Recap of Secret City 6/12/2016
Recap of Secret City 6/12/2016
Last Sunday the Bootleg Theater held the 16th Secret City service. Chris Wells founded Secret City in 2007. Secret City is formatted like church, only at Secret City, we worship art. The Secret City service began with an electrifying performance of “Me and Bobby McGee”, by Julie Pfeifer of the Secret City band, afterwards Chris Wells joined The Secret City Band in performing the Secret City theme song. After the band finished, Chris invited the audience in a chant that explained the meaning of Secret City. After the chant, the mingling portion of Secret City began and everyone was invited to walk around and introduce themselves. As someone who’d never been to a Secret City, I found this to be intimidating at first, but after a few minutes the fear went away and I was welcomed with warm hellos from everyone I saw.
After mingling, actress Amy Hill read this summer’s Cultural Calendar that featured various events including; The Toxic Avenger Musical directed by Janet Miller, with musical direction by Cory Hirsch, at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and Four Chords and a Gun, written by John Ross Bowie and directed by Jessica Hanna. The Cultural Calendar keeps artists in the know, and encourages support in the LA arts community.
After the reading of Cultural Calendar, we moved onto the “Look at This” portion of the service. Cat Gwynn a visual artist and breast cancer survivor presented us with her project “10 mile radius”, Her experience with breast cancer inspired her to create a photo compilation of the places she encountered within a 10 mile radius on a day to day basis.
Following “Look at This” we were presented with “A Taste” the food-offering portion of the service in which someone makes a food offering for everyone at Secret City. The food offerings for Sunday’s service were served in mini jars, with various quotes having to do with the theme of freedom. After everyone had received the food offering, Chris blessed the food and those who had a part in producing the food. Once we had all finished our food offering we moved onto the “Watch This” portion of Secret City, where we watched a clip of Laura Nix’s work-in – progress documentary “Lai Lai” that focuses on an older married couple who at the age of sixty decided to take ballroom dance lessons. The documentary clip features the couple performing at their high school reunion. After watching the clip we were gifted with the opportunity to see the couple perform their dance live. After the performance we had the opportunity to ask them questions. One audience member asked, “Has taking up Ballroom dance made the aging process easier on the body?” Both husband and wife agreed that Ballroom dance had done a lot to keep their bodies strong and capable, as they got older.
After the question and answer portion of “Look at This” Joe Hernandez-Kolski gave a reading of his poem “America(For Langston Hughes)” in which he expresses his frustration with the American justice system.
At every Secret City service Chris Wells shares with the audience a story from his life. Going with the theme of movement and the aging process, Chris tells of his experience taking beginners ballet as an adult. Hilarity ensues the moment Chris begins his story, and shares with us the insecurities that come along when starting something new. After his first beginner’s ballet class, Chris laments in the car, questioning why he chose such a vibrant wardrobe for his first ballet class, and why he’s decided to take the class at all. In this moment Chris is relatable to all of us, as we have all at one time or another had struggles with self-doubt, especially in new situations. After the second class, Chris takes notes in the car and again asks why he’s putting himself through this, and for a moment considers sending an email, saying that he will no longer be attending Beginners Ballet. Three weeks pass by and the recital date is approaching, he receives an email from his friend asking if he’d be interested in signing up for the next session of classes, to which Chris responds, “I’m in”. Chris’s story offers the inspiring notion that it is never too late to learn a new skill, and that it does in fact make you stronger.
After the Story portion we moved on to the Song portion of the service. Aaron Williams a performance artist gives a rousing tap and vocal performance of “Shake Your Body Down to the Ground” Aaron begins the performance by asking audience members to clap and chant along with him. Once this starts he begins his tap and vocal routine.
Following Aaron Williams was The Secret City singers, who gave a moving performance of “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free”. Chris Wells closed the service with the Recitation, adapted from Rachel Carson, “Those who dwell among the mysteries of the earth shall never grow weary of life. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth will endure as long as life lasts. The clearer we see the wonders of the earth the less taste we shall have for destruction”. Secret City embodied its theme of freedom and showed us that we are free and have choices. As we get older we have the choice to let age limit us, or let age free us and continue to test both our physical and mental strengths. Secret City is unique in that it is an all-inclusive space, where no one is turned away due to lack of money.
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