Ryan Chartrand
When Demetrius Klein’s wife, Kathleen, suffered a stroke two and a half years ago, their roles were undeniably reversed.
He had always been the artist in the relationship, devoting much of his time to his professional dance company in Lake Worth, Fla., and she had been the one who nurtured his creativity. After her stroke, however, he became the caregiver, the one who would ensure that she recovered quickly.
But from this pain came much beauty in the form of a new dance: “Continuum/Surrender.” This 44-minute dance is not about religion per se, Klein said. But then again, it’s all about religion, in the sense that it explores relationships as they are, and those relationships usually require some amount of faith.
“The piece itself is about how all our relationships in our lives are not symmetrical. You know, you can kind of have a very intense relationship with someone for six months and then never see that person again,” Klein said.
“On a certain level, our roles in my relationship (with my wife) were absolutely reversed. . That requires a lot about faith, a real faith. It’s a faith that you have to get up and live with every day, not just (when you go) to Mass once a week.”
The dance “Continuum/Surrender” is indicative of Klein’s dancing style. His contemporary, modern choreography is characterized by a plethora of movement on the stage and a sort of willingness to go in “very different directions,” Klein emphasized.
It also presents another common thread in Klein’s work: religion. For Klein, dance is a viable means for exploring his own spirituality. Although considered a “fairly traditional Catholic,” Klein “kept coming back to this idea of questioning and affirming, at times, what (religion) can be and how art can illustrate.”
Klein first began dancing at the age of 12 after seeing a movie with Gene Kelly and thinking that dance would be an interesting activity to pursue. Now at the age of 45, Klein has made a profession out of the art form.
In the beginning of his career, Klein used dance as a means to “(think) out loud in regards to (his) spirituality and so (he) made dances – several – that dealt with that in a very specific way. It wasn’t at the time dealing with necessarily a religion; it was dealing with the idea of big religious concepts, if you will.”
For example, in 1998 Klein choreographed “Physical.Prayer,” a large-scale, five-year project focusing on comparative religion. To prepare for its creation, Klein and the dancers in his company at the time spent months doing residency work at a synagogue, a Catholic church, a Unitarian church and a Baha’i congregation.
“It was really a wonderful experience, just being able to kind of sit and listen to people discuss their faith and how their faith informs – or at times it didn’t inform – their actions, their politics, all their choices in their lives,” Klein said.
But it’s not his own religion but rather larger truths that he explores in his work.
“When I’m presenting that I’m also not trying to present any type of dogma, you know what I mean? I’m trying to proclaim (what) the Catholic Church says: ‘Let us proclaim the mystery of faith.’ And that’s what I believe is a very beautiful, incredible thing – the mystery of it,” he said.
“When I’ve dealt with other faiths, I’ve tried to really be incredibly respectful and incredibly even-handed. I guess with all of this I’m not trying to make any judgment calls; I’m trying to take it beyond that to a more illustrative point, a more poetic point, if you will.”
Overall, this has worked for Klein, and many have responded positively to his work.
But he still gets criticism from some “fairly hard-lined people.”
“These are people who have very closed parameters of what they think is acceptable – both in terms of religion and art – and that’s always kind of an interesting intersection right there,” Klein said. “It’s difficult for them with things that aren’t dogmatic or fundamentalist.”
Through his research, Klein walked away with a deeper appreciation of the complexity of deep-seated religious exploration. He’s learned to think more inclusively, and has learned the importance of respecting, not judging, others, he said.
“Honestly, as a Christian, that’s what I’m told to do in the first place, so I should probably be doing that. I think it makes me be a better Christian, i.e. a follower of Christ. That’s really a lot about acceptance and not judging, and that’s what I take away from Christ’s message. I, as a Christian, should try to do that,” Klein explained.
Though he’s not sure what his work will look like specifically in the future, Klein said he’d like to keep working hard, honoring the talent he has and ensuring that his work doesn’t turn into a commodity in the bad sense of the word.
“I feel like I was given a very, very tangible and very substantial gift – and I truly believe that on a very spiritual level,” Klein said. “I feel like I was given a gift, and I feel like I was given an obligation – in the good sense, not in the bad sense – to do the best work that I can possibly do.”