This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Pasquale, aka Erik Thurmond, is a budding pop star with an origin story.
Thurmond was adopted as a baby and grew up just outside of Atlanta. In 2016, he met his biological parents for the first time. They told him that, instead of having “a nameless child,” they always referred to him by his great-grandfather’s name, Pasquale. For years, they mused about their son’s milestones from afar. Thurmond imagines them saying, “Pasquale’s turning 16 today!” or “Pasquale should be graduating high school right about now.”
The name took hold in Thurmond’s imagination. And, like many of his artistic inspirations, it became both a springboard for new ideas and a mirror reflecting aspects of his identity.
Thurmond, as Pasquale, will perform at Pisces, DJ Ree de la Vega’s new dance club on Edgewood Avenue, on Saturday, Jan. 18 in celebration of his first album release, “New Born Fire.” Jan. 18 is also Thurmond’s 36th birthday.
Credit: Photo by Andrew Lyman
Credit: Photo by Andrew Lyman
Though dance and theater were his “first creative languages,” Thurmond credits the Spice Girls, the uber-popular 1990s British girl group, with the formation of his earliest and most salient artistic sensibilities.
Pasquale is a Spice Girls superfan, a dancer, choreographer and musician. He believes in the power and mystique of a single-word name: Look what it did for Madonna and Cher — and the Spice Girls.
Attend a Pasquale concert and Spice Girls references are not immediately visible, but look closer and you’ll spot those Baby, Scary, Posh, Sporty and Ginger fingerprints. Thurmond says the pop stars embodied and promoted “positivity, feminism, diversity, sexuality and playfulness,” all arguably hallmarks of Pasquale’s music, performances and overall vibe.
“It wasn’t just the songs, it was their shoes,” he says. “It wasn’t just their shoes, it was the photographs. It wasn’t just the photographs, it was the music videos. It was the whole Spice World they created.”
Pasquale’s world is similarly multifaceted. Perhaps thanks to Thurmond’s background in live performance and visual arts — he is a former Core Dance company member and holds an Master of Fine Arts degree in visual arts from Rutgers University — Pasquale concerts deftly combine sound, movement and fashion to immerse audiences in highly curated experiences that also feel spontaneous.
For the last two years, Thurmond has performed his original songs many times in different venues across Atlanta and New York City — dance clubs, bars, gallery spaces, clothing stores. He says he is fascinated to discover which spontaneous details engage a live audience: a shoulder shrug here; a hair whip there. He believes in “the economy of a moment,” when magic happens. Some of his songs include a participatory dance break. (Pasquale doesn’t like a passive audience.)
A recipient of an Idea Capital grant in 2021, Thurmond says he has always gravitated toward “legibility and accessibility” in his work, true values of pop.
In 2015, the Atlanta-based movement platform glo commissioned “Ripple,” Thurmond’s retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus, for its Tanz Farm contemporary dance series.
When Atlanta-based arts writer Andrew Alexander saw “Ripple” at the historic Rhodes Theatre, he told Thurmond: “Your work always looks like music videos.” Thurmond appreciated this observation but says he “didn’t know what to do with it.”
Credit: Photo courtesy of Eric Thurmond
Credit: Photo courtesy of Eric Thurmond
Now, 10 years later, after moving to New York to attend Rutgers, then moving back to Atlanta and starting the band Pandemia with artists Sarah Santamaria and Parks Miller, Thurmond makes multidisciplinary art that, he says, “resonates with many kinds of people.” Dance, especially contemporary concert dance, can be notoriously opaque. Thurmond takes to live music and songwriting as a way in and through.
Thurmond says Atlanta’s infrastructure for music is more fully developed than concert dance, so the move toward pop felt like a natural and necessary next step. “There’s something about music that’s so immediate,” Thurmond says. “It’s similar to dance in that it’s beyond language, [but music] is felt so quickly. It can change your mood; it can change an atmosphere.”
The Atlanta-based electronic music label DKA produced Thurmond’s new album “New Born Fire.” As Pasquale, he plans to go on tour with it, performing in clubs the way he would in a theater. But, unlike theaters, dance clubs can blur the line between participant and onlooker, adding to the overall experience. “I’m trying to connect to something bigger than me,” Thurmond says.
Make no mistake, Thurmond dances at his concerts. Depending on the venue, he commands a raised stage, struts through the crowd or stands under a spotlight with the audience encircling him. His movements are precise and linear, a nod to his extensive ballet and contemporary dance training.
At a recent concert at 529 in East Atlanta, Pasquale, shirtless and wearing big silver hoops, asked in a distorted, automated voice: “What is that we want? Have we tasted it before? What can we do to taste it again?” Then his body broke into wild thrashes, as if attempting to unlock possible answers before snapping back to robotic attention. His eyes cut across the room, the questions still hanging in the air. Then his face softened and revealed a sort of tongue-in-cheek mutual understanding: We’re in this together. And dance, we will.
IF YOU GO
Pasquale album release show and birthday party
Saturday, Jan. 18 at Pisces. Opens at 9 p.m.; show at 10 p.m. $10. 483 Edgewood Ave. SE, Atlanta. ra.co/clubs/248652
::
Kathleen Wessel is a movement artist, choreographer, educator and writer who has been covering dance for ArtsATL since 2012. She is on faculty in the Department of Dance Performance and Choreography at Spelman College.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
MEET OUR PARTNER
ArtsATL (artsatl.org) is a nonprofit organization that plays a critical role in educating and informing audiences about metro Atlanta’s arts and culture. ArtsATL, founded in 2009, helps build a sustainable arts community contributing to the economic and cultural health of the city.
If you have any questions about this partnership or others, please contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams at nicole.williams@ajc.com.
About the Author
