A thrilling, terrifying and informative original dance production, GOD’s COUNTRY, will debut at Tennessee Performing Arts Center®’s Johnson Theater by Nashville-based PYDANCE at 7:30pm on Friday, January 17, 2025.
With explosive energy and jolting precision, seven of the city’s most intensely physical performers channel the post-punk fury and passion of a young generation at a boiling point in choreographer Asia Pyron’s high-velocity work set to the epic music of cult rock band Chat Pile.
GOD’S COUNTRY is an original PYDANCE production, portraying the “American horror story” described by the band, Chat Pile, and their awareness of neglect and ignorance towards humanitarian issues that spread throughout the United States. Based on Chat Pile’s album, this production presents a movement-based adaptation of Pile’s intent of “trying to capture the anxiety and fear of seeing the world fall apart.” The work represents elements of grief, fear and anger from society’s apathy towards homelessness and mental illness.
“There’s a sick irony to how a country that extols rhetoric of individual freedom, in the same gasp, has no problem commodifying human life as if it were meat to feed the insatiable hunger of capitalism,” say the liner notes for the band’s 2022 album. “If this is American nihilism taken to its absolute zenith, then God’s Country, the first full length record from Oklahoma City noise rock quartet Chat Pile is the aural embodiment of such a concept.
‘Having lived alongside the heaps of toxic refuse that the band derives its name from, the fatalism of daily life in the American Midwest permeates throughout the works of Chat Pile.”
Through the lens of the blistering, dark noise that Chat Pile’s album produces, PYDANCE conveys beauty and grace behind the walls of distortion while reflecting their message of social consciousness and awareness.
PYDANCE is a Nashville-based dance ensemble founded and directed by Asia Pyron to create original theatrical dance productions that engage and activate a radical point of view. By creating shows that present traditional concert dance through a common or popular subject, PYDANCE reimagines how we think about dance and movement performance. PYDANCE partners with local businesses and unconventional venues such as restaurants, museums and parks to bring dance to more diverse audiences.
PYDANCE was established in Nashville in 2020 and has performed in local art spaces such as Oz Arts Nashville, Kindling Arts Festival, Nashville Parthenon and Centennial Arts Center. PYDANCE celebrates its fourth year in Nashville and was recently awarded Nashville’s Best Dance Performance in 2024 by the Nashville Scene. PYDANCE strives to help build a sustainable environment for professional dancers and provide more concert dance exposure to Nashville.
Tickets are on sale now at TPAC.ORG, by phone at 615-782-4040 and in person at the TPAC Box Office, 505 Deaderick St., in downtown Nashville. Patrons are encouraged to have tickets delivered to the TPAC Concierge App.
