Before “active imagination” was a general term to describe kids’ capacity for pretend play, it was a specific methodology devised by Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology. To simplify, it’s a meditative practice that coaxes the contents of the subconscious into the light of awareness, where they can be observed, considered, and perhaps even acted upon. To Durham-based cellist Daniel Levin, it’s a great description of what artists do.
“It really has to do with centering the intuitive and saying that this can be a valid source for creating something meaningful,” he said.
Levin is the coproducer of the Active Imagination festival, which will debut at Shadowbox Studio in Durham over three evenings in late January. More than two dozen performers from the Triangle will show new work in the forms of solos, duos, and ensembles. They are primarily dancers or musicians who lean in the experimental direction. In continuous sets, under 15 minutes each, they’ll attempt to create something meaningful in the stage-less incubator of Shadowbox.
Coproducer Anabelle Scarborough moved back to North Carolina in 2024 after a few years in New York, where she studied at the Martha Graham School and produced her own shows with Conjure Collective. Her work bridges modern dance, film, and movement practices informed by yoga. The seed for Active Imagination was planted when she performed in Sanctuary Series last spring.
That series, hosted in Levin’s home and known for its immersive, audience-engaged approach, had become a haven for local musicians, movers, improvisers, and interdisciplinary artists. Like the festival, it’s produced by Synchronicity Arts, the nonprofit Levin directs. Out of that cultivated space, a larger conversation grew: What if the Sanctuary spirit could expand without losing its intimacy?
The festival has no hierarchy of headliners and openers, though there are names that will be familiar to INDY readers, like Shana Tucker, Jasmine Powell, and Crowmeat Bob. Some artists appear in multiple configurations. Levin has one solo set and one with dancer Barbara Dickinson. Scarborough will perform in both an improvised duo with keyboardist Jil Christensen and a more composed trio with dancers Amanda Camos and Jordan Cabrol. It’s a piece she hopes to build on throughout the year.
“It’s a creative playground to present something new that you’re ideating,” Scarborough explained. “Not necessarily something in process, but something you’ve been thinking about for a while and want to put out into the universe. It’s a starting point, or just a place to meet new artists and connect with the audience and Durham community.”
Active Imagination brings together a wide range of creative practices while resisting a single definition of experimentation, composition, improvisation, or even collaboration itself. “Improvisation means very different things to different people,” Levin said. It may mean stepping onstage with no predetermined material, or it may involve drawing on years of embodied choreography, structure, and rehearsal.
“One’s body as a dancer or practice as a musician is kind of the preparation. Like, you have a body of work that is you, and you create spontaneously from that.”
The blank-slate space of Shadowbox, enhanced by visual artist Jason Lord, should facilitate spontaneous interaction and reinforce the sense that this is a shared ritual, not a product to be judged from a distance. The ticket price also includes the home-cooked food that bolsters Sanctuary’s nourishing vibe. The ultimate aim is to position local work not as a substitute for larger festivals but as something complete, distinct, and equivalent.
As Levin likes to say, “This may be Durham or the hippest venue in New York or Paris or Copenhagen. It’s not about where we are. It’s about this world-class, fully engaged experience where everything is so consequential. It’s available anywhere in the world. It has to do with your intention, your framing, your focus. We have everything we need right here.”
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