide an environment for learning-by-doing and sharing skills and resources.

Your website says that Synapse Arts Collective is “Railing against the self-centered climate of our times.” What trends or habits do you see as the root(s) of this self-centeredness? What negative end results does this self-centeredness cause, in the art world and in society in general?

I doubt that my answer to this is much different from that of an artist in a bygone era. I think our dependence on personal technology and an overabundance of consumer choices are acclimatizing us further towards excessive individuality rather than connecting us. My hyperbolic fear is that we’ll get to a point when we’re never asked to create a group project in grade school. Or never play a team sport, and don’t know how to sew a hem or bake bread.

The most important lesson of the many collaborative endeavors I’ve luckily been a part of is the fact that my ideas are made better by the contributions of others. This is a hard lesson for me, because I naturally prefer to lead, but more people benefit from everyone’s voice being heard, and my mind is often opened to a different perspective. Gathering in a room of creative folk to trade ideas, build skills, and form live performance works is a welcome reminder of the power of interaction. As the world fills with people, we have to work harder to educate ourselves about the increasingly diverse array of events and lifestyles.

For my part, the information I glean from a Bharatanatyam performance or the feeling I get from being a part of the audience at a Sara Kane play affect me more deeply than watching videos of the same or reading wiki articles about them. I have immediate access to all these options, but I can shake the hand of a performer after the show. I can’t even see their facial expression when we text about it later.

I’ve asked other Featured Members what they hope their audience takes away from their performance… What do you hope audience members bring to your performances? What must they bring in order for you to achieve your mission?

Our audiences will get the most out of a Synapse experience if they are willing to open up all of their senses. We did a project in silence that was all about watching and quiet (hush, 2004), we’ve done performances in busy street crosswalks, where audiences may not know we’re there until they have to move out of the way, and our current piece (Stridulate, which opens Friday, June 12) asks that the audience open their ears just as much as their eyes. We work to create a sensory experience, pushing the boundaries of dance to include, and share equal billing with, other artforms and environments.

Our audiences are asked to bring this openness, and they do, but we also bring performance to them. It is a part of the bargain that we meet them halfway, or even extend further than that, to introduce the connectivity of performance to them in ticketed venues but also the sidewalk, the park, and the train.

You strive to keep your events available to all by doing public/site-specific work, and making admission prices inexpensive or free. How is that doable in the current economy? What kinds of choices make this possible?

This is getting harder, certainly. We are able to thrive largely due to our network of support. We rehearse in a free space because I teach there, and we regularly partner with galleries and venues that benefit from our audiences seeing their space. These connections take more effort, but less money. We apply for grants, propose co-presentation programs, and receive generous individual donations. We choose to augment the financial support with resource sharing amongst collective members, to stretch the dollars into shows and programs.

Yet we still have to invite the performers to do public works at low pay rates, with the understanding that they can determine if they can spend the effort at the remuneration we offer. Many of them choose to for the fun of it and for the statement it makes.

What has been your greatest success to date?

This is an incredibly difficult question to answer, because each of our projects are very different from one another. I can’t claim any one answer, but will say that Crosswalk Dances brought dance to a lot of people who would never have seen us otherwise, that “Feeling Into Form” (an improvisation workshop series) developed our ideas about ensemble work, The First Sound established our ongoing interest in pairing moving and singing, Slit physically moved the audience through the works and stations that emphasized the themes of the evening but with an enjoyable satire, hush successfully created an immersion experience for the audience, and Stridulate promises to do that as well.

What’s great about the Chicago performing arts scene/community? What’s tough about it?

What’s great is the profusion, and the interconnectedness while maintaining diversity. There are so many creators working in dance, theater, comedy, music, and performance art, that you have multiple options of what to see on any given night. And many folks go to events that are out of their home genre.

What is difficult, particularly in dance, is the divide between small to mid-size ensembles and the bigger budget companies. This is reflected in our venues — we have many venues that seat approximately 40-100, and plenty that seat 250 or more, but to step up from one to the other is a severe financial undertaking.

Without a central dance service organization, that can advocate for dance-based work and teach dancemakers to develop their business to that stage, we are only able to get as big as an underpaid staff and sporadic rehearsal schedule can allow.

How did you find out about Fractured Atlas and what motivated you to become a member?

We found out about Fractured Atlas through our collaborator Erica Mott, who was researching ways for artists to obtain health insurance. We became a member for the array of support opportunities in fiscal sponsorship, liability insurance, development, and the network of artists across the country.

What’s next on your professional horizon?

We open Stridulate: hybrid forms in voice and movement on June 12 in Chicago! This is the culmination of a year-long process investigating intersections of the voice and moving body, exploring expressivity and egalitarian treatment of two art forms. We are also in the planning stages of a series called “Collision Theory”, a series that will bring together novel pairings of improvising sound and movement artists for monthly performances at Links Hall.

How can we see/experience your company’s work and learn more about you?

If you are not in Chicago, go to www.synapsearts.com. If you are in Chicago, come see Stridulate June 12-20 at The Galaxie!

Top to bottom:
1) Rachel Damon. Photo by Kristin Helfrich.
2) Excerpts of Synapse Arts Collective’s most recent performance at Hyde Park Art Center. From the project Stridulate, with Rachel Damon and Dan Mohr performing. Video by Suzy Grant.
3) Chrysalis Unmade, with Rachel Damon, Bethany Betzler. Photo by Kristin Helfrich.
4) Crosswalk Dances. Photo by Wendy Coffelt.