IN THE STUDIO: Jorden Morris and the RWB for Moulin Rouge - The Ballet

Interview by Megan Andrews
Photos by Bruce Monk








Amanda Green and Jorden Morris rehearsing for Moulin Rouge – The Ballet by Morris for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet





After retiring as a principal dancer with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB), Jorden Morris began to explore choreography. His first ballet, The Three Musketeers, premiered in 1999. He has created numerous works since, including the transformation of the popular children’s television show The Toy Castle into an interactive live dance performance, and the Celtic-themed ballet Deverell. In 2006, the RWB presented the world premiere of Morris’s full-length ballet Peter Pan. The critically acclaimed work is the company’s biggest box office success to date, and toured Canada last year. Morris is also the associate director of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School.


As part of its seventieth anniversary season, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet premieres Moulin Rouge – The Ballet by Jorden Morris from October 21st through 24th at Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg. A Canadian tour follows from November 2009 through April 2010.

More...
You’ve said that you consider music the soul of a ballet. Where do you begin in terms of making this fundamental choice?

After I have found a story and characters (this is for full length works), then I start the process of finding music that speaks to me for those scenes and characters. I spend anywhere from twelve to eighteen months finding music for my ballets. I try to find a composer, or group of composers that have great harmony and cohesiveness with their music. For Peter Pan I used primarily British composers that were writing music at the same time that J.M Barrie was writing the book. I like to think that perhaps Mr. Barrie heard some of that music while writing and therefore for me it creates a connection between the music and the story. For Moulin Rouge - The Ballet I explored the French composers from the time the Moulin Rouge was opening, Toulouse Lautrec was painting and the Eiffel Tower was being constructed. For the Tango and Gypsy scenes I found Quartetto Gelato and Astor Piazzola made a great fit with the mix.























Costume sketch by Shannon Lovelace for Moulin Rouge – The Ballet by Morris for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet

As you’ve indicated, developing a score for a full-length work isn’t a simple matter of finding a single piece of the required length. How do you decide which selections you’ll use and how they fit together?

Initially I make a list of music for a scene that I think will work – then I listen to those selections over and over again until one of them sort of jumps out and says, “I’m the right music for this scene.” This process can take hours, days or weeks. Sometimes it speaks to me very clearly, and sometimes it’s a piece I’ve listened to twenty-five times before I hear something in the score I hadn’t heard before, and it just clicks. Occasionally, there is a piece that I like for a particular scene, but it doesn’t work well as a transition to the following scene. This is where the lengthy process of “weaving” the score takes place. I try to find a way for all the selections I’ve chosen to work together. I may change the order of the scenes slightly to accommodate the music, or I may re-think the characters’ action in a scene if the music is right and suggests I take a slight turn with the story. This is one of the most exciting times of the creation process, but also one of the most frustrating and exhausting times.





















Angela Galt sewing a costume for Moulin Rouge – The Ballet by Morris for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Once you have the music in place, how do you begin to develop the dance?

People often ask me if I choreograph the steps first and then find the music, or if I find the music and then choreograph the movement? For me the music is the most important thing after the initial idea. However, I start to envision choreography from day one of story and through music selection. I make notes for future reference and then pull those choreographic ideas into play at this point in the process. During the story/music process, I have an idea of what the dance will be like in each scene. For example: this will be her entrance solo, this a pas de deux, this a group corps section etc. So when I get in the studio with the dancers, I know what “type” of scene it is and what the dancing will be like to a point. I will work on my own to identify certain movements or series of steps for each character, as well as the “flavour” of big scene dances (lots of jumps and turns, or pattern work with canons) or pas de deux (lyrical, romantic, hostile etc.).





















Set construction for Moulin Rouge – The Ballet by Morris for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet

In terms of developing the movement material overall, and for specific characters, how would you describe your use of the established classical ballet vocabulary?

The classical vocabulary is such a great medium to work in, so I try to stay within that language. But I also develop derivative movements or a slightly different dialect for certain characters or sections. At times I will use more contemporary movements, and it’s always good to think outside the box.






















Thiago Dos Santos, Jorden Morris, Gael Lambiotte and Tristan Dobrowney in Moulin Rouge – The Ballet by Morris for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Classical ballet has sometimes been seen as an art that features the female dancer, and that the male dancer is simply there to present and support the ballerina. What is your perspective on the balance between male and female dancers in a work?

I think that perception is a bit dated personally – as a choreographer, I look at what stories would make great ballets. (Cyrano would be great for a male dancer, Joan of Arc for a woman). I think historically there were more female-focussed works, but I hope in the future of this art form, we will create works that promote the balance.





















Jorden Morris, Gael Lambiotte and Tristan Dobrowney in Moulin Rouge – The Ballet by Morris for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet

For Peter Pan and Moulin Rouge – The Ballet, you drew on an existing story or text as a primary source for the dance. Is this a common starting point for you? How is your process different when working with more abstract concepts, as compared to character and narrative?

For Moulin Rouge – The Ballet, I wrote an entirely new script. All I took from existing sources were historical facts and names; then I wrote a script and developed it with my dramaturge. It’s an exciting process, but creating new characters can be a challenge as well. When working on an abstract piece, I let the music dictate the source of movement and what I want it to say.
























Costume sketch by Shannon Lovelace for Moulin Rouge – The Ballet by Morris for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet

In the past, you adapted a children’s television show into a dance performance. Have you ever adapted dance for television or film? Do you have a dream project that you’d like to develop?

I have done several projects that take dance to television and film; it’s always an interesting process to combine these media. As long as I have the opportunity to create, this is my dream project. I would like to keep creating new ballets, and I would love to film Moulin Rouge – The Ballet. I think it would be a very successful ballet on film.


*A bilingual photo essay on Morris’ creative process for Moulin Rouge – The Ballet appears in the October 2009 issue of The Dance Current.

As part of its seventieth anniversary season, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet premieres Moulin Rouge – The Ballet by Jorden Morris from October 21st through 24th at Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg. A Canadian tour follows from November 2009 through April 2010.

Learn more >>
www.rwb.org

ASTUCES POUR PROFESSEURS : Costumes

De Katharine Harris à l’École nationale de ballet du Canada
Traduction de Marie Claire Forté


L’Hallowe’en approche à grands pas et nombreux sont les parents et enfants qui pensent aux costumes. Pour ceux qui dansent, toutefois, le port du costume n’est pas un privilège réservé à un seul jour de l’année. La préparation de costumes pour le spectacle d’une classe peut être laborieuse, alors voici quelques conseils pour un processus sans embûches.

More...

1. Évaluez votre classe. Tenez compte des types de corps, des convenances propres à l’âge et des questions culturelles possibles avant de planifier des costumes. Chaque danseur à une histoire de sa pire expérience avec un costume. Pour la plupart, c’est une anecdote drôle, mais pour certains, cela peut être traumatisant.

2. Mettez les parents à contribution. Vérifiez auprès du comité de parents pour voir si quelqu’un a une machine à coudre et collaborez pour un costume fait maison. C’est non seulement une option créative, mais elle peut aussi s’avérer très abordable.

3. Mettez les élèves à contribution. Prenez en considération les idées des élèves sur les costumes et les thèmes. C’est un bon moyen de les engager dans le processus.

4. Barbara de Kat, chef de l’atelier de costumes au National Ballet of Canada, offre un bon conseil pour le choix des tissus : « Rappelez-vous que le tissu danse aussi ». Les tissus légers et coulants rehaussent le mouvement.

5. Ne favorisez pas nécessairement les costumes amples. Le costume ajusté met en valeur le mouvement du danseur. Le vêtement ne devrait pas limiter le mouvement. Les jupes ne doivent pas dépasser le milieu du mollet et les pantalons doivent tomber juste en dessous de la cheville, pas plus bas.

6. Réduisez, revalorisez, recyclez. Goodwill, le Village des valeurs et l’Armée du salut et autres friperies sont de bons endroits pour trouver des costumes. Lorsque vous achetez du linge usager, demandez à vos élèves d’essayer les costumes et de faire de grands mouvements. Le vêtement devrait suivre le mouvement. Il faut parfois ajuster le costume. Si vous ou un parent n’êtes pas en mesure de le faire, un couturier peut vous aider pour une somme modique. Si vous cherchez des costumes pour toute une classe, choisissez un élément unifiant – une couleur, un chandail rayé ou un accessoire commun – pour assortir le groupe à peu de frais et d’effort.

7. Le coffre à costumes et le garde-robe à la maison sont aussi des sources abordables de costumes. Entreposez des costumes potentiels tout au long de l’année. Lorsque vous commencez la conception des costumes, demandez aux élèves de fouiller dans les coffres et les garde-robes pour des trésors.

8. Si vous optez pour l’achat de costumes, cherchez bien. Demandez conseil auprès des autres studios et professeurs de danse dans votre région. Autant que possible, achetez local. Vérifiez dans les pages jaunes pour les rubriques de magasins de costumes.

Avant tout, souvenez-vous que bien que les costumes fassent partie de l’expérience du spectacle, le public vient pour voir les danseurs ; ainsi, assurez-vous que votre classe se concentre sur la danse et non seulement leurs habits.

For the English version of this article, see The Dance Current October 2009 print issue. | Pour la version anglais de cette rubrique, voyez The Dance Current October 2009 édition imprimé.

Pour en savoir plus | Learn more >>
www.nbs-enb.ca

IN THE STUDIO: Janak Khendry

Interview by Megan Andrews
Photos of Janak Khendry Dance Company in rehearsal by David Hou

Janak Khendry is an internationally renowned classical dancer, choreographer and the artistic director of the Janak Khendry Dance Company. He has trained extensively in four distinct dance styles of India: bharatanatyam, kathak, sattriya, manipuri and also in western modern dance. Khendry’s choreographic career started in 1961 in Hyderabad, India, and he has performed around the world, including five command performances for two past Presidents of India. Khendry has a Master’s degree in sculpture from Ohio State University. His works have been exhibited and are in private collections in India, the United States, Canada and Europe.

Janak Khendry Dance Company presents GANGA from September 17th through 20th at the Fleck Dance Theatre, Toronto.

More...
In addition to your training in four different Indian dance styles, you also trained in modern dance. How does this complement your Indian dance practice?

I studied modern dance as part of my Master’s degree program in sculpture at Ohio State University, Columbus. The focus of my modern dance study was Graham, Limon and Cunningham techniques. What fascinated me about the modern dance was the floor technique of Graham, the emotional impact of Limon and the powerful-expanded movements of Cunningham. I have studied several Indian dance styles and with study of each new style I become aware of the potential of the human body and the beauty of each new form. The study of modern dance was a very special experience because it was completely different than any dance style I had studied before. In my current choreography it gives me a great deal of understanding of the movement and flexibility to merge different dance styles. If used properly and with understanding then all dance styles complement each other.




With respect to your training as a sculptor, how does this background influence your approach to choreography?

The study of sculpture has given me very deep understanding of form, space and movement, which I use in my choreography with great freedom. In my choreography I see the human body as a moving and alive sculpture. Due to my study and knowledge of sculpture, the space has become very important for my choreography. My choreographic works can be viewed from front, back, sides and above. Each view is equally interesting.


For the past eighteen years, you’ve been conducting research into ancient Indian scripture, seeking philosophical ideas to take up in your dance work. How have you developed these themes choreographically?

At this point in my choreographic life, I want to create works that have a universal message. The reason I am searching information in ancient Indian scripture is because the sages who compiled these scriptures had a universal vision. The themes I have handled so far have been about non-violence, human equality, self realization, life, light and creation – to name a few. Though some of my works are connected with the different religions of India, I do not look at them from the religious point of view. I never use the word religion in my work. I always search for the real message that is below the surface. It is that search below the surface that takes so much research time for each of my works. After extensive research and reading, several hundred verses are selected – which are very carefully edited keeping the most essential ones, then a script is prepared. The most challenging part is giving a concrete and sequential form to an abstract subject. Once we are satisfied with the script and are confident that the audience will receive the message we are trying to convey, a copy of the script is sent to the music composer.




How do you work with scholars and researchers? I want to understand more concretely this aspect of your preparatory work.

I work very closely with the scholars, anywhere from two to four years, depending on the subject we are dealing with. We meet quite frequently for three- to four-hour sessions and discuss the subject on several levels and I constantly take notes. They recommend books and I also keep searching for books on the subject. Most of the subjects I have been choreographing recently are very abstract subjects. To present them as dance works is a huge challenge. I have to create a sequential order for the audiences to understand what I have created. To be able to do this, I have to have the inside-out knowledge and understanding of the subject. These subjects have different meanings at different levels and to understand them, the serious discussions with the scholars are imperative. One cannot always find all the information in books, so one has to depend on the accumulative knowledge of the scholars. I have been very lucky to have contact with some of the most brilliant minds in the field.




You like to work with dancers from different disciplines. For GANGA (The River Ganges), how many dancers are involved and what are their primary training backgrounds?

Yes – I love to work with dancers of several different disciplines. For me it is a challenge to create dance movements that all dancers can perform comfortably and with ease. The dancers I work with are very special to me because they carry forward my creative dreams to the public. They become a very important part of my life. For GANGA I am working with seventeen dancers of African, modern, bharatanatyam, kathak, odissi, mohini attam and kathakali dance styles. They are excellent dancers. The dancers themselves enjoy working with colleagues of different disciplines.




Do you consider GANGA to be a work about environmental awareness or is this angle secondary to the river’s historical and cultural significance in the dance work?

GANGA was started for its historical and cultural importance and I have found the most incredible amount of information about the river on many different levels. I have travelled and photographed the entire Ganga (Ganges) route of 1600 miles and have been fascinated by its unparalleled beauty, power, moods and colours. During this journey, I also saw to my horror that in certain places this magnificent river has been turned into sewage. Now the environmental issue has become as important as the historical and cultural aspect.

I would like to add that my working relationship with everyone involved with my creative work is very special. My scholars, music directors, dancers, designers, lighting director and photographers are very special to me. From the beginning I share every piece of information with them, I ask for their input and they become a very important part of the creative process and they give me their best.

*A bilingual photo essay on Khendry’s creative process for GANGA appears in the September 2009 issue of The Dance Current.

Janak Khendry Dance Company presents GANGA from September 17th through 20th at the Fleck Dance Theatre, Toronto.

Learn more >>
www.jkdanceco.org

ASTUCES POUR PROFESSEURS : C’est la rentrée

De Katharine Harris à l’École nationale de ballet du Canada
Traduction de Marie Claire Forté

La rentrée est un moment excitant de l’année. L’année scolaire s’entame, ainsi que la plupart des programmes facultatifs et spécialisés. Les papillons du premier jour sont coutumes pour toute nouvelle activité. De l’élève qui commence un premier cours au professeur qui rencontre un nouveau groupe, chacun doit composer avec sa fébrilité. Voici quelques conseils pour partir l’année du bon pied.

More...

1. L’objectif essentiel de votre première journée en studio : installer un climat de confiance et de communauté. C’est la journée qui donne le ton à l’année alors faites un effort particulier pour inclure tout le monde.

2. Une journée d’orientation est un bon moyen de commencer l’année. Voir le studio, trouver les vestiaires et rencontrer les enseignants et les employés avant de commencer le travail peut aider à tempérer le stress du premier jour. Les parents peuvent aussi faire une mise en situation complète, avec la préparation du sac de danse et le voyage au studio, afin que tous sachent à quoi s’attendre.

3. L’engagement des parents est une question cruciale pour la plupart des classes de danse, surtout pour les jeunes élèves. La formation d’un comité de parents crée un bon réseau et permet une communication facile sur tous les sujets, de la levée de fonds au covoiturage. Les élèves ont davantage d’appui lorsque les parents sont mis à contribution dans le studio.

4. Consultez la liste d’appel avant votre premier cours. Vous vous familiariserez avec les noms des élèves en plus de voir la taille de la classe et la proportion de filles et de garçons.

5. Le premier cours, les jeux pour faire connaissance sont un moyen de faire parler et danser tout le monde. Un excellent jeu en cercle : chaque participant crée un geste qui correspond à son nom. Non seulement cela aide élèves et professeurs à retenir les noms, mais ils s’amusent ensemble et commence à former une communauté.

6. Le toucher fait partie de l’enseignement et de l’apprentissage de la danse. Planifiez une présentation sur le toucher pour montrer aux élèves comment vous utiliserez vos mains pour corriger la posture, la coordination et la qualité de mouvement. Il est important de communiquer cela aux élèves dès le départ pour ouvrir un dialogue. Encouragez les élèves à articuler leur confort et leurs frontières par rapport au toucher.

7. Expliquez à votre classe que les questions et corrections d’un élève devraient être suivies de tous. Chacun tient à bénéficier de la réponse à une question ou d’une correction, peu importe à qui elle s’adresse.

8. Avant tout, gardez l’esprit ouvert. Vous ne saurez pas comment la classe se déroulera ni le niveau de vos élèves avant d’être en studio ensemble. L’ouverture d’esprit assurera la qualité de l’expérience pour tous.


For the English version of this article, see The Dance Current September 2009 print issue. | Pour la version anglais de cette rubrique, voyez The Dance Current September 2009 édition imprimé.

Pour en savoir plus | Learn more >>
www.nbs-enb.ca

First Last Thoughts on Michael Jackson and Pina Bausch

By Seika Boye

When pop icon Michael Jackson and German choreographer Pina Bausch died within five days of one another in late June, my Facebook homepage was suddenly filled with the voices of dancers. The messages were mournful, celebratory, contemplative – thankful. YouTube clips of Bausch and her work recall a master whose vision so many in contemporary dance spend a career chasing – still. Footage of Jackson takes us into the music, the dancing, again, as good as the first time – still.

More...
As people asked “And now Pina?” following the news of Jackson’s death, the two became locked in a strange association. An unlikely duo in life, their deaths so close to one another illuminated them, together, mega icons in the world of dance, whose influence and inspiration shifted, slid and cracked our ways of moving and seeing movement. Where would we be without them? And I wondered, what, if anything, can we see looking at them together?

First a few words from Anna …

Two reviews, written in the eighties by New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff, help to encapsulate the impact of Bausch and Jackson at the heights of their careers.

About Bausch in October 1985, Kisselgoff wrote, “Like the Pied Piper, Pina Bausch is literally followed by followers – in this case, young dancers pleading to join her West German company. The impact left by the 1984 United States debut of the Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal, which is appearing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in a return engagement, has been deeply felt.”

Of Michael Jackson during his 1988 Bad tour: “… look past the occasional suggestive gesture and rotating pelvis, marvel at the backward gliding moonwalk and the isolated body parts – seemingly set into motion on their own – and you see a virtuoso dancer who uses movement for its own sake …. Yes, Michael Jackson is an avant-garde dancer, and his dances could be called abstract. Like Merce Cunningham, he shows us that movement has a value of its own and that what we read into it is provided by the theatrical context around it.”




Influence and Inspiration

To make sense of a lingering need to reflect upon Bausch and Jackson, I spoke in person with Toronto-based scholar and dance artist Darcey Callison and dance artist Ame Henderson and briefly on-line with improvising dancer Aimeé Dawn Robinson.

I began by asking whether or not Callison, Henderson and Robinson have been influenced or inspired by one or both of the recently departed.

Henderson, noting the big difference between influence and inspiration, stated, “Sure, I’ve been influenced by them both, it’s impossible not to be, but in terms of seeing mimetic influence repeated in my own work, no. Inspired? I have definitely been inspired – in terms of being given permission to do one’s own work …. Especially with Jackson, in his utter completeness of the way he worked as a performer … and, even more so than Pina, in every way he cannot be explained.”

Unlike Robinson, who was a young girl at the beginning of the eighties, listening to records, watching videos and “being inspired by Jackson’s intoxicating lack of inhibition”, Callison was then a money-strapped independent dancer. A personal TV was a luxury, one he did not have, so he missed the height of the Jackson craze. His artistic interests were also in a different field. He said of his community at the time, “In the eighties particularly, I didn’t know anyone who wasn’t trying to emulate Pina, especially independent choreographers. There weren’t any videos but she visited Toronto in the early 1980s and performed Café Müller and The Rite of Spring at the Ryerson Theatre. Her influence was huge. I didn’t see the performance, but I heard about it.”

The Rite of Spring, Bausch’s celebrated 1975 work, which Callison later accessed on film and saw live, is, he says, “inspiring in terms of being uncompromising. It’s not narrative or literal, but you know these characters … and more than that, I think it’s about a struggle to bring life into the world … It was a seminal work, like Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table. It touches something so deep. It’s so visceral; it is so much a dance.”



Dance-Theatre and The Music Video

“How people put ballets together now is very different from what people were doing in the eighties.” Callison comments, “The images that people are willing to put together on stage at the same time, the movement vocabulary that they’re willing to put inside of a ballet, you would not have seen that on stage in the eighties. Pina Bausch opened that up. People are just more interested in personal movement, theatrical movement, idiosyncratic movement.”

As Bausch revolutionized contemporary dance and brought what we know today as dance-theatre to the stage, Jackson was rocking MTV. His record sales and the popularity of his ground breaking videos for singles from his Thriller album gave programmers no choice but to play them, at a time when most of the artists being given air time were white. The videos for Thriller, Beat It and Billy Jean gave the music video new power and consequently changed the nature of the recording industry.

Though their performance spaces and genres were different, the impact of Jackson’s and Bausch’s experimentation, risk-taking and imagination makes it impossible to look at a trajectory of dance on stage and television from the mid-1970s onward without looking to them as essential to understanding the progression of dance in the last quarter of the twentieth century.



Look and Learn

Although Darcey Callison missed Michael Jackson in the eighties, he is well versed in the career and work of the pop star. About five years into his teaching career within York University’s Department of Dance, Callison encountered a student in a survey course for non-dancers who was completely self taught and had learned to dance entirely from Michael Jackson videos. Shocked and inspired, Callison realized he needed to learn more about the singer and in the process discovered that many, many, of his students had similar stories, or had at least been drawn to dance by Jackson. “I think his work is a real culminating point for dance identities, for the joy of dancing for a generation,” Callison says.

Henderson recalls being introduced to Bausch for the first time in a history course while an undergraduate student in the mid 1990s: “I was totally enraptured by her. I think it was really the beginning of a relationship I’ve had to many, many artists that is other than through seeing their work live … A lot of the references that I have are through text and images. This is interesting in terms of legacy. What are the means that we have to access the work or artists?”

The relationship to both Bausch and Jackson that the majority of fans and followers have, in Canada at least, is through film and television, photographs and text. Translating and communicating dance in person, being able to truly affect and move the viewer, is a lifetime’s challenge. Succeeding at this through dance on screen is another challenge altogether. Watching Jackson and Bausch in succession I asked, what is it?

Abandon, passion, necessity, belief – joy in performance – even when the theme may be tragic? One is literally moved to move. Robinson reflects, “We carry our memories inside of our bodies …. My happiest times as a performing dancer are those little moments when I have a flicker of the feeling of dancing to MJ in the basement.” Henderson comments: “It’s like a kinesthetic influence or exchange. It’s as if they’re dancing for their lives – always.”



Reading Repetition

Beyond the breadth of their influence, the artists share other common ground. The use of repetition and both artists’ preoccupations with expressing genuine qualities of humanity are among the motifs noted in both of their work.

Repetition was a theme discussed in the Kisselgoff articles referenced earlier. She quoted Bausch, “‘Repetition is not repetition,’ she says. ‘The same action makes you feel something completely different by the end. I repeat something and after three times, the person should react.’” And about Jackson she wrote, “Notice how many times Mr. Jackson takes your breath away with his rapid-fire flat-footed turns, his staccato gestures, his burst of movement from any part of the body and you will see that the steps and sequences are often repeated. But their rhythms and phrasing are changed along with the studded jackets; the words shower the same dances with a torrent of varying emotion while laser beams light up the imagined sky.”

Both artists also faced extreme criticism. Jackson’s sexual gestures and morphing physical appearance became more talked about than his music and Bausch was harshly criticized for muddying “pure dance” and for being inaccessible.

When I asked Callison about the trajectory between students being inspired by Jackson and students learning to appreciate Bausch he says, “I have tried very hard not to make a distinction between so called high and low art. I want students to go with what inspires them … One of my first challenges is getting students to understand that they are creating dances for the stage and not television. That is a first step in terms of trajectory.”

He continues, “I think the role of a BFA is to get students to understand that what the body communicates has ramifications.” He notes the overtly sexualized nature of video dancing today and the resistance students have to even discussing or acknowledging what these movements are saying. “Michael Jackson certainly did not make it easier. What students can learn from Bausch, if they are willing, is that there is a different impulse and way of putting things on stage. With Michael Jackson the hit is easy … Sometimes with Bausch you need to view things a second or third time. I think the window into what Bausch does comes from a sustained training in improvisation.” But, he realizes that it’s not for everyone, and he has great respect for the role of the entertainer. “I’d even love to be one in another life,” he says.











Post

In the end, how does it matter that these artists have left us? Does it change the way we view their individual works, their bodies of work?

“I think the aura of an art work exists outside of the artist – our relationship with the art work is different than our relationship to the artist,” reflects Henderson. Will we see a resurgence of their influence with the swell of interest in the wake of their deaths? “I like the word re-calibrate,” says Henderson, “How do we make something make sense? Is it possible that, with the passing of these people, that their work has a different kind of sensibility in terms of how it is understood? How do we track forward and backward in time in terms of tracing their influence? My boyfriend says the musician Steve Earle talks about preparing for a post-Dylan world. There is something about the ‘post’. What are we moving towards?”

Post-Jackson. Post-Bausch. With the height of their influence having been over twenty years ago, can we already see where they have taken us? Will new reflections following their deaths take us to new places? In mourning those who inspired us artistically, is reflecting upon where they took us in the first place the ultimate homage, or is there more to it?

I remember encountering Michael Jackson, and dancing with him via the screen. Little him and little me, I wanted to feel what he was feeling and so I moved my body in an attempt. I was addicted and dancing became my life, like so many others. Somewhere around the age of twenty, with MJ in the far recesses of my mind, in a stuffy, poorly lit classroom choreographer and teacher Anna Blewchamp dimmed the lights and pressed play on a video of Pina Bausch’s Tanztheatrer Wuppertal. I don’t recall the work, but I recall the feeling. I think it is best described as relief. Dance could say more, move more, evoke more, than I had known up to then. I very likely cried.

In an homage to his artistic mentor and inspiration, Bob Dylan himself wrote Last Thoughts on Woodie Guthrie. It begins:

When yer head gets twisted and yer mind grows numb
When you think you’re too old, too young, too smart or too dumb
When yer laggin’ behind an’ losin’ yer pace
In a slow-motion crawl of life’s busy race
…

… you get the point. And Dylan’s point, I think, is that Guthrie was, is, a destination. And so too are Bausch and Jackson, still. Their deaths have caused us to look back, reflect, re-calibrate. But I suggest we take it a step further. Let’s look back again in a few months, and in a few years. Let’s look at them with fresh eyes. Let’s allow how we change to impact the way we see them and maybe the way we see them will change too. And it will be like seeing them, again, for the first time.

Toward the end of writing this article the passing of the great Merce Cunningham was announced in the news. He was very present in the interviews and in the writing. He is another destination unto himself. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Seika Boye is a freelance writer, editor, marketing/communications consultant and dance artist. She is a former department editor with The Dance Current magazine and has been affiliated with Dance Collection Danse since 2004.

The Weight of Words

The Second États généraux de la danse professionnelle du Québec
by Marie Claire Forté

“The written word endures and is eventually accepted as authority,” proclaimed Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD) director Lorraine Hébert at the launch of the second États généraux de la danse professionnelle du Québec, a summit conference on professional dance in the province. A striking statement for an art form whose transmission relies on the body.

More...
Following up on their first such event held in 1994, the RQD, a provincial dance service and advocacy organization, began planning for this summit conference in November 2003. In 2006, they published a report on the results of the first summit conference and ensuing 1994–1997 triennial plan. At the annual general meeting in October 2007, the RQD launched the “Grands Chantiers de la danse”, a vast research and consultation process. In the wake of this meeting, a steering committee decided on five specific axes of study, delegated to five research committees: 1) Renewal of the discipline: continuity and change; 2) Paradoxes and challenges in a qualified work force; 3) Conditions of practice and artistic requirements; 4) Consolidation and regeneration of the dance [infra]structure; and 5) Dance territories: anchors and nomadism. For two years, members of these committees volunteered over 4000 hours in total, meeting among themselves, soliciting information from the RQD membership and the community at large and submitting over 200 recommendations back to the steering committee. Addressed to funding bodies, institutions and the dance milieu, these recommendations aim to ensure the sustainable and vital growth of the art form. The steering committee paired them down to seventy-nine, distributed along with a discussion of their groundwork in the 119-page participant catalogue for the summit conference.

On April 26th, during a seven-hour closing plenary session, over 200 dance professionals voted on these seventy-nine recommendations, plus 112 amendments and twelve new recommendations issued from two days of workshops April 24th and 25th. These have been submitted back to the RQD and the steering committee. The project will culminate in April 2010, when the steering committee will present a master plan for dance in Québec for the next ten years. These second États généraux were weighted with information and process.



Opening night, a type of launch/performance party, was the exception. Circuit-Est transformed their Jeanne-Renaud studio into a reception hall, with small round tables, bistro-style. With great emotion, Hébert and Anik Bisonnette, chair of the RQD, gave speeches alongside Simon Brault, vice-chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, Louise Roy, chair of the Conseil des arts de Montréal, Yvan Gauthier, chair and general manager of the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec, and Christine St-Pierre, Québec’s minister of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women. Rencontres revisitées, a video installation and performance by Alain Francœur in honour of the dance profession, followed. After, the chairs of the five research committees delivered "Ours in Solidarity", a declaration of intent written by Hébert, inspired by recommendations issued from the Grands Chantiers. Catherine Lavoie-Marcus, research assistant at the RQD, then unveiled the Toile-mémoire de la danse au Québec, a “memory-web” of dance professionals in Québec since 1900, presented on a large, flat digital screen, with names linked via affiliations with notable artists, schools and companies. A bout of festive networking ensued.

The following two days were dedicated to workshops, where recommendations were discussed, amended and adopted. Out of a possible three, I was able to attend one. I registered for a workshop on Dance territories: anchors and nomadism; it was informative to have the time to discuss each recommendation and to get more background information from one research committee in particular. Even then, I sometimes felt ill equipped to take a stand because my knowledge of the issues was incomplete. Consensus was a clear goal of the workshop I participated in, though wording was often cause for great debate. Over the course of three hours, the focus shifted many times from the placement of a comma to voting on all of the many recommendations. In the afternoon, Lavoie-Marcus formally presented her Toile-mémoire with one of her project supervisors, Michèle Febvre (the other, Philip Szporer, was absent), insisting on the work-in-progress nature of the image.

On the last day, the plenary played out a now familiar tension between the details of wording and the bigger picture. Debate topics included the need for more infrastructure; provincial, national and international touring strategies; preservation practices; and generational bridging plans.

I was both excited and exasperated to have so many people caring about words. Because of the breadth of the issues, the sheer number of recommendations and the process of debating and voting, and despite rigorous work by the plenary chair, we occasionally bumbled through big questions, cutting the discussion short and voting despite lingering questions from different members. There was an ongoing confusion for me between distant dreams and concrete possibilities. This was brought up by a question about the possibility of securing funding for rather lofty goals and one member offered that “we cannot always be logical, we must be political”, suggesting that we should request the money for every project knowing that the outcome will be uncertain. Though the plenary was governed by a desire for consensus, some recommendations were reworked entirely during this session.

It was inspiring to interact with so many different players within the dance sector in Québec. I am proud to be part of a community with so many impassioned, well-spoken individuals. My dance activities do not afford me many opportunities to chat with a dance company’s accountant, nor to listen to a presenter’s needs for specific funding, nor to participate in a debate about teaching certification for dance in public schools. Meeting so many different people allowed me to broaden my horizons, and engaging in longer conversations with a few individuals gave me a sense of different perspectives within the community.

Registration for the summit conference was divided by electoral college as follows: dancers, rehearsal directors: 45; choreographers, companies and production designers: 67 (I didn’t notice any designers); professional schools, teachers and researchers: 23; and presenters, service organizations, festivals, cultural workers, associations/networks: 49. The majority of attendees were from Montréal (239 versus 20 from Québec City and other regions), primarily working in contemporary dance. This demographic is consistent with statistics published on the 1994 summit conference. Interestingly, one of the issues that arose from the workshops addressed the need to reflect on the diversity of artistic practices in the milieu.

The amended recommendations are now back with the RQD and will be articulated in a ten-year master plan. Notable outcomes of the first triennial plan submitted in 1994 included La Danse sur les routes du Québec, a provincial network for dance touring, and several new dance presenters. In a 1995 press release regarding the implementation of the first triennial plan for professional dance in Québec, the RQD said: “We are of course aware that the current economic and social situation is not the most auspicious one in which to consider the development of an artistic discipline. However, the dance community considers that the process, and the resultant synthesis which we submit today, reflect the hope that we will overcome the prevailing gloom and that there will be a resurgence in the development of the arts in general and of dance in particular once our society recovers from what must be called a crisis in values, a crisis which translates into instability of the social climate, economic stagnation, and a radical calling into question of the social contract.”

In lieu of the current economic and social crisis, potentially more transformative than the one cited in 1994, will this same statement apply in April 2010 when the RQD presents its master plan? I personally hope that the vision of our community leaders will translate the weight of words into action, and that these actions will “overcome the prevailing gloom”, lighting the future path for dance in Québec.

Declaration of Intent: "Ours in Solidarity"
Déclaration d'intentions: "Solidairement nôtre"


Marie Claire Forté is a dancer and choreographer and also works as a translator and writer. She has performed and presented her work primarily with Le Groupe Dance Lab in Ottawa, from 2004 through 2008. Currently, she dances for choreographers in Montréal and Toronto.

Learn more >>
www.quebecdanse.org

Participatory Performance: looking on from inside

Bluemouth Inc.’s Dance Marathon
by Cara Spooner

Editor’s Note: From February 4th through 7th, 2009, Bluemouth Inc. presented their participatory dance experience Dance Marathon at the Enwave Theatre in Toronto. The concept of participatory or interactive art has been rising in dance performance of late. Toronto-based dancer Cara Spooner was an "insider" participant in the Bluemouth event and here recounts her experience.

Rule #1: Your feet must keep moving at all times

Look down at the number printed on the pinny. Pretend to be surprised. Silently repeat “#32 #32 #32”. The crowd looks to match the numbers in foot shapes taped on the floor with the number they’ve been given. I look to match the audience, pretending that I’m searching for my own. I know exactly which corner I’m headed for (right side of the bandstand, next the jumbo-tron screen directly under one of the pre-positioned pools of light) but each night I always turn left to do a full loop of the floor before “finding” my spot.

More...
The Bluemouth Inc. members and other planted dancers are doing the same. Unassuming, we attempt to blend in. Audience members flinch when separated from their dates, friends and partners. Bluemouth member and the mistress of ceremony Sabrina Reeves’ voice booms above the noise. “You’ll have a chance to change partners later on in the snowball section of the marathon. You will get to dance with the people you came with.” Paired with the stranger standing on the numbered feet across from me, we introduce ourselves under flashing coloured lights and begin.

We are now officially entered in the Bluemouth Inc.’s Dance Marathon at the Enwave Theatre. It’s the first week February and the 1930s-inspired activity parallels the current economic state, in a rather uncanny manner. The piece was developed before any economic turmoil began. This piece is designed to be an interactive, participatory event in which audience members compete to out-dance each other in the midst of theatrical elements and preplanned choreography. The clock begins counting down. The “participant count” is displayed at close to 200. We are instructed that we cannot stop moving: our feet must keep moving or we will be eliminated. The referee (Bluemouth member Dan Pettrow) whizzes by on a pair of vintage roller skates, blowing his whistle for emphasis. The first invitation for elimination is made. The planted dancers begin "The Maddison" (a complicated sequence from the movie The Bande a Part) and some audience members attempt to follow along, stumbling through the choreography. The tempo increases gradually and competitors fall away, leaving unassuming Bluemouth member Stephen O’Connell as champion. With this, the flavour of the Dance Marathon is established and this complex, layered, participatory event begins.

Rule #2: You may be eliminated at some point throughout the evening

The investment audience members bring to the competition amazes me. Everyone seems to find equal ground with the strangers next them; such active empathy is rarely found in a conventional dance audience. We are playing the same game; we are competing against each other and the realization that only one pair will win sets in. A sense of urgency takes hold of the group and adrenaline increases. Participants push themselves beyond their comfort zones, which adds to the intensity of the show. Everyone jokes that they will be crowned winner at the end of the three-hour event. We are all a part of the show and each participant has become a protagonist. I know exactly when I will have to give up my #32 pinny and leave the dance floor (during a preplanned “pile-up” half way through a derby in the second half), so my forehead seems to perspire less than those of other competitors.

My focus isn’t winning; it’s the participants’ experience. To intentionally integrate them into the complexity of the show and allow them to fully experience the Dance Marathon’s potential is my sole purpose. I play a supporting role (along with the other planted dancers and Bluemouth members), assisting the protagonists on their journey in the marathon. We blindfold them, we teach them dance steps, we play with their emotions, break out in spontaneous choreography, whisper monologues into their ears and direct their focus to multimedia screens. We support the event; they live in it. The various dance-challenges we all participate in remind me of a “Survivor”/“So You Think You Can Dance” fusion. Everything is larger than life yet each moment is also extremely personal and intimate. The dedication of the human spirit drives participants into a frenzy during such events as the red-light/green-light derby. Cut-throat criticism is frankly expressed when eliminated competitors are required to judge other couples. Acute attention prevails while Bluemouth characters are humbly isolated in guerrilla-style monologues and genuine shock erupts as couples are eliminated.

Rule #3: You cannot rest until the allotted rest period

Worlds were woven within worlds as the roles between audience members and Bluemouth members became more defined. The rule “knees may not touch the floor” did not apply to the planted dancers as we performed choreography among the dancing couples. There were two allotted “rest periods” in the show during which most audience members moved to the lobby to eat popcorn and re-hydrate. The select few who chose to stay in the theatre experienced a different event than the others. As the participants rested, subtle choreography performed by the planted dancers eventually emerged. Rolling on the floor, and slumping and stretching movements made it difficult to tell if the choreography was planned or not. Some audience members would walk right through the group, completely unaware.

The fact that this tiny section was only seen by a select few each night was not a disappointment to Bluemouth Inc. Each participant experienced the show completely differently. This was intentional, and added a meaningful weight to every image and event. The complexity of this physical theatre structure allowed audience members to invest fully in the experience. Their own intimate interactions occupied their attention and perhaps the dance they shared with their partner was far more meaningful than seeing the rest period dance, or watching a duet danced by Bluemouth members O’Connell and Lucy Simic. On the other hand, the confrontation between Bluemouth members Dan Pettrow and O’Connell forced everyone to stop dead in their tracks. The second rest period included referee Dan yelling a crash warning announcement to blindfolded Stephen O’Connell who improvised to the pulsing music of the Dance Marathon’s live band. The mass of stimulation made it challenging to focus on the movement, listen to the text or hear the band, and this added to the urgency of the piece.

This layered approach to theatre made Bluemouth Inc.’s work a truly interactive and interdisciplinary event. The most striking example of this approach to theatre in the Dance Marathon was the climax after the final two couples had been announced. Most of the competitors were in the balcony after they had been eliminated and looked down upon Sabrina Reeves delivering a stream-of-consciousness monologue. She sat on the stairs leading to the balcony, while projected images lit the huge disco-ball hanging from the Enwave’s ceiling. The band, led by Bluemouth members Ciara Adams and Richard Windeyer, synced the audience’s heartbeats with their ever-evolving music meditation. Planted dancers performed a choreographed floor sequence. Everything seemed to slow down. The fast-paced competition morphed into a surreal, dream-like installation and I no longer had to play the role of the unassuming character attempting to be innocent about what was happening in the Dance Marathon. I was genuinely invested like everyone else who had taken the journey, experiencing it from yet another perspective, one of the many that Bluemouth Inc. had intentionally presented for us all to explore.

Cara Spooner is a dance artist based in Toronto. She collaborates with Alicia Grant and others on site-specific, installation-based movement work.

Learn more >>
www.www.bluemouthinc.com