Illusions, a children’s review

Ririe Woodbury held a matinee kid friendly show at the Capitol Theatre on January 30th.  It was that magical length of under an hour, and showcased four works by the historic Alwin Nikolais.

Artistic Director Daniel Charon did a great job of introducing each piece, providing context, and even a seated movement experience.  Although I questioned why “Gallery” would be included in a children’s show (clowns and creepy music!), overall the show was visual and theatrical with ten dancers showcasing dynamic movement at its best.  I took my three children, Zachary (5), Kate (3), and Sophie (1).  Here are Zachary’s reactions:

“I liked a lot of the moves they did.  The first piece (Mechanical Organ) was not my favorite, but I liked when they sat on the bench and got up and down again.

The ghosts (Neumenon) came in and were spooky and went Chomp! Chomp! like a crocodile with their hands.  This was my favorite piece because the dancers had sheets over themselves and just did really cool moves.  Also the music sounded like ghost-men. 

In that one piece (Gallery) there were scary things and they were holding up different faces and masks.

The last piece (Tensile Involvement) had ribbons and the dancers pulled them tighter and tighter, and then all these different colors came.

I do think these dancers practice a lot and this was my favorite move, (he then sat down, stood up, releve, port a bra, slide left, slide right).  Thank-you for letting me watch the show with you.  It was a very good time.  Goodbye.”

 Erica Womack is an area choreographer and adjunct faculty at SLCC. Her son Zachary is in preschool and aspired to be on Ninja Warrior. 

 

Call for Submissions -- learning to loveDANCEmore

learning to loveDANCEmore, a performance journal

Call for Essays & Photos on the theme “Invisible/Visible”
Submission Date: March 15, 2016

“... in spite of a burgeoning wave of newly minted talent fresh from art schools and universities with direct access to the means of self-representation, the familiar, pyramidal structure of the high culture industry has not only been unfazed, it appears to have become more entrenched than ever before.”

- Gregory Scholette in Dark Matter - Art and Politics in the Age of the Enterprise Culture

---

When contemplating a theme for volume 12 of the loveDANCEmore performance journal, I considered that there are thousands of dance artists yet the same handful of individuals and companies tour, listing and re-listing one another on their bios. The upcoming journal explores whether this is a reflection of artistic merit (probably) or whether it sparks deeper questions regarding the presentation of concert dance in the contemporary moment (definitely).

The Western concert stage is governed by a growing list of hierarchies; race, gender, sexuality, aesthetic, and geography, to name a few. Funding, employment, institutional support and presentation - the markers of recognition - flow within the boundaries of these hierarchies rendering the labor of many dance artists invisible. There is a growing urgency to critically inquire about this hidden labor of contemporary dance, illustrated by the article “Is Modern Dance a Pyramid Scheme?” and more recently, the controversy surrounding Akram Khan’s comments on female choreographers. These situations spark the following questions :

1. Who/what bodies is/are represented on the concert dance stage?
2. Whose labor (of performance, creation, administration, education) is marked invisible; how and why does this happen?
3. In what ways has the label ‘contemporary’ been defined? Who is included and excluded in that definition?
4. Most crucially, how do artists disrupt these hierarchies and make their work visible?

In order to explore these issues, most particularly as they impact Salt Lake City, the Mountain West, and other midsize cities in the United States, loveDANCEmore is releasing an open call for submissions.

Submissions could address any of the questions above, or broadly the following topics:

• hierarchies in contemporary dance
• definitions of ‘contemporary’
• ways in which creative labor is made visible

Submissions could be scholarly, storytelling, photos, poetry, or other kinds of content. Please send submissions to Liz Ivkovich, at admin@lovedancemore.org by March 15, 2016.

Thumbnail courtesy of Susan Honer & Gina T'ai, previous journal contributors based in Ohio & Wisconsin. 

Utah Presents: Northwest Dance Project

Portland-based contemporary dance company Northwest Dance Project had its Salt Lake City debut at the University of Utah’s Marriott Center for Dance (programmed by Utah Presents, formerly Kingsbury Hall Presents). NWDP currently employs nine dancers, and consistently features the work of various international guest choreographers. On the program for Salt Lake City were works by Felix Landerer (currently choreographer in residence at Scapino Ballet Rotterdam), NWDP artistic director Sarah Slipper, Jiri Pokorny (choreographer in the Netherlands/Prague, formerly with Kidd Pivot), and Ihsan Rustem (a Switzerland-based choreographer, and currently NWDP’s choreographer in residence).

The program opening was strong. In Landerer’s “What We’ve Lost on the Way,” four dancers strode purposefully toward the audience and then back again, as their outstretched arms coincided with static eruptions in the score. The stage was lit by a lowered lighting truss and the upstage area was dark, so each time the dancers marched forward, it was as though they were emerging for the first time. The dancers slid through buttery floorwork, belying the strength it certainly required. While repetition of structure became predictable toward the piece’s end, each iteration took place with a clarity of purpose that made it satisfying to drink in yet again. A moment in a woman’s solo resonated uniquely: she lay on her back, her legs dangling skyward like noodles as she looked curiously up at them. While the rest of the piece featured more physical demands, this brief repose was a contemplation on the limbs that were previously in endless motion. On a costuming note, the dancers’ socks (presumably an aesthetically-driven choice) did not seem to allow them the groundedness needed for all the deep, wide fourth positions, among other choreography, that the piece demanded.

Slipper’s “MemoryHouse” and Rustem’s “State of Matter” felt less singular in some of their choices. Both felt structurally unclear at times, and the choreography, while expertly executed, lacked memorable choices. “MemoryHouse” was at best a trite exploration of a domestic partnership, and “State of Matter” meandered unsteadily alongside a poem about clouds (while it did feature a striking opening scene with limbs dangling down below a black curtain that hovered several feet above the stage).

Strongest on the program was Pokorny’s “At Some Hour You Return.” The lights flashed on to reveal an empty stage lit with a blue-white wash, a truly striking image which elicited an audible reaction from the audience. Then a series of magical blackouts took place, lights coming on between to reveal different groupings of dancers (that took place both extremely quickly and in total silence). Eventually a sextet of three male and three female dancers was revealed; each was clad in black, including black sneakers, which was a welcome change both visually and for movement capability. Pokorny’s choreography had a quirky edge, featuring motifs such as hands held up to heads like antlers; other grounded, swift shifts also possessed an animalian quality. Throughout, Pokorny’s vocabulary felt original and constantly fresh. Structurally the piece shifted through a series of vignettes, bookended by savvy lighting choices, and thus achieved an unpredictability of arc. “At Some Hour You Return” was a piece I would have liked to watch several times over.

Northwest Dance Project lives up to one of its founding initiatives: fostering the creation of original works from both established and emerging choreographers. While Rustem’s work has been showcased by NWDP, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Whim W’him, among some other festivals, his is still a fairly new name; “At Some Hour You Return” was Pokorny’s North American choreographic debut; Landerer’s accolades also include solely European companies and productions. While some pieces may have felt more finely tuned, it was refreshing to see an an evening of largely unfamiliar works and names. As written by Hubbard Street dancer Benjamin Wardell in his poem featured in “State of Matter,” “…like clouds, we are blind to our own perspective”; perhaps the continual introduction of so many new perspectives by companies like NWDP will continue to enlarge our own.

Amy Falls is loveDANCEmore’s program coordinator. She is an avid consumer of dance literature, and loves seeing new choreographers presented in Salt Lake City.

Our reviews at loveDANCEmore are shared with 15Bytes | Utah’s Art Magazine.

Pictured: Northwest Dance Project in “At Some Hour You Return” by Jiri Pokorny 

RDT Link — Emerge

Emerge, an evening of works choreographed by Rodolfo Rafael, was presented at the Rose by RDT’s Link Series last Thursday. The evening was intense, beginning with driving music and a sharp spotlight isolating a group of dancers. One dancer shook as she struggled to bear the full weight of another standing on her shoulders. The supported dancer tipped back into the arms of the group as the lights dramatically cut out.

The intensity did not let up. Dim lighting, dark music, and prowling, smoldering dancers all said this was an evening of contemporary dance that takes itself seriously. This severity eventually grew monotonous but “Shotgun,” a work with girlish primping and lightly suggested Latin dancing, happily interrupted the mood.

Though different in tone, “Shotgun” was similar to other works from Emerge, featuring technically challenging and potential-filled movement phrases which seemed as if the shell had barely been cracked. Many works also made use of implied narrative elements that were disconnected from the movement, as if the two weren’t yet married into a unified whole. I found myself wondering what the characterizations brought to the work. Perhaps the dancing would be better served without them.

By far the most provoking work of the evening was “Avert,” an exploration of the devastating emotional outcomes of conversion therapy, a scientifically unsound but shockingly legal practice that erroneously believes homosexuality is a curable disease. “Avert” featured a sound score comprised of Arvo Pärt’s emotional string arrangements and audio excerpts from the film “For the Bible Tells Me So” that heartbreakingly described the absolute pain of being a gay person in an unsupportive religious environment and the trauma of surviving what amounts to torture while undergoing this “treatment.”

Paired with the potent score were heavy images of limp, helpless dancers being dragged across the stage and convulsive, disjointed references to shock therapy. Except for a brief solo by Elle Skye, the gravity of the text often overtook the dancers. Set to the tragic story of the chasm caused by a parent’s refusal to accept their gay child and the child’s subsequent suicide, Elle’s weighted, loose yet expansive dancing matched the grief of the story, giving even greater solemnity to the moment. “Avert” was largely overwhelming, in great part due to the painful stories shared. But a dance dealing with such a subject should leave an audience neither comfortable nor satisfied.

Creating an evening’s worth of dance as a budding choreographer is no small feat and is an effort to be honored.Though some moments were less refined, images of the evening are still stuck in my mind, especially from the works “Blink” and “Walls.” A single dancer, the entrancingly fluid Josie Patterson, surveyed the open space of the stage. Bright spotlights exposed images of dependence as shadowy observers haunted the perimeters. Creamy gestural phrases interrupted bound, static shapes. Both works revealed an eye for vignette and arrangement of the body that was intriguing, at times even striking. As Rafael continues to make work, these avenues are well worth his further exploration.

Mary Lyn Graves performs with Ririe Woodbury Dance Company among other freelance performance & teaching

WTF Akram Khan

Akram Khan just said this.

I let my blood boil for approximately 45 minutes and then sat down, more calmly, to write this:

Akram Khan is wrong.

Akram Khan is deeply wrong and for more than a handful of reasons.

1. Akram groups together Martha Graham and Pina Bausch as though they are in the same generation of women choreographers. The same generation which he presupposes, excluded male voices. With an over 50 year gap between their births, it’s not only unfair to lump the two women together but also proves that Akram’s understanding of women choreographers and their role in developing this art form is paltry at best.

2. Let’s get back to Akram’s presupposition and remember that Isadora Duncan created a space for the purposes of locating freedom. More particularly for the freedom of moving, female bodies that were restricted, codified, and rejected by ballet. Martha (and her actual contemporaries) similarly worked with initially female ensembles because women in dance abounded; women seeking training and performance opportunities; women who were told no; women who knew the inherent potentials of their bodies in resistance. These women didn’t deny male choreographers, they created a space for themselves as a result of being rejected by a different space.

3. Akram continues to assume that men are just now shifting into greater prominence because of roles they were allegedly denied early on. Consider this a friendly reminder that decreased male participation in concert dance is primarily due to patriarchal values impressed upon boys and their parents. You know what the least productive way to challenge those values is? Continuing to justify male prominence in all areas as  just and deserved. A better avenue would be the consideration of reasons why women, in a field of their own creation, are given significantly greater scrutiny than their male counterparts and simultaneously fewer opportunities.

4. I could give a laundry list of men who were also seminal in the formation of modern dance but that would be as limiting as Akram’s grouping of Martha & Pina. Instead I will simply add that if a list were to be created and tallied, yes there would be a statistically greater number of women involved in choreographing, performing and teaching concert dance. Such a list is precisely the reason why the dwindling numbers of highly supported women in the field is a gigantic and troubling scenario.

5. Major critics often employ comparison as a way to describe for their readership the material they are documenting. It’s not enough that women are denied opportunities to create but also that when they do, it’s put against an all-too-frequently male barometer. I’m willing to wager there isn’t one review that pits Akram’s work against a female contemporary but more than ten which do the inverse to British women in the field.

6. Akram Khan is afraid. Being atop the power structure of concert dance is still pretty powerless in a broad picture of our world. His fear ultimately manifests in the idea that audiences don’t really need to see better representation of art-making, that it’s simply un-important. His position is one that further insulates and denigrates a form once created by brave and wild women.