Rail Writing
December 13, 2009
I recently started writing for The Brooklyn Rail, an arts, culture, and politics publication that began in 1998 as a pamphlet distributed on the L train. Since then, the Rail has expanded and is now online and available around Manhattan and Brooklyn. The dance section in the current December-January issue is filled with nine fabulous articles. I reviewed last month’s 75th Anniversary Gala of the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center. Check it out!
Live Arts Audiences Decline as Online Audiences Grow
December 10, 2009
Today, the Los Angeles Times culture blog shared some unfortunate findings from a National Endowment for the Arts report: the number of American adults attending arts and cultural events has sunk to its lowest level since 1982. The economic climate is certainly one reason for the decrease, which might explain why adults are attending performances – museum shows, classical music concerts, opera, ballet, theater and jazz concerts – less frequently now than in 2002. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that audiences are increasingly relying on new media and the Web to appreciate the arts, according to an NEA survey that polled 18,000 adults. That is, “the mode of delivery is rapidly changing.” Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“It sends a message to us that technology is increasing access to the arts, not only to artmaking, but also arts participation,” said Joan Shigekawa, NEA’s senior deputy chairman. “Now you are no longer geographically bound to see a live performance. Also, there is something about this technology that emboldens people to express themselves.”
Should we celebrate what technology has done for access to the arts, or mourn the impact that technology has had on live audiences? Is sitting alone at home in front of a computer screen while watching a dance performance really the same as experiencing the same performance in a theater with other audience members? Does it matter? What do you think?
Science and Art Mingle in Diagnosis of a Faun
December 5, 2009
Gregg Mozgala, the title character of Diagnosis of a Faun
The characters in Tamar Rogoff’s Diagnosis of a Faun, which premiered on Thursday evening at La MaMa Annex, were transported to unfamiliar worlds where they struggled to heal and understand their bodies in two very different ways: through science and art. Rogoff’s cast – two professionally trained dancers, a doctor, and an actor who has cerebral palsy – was equally challenged, as she required them to physically move beyond their comfort zones. The piece is memorable not only because of the opportunity to watch an actor with cerebral palsy, Gregg Mozgala, move so beautifully and fluidly as the Faun, but also because of the creative way in which the piece conveyed the medical and emotional healing process.
Moving between a mythical forest and a hospital, Diagnosis of a Faun told the story of an injured professional ballet dancer (Lucie Baker) whose career depends on the surgery she must undergo at the hospital, and the story of a 5000-year-old Faun that also lands in the hospital, where he draws the attention and fascination of doctors. Frequent narration from “Dr. A” (Dr. Don Kollisch) and “Dr. B” (Emily Pope-Blackman, a dancer) provided the audience with in-depth scientific explanations of the dancer’s injury and the faun’s unique way of moving, while solos and duets that were alternately poignant and funny revealed the emotional struggles of the dancer and faun. When the scientific and artistic portrayals overlapped, they resulted in a painful or humorous outcome. As Dr. A attempted to examine the dancer’s Achilles tendon and articulate the surgical procedure, she developed her leg to the side and did combinations as if she were at a ballet barre taking class. And when Dr. B explained the faun’s condition, the faun simply let out a noise that sounded like a moaning lamb. In both instances, the characters were unaware of the other’s way of addressing an injury.
Emily Pope-Blackman and Gregg Mozgala in rehearsal, photo by Andrea Mohin
The mingling of scientific and artistic mindsets, frequently conveyed through partnering, was most powerful. A stunning duet for Pope-Blackman and Mozgala set within the forest allowed for a role reversal where the faun examined Dr. B. Her initial discomfort with the situation and her surroundings turned to overwhelming pleasure. Back in the hospital, in a dramatic scene that magnified the dancer’s face and utilized the sound of a heartbeat for added suspense, Dr. A successfully operated on the dancer. The two performed a celebratory pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty. Hesitant in his new role on stage, the doctor took verbal direction from the happily healed dancer.
Inevitably, the dancer and faun – the two artists – encountered one another in the forest, where she learned how to move like him (by now, she had shed her pointe shoes and white tutu). Mozgala and Baker’s lush movement included weight shifts, hunched torsos, and animalistic entanglements that were an abrupt change from Baker’s balletic quality seen earlier in the piece. Sadly, she returned to her world, leaving the faun in solitude once again, only able to remember the dancer by her lingering scent. As the piece echoed Nijinsky’s 1912 Afternoon of a Faun, it also suggested the limitations of a science-meets-art encounter. That is, with the healing process complete, scientific and artistic minds returned to what they knew best. The doctor preferred the operating table to the stage, while the dancer preferred the stage to the operating table.
Diagnosis of a Faun continues at La MaMa on Thursdays through Sundays until December 20th. 66 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and The Bowery.
Ohad Naharin’s Advice to Critics
December 2, 2009
Dance Magazine has posted Ohad Naharin’s acceptance speech at the November 9th Dance Magazine Awards. Instead of offering thanks, he shared some advice for critics that is both insightful and humorous. And how interesting to hear a dancer and choreographer offer some guidelines for the writers. I doubt that there are any critics who follow all of Naharin’s suggestions (I certainly don’t), but these are still good to keep in mind, especially the idea of watching dance with your eyes out of focus.
• Go see dance shows that you don’t have to write about.
• Don’t let a point of reference prevent you from having a moment of a fresh new experience.
• Connect to physical pleasures of life.
• Remember that there are always people in the audience who are at least as smart as you are (and it says here, “especially if you are from England”).
• Never, never, write during the show, unless it is the likes of a fashion show, mime show, ice skating or a beauty contest.
• You don’t have to understand the work you are watching. The creator most likely doesn’t care to be understood; he/she just wants to be loved.
• Remember, if you can describe what you are watching you are probably watching bad choreography.
• If you didn’t change your mind lately, you are probably wrong (again it says, “especially if you are from England”).
• Dance yourself a few minutes every day, until you sweat and/or you are experiencing a burning sensation some where in your flesh.
• Watch stuff with your eyes going out of focus; you will see more and miss less.
• While watching a dance, don’t look for national, geographic connotations. Anyway it’s almost never there.
