In this defining moment, we’re constantly deluged with the message that we’ve lost the ability to focus our attention on anything in a substantial, sustained way. And, yet, somehow, the ancient art of storytelling continues to bewitch. Perhaps this is because in some way this practice helps define us, helps us find our identity, whether we’re doin’ the tellin’, or the listenin’. Why do we get so personally invested, so enraptured, by spinnin’ a yarn, or bein’ spun? What is it that propels us to suspend our disbelief? Does this exchange help us locate that precarious, elusive, perfectly balanced perch between reality and fantasy, wherein we may be both enriched and nurtured? We here at Mayzsoul have experience with this. As performers and athletes, we’re told to breathe into it, to find the truth, the energy, the power, the lucidity in the breath. And so we will, and, hopefully, so will you, as you join Mayzsoul, coasting on our breath, surfing on our words, flying on our backs, in an evening we have dubbed, well, “Telling Stories”.

This will be an exciting evening for us. This program of new work functions as a premiere on several levels. Company Founder Melanie Lalande has been a noted dance instructor in the DC metropolitan area for many years, based in northern Virginia, following her training at GMU. Meanwhile, she has worked extensively as a choreographer in the corporate/commercial realm, most notably as the tour choreographer for acclaimed hiphop act The Roots. Mayzsoul is the manifestation of a long gestation, the emergence of the artist from the cocoon, allowing Lalande to, at last, showcase not only the whipcrackin’ craft of her long trained ensemble, but also, of course, her ideas as a choreographer in her own right, unfettered, with no constraints, not to mention as an amateur scientist, philosopher, all around curious cat. And so, following a well attended and lauded debut in New York City as part of the Gershwin Hotel weekly performance series, “Live at the Living Room,” which elicited several invitations for bookings in the coming year, Mayzoul brings its warmed muscles and tweaked synapses home excitedly, at last ready to introduce ourselves to a local crowd. It’s been a long time comin’…home.

So come gather ’round this most alluring campfire, and be privy to the stylings of this most kinetic and appealing young troupe, it’s a show laced with what just might come to be known as the Mayzoul thang: a witty, soulful, easygoing, just a little effortless journey through our benevolently cracked minds, never anchored in one form, with modern, jazz and hiphop influences entangling, colliding, falling all over each other, a series of loose vignettes stitched together by resident actor Michael Wiener, who will function as your guru, svengali, Indian guide for the evening, as he wanders in and out of the proceedings minstrel style, whether he’s real or illusory, we leave you to decide.

Other guest artists include Jesse Guessford, GMU Professor of Music, who has composed the piece (Within). Guest choreographer Connie O’Mara and a very special solo performance by Mayzsoul’s cofounder Toy Falcone.