After 15 years of creating exciting exhibitions and hosting engaging events, The Gund remains a space that celebrates all forms of art and expression. On Tuesday, the museum hosted Wings to Fly: Frida Kahlo Boléro Performance. Interdisciplinary artists Oxana Chi and Layla Zami performed the boléro, a classic Cuban style of dance, as part of The Gund’s opening reception for its fall exhibitions.
Director and Chief Curator Daisy Desrosiers explained that Villa Albertine, a French Embassy institution in the U.S., has a program where they encourage creative partnership between American and French institutions. “Last spring, I visited a few art schools in France. … One of [them] was the art school that they have in Martinique in the Caribbean, where [Zami] teaches,” Desrosiers noted. “The celebration of [The Gund’s] collection allowed her to do a deep dive, and she proposed this performance [that] she and [Chi] had already worked on.” While Zami isn’t an artist whose work appears in The Gund’s collection, her focus on femininity fits with The Gund’s mission to center women.
After a lovely reception welcoming students, professors and other members of the community (that featured 15th-anniversary-themed macaroons), Zami took center stage in the Buchwald-Wright Gallery, greeting the audience with an enthusiastic “Bon voyage!” Zami looked to Faith Ringgold’s Dancing at the Louvre (currently on display), highlighting how Ringgold’s medium, her characters and the gaze of the central figure could be seen as revolutionary. Zami explained how Wings to Fly‘s muse, Frida Kahlo, was also “revolutionary in so many ways in terms of her art, her gender identity, her politics. … She was just protecting her reality.” Regarding the history of boléro, Zami stated, “The boléro was a revolutionary piece at the time. … [The boléro] was performed to music composed by Maurice Ravel.”
Right before the performance began, Chi emerged dressed as Frida Kahlo and sat across from Zami, who held her saxophone, ready to play. As Chi danced the boléro and Zami followed with crescendos and a beautiful melody, I couldn’t help but appreciate the connections between the performance and Ringgold’s dancing-focused quilt as it hung in the gallery behind the two women. As the dance continued, Zami expertly played the boléro composition and pressed her foot down on a looper pedal so that the melody would play as she layered over it with rhythmic claps and dulcet notes. Complete with gliding movements, swaying turns and expert dance steps, the two performers moved in unison to create a wonderful performance that highlighted the passion and revolutionary nature of boléro. At the end of the dance, Chi made her way back to the chair she had started at, bringing her hands to her heart.
After nearly a full minute of applause, I got to ask the pair about how Chi returned back to where she started at the end of the dance. “For me, life and death is a circle,” Chi explained with a gentle smile. “So [this performance] always starts with liveliness … [as for] Frida [Kahlo], she often paints herself on a chair, [which is why] I chose the chair.” Chi went on to describe the connections between boléro and Ringgold: “For both [Ravel’s boléro and Ringgold], they have a very strong love for their heritage and where they grew up … and they present [their heritage] to the world.” Zami agreed, “I like to think of [Kahlo and Ringgold] as encountering their surroundings, be it friends [for Ringgold] or [Kahlo] in New York, where she created powerful works. … These are the types of connections that I’m experienced in.”
At The Gund, the surplus of culture, connection and celebrations of art and expression from across the world never ceases to amaze me. As guests glanced at other pieces around the room while reorganizing to start a guided tour from Gund staff, it became clear that this really is a special place where passionate art and connection can be celebrated on the Hill.