Rosebud dance students perform in blacklight

By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor

Rosebud School of the Arts students, under the direction of Deanne Bertsch, will perform an original blacklight dance show called Follow the Sun, May 3-5, in Rosebud.
The entire play will be performed in blacklight, highlighting performers’ bodies painted in tribal patterns, along with their hands, masks, puppet masks and cardboard animals.
“Follow the Sun is about our planet Earth … it’s our take on the creation story,” said cast member and co-creator Rachel Franson, first-year student at Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA).
The show centres on Earth Girl, performed by a child guest performer named Lily, Franson said. The RSA first-year class comprises the rest of the cast. Rebecca Hellekson is the Sun, Chris Friesen is the Tree of Life, Franson is Europe and each other class member performs the role of another continent. The music is from Xavier Rudd’s Spirit Bird album.
“Rebecca (Hellekson), who’s the sun, creates the world,” Franson said. “Then humans are created. Then disaster happens where we wreck the Earth. We fight over her and want to possess her. In the end, we kind of clean the Earth back up and it’s not perfect. It’s still damaged, but it’s a story about taking care of Earth.”
Bertsch and the class created Follow the Sun as the students wrote stories about Earth and created solo dances based on Rudd’s music. Each of those solo dances became a part of the production.
“Rebecca wrote a poem, a really beautiful poem,” Franson said. “It’s gorgeous imagery.”
Hellekson performs that poem as the show’s narration.
Franson, dancing the part of Europe, relishes her role as villain.
“I have this whole moment of glory in my solo dance where I take control of Earth,” Franson said. “Then during Rebecca’s solo dance, I’m kind of there in the background, hovering over her with my big mask. We fight over her for quite a while. But I’m the only continent that takes sole possession of Earth.”
She also cuts down the Tree of Life.
“The other (continents) rip branches off of him, but I straight up cut him down.”
This type of villain is basically a hero who’s made different choices, Franson said. The history of the Earth is a struggle for power, profit and money, and she said she enjoys the dilemma that creates, though she doesn’t share its values.
“They would be a villain to me, but a villain that I understand,” she said. “I get their point. I just don’t agree with it.”
Follow the Sun will be performed on Rosebud’s BMO Studio Stage, May 3-5, at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are available at rosebudschoolofthearts.com or 1-800-267-7553.