Philly Fringe 2024: Nichole Canuso Dance Company presents The Garden: River’s Edge

I left the present at the gate, however, and made my way to the back of the softly weathered meeting house, where our small group (just six at each showing) gathered in a parlor of rose-colored armchairs and wingbacks with rosy prints on cream colored upholstery. When we checked in, we were assigned a color for a headset attached to a transmitter that hung on a lanyard around our necks. A variety of languages were offered; one of our group had asked for Italian. (He’d also signed up for two slots, which, in retrospect, was a really good idea.)

Our guide led us outside and around the building to enter at the west door, then up the aisle to the north entrance, where she split us into pairs based on the colors of our headphones, cleverly assigned so that we would be interacting with someone we did not know. (Given the experience, I hesitate to call them a stranger, even though we never really spoke.) Each pair of headsets offered a different path, our guide said, while the narration invited us to look out a window and question the meaning of a frame.

Dancers in designer Rebecca Kanach’s brightly colored daywear stationed around the meeting house gave everyone a model to follow in simple, whimsical arm movements. The cast invited participation across a range of identities, and I was happy to follow a dancer with hair as grey as my own. Seeing myself in another person made me feel welcomed as a part of the experience.

Michael Kiley’s soundscape accompanied our varied paths through the space with gentle strings, low bongs, and the sound of rain or the rush of a river. When we finally came together again—scattered but facing a sweep of white wall curving into the ceiling that amplifies voices during worship but here was used for a screen—the experience grew to include black and white projections of a rushing river. The narration took us further back in time, from the ice age through to the Lenape who lived along the river and the Quakers buried on the grounds. Even the benches we sat on were part of that history.

The site is perfect for such contemplation: I felt wrapped in its quiet, held in its ages with the scent of wood hundreds of years old, and close to the river that ran through the narrative. It was a welcome and much-needed moment of peace. I left wishing we could go through again to experience the path of a different headset.

All performances are currently sold out. To join the waiting list, email [email protected].