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Do you know what your “Itch” is?

What makes you itch? What drives you? What is this feeling of discomfort being felt across the current social landscape? These are some of the questions that the BuoyRR Residency and Retreat aims to answer with an upcoming modern dance and experimental theater performance at The Peace Barn Sanctuary in Deep River on Sunday, July 9.

The retreat and the performance are directed by Bailey Nolan, and Deep River native Viva Sudan. They have been running the retreat for womyn—a term used to indicate female-identifying individuals—for three years.

“There’s a game to it, a sense of urgency. We have one week, how do we bend and grow, and wash away the ego,” said Sudan. “This year we have 21 residents, two directors, and three facilitators, all female-identified—we aim for inclusivity so we are a non-binary, female-identifying group.”

“As a choreographer and director I am interested in site-specific work,” said Sudan. “This brings artists to Deep River for a week to camp and create on 15 acres, to be out of the city for a week and create in nature. I’m interested in duality, so this residency is about making work, but it is also a retreat—there is yoga and meditation, we eat vegetarian, it’s a very cleansing environment. The goal is to not only work but learn about self-care as an artist. Strangers come together to create a full piece within a week—the directors construct the arc of the piece, but the residents create the material. It’s a very live, collective-based way of making work.”

Each year the retreat has had a different theme around which the residents build a performance. This year’s is “I Am Your Itch.”

“This ‘itch’ is in all of us, our culture, our current political climate—everyone is sort of scratching, there’s this uncomfortable feeling. How do we self-activate to create any kind of unity?” said Sudan. “How are we being born into this history that we didn’t ask for, as women, as these historically haunted vessels? Being a woman is being objectified. You can succumb to it, or we can question how can there be justice or reverence.”

“We wanted to comment on this current political horror,” continued Sudan. “It’s a subtle, creepy, terrifying thing that is lurking around the corner always. But how do we live through this, how do I move through my body as a woman through that? There’s this idea of the empowered human as the hysterical woman—what is the more subtle thing? There is power in the itch, there’s a resilience and resistance.”

“We’re trying to create something inspiring and recharging. People are drained,” said Sudan. “We can riot this reality—and it can be subtle and quiet and scary.”

The interactive nature of the performance is as important as the content. It ranges across the property, and puts the viewer directly in the artists’ space.

“It is a very interactive, live experience,” said Sudan. “It’s about asking how we wake the audience up, to allow people to feel what they feel. People are tiptoeing and don’t want to talk about it. We’re letting art guide us, get the aggression—the itch—out in a positive way.”

The performance is for all ages; tickets are $25 and include a lunch. Because it is an outdoor performance that travels through a wooded area, attendees should wear appropriate footwear, and plan for the weather. After the show, there will be an artist talk-back and Q+A session to open a multi-generational conversation on the topics expressed in the piece. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit www.BuoyRR.org. The one-time performance will take place at The Peace Barn (337 West Elm Street) in Deep River at 1 p.m. on Sunday, July 9.