Performed in the Des Moines Art Center’s exhibition “Hurricane Season: Caribbean Art + Climate Change” on July 11 and 12, 2024.
About the Artist:
Inspired by the poetry of Celia Sorhaindo, N’Jelle Gage Thorne embodies the role of a contemporary dance ritualist shaman and guide, leading participants into a liminal space between worlds. Here, emotions stored in both body and mind find a sanctuary for purging, as each channeled movement becomes a conduit for healing, guided by the ancestral wisdom of the Taino/Kalingo goddess of hurricanes and storms.
About the Work:
Reimagined for the gallery spaces of “Hurricane Season” at the Art Center, this dance-centric performance piece transcends its traditional form, incorporating elements of sculpture and texture. Unfolding as a ceremonial rite, it serves as a sacred offering to cleanse the residual traumas lingering in the aftermath of nature’s fury. In the intimate space, the shaman moves with purpose, invoking ancient rhythms and ancestral connections to transmute chaos into harmony. The central rope symbolizes the tether between worlds, binding together the disparate fragments of trauma and offering a pathway to wholeness.
Originally commissioned as part of the “Surviving Storms” collection, N’Jelle Gage Thorne’s channeled art serves as a sacred ritual, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, and the healing power of collective movement. Through the rhythmic beats of drumming and the fluidity of motion, she guides observers on a transformative journey, where the echoes of the storm are harnessed to forge a path toward healing and restoration.
