Core Performance Company Sue Schroeder talks about the up coming performances of Gaman on KFFB’s Open Mic. They will be discussing, U.S. citizens of Japanese descent who were interned on American soil during World War II. Of the 10 camps operated by the War Relocation Authority in the western United States, two camps were located in rural Arkansas. The interview program hosted by KFFB’s General Manager Bob Connell at 7:50 am and 5:50 pm on November 6, 2015.
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CORE PERFORMANCE COMPANY PRESENTS GAMAN/我慢、がまん,
A DANCE/THEATER WORK, IN FOUR ARKANSAS CITIES THIS NOVEMBER
Gaman/我慢、がまん shares the story of the internment of American citizens of
Japanese descent during WWII remembering those interned in two Arkansas camps
September 25, 2015 (Houston, Texas) — CORE Performance Company presents four public
performances of their new dance/theater work, Gaman/我慢、がまん in Arkansas this November. This
richly layered evening-length performance of contemporary dance, art and music honors and remembers
the U.S. citizens of Japanese descent who were interned on American soil during World War II. Of the 10
camps operated by the War Relocation Authority in the western United States, two camps were located
in rural Arkansas. The Arkansas camps, Rohwer and Jerome, were the forced home of more than 8,475
citizens. The word, “gaman” is a Japanese word of Zen Buddhist origin which means “enduring the
seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity”.
The creation of Gaman was funded in part through a grant from the National Park Service, Japanese
American Confinement Sites Grant Program as part of an expansive, multi-city art and history initiative to
commemorate the 70th anniversary of the closing of the Japanese internment camps.
Gaman explores how challenges can be overcome by courage; and expresses the conflicting emotions
of sorrow and joy, confinement and liberation experienced by the interned Japanese-American citizens.
The professional artists of CORE Performance Company, under the artistic direction of Sue Schroeder,
have collaborated with renowned visual artists, composers and writers to create a universal experience
from the historical events.
Performance Information
• Friday, Nov. 6, 4:00 p.m., Lecture/demonstration, Mills Center, Hendrix College, 1600
Washington Ave., Conway, AR 72032. Free, no tickets required.
• Monday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m., Public performance, Reynolds Performance Hall, University of Central
Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway, AR 72035. Box Office: (501) 450-3265. Free tickets can
be reserved at uca.edu/reynolds,
• Wednesday, Nov. 11, 7:00 p.m., Public performance, Great Hall, Crystal Bridges Museum of
American Art, 600 Museum Way, Bentonville, AR, 72712. (479) 418-5700. Tickets are $10 for
non-members; the performance is free for members. To purchase tickets, visit
http://www.crystalbridges.org/events. Sponsored by Demara Tizer and the Paul M. Angell Family
Foundation.
• Thursday, Nov. 12, 4:30 p.m. Lecture/demonstration, Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library
and Learning Center, 4800 W. 10th Street, Little Rock, AR 72204. Free, no tickets required.
• Friday, Nov. 13, 10:30 a.m., public performance, McGehee High School Auditorium, 1902 East
Ash St. (HWY 1 N.), McGehee, AR 71654. Free, no tickets required.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan bombed the U.S. military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which ushered the U.S.
into full military participation in World War II. The following year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066 which led to the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, which
included men, women, children, the elderly and infirm, in camps throughout the United States for the
duration of the war.
Related Programs at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Wednesday, November 11, 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Art Talk about Ruth Asawa
Like the late artist Ruth Asawa, Little Rock resident Richard Yada and his family were forced into a
Japanese Internment Camp in Rohwer, Arkansas, during WWII. Join Yada and University of Central
Arkansas Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication, Dr. Gayle Seymour, in a
discussion about life in the camps, followed by a gallery performance by members of CORE
Performance Company inspired by Asawa’s sculpture, Untitled. Free, no registration required.
“I was introduced to the existence of two Japanese-American Internment Camps in rural Arkansas by Art
Historian Dr. Gayle Seymour of the University of Central Arkansas,” said CORE Artistic Director Sue
Schroeder. “I was moved by the plight of these innocent Americans who were ordered into these camps
after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. As we learned more about these citizens’ experiences in
the camps, I felt that I needed to share this story. The artists of CORE and I have been inspired by the
courage and resilience of these Japanese Americans. Their story has universal overtones that resonate
today. Too often our national dialogue turns to defining the ‘enemy,’ and there is an impulse to define an
entire community through the actions of a few. Through Gaman we will share multiple points of view,
through multiple artistic disciplines, to open a dialogue as to how we define and treat the “other” in our
Gaman Creative Team
Gaman project was initiated by its Co-Coordinators Sue Schroeder, CORE artistic director and Dr. Gayle
Seymour, professor of Art History and Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at
the University of Central Arkansas. Schroeder’s creative collaborators are Nancy Chikaraishi, professor
of architecture, Drury University (visual artist); Scott Silvey (set design); German Composer Christian
Meyer (sound design); Gregory Catellier (light design); D. Patton White (costume design) and Erin Weller
Dalton (Dramaturg). D. Patton White, Company Manager for CORE Performance Company, will also act
as Gaman Community Engagement Facilitator.
Gaman Funding
The performances of Gaman and the residency activities in Arkansas are made possible by the:
University of Central Arkansas Artist in Residence program, Reynolds Performance Hall, and Crystal
Bridges Museum for American Art.
The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Conway Public Schools, Hendrix College, McGehee Public
Schools and the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum are Community partners in the
Gaman tour and residency activities in Arkansas.
The creation and touring of Gaman – is funded in part by grants from the U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program; Alternate ROOTS; and
Goethe-Zentrum Atlanta.
CORE’s 35th season in Houston is funded in part by The Pattillo Foundation, The O Fund for New Work,
Houston Endowment, the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the
Arts, Lonestar Energy Fabrication, Intrua Financial and Cameron and Roberts Insurance Agency.
CORE, an award-winning contemporary dance organization, creates, performs and presents compelling and
distinctive original dance works that ignite the creative spirit and foster cultural conversations. For over three
decades, CORE has initiated and supported innovation, collaboration, artistic risk-taking and sustainable art-
making in dance. CORE was founded in 1980 in Houston, Texas by dancer and choreographer Sue Schroeder.
Five years later, the organization added Atlanta, Ga. as a second home base, and now cultivates dance awareness
and education in both cities, as well as throughout the country and around the world. CORE is organized around
three initiatives: CORE Performs, CORE Presents and CORE Connects. CORE Performance Company, the
professional contemporary dance company of CORE, is internationally recognized for the physical and emotional
range of the Dance Artists, as well as its innovative and compelling work. www.coredance.org
