Artists in flight, lives in transition | Arts & Entertainment

Many dreams have been born on a day-long hike among friends. It usually starts with the simple question, “Wouldn’t it be great if we …”

Trips around the world, marriages, summer road trip plans, the decision to learn mahjong and myriad life adventures have all been conceived while tromping up a mountain.

One such idea that was hatched by two friends hiking will be realized this Saturday when the multimedia production “Passage” happens at 7 p.m. Saturday as part of the ongoing Barn Music Series. The location is the Old Thompson Barn at River Valley Ranch in Carbondale.

The hikers in question were composer and violinist MinTze Wu and dancer and choreographer Jen Campbell. The hike itself was a daylong adventure to summit Mount Sopris in 2024.

“Jen is an amazing artist and dancer,” Wu said. We’d collaborated on a few small projects but I really wanted to do a much larger work together. “We love to hike together and it was on this 13-hour hike to summit Mount Sopris that this idea really took shape.”

“There’s a lot of shared admiration,” Campbell said of the collaboration. “I have a deep respect for what MinTze does, her creativity and her force in the world. “I’m grateful to be working with her and working with such a beautiful artist.”

The Barn Music Series dates back to the pandemic when it came to life as The Garden Music Series. Once restrictions were lifted, the series moved to River Valley Ranch. The first show at the barn was held in 2023. 

“The space speaks everything about Carbondale and about the Valley,” Wu said. “It’s very simple but very elegant, overlooking the majestic Mount Sopris. It also has beautiful acoustics.”  

“Passage” is the sixth program that Wu’s Benfeng Productions (which means “running with free spirit” in Chinese) has produced at the RVR barn. Wu, a Roaring Fork Valley resident since 2018, founded Benfeng in 2013. 

“Every single project looks totally different,” Wu said. “They might as well be from a different planet. “‘Passage’ is a program where we bring ourselves in as musicians, dancers  and artists. It’s an all-women production and we’re continually exploring the intersection of art and life.”

The artistic team behind “Passage” includes Wu as artistic director, violinist and pianist; Campbell as dancer and choreographer; Enion Pelta-Tiller Fadolin as composer and vocalist; Shannon Johnson on vocals; and dancers Alyson Boell-Marchand and Vicki Tobia.

Like other Benfeng productions, Wu employs the music of classical composers and words by renowned poets. The music that will be featured in the production includes Antonio Vivaldi’s “Sovente il Sole,” Enion Pelta-Tiller’s “Deeper Well,” India Arie’s “Soulbird Rise,” Maurice Ravel’s “Adagio Assai,” Enion Pelta-Tiller’s “Open Up” and Ljova’s “Melting River.”

Poetic works include Naomi Shihab Nye’s “The Whole Self,” Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s “Ode to the Woman of Odd Jobs,” Andrea Gibson’s “How the Worst Day of My Life Became the Best” and Lucille Clifton’s “There is a Girl Inside.” 

All Benfeng concerts are free to those 18 and under. 

“We want our work to resonate with the youth and I believe this will,” Wu said. “Our stage manager is a 16-year-old and I hope this will leave them with something to talk about or think about, or reflect on.”

The collaboration between Campbell and Wu since that first hike has been continuous, and out of that, a title for the show emerged.

“It has been a humongous and wonderful creative opportunity to really invest all of my creative juices into this performance,” Campbell said. “MinTze and I have been collaborating and talking through the year and sort of culling ideas and letting it kind of germinate with us individually and then together. What drew me to this work is this idea of passing through thresholds in our life and the challenges and the beauty that arises in these fertile times of change. These experiences offer us the opportunity to grow, change, shift and evolve, and that led us to the title of the show — ‘Passage.’”

Wu said that the six members of the show are all at a similar point in their lives.

“Something really beautiful is that this sextet of women are all between the ages of 48 and 60,” Wu said. “We are unapologetic. We are there to really find the essence. It’s not about the makeup anymore, it’s about the essence of every single one of us, and what we are collectively portraying. 

Campbell continued the thread, saying, “The beauty of this project, whether it’s dancing, poetry or music, is that it’s woven together in a way that is hopefully powerful and authentic and intimate and honest, from each of us.”

Wu said she hopes the show provides some catharsis for audience members — that it provides a way for them to identify with their own transitions in life. 

“It’s really an invitation toward greater presence in your life, greater awareness as we’re moving through our days and seasons and years,” she said.

“I hope that there is a resonance with what they’re feeling and seeing in their own life, that it might bring up questions around this idea of ‘what kind of passage am I in at this particular moment.’ I also hope that they will leave uplifted with the honesty and beauty of what they’re seeing and listening to and kind of take it all in,” Wu added.