More than 100 years ago the opulent Glover Mansion was built for its first inhabitants, James and Susan Glover. The former would become known as a prominent figure in Spokane's history while the latter was essentially erased from the past when her husband divorced her and had her institutionalized at Eastern State Hospital.
James would later become known as the "Father of Spokane," while Susan was buried in a nameless grave at the hospital's cemetery in 1921 after living there for the last 22 years of her life. Though James Glover only owned the mansion for five years, his misdeeds perhaps still mar the walls of the 12,000-square-foot Victorian manor on the lower South Hill that's used as an event venue today.
That unsavory history is exactly why CarliAnn Forthun Bruner and Monica Mota, co-founders of Kindling Dance Productions, decided to host Ghostlight at the Glover Mansion. The first-of-its-kind local dance event featuring 35 performers essentially turns the space into a haunted house experience, but instead of scare actors roaming the space, each room is home to a new set of devilish dancers. Every single performance in the mansion is different.
Dance isn't the only element of Ghostlight drawing upon the space's history — there are some real scare actors, too. Forthun Bruner says an actress wanders the halls all night to represent Susan Glover revisiting her former Spokane home.
"[A] haunted house-style [performance] seems like the perfect idea to bring our community out and see some art and maybe in a way that they haven't experienced before," she says. "We were really inspired by the building."
As guests enter the mansion, they're greeted by a jazz duet choreographed by Joseph Lyons-Wolf and Lauren Hovik. Inspired by the venue's interior design, the dancers use large Victorian-era lampshades in their performance.
"Lauren's performance has got an improv element to it," Forthun Bruner says. "She's working with some really talented dancers, so they're going to be interacting with the audience right from the get-go."
From there, guests are ushered into the next room where a group of ballerinas in red capes lead them to the mansion's grand room. The elegant space, framed by a large peacock mural, is where guests linger before heading upstairs.
In the grand room, aerialists from Coil Studio and dancers from Quiero Flamenco and Alegría Dance perform alternatively. Mota says flamenco is the perfect style of dance for this spooky event, because many of the dance's forms are not meant to tell stories of happiness, regardless of how it's often portrayed in popular media.
"I know what you're thinking of, and that's not what that's going to look like at all," Mota says. "Mass marketing tends to show those [upbeat styles] of flamenco. It's an old art form, and it's actually more tragic and sad than it is happy. My dancers will not do any footwork, and they're going to be in a bata de cola, a Spanish train dress, and it's in all black."
Once guests make it upstairs they're able to take a quick break to get a spooky cocktail before continuing their treacherous Glover Mansion tour. This upstairs room features a burlesque performer and another dancer highlighted by glow-in-the-dark paint.
Forthun Bruner and Mota worked hard to ensure the mansion was immersive for guests while also allowing for some autonomy. So when attendees begin to file upstairs and meander around the bar area, they can choose which side of the venue to view first, or if they'd like to avoid any areas altogether.
"One of our acts is gonna be a spooky fan dance, that will be more like a classic burlesque," Forthun Bruner says. "The partial nudity that might occur in that room is easy to block off so that if people choose not to go into that room, it's very easy to do that and not impact the rest of their experience."
A long hallway upstairs features a tap duet that Lyons-Wolf says is inspired by the creepy twins in The Shining.
"As a choreographer for this project, what's been cool is being able to be inspired by this space and to create work in a space that's very different from what we put on a stage. It's been really fun to use the body in a way that I don't usually get to use in performance for tap dance," he says. "I think for the audience too, it's going to be a new experience of getting to be that close to dance and getting to have it like all around you."
In total, the Ghostlight experience lasts about an hour. The mansion has a limited capacity, though, so guests need to buy tickets for a specific entry time scheduled every 15 minutes.
"There are so many amazing dancers and choreographers here," Lyons-Wolf says. "I'm so impressed by the community that [Mota and Forthun Bruner] have been able to build that's supported so many dancers. We want to keep great artists here in Spokane, and events like this are how we do it." ♦
Ghostlight • Fri, Oct. 25 from 6-10 pm • $37-$50 • The Glover Mansion • 321 W. Eighth Ave. • kindlingdanceproductions.com
