March 28, 2024
Annapolis, US 51 F

Chesapeake Arts Center: Unshamed: Baring Our Secrets and Our Souls

On November 4 and 5, Baltimore’s Full Circle Dance Company will present Unshamed: Baring Our Secrets and Our Souls, a concert to benefit the Bridge Program, a domestic violence intervention program whose mission is to break the cycle of intimate partner violence. A program of the Center for Injury Prevention and Policy at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, the Bridge Program provides assessment, crisis intervention, advocacy, education, and counseling to people who have experienced domestic violence.

At the center of the benefit performance is a new work by award-winning choreographer Donna L. Jacobs, whose dual identity as both an artist and a hospital administrator provides a rare perspective on this public health issue. At the root of Jacobs’s choreography are deeply personal stories. Drawing on the diverse experiences of participants in the Bridge Program, Full Circle’s 17 dancers, and members of the community at large, Jacobs has created a dance that explores the complex issue of domestic violence from many angles. A key theme is the way secrecy and shame make breaking the cycle especially challenging. Supported by a Ruby Grant from the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, this new work will challenge the audience to bring discussion of domestic abuse into the light and to envision solutions at both individual and societal levels.

“For some of our most difficult problems, art can offer a new lens”, said choreographer and Full Circle Director Donna L. Jacobs. “Movement is a different language for sharing stories and information and for tackling serious issues. A different language can sometimes help us see things differently, leading to new insight. We are so very grateful to participants in the Bridge Program and others who have shared their personal stories in order to help us bring attention to this issue, which can affect absolutely anyone at any stage of life.”

“Domestic violence is a serious problem in our community,” said Tara Carlson, Director of the Center for Injury Prevention and Policy at R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. “It takes unimaginable strength and courage for victims of intimate partner violence to stop abuse from dominating their life and to trust a stranger who appears at the hospital bedside and says ‘I am here to help.’ We are so grateful to Full Circle Dance Company for bringing this powerful program to the community to raise awareness of the need to provide these services to those in need.”

Full Circle Dance Company is well-known for presenting highly varied programs of dances that are thematically related but stylistically diverse. In addition to Jacobs’s new work, the benefit concert will feature works by six other choreographers, each examining secrecy from a different angle. Unshamed: Baring Our Secrets and Our Souls touches on such issues as the secret lives of office mates, characters in folk literature who are secretly animals, skeletons in the family closet, colorism as an often unrecognized legacy of slavery, and more.

Performance Details

Full Circle Dance Company in

Unshamed: Baring Our Secrets and Our Souls

Saturday, November 4, 7:30 pm

Sunday, November 5, 2:30 pm

Chesapeake Arts Center, 194 Hammonds Lane

Brooklyn Park, MD 21225

For Tickets: www.fullcircledancecompany.org, Information: 410-235-9003.

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