A Damn Fine Release From Damfino Arts

I’ve missed the big arts organizations’ live performances in world-class spaces during the pandemic. But I’ve discovered a lot of small, innovative projects that I would have missed in normal years. Many of them might not even have happened during business as usual. One of them is “We’re All in This Together: An (almost) Post-COVID Ballet.” It’s a six-minute ballet video filmed at Vashon Center for the Arts. And it’s really beautiful. 

The Artists Formerly Known as SeaPertl

SeaPertl was the production company shared by local siblings Sydney and Miles Pertl. My first encounter with them was at PNB’s 2019 Locally Sourced program, where they performed Miles’ ballet “Wash of Gray.” That piece already demonstrated their signature characteristics of hyperlocalism and interdisciplinary, collaborative creations with a particular focus on dance and visual arts. Sydney is a visual artist with a background in socially responsible projects; Miles dances with PNB and Seattle Dance Collective. Last summer they produced The Only Thing You See Now for SDC.  

Because of the socially responsible angle of their production company and their emphasis on supporting other artists, SeaPertl recently converted to a nonprofit with the new name Damfino Arts. (I’m a little sad to see SeaPertl go – I’m a sucker for puns.)

We’re All in This Together

Not exactly in celebration of the change, but conveniently coincident with it, they released a new video, “We’re All in This Together.” Featuring Miles and his partner Leah Terada (also a dancer at PNB), the ballet was filmed in the art gallery at Vashon Center for the Arts (the performance space for SDC). The ballet moves through the current visual arts exhibit, “Collective Power: Earth Systems through the Female Vision.” Sydney is one of the five artists whose work is on display (and also the cinematographer). The music is an original piece by Joe Panzetta, who works at VCA, and the musicians performing it are all Vashon locals. The old phrase “It takes a village…” is equally applicable to the arts. In the case of “We’re All in This Together,” a literal village came together for this project.   

Almost Post-Covid

Of course the title refers as much to the pandemic as to the creative process. I don’t know about the rest of the country, but windows around my neighborhood are filled with homemade motivational posters, and “We’re all in this together” is one of the most popular. The subtitle for the piece is “an (almost) post-COVID ballet.” It is, after all, still a video with no live audience. But the (presumably vaccinated) performers are sharing the indoor space maskless.

Now, I go for backstory the way I go for puns, so I know that always colors my impression of a piece. But to me, the relevance of the subtitle is equally evident in the ballet itself. Like last summer’s piece for SDC, this ballet does fun and unusual things with contact between the dancers. The movement has that almost electrostatic feeling that I always associate with choreographers connected to Hubbard Street. But it’s more fluid and flowing. If this was an anime, it would be iyashikei, the genre translated as “healing anime.” Just what you need at the almost end of a very rough year.

“We’re All in this Together” feels so hopeful and even relieved. The sky is dark outside the venue. But there’s a sense of spring, renewal, and a return to light in the music and the movement. It really feels like standing in the darkness of a tunnel in view of the light. And this time you’re finally sure it’s not the light of an oncoming train.

It’s a damn fine way to spend six minutes.