Saturday, February 26, 2005

REVIEW: Dances to Take the Edge Off: Michelle Ellsworth at Diverseworks

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Photo by Robert Shannon

Every time Michelle Ellsworth hits the DiverseWorks stage I brace myself. Mix an untamed imagination with intellectual grit and you get Ellsworth. This time around she takes on the sorry state of the world with a pair of works that has “B” students, (such as myself), quaking in our boots. ED: The Word Made Dress & The Monkey Saddle establish Ellsworth as a leading dance theater performance artist. She is also mighty handy on stage with a wrench.

Ellsworth appears on stage wearing an ill-fitting Victorian dress with a curious pentagonal base. Once she begins to speak a mile-a-minute, the race is off. The dress, named ED, serves as Ellsworth’s solution to the world’s current state of dismal affairs. The usual stuff, religion, democracy, and psychology, just wasn’t up to the job. Ergo ED, a problem-solving dress, can do the trick. And it does.

Ellsworth educates us on all of ED’s “looks,” which include your basic pentagon (it’s organic, of course) and a gigantic uterus, modeled after Temple Grandin’s research into more humane meat slaughtering. ED’s bustle hides a set of lockers that store such necessities as a bucket of lard (you know, for snacks), fake surveillance equipment, and other odd and useless choices including several decoy devices. Never trust a root beer can around Ellsworth.

No dress is complete without a little Greek myth, so ED sports a little Homerian puppet show. Ellsworth builds the dress with a furious passion, all while explaining ED’s features. It’s exhausting, exuberating, and so ridiculous, it works. Ellsworth is so adept at manipulating ED you start believing her. She builds and talks with such lightening speed that ED’s resulting “looks” hit you like a Mack truck. ED’s humor jabs at your brain with a desperate edge.

In The Monkey Saddle Ellsworth takes on religion by inventing one of her own. Clad in a futuristic jumpsuit wired to a computer that interprets her every move, she can summon a hymn or peak experience or one of any number of “precepts.” I am not entirely sure the audience figured out exactly what she was doing with the suit. Her movement actually generates what happens next through some hefty technical programming.

Ellsworth takes a darker track in this piece; she feels and moves with more desperation. Religion tends to do that around these parts. The level of absurdness moves deeper as well. In the end she brings us all around with a sing-along called “keep your dominator low.”

Her team of excellent collaborators, Michael Theodore (music, animation & sensor programming), Priscilla Cohan (set design), and Janice Benning Lacek (costumes) provide a vivid frame for Ellsworth’s work.

Several times during the course of both pieces Ellsworth states her reasoning for her odd behavior, “you know, to take the edge off.” Instead, they remind us of the edge we are now on. Throughout, the anxiety is high, the humor, vivid, and the wild flux of ideas, intoxicating.

http://spot.colorado.edu/~ellsworm/
www.diverseworks.org

Sunday, February 20, 2005

PREVIEW: Martha Graham Dance Company

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Sketches from Chronicle, “Spectre 1914:” dancer - Elizabeth Auclair;
Photo by John Deane

Martha Graham premiered her first evening of solo work in 1926. Dance hasn’t been the same since. She was a dancer first, creating works that fit her long torso, angular body, and dramatic intensity. Graham is considered the mother of American Modern Dance. Hailed as a national treasure, honored by two presidents, and hosted seven times in the White House; Graham was the first dancer to receive a Guggenheim and a host of other awards.

In 1931, Graham’s all-women company premiered their first concert in New York City. By 1938, men joined the company. Modern dance legends Erik Hawkins, Merce Cunningham, and Paul Taylor were early Graham dancers who went on to start their own modern dance companies.

Graham was attracted to deep psychological themes in Greek mythology, literature, and history. She often re-told the story from the feminine point of view. She danced until her 70s and remained productive until her death in 1991 at the age of 96. Although many Graham classics date before 1960, she choreographed her highly acclaimed work, The Rite of Spring, in 1984. Her last work, Maple Leaf Rag, was choreographed a year before her death.

Graham occupies a large space on the dance map. She not only changed the landscape of contemporary choreography but developed her own movement language to do so. Her technique is known for its powerful use of the body’s center, vigorous floor work, and spiraling turns. You would be hard pressed to find a modern dancer that can’t at least imitate a Graham contraction. Graham's technique was considered to be the first modern dance alternative to ballet training and was taught at universities and studios all over the world. Today, the Graham School in New York City is up and running full force and attracting an array of new students.

The company fell on difficult times during a major legal dispute over the ownership of Graham’s dances. The company was not allowed to perform from May 2000-May 2002. “No one was sleeping,” states Terese Capucilli, one of the current Artistic Directors. The company stayed busy learning repertory and keeping up with developments on the law suit. On August 19 2004, the Appellate Court ruled in favor of the Martha Graham Center. The litigation process left the organization drained of its resources, but not its spirit.

Capucilli and Christine Dakin, two dancers who worked with Graham herself, are steering the company boldly towards the future. The company is back on its feet, in great demand, and touring the US and the world. The 2005 touring schedule is completely booked to the point that they had to turn down work.

Graham choreographed 181 dances during her lifetime. Only half of them are danceable while the other half is simply lost with no viable record. Twenty dances, all considered classics, are currently in the repertory. Reviving and reconstructing dances involves still photos, film footage, and the collective memory of those who danced the roles. Only three dancers in the current company danced with Graham herself. “The knowledge comes from one mouth to another, from one heart to another. That is the beauty of the work. Dancers have passed the work to the next generation. Because the Graham technique is a language, it’s an oral tradition in the deepest sense,” states Capucilli.

Houston welcomes Martha Graham Dance Company after a 22-year absence. The Houston program consists of all Graham classics designed to highlight the range of Graham’s genius. Diversion of Angels (1948), Graham’s opus on love, is one of a handful of dances that Graham never danced herself. Graham saw a Kandinsky painting with a slash of red. In the dance, the girl in red literally dances Kandinsky’s slash as an embodiment of passion itself.

Sketches from Chronicle (1936), is Graham’s response to fascism in Europe. Earlier that year, she was invited to perform as part of the 1936 Olympic Games, in Germany. She refused for political reasons stating, “I would find it impossible to dance in Germany at the present time.”

Errand in to the Maze (1947), was first choreographed as a duet for herself and Erick Hawkins. The dance is a re-telling of the myth of Theseus from Ariadne’s point of view. She descends into the labyrinth to face the Minotaur. Graham’s interest in Greek mythology often explored the feminine perspective. Isamu Noguchi’s set is said to resemble the female pelvis.

In Embattled Garden (1958), Graham enters the Adam and Eve story complete with Lilith. The set, designed by Noguchi, is one of the oldest sets in use today. Noguchi created close to twenty sets for Graham.

This is rare opportunity for Houston audiences to witness dance history come alive on stage. Capucilli speaks with tremendous hope for the future of this great company. “Martha’s dances only live as they are performed. That is were the work is alive and breathing.”

Capucilli and Dakin are taking the company into the future with a ferocious energy. This year they will add a new work by the highly theatrical choreographer, Martha Clarke. (Clarke was actually named after Martha Graham.) Graham was famous for saying, “The only constant is change.” The company has weathered change with grace and dignity and is poised to carry on Graham’s genius to the next generation of dance lovers.

Martha Graham Dance Company performs on Friday, February 25th 2005, 8:00 pm at Jones Hall. Call 713-227-4SPA or visit http://www.spahouston.org/.

http://www.marthagrahamdance.org/

This preview originally appeared in the February issue of Artshouston.
www.artshouston.com

REVIEW: Black Rain Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble at Barnevelder

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Photo by Graf Imhoof

Michele Brangwen has been trying to discover how dancers can share the stage successfully with musicians. She has also been on a mission to create dances on themes that matter. Judging from the delicate presence of her newest work, Black Rain, she is well on her way toward both goals.

Composer Thomas Helton and Brangwen joined forces in presenting a somber mood for Black Rain. Brangwen’s choreographic restraint gave ample space and attention to Helton’s musical contribution. The opening still-life of the connected dancers and musicians created a context in which whatever was going to happen next involved the entire assembly of people. Brangwen truly established the feeling that they were in this together. Her spare moves offset the musicians’ movement and the entire work felt whole.

Dancers Deanna Green, Arneita McKinney, Aynsley Stephenson, and Michele Brangwen danced with copious grace delivered with a sense of serious gravity. Helton’s dramatic score created depth and drama matched by Brangwen’s paired-down choreography. Musicians Seth Paynter (saxophone), John Edward Ross (guitar), Thomas Helton (string bass), and Richard Cholakian (percussion) melded beautifully into the work. Their playing and presence added to the fluid mix. Brangwen’s union between music and movement in Black Rain is her most successful adventure thus far. Even Brangwen’s attachment to traditional vocabulary worked in this scenario.

Black Rain allows the viewer to fill in the story. I imagined the four women as guardians and protectors of the earth’s precious blood, otherwise known as water. Perhaps the dancers' heavy moods were due to the sad fact that most of the earth’s water has been contaminated, fresh water is in short supply, the polar ice caps are melting, and acid rain continues to wreak havoc on the world’s old growth forests. Brangwen points the way in a last reaching gesture of the dance. Perhaps she is reminding us to wake up and look around. Her work calls my attention to water in all its manifestations around me.

In Brangwen’s tradition of putting music front and center, the evening opened with the sultry sounds of Carol Morgan’s Wet Set. Morgan’s range and color on the trumpet, wonderfully supported by Kevin Patton on hyper-guitar, and Corey Dozier on string bass, set the watery mood. Works from FotoFest 2004 International Biennial on Water: Celebrating Water, Looking at Global Crisis lended added visual texture; they included marvelous images of water droplets from the Institute for Flow Research.

Water, the very blood of the earth is in serious peril. Finally, a choreographer gives heart, soul, and depth, to a global issue.

http://www.fotofest.org/
http://www.brangwendance.org/
www.thomashelton.com

Read Linda Phenix's review of Black Rain at http://www.houstondance.com/displayarticle196.html

Monday, February 14, 2005

Choreography for Philosophy Majors: Catching up With Michelle Ellsworth on her DiverseWorks Performance

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Michelle Ellsworth was last seen on the DiverseWorks stage dancing and talking up a storm in All Clytemnestra on the Western Front, her ode to the classics. She's been steadily producing heady work for the past decade. This time around she's out to solve the world's problems with 150lb dress named "ED" in ED-The Word Made Dress and a contraption known as The Monkey Saddle. The second work on the DiverseWorks program, The Monkey Saddle, takes the religious route, and includes a midi monkey suit with the accompaniment of several animated films and two pieces of furniture. Ellsworth’s work has been seen at Jacob's Pillow, Dance Theater Workshop, On the Boards, The Sushi, The Telluride Experimental Film Festival, and The Solo Mio Festival. I had the pleasure of sharing a program with her called Textural Works at DiverseWorks about 10 years ago. I have since discovered that we both share the odd distinction of being "Philosophy Majors."

The New York Times called her "smart, cute, and profoundly irritating," I'll go with the smart part. She currently teaches in the Theatre and Dance Department at University of Colorado in Boulder. We visited by phone from her Mountain home.

DH: Have you always talked in your dances?
ME: I was a dancer first. I went the academic route as a philosophy major at NYU. I took a dance class from Sara Pearson. We had to speak and move at the same time. I did it and it was finally clear-- this is what I do. I could reconcile these worlds and combine two lands that I love so much, dance land and the verbal thinking land.

DH: Can you describe the soup of ideas that gave birth to ED: The Word Made Dress?
ME: This is a post 911 piece, born out of frustration of the traditional coping mechanisms like democracy, religion, and psychology. I needed to solve problems in a concrete way. ED does that.

DH: Describe Ed: The Word Made Dress.
ME: I come out in Elizabethan dress but it's on pentagonal base. The dress is perpetually evolving. I am solving problem but at the same time I am forfeiting freedom. You be hard pressed to call this a dance-I do very little dancing. But the fact that I am not dancing, is very symptomatic or our post 911 condition. Ed solves problems while generating a whole another set of problems.

DH: Why a dress?
ME: In the piece I talk about the great divide of the 1400s, the binary split between the left and right leg where people started people wearing pants. The separation of the left leg from the right seem to be a symptom of an unhealthy situation. It's not a female thing. The dress has the ability to conceal. It's quite versatile. I consider it a performance sculpture.

DH: Why Ed?
ME: I'm still not sure. Ed might be related to Id.

DH: Ed is most certainly related to Id. Good thinking. I am curious, how do you research your work?
ME: I read a lot to make my pieces. I read close to 20 books in the creation of the second piece, The Monkey Saddle. I read about religion, the practice of pain and sacrifice. The idea comes first, and then I do the research. I read to understand why I make certain choices.

DH: The PR reads. "Through wireless infra-red, gyroscopic, pressure, and flex sensors that send motion data to a computer - her new problem-solving attire triggers a range of actions, including a video image of her personally postulated supreme being and the musical accompaniment for the Sacred Hand-Shake-for-One." So you are tackling religion?
ME: Ed focuses on problems in the material world. In The Monkey Saddle the outfit I am wearing addresses religious problems. Both pieces are informed by global and political events, but if you are not interested in politics you probably won't notice or mind.

DH: Are these two works a pair?
ME: Yes, they are companions. They both focus on solving problems through fashion. Ed is two yeas old. The Monkey Saddle just premiered this January at On the Boards in Seattle commissioned DW and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art as part of NPN creation fund.

DH: How do you train for your work?
ME: The making of the piece is the training for the piece. It tells me what I need to know. No supplement training is required.

DH: How do you use improvisation in your work?
ME: The pieces are different every night. I have ten times more information than I need on any given night. Depending on how it’s going, navigating through both of the pieces, different things get emphasized. This is kind of new. My pieces were historically more scripted while my movement was more improvised. In The Monkey Saddle I have all these sensors built into my monkey suit that send information to a computer. If I move in a certain way I can trigger a specific hymn. My choreography has to be very specific to trigger these religious artifacts, or get to effects or get the wrong effect. People most think someone in the back is pushing buttons on DVD player, but the suit and the choreography really are sending data to the computer and the computer is controlling the music and videos.

DH: Who are your collaborators?
ME: My collaborators are incredibly essential to this work, especially Michael Theodore who makes the animation, the music, and does all the computer programming for The Monkey Saddle. His work really fueled and inspired me. Janice Benning-Lacek makes all my costumes. Priscilla Cohan makes my sets.

DH: What's next for you?
ME: I am working on piece called Excerpts of 21 Pieces That Don't Exist. I am making pieces that don't have an existence except in an excerpt form. So, I am making a record of something that doesn't exist. Rather than taking something out of context, it has no context.

DH: How do audiences respond to your work?
ME: I am always surprised who responds to my work. So many different kinds of people respond to the work for different reasons. Math people get the math part. Kids like the work but they don't get some of the references. People often respond with laughter, which I always find surprising, because I think both of these pieces are quite sad and I personally have no loyalty to humor.

DH: Well, in the past I have been quilty of finding your work funny, but funny in a biochemical way. The juxtaposition of ideas causes crashes in my neurotransmitters, and the result is often a kind of intellectual derailment. It's a kind of depth humor, not for the faint of heart. I understand you also draw cartoons too. How does that fit in?
ME: They are part of my leakage. Sometimes I am making performances pieces, sometimes I make cartons. If I'm not making performance work that energy goes into cartoons. I make videos also. I draw a lot in the summer. The cartoons fuel the performances pieces.

DH: Thanks for taking the time to bring me up to speed on your work. I found our time together entertaining, informative, and not the least bit irritating. I wish you the best of luck with your DW performances.

Michelle Ellsworth performs ED-The Word Made Dress & The Monkey Saddle, at DiverseWorks on February 18 & 19th at 8pm. Call 713- 335-3445 or visit www.diverseworks.org

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Sandra Organ Dance Company Celebrates Black History Month with "I Have a Dream" at Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center

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Dancer: Yolanda Gibbs
Photo by Bill Ovive

Sandra Organ Dance Company (SODC) performs I Have a Dream, in honor of Black History Month, on February 17 & 18 at 7:30 pm at Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center. Call 713-315-2525 or visit http://www.organdance.org/.

“Dance touches on both hemispheres of the brain at once,” states Houston dancer and choreographer, Sandra Organ. With a weekend at the Hobby in celebration of African American History month on the horizon, Organ finds herself confronting key issues in her life. "Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech is timeless in its inspiration and depth and serves as a reminder of the days when politics wasn't just about deceit and coverups, alternate agendas and political clout. It was about the truth and being heard, as Reverend King spoke on behalf of millions who stood up non violently against all odds to achieve a great thing for our nation.. I was born in 1963 and reap the legacy of his passion in the lifestyle I am allowed live, as well as the generation that immediately participated in making the civil rights movement a positive step in our history toward equality. This is a culminating work for me and SODC," states Organ.

In 1981 Organ moved to Houston to join the Houston Ballet Academy. She joined the company in 1982 and rose through the ranks of the Houston Ballet as their first African American ballerina. As a soloist, she enjoyed dancing roles choreographed by Ben Stevenson, Christopher Bruce, and Paul Taylor. “I am also in awe of Balanchine, Fred Astaire, Martha Graham, and Alvin Ailey,” states Organ, considering her influences. Organ is known for her distinctive grace and strong technique.

Today, she enjoys dancing her own choreography. “I started making up dances for talent shows and church when I was in 8th grade,” remembers Organ. “When I was the valedictorian at my high school, Duchesne Academy in Omaha Nebraska, I danced instead of speaking.” A while back the Duchesne Academy in Houston invited Organ to be the commencement speaker. “I made everyone else dance,” cheered Organ.

After reading Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, Organ decided it was time to create a company for her own brand of lyrical neo-classical choreography. The Sandra Organ Dance Company (SOCD) was created in 1997 and has grown to be a thriving company that performs in a multitude of venues. In addition, SODC is able to pay dancers for rehearsals, performances, and daily classes.

At 41, Organ is still dancing in her work. “Being my own director allows me to age gracefully because I can control how much I am on stage.” So far Organ has some 50 ballets under her belt with more in the works. Organ credits the Houston Ballet for their ongoing support. “I am very lucky to be able to rehearse at HB studios and for the contacts I developed during my years there.”

Education programs are an important part of the company’s mission. Last year she collaborated with Writers in the Schools, creating dances from the words of young poets. A few years back, she took advantage of her last name and created a work called Earthen Vessels that helped develop awareness for organ donation. Audience members could sign up to be organ donors in the lobby before the performance.

Organ draws her inspiration from multiple sources. Ramble, with music by local composer, Steven Pare, is one of her favorite pieces. This cheerful romp demonstrates Organ’s finesse with simple everyday movement utilizing complex patterns in space. The effect is colorful, uplifting, and full of kinetic vitality. Her Hobby concert last February focused on poetry. The words of Maya Angelou, Louise Clifton and Pablo Neruda provided a canvas for her movement. “I wanted to put those words to music,” says Organ. Her work with MacArthur Genius, Liz Lerman, helped Organ develop her own methodology in working with text. Organ was one of very few artists invited to perform in Lerman’s Halleluiah Project.

Liturgical dance is still one of Organ’s favorite dance modes. She regularly performs at churches in town including her own church, City of Refuge, a mutli-racial purposely integrated church. For Mother’s Day she performed her well known rocking chair piece. She is working on a version of the Apostles Creed for the children of her congregation.

Although touring is still an option, Organ is steadily building her vision in Houston. “I put my roots down here. My mother grew up her and I am continuing her legacy. She never got the opportunity to take dance classes. There were no dance classes for African American children in the 40s and 50s. As a child of the depression she was struggling to survive,” says Organ proudly. Organ credits the support of family for her success. Her mother, a nurse, and her father, a world famous surgeon, follow her career with enthusiasm.

In the future, Organ hopes to have her own space. “I dream about having a place of our own to offer classes and rehearse. Having dancers on salary is also on my wish list.” She divides her time between working with her own company, setting ballets on other dance companies, and teaching at HSPVA and the Houston Ballet Academy. For Organ, Dance is a unique art form. “Dance transcends the visible and invisible making an abstract image tangible.”

Portions of this piece originally appeared in Houston Woman Magazine. http://www.houstonwomanmagazine.com/

Monday, February 07, 2005

PREVIEW: High Flying Diavolo Dares to Redefine Dance

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Diavolo isn’t the average dance company. In fact, some might say, it isn’t dance at all. A fusion of dance, theater, acrobatics, potent visuals, and high flying land this LA-based company in the hybrid world of movement-based visual theater. What ever it is, it’s breathtaking, completely original, and it may have you holding on to your seats. It’s refreshing to see some dare-devil dancing during these fear infused times. Diavolo flies full force on to the Cullen stage this weekend to present two of their most acclaimed works, Tete en L’Air (Head in the Air), and Trajectoire.

Diavolo founder and artistic Director, Jacques Heim, wandered from theater to dance at Middlebury College. “My English was so bad, I heard in dance class you don’t have to speak,” remembers Heim. “I fell in love with the people there and they took me under their wings.” Dancing on a bare stage held little interest for Heim. His early work was characterized by how the human form interacts with everyday objects like chairs and tables. “I used lots of props. Architecture is also important to me; I was getting ideas from walking the streets of New York City.” Heim continued his studies in dance/theater at Cal Arts.

These days, Heim’s work begins with an idea for a structure. He collaborates with sculptor Daniel Wheeler (and other sculptors) to create a structure that is ripe with potential interaction with human movement. Once the sculpture is built, it’s play time at Diavolo’s warehouse studio. Over the course of a month Diavolo dancers develop the work based on play-based improvisations with the structure. In speaking with Heim, it seems as if the structure itself has a voice. In Trajectoire, a large rocking boat-like structure becomes the precarious base of support for a tribe of movers set sail on an unknown course. Diavolo values teamwork and collaboration at every stage in the process. Heim directs the process as the choreographic credit goes to the entire company.

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Tete en L’Air involves a Magritte inspired staircase. This is no ordinary set of stairs. They’re for falling flying, and skiing. At one point, the stairs open up to reveal that murkiest of mysteries of what lies beneath the stairs. The language of coming and going, and endless distraction moves in and out of the dance. It’s up to create the narrative or simply enjoy the play of moving paintings. Diavolo is not interested in finishing the story for us. Evocative images become food for the imagination.

Diavolo dancers represent an eclectic mix of dance training including ballet, modern, and gymnastics. This is not a company for the fearful set. “Dancers need to take responsibility for their own actions. Sure, sometimes they get hurt. So they go to the emergency room, get some stitches and return to rehearsal,” remarks Heim. They are also well versed in the inner workings of each structure and often are the ones that set it up and take it down. The structure can be unpredictable based on the weather and other circumstances. “The structure has a mind of its own.”

Heim’s unique method of creating work attracted the attention of Cirque du Soleil. Heim has just completed setting a Diavolo like show in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Hotel. Ka opened last week to rave reviews and involves a gigantic rotating platform. With a budget of $165 million and a cast of 70 and some incredible technology, Heim has able to try out his method on a grand scale. “It’s like Diavolo on steroids,” jokes Heim.

Heim’s work poses a fundamental question, “How does the human form interact with its environment?” To find out, I suggest you show up next Saturday. If you are wondering about the name, “Diavolo,” here’s the scoop. “Dia” is Spanish for the word "day," and Greek for "through, across, from point to point." “Volo” is Latin for “I will fly.” Trust me, they do.

Society for the Performing Arts (S.P.A.), presents Diavolo on Saturday, Feb. 12, at 8 p.m., Cullen Theater. Call 713-227-4SPA or visit http://www.spahouston.org/.



Saturday, February 05, 2005

Politics, Music, Dance, and Art in Black Rain: A Conversation with Michele Brangwen

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Dancer Deanna Green and Guitarist John Edward Ross.
Photo by Graf Imhoof.
T
he Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble presents year round performances of original choreography to new live music. Dangerously sharing the stage, the dancers and musicians set a challenging precedent for ensemble interaction. The MB Dance Ensemble has commissioned eleven new music works for dance, and presented the works of two Houston choreographers, and thirteen living American and European composers, including Thomas Helton, Reynaldo Ochoa, Arthur Gottschalk, J. Todd Frazier, Rob Smith, Joe LoCascio, John Thow, and Joan Tower. Brangwen filled me on her upcoming performance of Black Rain at Barnevelder in February.

DH: Barnevelder is a new venue for you. How do you think it will work out for you?

MB: From the first time I stepped on the stage at Barnevelder, I felt like it was a place designed for making art. The floor is ideal for dance, the lighting system is on its way to surpassing other larger venues, the lobby is bright and cheerful, and the vibe is happening.

DH: Your next event has music and art. Is this a new direction for you?

MB: We are really excited to be presenting these performances in association with FotoFest. There will be a lobby installation of photographic images and video from their 2004 Biennial entitled Celebrating Water, Looking at Global Crisis. We hope to be able to do more projects like this.

With regard to music, that is something we have been doing from the start. We have presented many evenings at Stude that were all music for the first half and then a dance set to live music for the second half. With regard to visual art, yes, I would love to include more. We hope to use video imagery on a future project.

DH: Do you constantly experiment with different formats for including music?

MB: On a program we presented at the Performing Arts Center at Houston Community College Northwest last year we started with a jazz trio doing new compositions, followed by the premiere of a dance piece, Talk to Me, set to live music influenced by Latin jazz, and ended with a jazz ensemble doing a free improvisation that was wild and crazy. The dance work was sandwiched by two music works without dance; we didn’t end with a dance work. We did this because we decided to program in order of the intensity of the music; we knew nothing could beat the wild energy of all the jazzers improvising.

DH: The program includes Wet Set, with music by the Carol Morgan Trio. How did you come across Morgan’s work?

MB: I’ve been a fan of Carol Morgan’s work since I heard her perform at Cezanne’s about four years ago. Her trumpet playing has such long flowing and sensuous lines to it; when she does a ballad, it is like you don’t need Astrid Gilberto, the trumpet voices the song even better—only live and in the moment. I am excited we have her trio as part of the program.

DH: Your new piece is called Black Rain. How does water manifest in the movement?

MB: The water imagery appears in different forms throughout the work. "Black Rain" is a term that describes rain that fell after the dropping of the A-Bomb on Hiroshima. It fell in regions quite far from the blast, but it carried radioactive fallout and caused the same illnesses. Fallout rained down again on September 11, 2001, when ash comprised of toxic compounds from the debris of the Twin Towers -- some of the most lethal compounds known to man, and some still as yet unidentified -- fell like precipitation all over the area, covering the ground like snow, and remaining for months afterwards. However, the water imagery in the dance isn’t all dark. Often when we dream we see both: we see what we most fear and what threatens us, as well as what we long for most.

DH: You mention political subject matter. Is this an abstract treatment?

MB: The work is abstract, and the time periods -- Hiroshima and 9/11 -- unite as one, although for me personally, as a native New Yorker, the singing bowl that chimes throughout the third section of the work very strongly represents lower Manhattan. It sounds like the church bells that ring there; it is an incredibly beautiful sound. But as both events are in the past, they meld together as one, and that is evident in how the work begins and ends.

DH: What drew you to such serious subject matter?

MB: Now more than ever I think reflection on moral high ground is relevant. The debate about the dropping the A bomb still rages on, and Black Rain, is not trying to sort out that controversy. It just presents, or reminds us, of what is not debatable: 200,000 civilian casualties, classified as collateral damage.

You may ask, “What is the water correlation?” Well, the rain brought death to Hiroshima and to Lower Manhattan -- the ultimate reversal of nature -- and perhaps that should prompt the deepest digging of who did this and for what reasons. Simple answers just don’t cut it when the stakes are so high.

DH: How did you collaborate with composer Thomas Helton?

MB: Thomas and I watched Shohei Imamura’s masterpiece film Black Rain from 1989, based on the Masuji Ibuse novel of the same name, as inspiration and a place to start from. We had many discussions about the subject matter. We began with some music sketches Thomas created that became the first two sections of the work.

The firemen at Ground Zero didn’t use their protective masks because it was just impossible to spot remains, and dig with that kind of gear on. And many men felt uncomfortable because there were blue collar construction workers who were not given the same high tech protection. They couldn’t wear it when the guy next to them didn’t have one, so the bottom line is no one wore their masks after a day or two and they are all getting very, very ill. We used this premise as a spring board for the third section, which if you have ever walked down the street in Lower Manhattan, the bell sound will bring you there.

DH: What else was on your mind in creating this piece?

MB: I have also been thinking about how there was a lot of xenophobia going on in the 40’s, as there is today. Just the nationality and religion which is feared has changed. So I tried to give the central section a kind of world dance feel, as if someone were dreaming of a harmony that we don’t have, or that perhaps we could have if examined the root of our fears more closely.

DH: Thanks for the update. I wish you the best of luck on your performance.

The Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble premieres Black Rain on Saturday February 12, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. Sunday, February 13, 2005 at 4:00 p.m at Barnevelder Movement Arts Center. Concert Information: (713) 533-9515 or www.brangendance.org. Advance Ticket Sales: 713 529-1819 or www.barnevelder.org

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

RSVP: Deborah Hay's The Match and Solo Adaptations at DiverseWorks

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During my choreographing years there came a time when the movements I came up with started to lose their glue. I then switched to a more “territorial” approach to making dances where I would use a qualitative map to figure out approximately what would happen where. Eventually, I let go of set movements altogether, however, I never landed on a workable matrix for making dances. I was left in a state of choreographic gloom. I tell you this story because I propose that Deborah Hay has found a way out of my so called “darkness” by making dances that do not rely on traditional methods. What follows is a “rambling” (not to be confused with a review) chronicling my experience of Hay’s recent work at DiverseWorks.

Demonstrating exact movements to be repeated in a certain order is just one approach to making dances. Deborah Hay departs from that approach to choreography with stunning results. A carefully planned strategy involving a precise set of instructions serves as a scaffolding from which the dancer crafts their unique dance. This process illuminates the individual rather than the choreographer. Dancers hone their solos through daily “practice.”

Hay asks dancers to “invite being seen.” Ten years ago I danced with Hay in a salute to John Cage. She used those very words to me. She also spoke of a kind of 360 degree radial attention, asking us to perceive ourselves being perceived. Years later, I find myself on the viewing end of that equation as “the guest” in the process. My perception is called upon as “seeing” completes the circle.

I had a chance to give my "dancing perception" a go when Hay was in town at DiverseWorks. Ros Warby, Scott Heron, Mark Lorimer, and Chrysa Parkinson, all accomplished dancers well versed in her method, performed in The Match and Solo Adaptations. I was fortunate to catch the Saturday night performance.

As Ros Warby takes the stage in a delicate gallop, I sense an almost physical calling. The invitation has a visceral edge. As if, with each prance, I am being pulled into the fabric of her experience. Her steady rhythm builds up a tension. A slight nodding of her head seems to check on my awakeness. I wonder, for a moment, if my attention drifts, will it be perceived by the dancer? Finally her dance breaks free of the gallop into a juicy mix of movement changing second by second. If I blink, I have missed something. I wonder, how necessary I am to the dance. What if Warby’s movement becomes itself through my perception, a kind of quantum dancing so to speak? That’s a bold thought, and I will just let it stand as an idea rather than a truth. Warby’s last gesture of bowing her head as her hat falls into her hand is a place to rest. The muscle of my attention gets to rest as well.

The Match begins with the same delicate galloping, this time performed by Lorimer. Soon the others enter and a richly textured stream of movement and sound envelope me once again. The clear channel of watching is now splintered into quarters, but later settles into a kind of collective viewing. At times I recognize thematic elements from Warby’s dance. At these times, I realize that I still perceiving Warby’s dance, which, technically exists in the past.

Mark Lorimer’s Solo Adaptation completes the experience. I see each Solo Adaptation as a branch from The Match. The Solo Adaptation acts as a dilation in time and space, born from The Match, but individualized by each performer, and once again by the viewer. Lorimer’s generous quality entertained throughout.

Hay’s work challenges the notion of a passive viewer. She uses the phrase “playing awake” as a way to train the performer in the nuances of “inviting being seen.” The viewer also “plays awake” as the receiver of the invitation. I offer my perception, as a gift of sorts, to the dancer playing the “host.” It seems to work, and better yet, shed some like on my choreographic gloom.

http://www.thematch.info/