Quotation of the Day
November 18, 2008
There is something wonderfully peculiar about the rush of reviewing live art, of translating a nonverbal, transitory form into the English language. How grand, and how strange, not to know what I think of something until I find myself writing the words I feel are best suited – but still so often inadequate – to explain what it was like to encounter another person’s world.
-Claudia La Rocco, discussing dance criticism in Times Topics
La La La Human Steps at BAM
November 17, 2008
This past week and weekend, BAM’s Next Wave Festival presented the Montreal-based company La La La Human Steps in Édouard Lock’s Amjad, an evening-length work for nine dancers and three on-stage musicians. Amjad, which is a gender-neutral Arabic name, is a deconstruction of Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, but no plot or narrative reveals itself – there is no identifiable Odette, Odile, or Princess Aurora among the women, and no prince among the men. One would have hoped that Lock had at least created solos that revealed the characters’ inner turmoil, but the majority of the work was devoted to duets and ensembles that said more about the dancers’ impeccable technique than Lock’s concept for the ballet.
La La La Human Steps in Amjad, photo by Édouard Lock
The speed of the entire piece is mind-boggling and the dancers’ precise execution of every spin, jump, and gesture is unfathomable. Harsh white spotlights on an otherwise dark stage emphasized the dancers’ sinewy limbs and long lines while never clearly showing their faces, again suggesting that the dancers were not depicting any specific characters from the classics. It’s unfortunate that Lock never allowed the dancers to pause so that the audience (and the dancers) could soak in the moment. He seemed to only choreograph at one speed. The constant rush from one arm-flapping section to another (much more arm-flapping than I remember in any production of Swan Lake that I’ve seen) grew repetitive and predictable. Even the most aggressive of swans takes a breather once in a while.
With the exception of a male duet and a brief section where one man partnered another in pointe shoes, the men were present mainly to spin the women at top speed. The partnering is manipulative, and Lock’s choreography is limited in range. Three screens that appeared rather randomly throughout the ballet showed images of white pearls, blood, white curtains, and thorny forests. The swirling patterns of the pearls and curtains were mesmerizing but didn’t relate to what the dancers were doing. The music, however, was one of the more innovative aspects of the piece. Composed by Gavin Bryars, David Lang, and Blake Hargreaves, the score reworked Tchaikovsky’s music while maintaining some of its most striking sections.
Perhaps Amjad would have been more enjoyable not knowing that it was trying to deconstruct two Romantic ballets. La La La’s dancers are remarkable technicians, but Amjad neither deconstructed nor made a clear statement about the classics. Honestly, the 100-minute ballet could be summarized by watching the 50-second video clip (which features some of the best music from the performance). Once you’ve seen that, you’ve seen the entire piece.
Radical Dancing Annas
November 14, 2008
The Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA), a Massachusetts-based organization devoted to uncovering and chronicling the history of American Jewish women, recently invited me to contribute to their blog as they celebrate the anniversary of Anna Sokolow’s 1937 debut on Broadway. Since the JWA is all about connecting history with contemporary issues, events, and people, I focused my post on a young Jewish dancer – and good friend of mine – who is as fierce as Anna Sokolow was in the 1930′s. The post is below, or you can read it at the JWA’s blog.
Anna Sokolow in her piece The Exile, 1939 – photo by Barbara Morgan
Seventy-one years ago today, Broadway got a little bit feistier when 27-year-old choreographer and dancer Anna Sokolow made her debut on Broadway with several politically and socially charged compositions. Eight years earlier, in 1929, Sokolow had joined Martha Graham’s dance company and gotten her first taste of “radical dance”. Later, she branched out to explore her own choreography, much of which was thematically inspired by her ethnic and cultural Jewish background.
Anna Schön, a 23-year-old graduate of Barnard College, is a present-day radical dancer of another kind: she performs professionally with several dance companies, is a Modern Orthodox Jew, and strives to balance her passion for both religious tradition and the arts. I sat down with Anna (whose initials are the same as Anna Sokolow’s!) to learn more about her connection to Judaism and dance.
Evan: How has Judaism inspired your love of dance and the way you move?
Anna Schön: My religious struggle manifests itself in dancing. I have trouble davening (praying), so dance is the way that I daven, but it has to be with music – the most important part. Unlike Anna Sokolow, I don’t really connect specific themes or events in Jewish history to my dancing.
How have your interactions with choreographers from different cultures shaped or broadened your understanding of dance?
AS: Reggie Wilson [founder of Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group] has been very understanding and open to my religious observance. I’ve had some amazing discussions with him about Judaism and how important it is to me. Most of the other choreographers with whom I’ve worked have also been supportive and interested in learning about my Jewish background. But one choreographer, a secular Israeli Jew, was annoyed at me when I told him I couldn’t come to a rehearsal on Yom Kippur because I would be in synagogue.
How has dancing strengthened or altered your identity as a young Jewish woman?
AS: It’s made me rebellious because I don’t fit into what a Modern Orthodox Jewish woman “should be”. I embrace my identity the most when I’m in situations without a Jewish presence – like when I’m in a dance setting. Maybe I wouldn’t embrace Judaism as much if I weren’t dancing.
Anna Sokolow danced in Israel and Mexico. You spent a semester in South Africa. How did South African culture affect your development as a dancer and as a Jewish woman? Did you experience a shift in the way you balanced the two?
AS: Learning African dance was an eye-opener and definitely enriched my movement style. My Judaism really grew because I was the only observant Jew in a house of twenty Americans. I had to make an extra effort to maintain my observance, but it was actually much easier in South Africa than in NYC to balance dance and Judaism because of differences in the work-life balance. Things were more laid back there.
Have you had opportunities to share Jewish culture in a secular dance environment?
AS: In the summer of 2007, I was studying dance at Jacob’s Pillow. There was a performance on Saturday – Shabbat – and everyone had to introduce themselves after the show. I didn’t want to use the microphone when I spoke [because I refrain from using electricity on Shabbat], and someone in the audience asked why. I explained to everyone that I observe Shabbat, and it turns out that a religious family was in the audience that day. They came up to me after the performance and told me how meaningful it was to hear me talk about that.
Do you think you’ve been a role model for other Jewish women?
AS: I hope to be a role model for others who grew up in homes similar to mine – ones that were religious – because it’s possible to balance religious observance with other interests. Religion doesn’t have to limit you, but sacrifices are made along the way. Next year Reggie Wilson’s company will be touring across the country, and I have to figure out how to do this while maintaining my observance. If I don’t go on tour, will I resent Judaism for holding me back? Or if I do go on tour, will I resent myself for breaking Shabbat? There’s no way to do it perfectly.
Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities
November 11, 2008
Odilon Redon’s The Egg, 1885
On Sunday evening, my friend Dara and I attended “MoMA by Night”, an after-hours event presented by PopRally at the Museum of Modern Art. Three exhibitions, all focusing on dreams, fantasies, and nocturnal landscapes, were open to attendees for viewing and guided tours. Dara and I entered the bizarre and fascinating world of Wunderkammer (pronounced voon-dehr-kah-mehr), which translates to “a cabinet of curiosities”. The exhibit presented a collection of objects, sketches, photographs, and paintings from the 19th to the 21st century, although the concept of Wunderkammer dates back to mid-sixteenth century Europe. Nature, beasts, insects, the human body, and indefinable creatures were common subjects in the artists’ work, much of which had surrealist qualities. I was continually drawn to the lithographs in the exhibit, particularly those of the French artist Odilon Redon, whose mysterious yet whimsical work entitled The Egg is shown above. The Wunderkammer exhibit closed yesterday, but many of the works can still be viewed in the online exhibit.
Rodolfo Abularach’s Ojo Enigmatico (Enigmatic Eye), 1969
Nicolas Lampert’s Locust Tank, 2006
We also had some time to stroll through “Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night“, which features nocturnal paintings from throughout the artist’s career, along with drawings, letters, and literary excerpts that inspired him. Paintings like The Starry Night and The Night Café are always breathtaking up close, but I was equally impressed by Van Gogh’s poetic letters to his brother Theo. He really had a way with words, particularly when describing his attraction to the night (in one letter he compares the colors of the night sky to a symphony). The exhibit is on display online and at the museum until January 5, 2009.
Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night Over the Rhone, 1888
It often seems to me that the night is much more alive and richly colored than the day. -Vincent Van Gogh, September 8, 1888.
