Chitra Subramanian’s Village Stories at Dance Place by Juliana Pironti

Village Stories

by Chitra Subramanian (@chitra.moves)

Dance Place

Saturday June 27, 7pm

Written by Juliana Pironti

On a dreary summer Sunday, I groggily found my way to the Dance Place theater to see Village Stories, presented by Chitra Moves. Unaware that it was marketed as a children’s show, I was surprised to see so many young children in the audience, or rather, running and dancing around the space before the performance even began. I watched, intrigued, as children were given freedom rather than being encouraged to remain quietly in their seats. This opening act christened the space with a sense of curiosity and play that felt critical to the core of the work that followed.

The piece opened in silence, accompanied only by the soft mutterings of children in the room. The dancers moved through slow gestural motions that gradually increased in severity through percussive footwork and breath. This progression felt sticky, frustrated, and rutted, a tension that was eventually resolved through moments of connection and support among the dancers, before grounding back into the slow gestures of the opening. This set up the performance’s central themes: togetherness, communion, and connection in times that feel isolated and stuck. There were a few moments of connection that didn’t always feel completely natural; they occasionally felt over-dramatized. Yet, this didn’t come across as fraudulent, rather, it felt like nervousness, the way you feel when you care so deeply about something that your instinct is to control it.

Another constant throughout the piece was just how athletic the dancing was. The first moment music played, the stage erupted into a full group dance featuring large, rhythmic movements that commanded the entire space. There were constant shifts, grandiose reaches, and upbeat moments of pure groove. And woooooey, can they dance y’all! The audience was not shy as they erupted into cheers, and I was continually impressed. This fast-paced, rhythmic expression brought smiles not only to the audience, but to the dancers on stage. There was a palpable, unique joy in each performer that radiated through the entire room.

A standout element of the work was the use of projections by Ellie Walton. The first segment included stunning videography of the cast inside a metro station, a seemingly mundane, yet constantly moving place. The dancers climbed up a downward escalator: an impossible, exhausting feat that wears you down and alas defeats you. Onscreen, this visual was paired with spoken words expressing the dancers’ anxieties about our current socio-political climate, while on stage, the dancers embodied these same heavy feelings. This trifecta hit every sensory experience in a deeply heartfelt way, eventually leading back to the original gestural phrases, which, this time, felt like a self-soothing mechanism for both the dancers and the audience.

Next, the performance shifted focus to the cast’s two male-presenting dancers. Mimicking the kicking of a soccer ball, their movement captured a youthful sense of play that quickly evolved into vivacious footwork and a playfully competitive “wrestling.” What started as sibling-like play fighting subtly transformed as the piece went on, leading me to interrogate competitive masculinity and showing how much stronger we are when we choose to support and inspire one another instead. When one dancer got off track, the other was right there to serve as an anchor, underscoring the sentiment: When you get off track, I’ve got your back.

As the full cast re-entered, the energy shifted into a village-like celebration, a gathering of families and individuals living, breathing, planting, and giving together. Many moments unfolded in a circle, mimicking both a community gathering and the circularity of life and emotion. As the dancers moved through this circle, each took a turn being “poured into” and celebrated, creating an incredibly uplifting dynamic. Even when the emotional atmosphere dramatically shifted into something heavier and more tense, the grounding power of the circle remained.

The second projection moment offered a clever variation: this time, the live dancers mirrored their projected counterparts on screen, creating an almost bird’s-eye perspective that kept the device from feeling repetitive. At one point in the video, a dancer wore an engagement ring, a detail that felt slightly out of place at first, but ultimately served as a sweet reminder that these performers are real people with real lives intersecting in this space. Poetic words resonated through the room: “Loves intertwined will never unravel in the circles of eternity, and now we are not stuck.” This anchored us right back into the shapeshifting circle imagery, leading into movement that felt delightfully playground-exploratory, filled with nose-picking, hand games, time steps, and pure whimsy.

Toward the end, one dancer repeatedly entered and exited the space; while it was hard to tell if she played a special, chaotic role in the community or served as a catalyst, her presence added a fascinating layer of intrigue as the written motifs, gestures, and grounding rhythms returned once more.

While the performance itself was stunning, the ending truly made it unforgettable. The piece concluded by giving back to the room, inviting the audience onto the stage to dance together under vibrant lights. I love this practice, after watching so many moving bodies, your own body naturally wants to move! It felt like the ultimate expression of mutual gratitude between performer and viewer, symbolizing closure, shared joy, and grief. In the end, under the bright lights and high energy, we truly found communion together, just like a village.

Juliana Pironti  (she/her) (@julianapironti) is a 2025 graduate of American University, holding a BA in Dance with a minor in Marketing. Originally from Tampa, Florida (and she won’t shut up about it) the beach and sunshine are fundamentally a part of who she is. She is currently an apprentice at Dance Place, where she is honing her passion for dance accessibility and creating community spaces that foster creativity, connection, and laughter!dy, and aims to highlight intersectionalities of all identities and selves! You can read more about Juliana on our STAFF page!