Style Takes the Stage: Zandra Rhodes designs Aida, Michael Kors designs Stanton Welch's Clear

Radames (Marco Berti) in HGO's AIDA
Photo by Andrew Cloud

Call it Project Runway for the culture crowd. Two of the world’s top fashion designers are readying fabulous costumes for highly anticipated shows here next spring. Zandra Rhodes takes on a classic opera, while Michael Kors covers streamlined Clear, Stanton Welch’s neo-classical ballet.

Hold on to your sarcophaguses! Ancient Egypt is getting an extreme makeover. Strong design is a tradition at Houston Grand Opera, so Anthony Freud, the new general director and chief exec, did not want to go the way of quasi-historical re-creations with Verdi’s masterpiece Aïda. Having seen enough wobbly-pyramid versions, Freud was looking for an Aïda of a whole new order.

He turned to Zandra Rhodes, the legendary British fashion icon, who rose to international prominence in the ’70s as a leader of the new wave and punk movements. “We try to find the right combination of artists,” says Freud. “In the case of Zandra Rhoades, we found the perfect match. She is wonderfully eloquent and wise.”

Known for her extravagant, beyond-the-edge sense of style, Rhodes could give Aïda a potent dose of visual brilliance. “Her visual aesthetic, sensitivity to color and sense of drama were perfect for Aïda,” says Freud. “I have been familiar with her work for as long as I can remember.”

Rhodes was thrilled with the project and looks forward to the Zandrification of Aïda in every detail. For inspiration, Rhodes turned to her own eccentric collection of Egyptian-inspired prints and textiles that she had designed years earlier. She also wandered about the ancient tombs and mummies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “I had to think, what meaning does this have for me?” says Rhodes. “What can I do to bring Aïda to new heights?”

Rich golds, shimmering oranges and brilliant turquoises gave Rhodes her palette of intensely saturated colors that will play out in a display of design bravura. “Designing an opera is the most uplifting thing in the world,” says Rhodes, whose work with the San Diego Opera garnered raves. “I will be making a grand statement.”

Rhodes draws from her deep appreciation for the ancients’ contribution to culture. “They had such a tremendous sense of fashion, and had fabulous ideas about make-up and hair, as well.” Rhodes crisply pleated tunics emphasize the strong geometric lines of Egyptian art. She calls the costumes a “pleating paradise” with all the layering of fabric that creates a rarified sense of nobility. Expect outrageous headresses, signature painted fabric, and animal prints as well.

After designing for Princess Diana, it’s just a bit of a stretch to switch to Aîda, the Ethiopian princess, who, by the way, will sport black dreadlocks, fabulous jewel-toned tunics and African-inspired print fabric. Rhodes’ nod to ancient fashion will also include a revolutionary bare-breasted look, cleverly achieved by using body paint on fabric. Rhodes’ work doesn’t stop with the costumes; she has a pyramid or two up her sleeve as she is creating the entire set. The deep blue of the Nile, the gold of the sun, and the burnt red of the desert inform Rhodes’ palace courtyard, pyramids, and tomb. Surfaces are highly worked, almost like fabric, with hieroglyphics, or “Zhandraglyphics” radiating life in King Tutankhamun era. Scenes will magically change right in front of the audience’s eyes, using a sliding diagonal (with the exact angle of the pyramids) to reveal the next location. “This will be the Egypt of your dreams,” says Freud with excitement. “It’s going to thrill you.”

Amy Fote and Connor Walsh
Photo by Drew Donnovan

Fashion of a decidedly more understated nature is hitting the ballet stage. Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch goes uber-minimal in his team-up with Michael Kors in his stunning ballet, Clear, set to open in May. Welch, who created Clear in 2001 shortly after Sept. 11 for American Ballet Theater, was interested in stripping the process down to bare essentials in his ballet for seven men and one woman.

“It was a time in all of our lives when we centered on what was truly important,” remembers Welch about those harrowing days after the disaster. “Clear was created with that in mind.” Welch found an artistic soul mate in Kors. “I am a huge fan,” says Welch, a regular viewer of Kors’ hit reality-TV show Project Runway. Welch’s powerful command of movement shows through in Clear, and he needed costumes that were going to highlight the movement and the body without obscuring it. “I was drawn to his sense of basic form,” says Welch. “His lines are so clean. It was just right for this ballet.”

Costumes are hugely important for Welch; they can make or break a dance. “I love fabric and how it moves on my ballets,” he says, “but a poor design can ruin the line of the dance.” (Welch has actually designed costumes for a dozen or so of his own ballets, including the sexy slit skirts of Indigo and the featherweight evening gowns of Nosotros.) Welch was never a stranger to the notion of fashion designers moonlighting in the ballet world. Christian Dior and Christian Lacroix have previously designed for his mother, Marilyn Jones, a famous dancer in her own right, at the Australian Ballet.

Welch remembers a streamlined process in working with Kors in developing the costumes. “I described what I had in mind and suggested the camel tones. His sophisticated but elemental designs were perfect.” Each costume was dyed to be slightly darker than each dancer’s skin tone, making it seem almost invisible. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times pronounced Clear a “major hit” and was especially impressed with Kors’ contribution. “For once a fashion designer—Michael Kors—has costumed dancers with sleek simplicity: flesh-toned pants for the bare-chested men with a matching halter for the woman.”

Kors’ neutral tones become an ideal canvas for Lisa Pinkham’s magnificent lighting design. “The lighting worked brilliantly with the costumes and choreography,” says Welch. Just last October, ABT performed Clear to enthusiastic audiences, and the show’s Houston première is greatly anticipated. Welch is excited, in particular, about the synergy between dance and fashion, as they both share a similar concern with human movement. “I think it’s a great thing for dance.”

Reprinted from Houston.

Miami Moves: A Weekend at the Miami Beach Dance Festival

Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company
Photo by Tom Caravaliga

It’s good to send the dance critic out of town every now and then. With that in mind, I jumped at the chance to be a last minute dance talk replacement for Tedd Bale at the Miami Beach Dance Festival. Plus, as much as I love you all, I welcomed an opportunity to see new faces dancing through space.

Momentum Dance Company’s Artistic Director, Delma Iles, organized the festival. Iles is a one-woman dance hurricane. She’s not kidding about the momentum part; this dance maven does more in one morning than I do in a week, and looks good doing it. (Note to self: next visit to Miami dump the frumpola routine and save up for a pair of Manolo Blahniks.)

Where better way to launch a festival than in a jungle? The festival got off to magical start with members of Momentum Dance Company romping through the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. Modern dance amidst bromeliads and bamboo works extraordinarily well. The dancers that were not afraid to get muddy and dance on concrete included Danella Bedford, Odman Felix, Amber Wortham, Amy La Rue and Jesse Sani.

Getting up to speed on two artists I new zilch about was no easy task, but I did my best to sound like I at least tried to learn a lot in a short period of time. My first talk was on Aria for Endangered Species, performed by Core Performance Company with choreography by Ellen Bromberg, and images and music by Yoko Ono. Bromberg was the “it’ choreographer while I was living in San Francisco, so it was wonderful to catch up with her. Turns out this piece was a pivotal piece for her and the first time she incorporated visual media into her work. Bromberg is now a filmmaker and teaches at the University of Utah. I hope we get to see her work in Houston some day soon.

Because the piece is quite elaborate with huge paper mountains, Core’s Artistic Director, Sue Schroeder, excerpted the piece salon style, interspersing live performance with Ono and Bromberg’s words. Wonderfully sensitive performances by Renne Dismukes, Brooks Emmanuel, Lori Teague, and D. Patton White brought the performance to life. Re-visiting Ono’s work came as a blessing as well. In the 80s I was part of a Fluxus revival at the Washington Project for the Arts. Of course, as a typical unconscious artist, I had no idea what I was performing; it just felt cool. We forget the road Ono paved for us in her work that continually questioned and reframed perception. I plan to start using some of her Instruction Paintings as way to refresh my own lens. The event was presented by the Center for Emerging Art under the direction of Ava Rado. Special thanks to curator Valerie Cassel Oliver at the CAM for giving me some direction with the Yoko part of my talk.

My next challenge was to come up with something meaningful to say about Carolyn Dorfman, a mid-career artist with some 50 works under her choreographic belt. The Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company has been performing in and around New York, and elsewhere since 1982. She’s a serious woman that makes substantial work and it was a great joy to get to know her and her work. Dorfman crafts dances that delve deeply into her Jewish history, her love of storytelling, and her finesse with props. Not just any props, but big ones, like a huge 120 lb. wheel in Echad. Dorfman is a whiz at making the stuff she puts on stage look like it really belongs there. I half expected the wheel to take a bow. Her newest work, Cat’s Cradle, traces life in Theresienstadt, a ghetto in Czechoslovakia where they sent all the artists and intellectuals. The piece draws its history from true-life tales of Dorfman’s mother and aunts (all Holocausts survivors) enlisting knitting as a means to endure. It’s a haunting work, built from reverence and remembrance. With songs, sung in English and German, by Ilse Weber and Bente Kahan we revisit this chilling period in history. The piece was beautifully danced by her fine troupe: Joan Chiang, Jacqueline Dumas, Sarah Wagner, Kate Hirstein, Wendee Rogerson, Kyla Barkin, Mark Taylor, David Shen, Aaron Selissen, and Jon Zimmerman.

I finally just got to kick back and watch a spared bill between Momentum Dance Company, and an energetic spin-off company, Dance Now! Ensemble, under the direction of Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini. Iles’ errie Sand Calendar takes place in a sand rainstorm (300 lbs. worth to be exact). And what a treat to see Jose Limon’s The Exiles, elegantly danced by Sani and Bedford. Baumgarten and Salterini’s lively dances were more of a jazzy genre. The festival continues with Ballet Flamenco La Rosa and Ballet Contemporaneo de la Cuidad de Oaxaca.

No festival is complete without awards; this is a perfect time to honor those that work tirelessly to keep dance on the upswing in their communities. Miami Beach Dance Festival awards went to Florene Litthcut Nichols, who has helped countless students experience the joy of dance, and Pedro Pablo Pena whose leadership in the Miami International Ballet Festival has made an enormous contribution to Miami culture.

Evenings were spent at the fabulous Z Wine Grill, the official watering and dining spot for the festival, while I spent my days hanging with the peacocks poolside. Not a bad way to spend the weekend.

Dancing Cirque Style: A Conversation with Alison Crawford

Corteo

Corteo’s Artistic Director Alison Crawford danced with Karen Jamieson Dance Company and the EDAM Dance Company in Vancouver, B. C. before joining the Cirque du Soleil team. She served as an assistant in Quidam and spent a year in Santiago, Chile for Cirque du Monde—a Cirque du Soleil offshoot that stages circus workshops jointly with community organizations reaching out to youth-at-risk. She enlightens us on the joys and challenges of her job.

Dance Source Houston: Thanks for bringing Corteo to Houston, and thanks for pitching your tent so close to my house this time around. You have had an incredibly diverse dance life. When you were in the midst of your modern dance career, did you ever conceive you would become an artistic director of a Cirque show?

Ailson Crawford: No, I didn’t, but once I started working with my first Cirque show I knew this is where I wanted to be. When I finished dancing I went to this career without much of break. Dancers have this incredible discipline that allows us to go into these kinds of jobs because of the dedication and everything that comes with dance. We have a good eye.

DSH: What does your job entail?
AC: That’s a big question. I am not on tour all the time, but I go to every city and make sure the show doesn’t deviate. We have to keep true to the show’s original concepts. I also do casting. If we need to change a concept, if we are adding an act, I know which way to go. I make sure that every little decision that is made will comply with what was created.

DSH: On the press side there’s always a bit of a squabble between the dance and theater critics about who gets to review. As a former dancer and present dance critic I feel the show is rooted in motion. Do you agree?

AC: Yes I do, although Daniele Finzi Pasca (the show’s creator and director) comes from the theater world. For sure it’s a movement show and performed in the round so it’s competently three dimensional.

DSH: I see an artistic presence in the show from top to bottom, even in the way the performers get into place. Every moment is considered.

AC: That’s what makes Cirque different. Yes, you are right, the details in Corteo are very important. You don’t see the artists touching their costumes. This is not a competition. The artists are trained in all aspects of theatrical performance.

DSH: What qualities does a Cirque performer need beside no fear of heights?

AC: Passion, talent, dedication, an open mind, a willingness to work in a team, and a love of what they do.

DSH: How do the artists train?

AC: When they hired for a new creation they get an all round training that includes dance, theater, acrobatics, pilates, yoga and more. Then we have the experts in their field where they do their acrobatic work. When they will be working with brand new apparatuses, like the trample beds, we bring in expert coaches. It’s an extensive training process.


DSH: Acrobatics seems to be making a comeback on the concert stage. My theory is that Cirque had something to do with that. Do you agree?

AC: Good theory! Hip-hop also contributed to putting more acrobatics into our world as well.

DSH: In your bio you mention your attention to spatial design in the show. I noticed that completely. I love the space and time allowed for each act. The clown walking upside down on a tight rope holding the candelabras is such a moment. (People, you have to see it to believe it.)There is almost a kind of breathing room for our amazement. Would you say that is built into the show?

AC: Yes, Daniele really works with the human element. For him that breathing space is all about life. There are three levels of space, the earth, the middle earth, and the heavens and they are all important.

DSH: I loved the surprising rhythms in the teeterboard vignette. It felt like a street scene even though the performers were doing amazing things.

AC: Exactly. Daniele loves to have the performers singing to get that authentic street feel, almost like West Side Story. As for the wonderful rhythms, we have the composers to thank, Maria Bonzanigo and Philippe Leduc.

DSH: Do you see yourself choreographing a new show some day?

AC: I did once or twice. It’s so funny. I didn’t like the person I became. I can be a great assistant; I have good ideas because I love movement.

DSH: What’s the most challenging part of your job?

AC: It’s all challenging. Corteo is one of the most technical touring shows that we have. We have had some major technical work and always need to make sure the fluidity is working. We added a lot of the show and have done a considerable amount of tweaking to get to where we are today. It’s got to grow with performance, yet I never want to lose sight of that incredible humanity in the show.

DSH: Why should we come see Corteo?
AC: Well, it’s a Cirque show for one thing. Yet, it’s different, it’s so theatrical. It touches you in a unique way.

DSH: I agree. Thanks for visiting; we hope the entire Cirque family enjoys their stay in Houston. Come back!

Corteo continues through April 29th under the blue and yellow Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) at Sam Houston Race Park in Northwest Houston. Visit http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/ or call 800-678-5440.