This American Life Comes to the Stage
May 20, 2012
Ira Glass and OK Go at This American Life LIVE on May 10th, photo by Evan Namerow
How do you take a radio show – one filled with beloved storytellers and writers whose voices we know but whose faces we rarely see – and turn it into an exciting visual experience? Add aspects that you simply can’t do on radio, like dance, an interactive music experience, animation, and other visual effects. On May 10th, I attended a live taping and screening of This American Life LIVE at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. The auditorium was buzzing with anticipation, and the fact that the show was being broadcast in movie theaters across the US and Canada made it even more thrilling.
I could write pages on all the wonderful aspects of the program, which was hosted by the delightfully charming and occasionally giddy with excitement Ira Glass. Comedian Tig Notaro made the audience roar with laughter, David Sedaris was frightening in clown make-up as he whined (understandably) about waiting in line for coffee, and the band OK Go brought some pleasing tunes to the stage and a musical experiment that relied on a smartphone app. It sort of worked, but was nonetheless fun.
David Rakoff at This American Life LIVE, photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz
Since this is a blog dedicated to dance, I’d like to highlight the dance contributions to the show. Ira Glass introduced Monica Bill Barnes & Company, a NYC-based group that he recently saw and thought would be a good addition to the show. He was right. In an excerpt from their 2009 work Another Parade, Anna Bass and Monica Bill Barnes mock everyday experiences, like someone lifting weights at the gym or strutting their stuff for attention, to James Brown’s Get Up (I Feel Like Being) a Sex Machine. And although this wasn’t my first time seeing the piece, its humor still resonated.
The other performance, which came as more of a surprise, was from David Rakoff, who is better known for his writing. At the microphone, he talked about how cancer affected his life – and his left arm, which he can no longer use – along with his background in dance. He mentioned walking “across the street” as a college student to take dance classes (referring to the studios at Barnard, across from Columbia). Quite suddenly, he left the microphone and broke into movement. He lunged, arched his back, and had full command of his body. He moved with grace. It was one of the more powerful moments in the show – and one that couldn’t be appreciated on radio.
Thank you, This American Life, for bringing the show to the stage. It was funny, touching, sad, powerful, thoughtful, and downright smart. Please do so again soon.
My Interview with Ohad Naharin in The Brooklyn Rail
March 9, 2012
Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin's "Hora", photo by Gadi Dagon
Last month, I had the privilege of speaking with Batsheva Dance Company’s artistic director, Ohad Naharin. Our conversation is in this month’s issue of The Brooklyn Rail. Also in this issue: Nancy Dalva talks with Paul Taylor, Siobhan Burke reviews Pat Catterson’s To Lie in the Sky (sad that I missed it!), and Christine Hou reviews works by Vanessa Anspaugh and Jen Rosenblit at New York Live Arts. Take a look. Many thanks to the Rail’s dance editor – and my fellow blogger – Ryan Wenzel for making it all happen.
Like this:
A Farewell to Cunningham
December 26, 2011
Merce Cunningham Dance Company in "Roaratorio" at BAM, photo by Julieta Cervantes
One of my college professors told me that letting your eyes focus in different ways while watching dance can offer endless enlightenment. Zoom in on something, then zoom out, or let everything blur together and then come into focus. I tried this approach many times while watching Merce Cunningham Dance Company perform Roaratorio on December 7th at BAM. Whether everything was crystal clear or swirling together, I was mesmerized from start to finish. The company’s Legacy Tour comes to an end on December 31st, but this was my very last Cunningham performance. I was clinging to everything on stage – the colors, the sounds, the dancers’ gorgeous lines and shapes and patterns, the eerily beautiful, disorienting score by John Cage. It was momentous, riveting, and then all too soon, over.
I haven’t enjoyed everything I’ve seen by Cunningham, and the first few performances I saw by his company several years ago left me confused, perhaps even irritated. But with every performance that I’ve watched, I’ve felt more and more certain of two things: 1. These dances are extraordinary and unlike anything else, and 2. Cunningham is the most groundbreaking choreographer of our time, and absolutely brilliant. On the 7th, it was exciting to witness such a monumental performance, and simultaneously heartbreaking to witness the end of the company at a time when I’m so eager to see more of Cunningham, to keep reveling in his brilliance.
Created in 1983, Roaratorio pulls from Irish step dancing and is inspired by James Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake”. This lively, textured work shows couples coming together for festive social dancing featuring rapid footwork fused with dramatic tilts of the torso. The stage was busy yet clean, with dancers moving at different tempos or joining others to build something new altogether. John Cage’s richly layered 1979 score, ”Roaratorio: An Irish Circus on Finnegans Wake,” is remarkable on its own, but even more beautiful when paired with Cunningham’s choreography. Sounds from everyday life – a crying baby, traffic, a leaky faucet – blend with traditional Irish music. I strained my ears at times to identify the different sounds, to determine where one sound ended and another began. Running through the mesmerizing soundscape was text from “Finnegan’s Wake”, adding yet another dimension. Like Cunningham’s movement, the score was busy but never messy. It felt like a long, hazy memory – or strands from many memories – that was strikingly reflected in the lighting design by Mark Lancaster and Christine Shallenberg. At one moment the dancers are bathed in sunlight, at another shadows are cast across their faces. Whether encompassing a whole day, a week, or a year, Roaratorio reflects the passing of time.
Merce Cunningham Dance Company in "Roaratorio" at BAM, photo by Julieta Cervantes
I’m really looking forward to attending this event on May 16th, organized by Dance/NYC and Dance/USA.
Town Hall: Dancers’ Bodies. Promoting Wellness.
Calling All Stakeholders in Dance!
Dance/NYC and the Dance/USA Taskforce on Dancer Health invite you to join us in responding to the Taskforce’s recent call to action to achieve the dancer aesthetic in a manner that promotes overall good health and protects the artist and performer. Led by Richard Gibbs, M.D., it provides a forum to discuss case stories from the perspective of the health professional, cultural critic, and professional dancer, including New York City Ballet Principal Dancers Jenifer Ringer and Jared Angle. What words work to promote dancer wellness? What positive practices? What can we as a field do for our dancers?
Speakers: Richard Gibbs, Jared Angle, Jen Edwards, Melissa Gerson, Jenifer Ringer
Monday, May 16, 2011
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Abrons Arts Center
Henry Street Settlement
Playhouse Theater
466 Grand Street (corner of Pitt Street)
New York City
RSVP here.
Why Keigwin’s New Videos are Sickening, but Smart
February 16, 2011
Keigwin + Company has been aggressively promoting their upcoming Joyce Theater premiere, called Dark Habits, with weekly videos that feature each of the dancers. Watch some of the videos below and you’ll understand the heightened anticipation. They more closely resemble something you’d see on an MTV reality series than the choreography that I’ve previously seen by artistic director Larry Keigwin.
Yes, they’re dark, edgy, and risqué. But they’re also shallow. Most of all, the videos exemplify conformity, not creativity. They’re complete sell-outs, affirming that sex sells. And that’s what makes them both effective and so atrocious. By essentially selling the dancers’ bodies, the ads are cheapening them and devaluing them in a way that is offensive, especially since these are such artistically and technically skilled individuals. I was particularly impressed when I saw them in Works and Process at the Guggenheim. Sure, maybe the dancers had fun making these videos, but why succumb to the “sex sells” concept when you can rise above it? Of course, this happens all the time in pop culture and nobody bats an eye. That doesn’t make it ok.
I wish Keigwin had more faith in his dancers’ talents, and also more faith in audiences. A snazzy, smart video that gets butts in seats doesn’t need to have half-naked dancers gyrating and strutting seductively (I should mention that I made plans to attend the performance before seeing the videos, and I’ll still attend because I’ve enjoyed their work in the past and sincerely hope that the piece will have more depth than their ads). So, Mr. Keigwin, if you or your staff are reading this, I urge you, in the future, to create videos that don’t cheapen your work. You and your company are better than that. Otherwise you’re selling out, and undermining both your dancers’ talent and your own as an artistic director and choreographer.
