The Whole World Is a Narrow Bridge
Reviewed by Ezra Bitterman
Noah’s Ark Exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center
Performs Indefinitely [NOTE: Temporarily closed due to COVID-19]
[Note: This review is part of the Z. Clark Branson/Stage Raw Equity and Inclusion Initiative for Young Journalists. Stage Raw staff are mentoring the young authors, as they build their professional resumes as arts journalists.]
RECOMMENDED:
The Whole World Is a Narrow Bridge, being performed at the Skirball Cultural Center’s Noah’s Ark exhibit, is a charming, immersive and family-friendly dance performance. The dance moves through the exhibit, emphasizing the effects of floods on people, along with themes of perseverance and connection to community.
The show begins in the back of the exhibit, where the flood is described, and the audience is encouraged to dance with the performers and help them get everything on the ark. Then it moves to the middle room as the ark moves, and various animals are forced to create new communities. Finally, we’re guided to the back room where every creature on the ark has formed a new community and learns to work together.
Performers Julia Garcia Combs and Belize Wilheim draw the audience in, forging a single community through one group movement. The dance, choreographed by director Anthony Nikolchev, is fast-paced as it moves through all three rooms in about a half hour. Perhaps the best part of the performance is in the last room, revealing a complex web of ropes and personifying the sense of teamwork throughout the show.
Final point: The dancers are great, revealing the months of work that went into creating the piece.
After the show, I got a chance to chat with Combs and Wilheim, and they described their need to adapt and to improvise in every show to cater to a different audience. While the story of Noah’s Ark comes from the Old Testament, this re-telling of the flood is not religiously oriented; it simply underscores its themes of tenacity through struggle, and community. And it does so with a remarkable sense of fun — a great way to spend an afternoon with your family or friends.
Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A.; Fri., 3:45 p.m.; indef [NOTE: Temporarily closed due to COVID-19]. https://www.skirball.org/noahs-ark; Note: Same-day tickets to Noah’s Ark are also available on a walk-up basis only, subject to availability (no advance tickets). Running time: 30 minutes with no intermission.
