Room for Many More!
Liberalism can still make sense, however. One of its roots has always been a feeling for the importance of all people to history. The tides of migration following historical events–of a black family moving from Natchez to Chicago, or a gay man from Des Moines to San Francisco–are as important to history as the power relations between Washington and Moscow. It’s fitting, then, that the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange–which has long championed the liberal value of diversity by including elderly dancers and people of color–should put on a performance, in collaboration with Mordine & Company Dance Theatre, at the Chicago Historical Society. The surprise is how effective, imaginative, and entertaining it was.
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I’ve often thought that the true religion of our liberal humanist culture is its art, for that’s the only place that provides living access to the sacred. But art is too small a container for the spirit. Our culture makes artists into priests, the only ones able to intercede in the world of spirit. Small wonder that many artists like Lerman are trying to bring art to the people–they’re really bringing the sacred into our lives.
