Pain has a way of bringing things into perspective. But in the case of dancer and choreographer Rebekah Hampton Barger, chronic pain also inspires her art.
As the founder and artistic director of FALL, Nashville’s first aerial and contemporary dance company, Barger is well known for her gravity-defying work, which “blends classical and contemporary dance with aerial fabric and invented structures.” In 2017, she presented A Bending of Its Own Kind — a piece commissioned by OZ Arts that examined Barger’s personal experience with severe scoliosis and chronic pain. This weekend, she continues that journey with A Bending of Its Own Kind 2.0 — a new iteration of the original work that she hopes will help improve communication between chronic-pain patients and their health care providers.
“The performance at OZ was one of the most artistically satisfying experiences of my career,” says Barger, who founded FALL in 2010. “But even then, I think I knew that it wasn’t done — it was something I would want to revisit at some point. It’s like a living autobiography — 2017 was Chapter 1, and this is Chapter 2.”
That second chapter actually started in 2020, when Barger — who was diagnosed with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis at age 13 — suffered a series of personal and physical setbacks that forced her to reevaluate her health.
“My health sort of shut down in a way that I could no longer pretend everything was fine,” says Barger. “I had to acknowledge, once and for all, that I have legitimate physical issues that I have to pay attention to and care for.”
That experience led Barger to tap into online scoliosis and chronic-pain communities, where she found that many patients were struggling to communicate effectively with doctors and other health professionals.
“For those dealing with chronic illness, there’s often a disconnect — a sense that you’re not being heard or believed. And as I began to reengage with my own health, I kept thinking back to A Bending of Its Own Kind, wondering if it could be used to bridge that gap.”
Rebekah Hampton Barger
Barger set about reworking the piece, securing funding from Metro Arts and establishing a partnership with the Osher Center for Integrative Health at Vanderbilt, with the goal of presenting the new piece to its medical staff as well as the general public. She gathered input from other chronic-pain patients through interviews and online forums. And she also incorporated the work of fellow artists, including photographer Martin O’Connor, composers Timbre Cierpke and Dan Wright, and writer/performance artist Audra Almond-Harvey — all of whom have dealt with their own chronic health issues.
“As I began resetting the piece, I realized that my feelings had changed over the last five years,” says Barger. “Rather than feeling betrayal or resentment toward my body, I had a real sense of gratitude and even awe, as I considered just how much I’ve been able to accomplish in my career and in my life. That actually came through with all of the contributing artists. The journey hasn’t always been easy, but it was important for us to honor the resilience of these bodies that allow us to keep making our art.
“You have to keep fighting,” she adds. “You have to keep moving forward. But it’s so exciting to me that this performance could help build empathy and understanding — that’s what keeps me going.”
