How Have Los Angeles Dance Companies Pivoted During the Pandemic? In conversation with L.A. Dance Project, Contra-Tiempo and The Los Angeles Ballet

When the pandemic hit, the whole world of performance art suffered. Without live performances and audiences, how were these organizations going to survive? We decided to talk to three Los Angeles-based dance companies to hear their stories and find out how they pivoted to new business models during these turbulent times.

In March 2020, L.A Dance Project, a boundary-expanding dance company led by Benjamin Millepied, was on tour in Europe. As the whole world was shutting down and travel was going to be restricted, they had to quickly get their dancers back to the United States. Luckily they got their dancers back, but as with other dance companies, their whole touring schedule for the year was wiped off the calendar. “We were lucky in that we had started work on a digital dance platform, an app that had been on the backburner. So as soon as we realized we were not going to be performing – we put all our energy into that and we were actually able to keep our dancers on full time and use them as teachers on the app,” says Alice Mathis, L.A. Dance Project’s Director of Communication. Their comprehensive app launched in May 2020 and it includes lessons by Benjamin Millepied as well as dancers from New York City ballet. It had a great reception, and they are still growing and adding classes to it on a weekly basis. Check it out here.

They also commissioned two new pieces for which the rehearsals started in August 2020– Solo At Dusk choreographed by Bobbi Jene Smith in collaboration with Or Schraiber and The Betweens choreographed by Jermaine Spivey & Spenser Theberge. The dancers and the choreographers were quarantined together during the rehearsals and the shows were performed outside as a drive-in. “We also adapted our Annual Gala which is our largest fundraising event of the year and we created a series of small galas using a drive-in model [ …] with a catered dinner brought to your car,” says Mathis. L.A. Dance Project found a number of ways to adapt - they were really lucky to get a PPP loan the first time round and again just recently they received The Simpson Fund which helped them keep their virtual summer program.

“We are looking forward to things opening up hopefully […] as the vaccinations continue to lower the numbers […] so, knock on wood, we are looking to start live performances in our space starting in May. I don’t think we are planning any European tours this year. There is still a lot of uncertainty, going forward, and we are really looking to use virtual space as well as outdoor spaces to create site-specific work so that we can still keep dance accessible to people in Los Angeles and around the world in a digital format. It’s a learning process,” adds Mathis.

As important as the arts are, they do unnecessarily take the back seat to some of the more pressing issues. It’s been a difficult year for dance companies in terms of fundraising and Jessica Amaya, Contra-Tiempo’s Managing Director claims that their team worked 10-12 hour days in the first 3 months of the pandemic just trying to take care of the funding for their organization, which is heavily focused on social justice and equity. On top of having all their performances canceled, their main concern was how to take care of their community and their dancers.

One good thing that happened at the beginning of the year for the activist dance theater company is that they converted their artists from independent contractors to employees and that helped them get unemployment benefits because they were on the payroll. “Many of our artists were waiting for months to get unemployment so what we decided as a company was to give all our artists some funding through donations from the board to help them,” adds Amaya. As the pandemic continued, many of their dancers moved back to their home state and it’s been challenging to get them back. “Because of the pandemic, we’ve lost over 50% of our revenue for 2020 and when I was comparing our financial statements from 2019 and 2020, it was very heartbreaking,” says Amaya.

Still from This Is Our Protest by Contra-Tiempo

The pandemic affected Contra-Tiempo’s Arts Education Programming as well since they had to go virtual but through a grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs from the City of Los Angeles – “Dancing Familias was born – a popular weekly program for everyday people (not professional dancers) and a space to support and practice what we call our radical joy muscle. Through this grant, we were going to keep the program on through June but because it was so successful, we decided to keep it going up until now,” says Amaya.

Still from Contra-Tiempo’s live instagram series, A Place at the Table

Everything that surfaced around racial injustices at the beginning of the pandemic was really hard, especially for their dance community, and as a result, they created videos This Is Our Protest and Until We Win to bring awareness to these issues “ JoyUS justUS (2018) was created between 2015 and 2017 and it speaks so much to what is happening now with racial and social injustice,” adds Amaya. They also created a weekly conversation on Instagram live called A Place at the Table where the company’s Artistic Director, activist, and mother, Ana Maria Alvarez talks to like-minded individuals. It’s her hour of healing in order to connect with other mothers, activists, entrepreneurs and artists, and people from all walks of life who are making a difference in the community. They are excited to tour this summer and are looking forward to an all outdoor format of Jacob’s Pillow.

At Los Angeles Ballet all dancers and staff have been partially or entirely furloughed since April 2020. Workweeks and the final number of dancers for the upcoming season are to be determined. “Unfortunately, our performance of The Sleeping Beauty, scheduled for June 2020, had to be canceled, but we hope to be able to announce a full 2021-22 season in the coming months. We follow Los Angeles County and California State guidelines and guidance closely, as do the venues we work with. In general, individual supporters want to see Los Angeles Ballet return to the stage and have continued to be supportive,” says their media representative Shari Mesulam from The Mesulam Group. On Saturday, May 1, 2021, Los Angeles Ballet (LAB) celebrated Fifteen Years of Outstanding Performances at its Season 15 Gala. “We know that the arts bring people together in both happy and hard times, and we look forward to when our dancers are able to share their talents with the Los Angeles audiences that have embraced and supported us for fifteen years but most notably this past year,” says Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary, artistic directors of Los Angeles Ballet.

The dance world is far from being back to normal. Companies had to adapt to support their employees and create educational programs and performances virtually. Dancers had to quarantine together, and new modes of viewership emerged with site-specific performances and drive-in models. Without national and local grants, however, as well as individual beneficiaries, pivoting during this critical time would have been near impossible.

THE NUTCRACKER SUITE PERFORMANCE AT AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY BALLEY

 Sarah Bukowski as Marzipan, photo credit Art Lessman

The Nutcracker suite is a dazzling repertoire of chocolate covered dance, that you can actually walk through. It's is an experience and performance that fulfills all your childhood fantasies. From hot chocolate and popcorn to coffee ice cream, gingerbread cookies and marzipan, they got it all covered. Only this time you get to savor these treats with an orchestra behind you and dancers all around you! The dancers are, in fact representing these sweet, festival delights. After all, we are going through The Nutcracker Suite as imagined, choreographed and conceived by Lincoln Jones.

The experience already starts in line for the show, which takes place on the 32nd floor of the Bloc Tower in Downtown LA. We walk into what looks like a 60s office space, where we are told by a charming redhead, to wipe our feet on a door mat before walking through a  large door with a sign " The Nutcracker Suite."

From darkness into light, we enter a snow covered playground with human sized wind -up dolls, an ice skating rink, an orchestra, and beautiful people offering you hot chocolate, champagne and whatever your heart desires. The orchestra warms your heart as you feel the harmony and effortless flow in their selections from Tchaikovsky's The Nutckracker, arranged by James & Kathy McMillen. The space is so magical, you want to stay in it forever. The exposed brick walls and roughness of American Contemporary Ballet just makes it so much more alternative than any other classical ballet show you have seen before. If you like dance, dreamy sets, and the holiday season, you must go see it for yourself! Oh, and make sure to bring a child! They will love you forever.

Don't miss this Immersive Ballet Wonderland.  The performance runs through December 23.  Get your tix here.

ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET continues Three-Year Residency at VPAC and we talk to Cherice Barton on her world premiere of Eudaemonia and the universal quest for happiness

Photo Credit George Lange

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (ASFB) celebrates the second year of its three-year residency at Valley Performing Arts Center with a program of new works that celebrates the company’s commitment to creating new contemporary dance on Friday, March 3 at 8:00pm.

ASFB will unveil the world premiere of Eudaemonia (2017) by renowned-choreographer Cherice Barton as well as perform Little mortal jump (2016) by ASFB favorite Alejandro Cerrudo created for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Sleepless (2004) from Jiří Kylián, Artistic Director of Nederlands Dans Theater to music of Dirk Haubrich, based on Mozart.   

In preparation for this, we had the pleasure of talking to Los Angeles based choreographer, and Juilliard-trained dancer Cherice Barton , on her creative process, her piece Eudaemonia (2017)  and where she draws inspiration and happiness from, since "eudaemonia" translates from Greek, roughly, as "happiness."

Barton brings together classical ballet training and a distinguished career in commercial choreography. Her performance career has spanned over twenty years in over thirty countries across six continents. In 2015, she choreographed Katy Perry’s critically acclaimed appearance at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 57th Grammy Awards and she recently joined the creative team of America's Got Talent as Choreography Associate.  As a choreographer and creative consultant, Barton has a unique eye for transforming dance into inspired, emotional work, from the stage to the screen.  What is exciting is that, the new work is Cherice’s first for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and her solo debut as a contemporary dance choreographer.

SD: How did the collaboration begin with Aspen Santa Fe and you?

CB: J.P. Malaty and Tom Mossbrucker, Directors of Santa Fe Ballet, approached me about a year and a half ago. I then went up to Aspen for an informal workshop with the company last March and it was love at first sight. The environment that Tom and J.P. have created is extremely supportive and the dancers are very well trained. My creation has been 5 weeks long and I guess the hardest part was to shave ideas to make the piece 20 minutes long.

SD: When creating a new concert work, is your approach different from when you create more of a commercial piece?

CB: Yes, absolutely. With Aspen Santa Fe, I was given full liberty when creating my work. The only constraint was that it was to be a 20-minute piece. A lot of the time with commercial pieces, constraints can come from directors and producers. When it comes to mass productions, it’s really a team effort. To be given the freedom, and the time with Aspen Santa Fe is a real privilege. When it comes to commercial pieces, sometimes you even get just one day to work on a piece- that’s what I was given with Katie Perry’s show.

SD: We saw in your interview posted by CSUN that your husband, Jeremy Jurin did sound design for the work that’s premiering on March 3.  How was it working with your husband on the project?  Was it challenging or rewarding?  Do you work on many projects together?

CB: We work on some projects together. He is extremely talented and creative. I usually find a way to involve him. I’m obsessed with story and he is a filmmaker. If we are filming a dance, he has a great eye for it. When I first went to Santa Fe in October, I went by myself but when we were halfway there with the show, In January, I brought the family with me and Jeremy could see my work with the dancers. It was extremely rewarding working with him.

The sound design not only has my husband’s and my voice on it, but it also incorporates the voices of our daughters (age 2 and 4) at various points. My friends and extended family are also part of it. Two pieces are original compositions. One of my really good friends, Diana Kazakova, composed a section representing faith, blending Gregorian chants with Indian and Buddhist meditation. My brother in Law, Michael Durant also composed a piece and he is a rock musician.

SD: Where do you draw your inspiration from?

CB: My inspiration usually comes from music. With new creations, I have a bunch of different songs I like to listen to. I usually start with those. In preparation for Eudaemonia, I listened to Jimmy Durante “Smile When Your Hear is Aching” and “ Make Someone Happy.” Those songs really stuck with me, not only because of the way they made me feel, but I felt I was tapping into important emotions. I have two kids, a fabulous career and a few years ago we moved back to LA from New York. It was a time for me to look deeper. Where I’m at right now in my life, it really makes sense that my piece would be about happiness and the universal search for happiness. There are infinite layers to this idea of our search for happiness. As humans we keep ourselves busy and it’s easy to beat ourselves up about things and blame situations or people for our lack of happiness and say, “as soon as I get this job, I will be happy” or “as soon as I move to LA and the sun is shining everyday, I will be happy.” My sister Charissa, who I am starting the company with is both intelligent and spiritual. She inspired me to seek for happiness within and not from external sources.

SD: What do you most hope that the audience will take away from the performance?

CB: Eudemonia is the epitome of a well-lived life and something to strive for – a virtuous, spiritual and personally successful life. I would love the audience to somehow feel emotionally connected. We are exploring many emotions, both simple and complicated.

SD: Do you know if the work will be set on other companies?

CB: It very well can be. I haven’t got to that step. The potential is definitely there.

SD: Can you give us some advance details about costuming for the work?

Daniella Gschwendtner, who does the costuming for "Dancing with the Stars" and “America’s got Talent,” is the costume designer for this work. She, like me, creates from an open heart. We were collaborating together on this piece and agreed that simple attire is much better and that we need to keep the costumes somewhat pedestrian and understated, not to override the very large concept we are dealing with here. I am very interested in seeing people dancing, not dancers. From each dancer, I like to see an exaggerated version of themselves.

SD: Thanks for taking the time to interview with Spot LA. We very much look forward to seeing your work on Friday, March 3 at Valley Performing Arts Center!

Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project at The Ace Hotel Theater

It’s Saturday night in downtown Los Angeles and I am about to see the much talked about L.A. Dance Project show at The Ace Hotel Theater. My experience begins outside of The Ace Hotel Theater, as I make my way to the end of a substantial line of people, stretching all the way around the building. Men are wearing suits and women are dressed in gowns and fancy fur coats with elaborate accessories. This is where Hollywood meets fine art and I feel like I am holding a golden ticket to the crème de la crème of the city of angels.

The star of the night is Benjamin Millepied, choreographer of Oscar winning movie, The Black Swan, who founded LA Dance Project four years ago. It is also Millepied’s final time taking the stage as a dancer, so tonight is quite a big deal.

Inside the theater, after waiting in yet another long line to use the restroom, and almost running into Natalie Portman, I take my seat and admire the Spanish gothic architecture of what used to be a church. Admiring the theater's ornate features in awe, I can’t decide if I feel like I’m in Sagrada Família or in one of Goya’s paintings.

The show opens with a local debut, II Acts for The Blind by Israeli choreographer Roy Assaf. The dancers are dressed in simple pink leotards and they are mechanically moving through a smokey setting, making them seem like naked mannequins. Two women lie on their front while one flicks the other one’s hair a few times,  a group gathers around a microphone as if singing and clapping, a man lies on his back as if cycling in mid air. They move around the space seemingly taking turns at different stations. The repetitive gestures are executed to a slow, dreamy song, Svanur by Rokkurro.  When the music stops, the dancers change and the scene is reenacted with more color and light, as if coming to life. This time the same scene is performed with a humorous and absurd narration of one of the dancers. II Acts is essentially done twice and feels like a commentary on the absurdity of life in a big city like Los Angeles, with a man in center stage trying to get the world record in imaginary vertical cycling.

Following II Acts for The Blind, is a short 9 minute duet, After the Rain by renowned British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. I very much enjoy the classical music accompanying the piece; Arvo Part’s “Spiegel Im Spiegel” performed with exquisite finesse by pianist and cellist Qiele Guo and Albert Cano Smit. As the dancer Carla Korbes dances, with her beautiful long hair down, I can’t help but zoom in on it’s elegant flow and moments when her hair softly sticks to her male partner, Batkhurel Bold’s chest. When I ask the lady next to me what she thinks about the piece, she sums it up very well: “The piece is not revolutionary, but very pretty. It’s the kind of thing my daughter would like.”

Photo Credit LA Dance Project

Millepied’s premiere Homecoming is the 15 minutes everyone has been waiting for; a wonderful duet by Benjamin Millepied and Janie Taylor accompanied by the music of highly talented songsmith Rufus Wainwright.  Here again the dancer’s hair gently flows through the stage.  Her short and loose blue dress boldly slides up as she twirls around her partner. There is an energetic applause as Millipied enters the stage. His step is light and buoyant and he is wearing an elegant outfit by Berluti. The chemistry between the dancers is evident and they move from affectionate and romantic intertwining to shifting emotions of loss of affection. They search for one another until they reunite with joy but also fear. Millepied masterfully conveys the bitter sweet nature of partnership and the image that still resonates with me is Millepied lying on the ground, holding onto Taylor’s ankles while she drags him across the floor and reaches out to something that is not there, covering her eyes, almost aware that she cannot see what she is looking for.

The final piece of the evening, On The Other Side is another one of Millepied’s premieres - a 43 minute piece, danced to the colorful mosaic backdrop of the work of Los Angeles artist, Marc Bradford. As the light changes to bring out the different colors in the painting, so the dancers almost blend into its blues, reds, yellow’s and greens. The piece is made up of nine sections and all nine are danced to differing compositions of Philip Glass (played by Grammy-nominated  pianist Richard Valitutto). The dancers move around the stage in single colored, loose outfits as Millepied explores unconventional pairings. There is a certain stillness to the theater when blue and green dancers Morgan Lugo and Robbie Moore come together. This beautiful duet is, in my eyes, the highlight of the evening as it gets me thinking about the beauty of friendships between men, something I can always admire from afar but never be part of.

The evening culminates in a well- deserved standing ovation. Although not all of the choreography was indeed revolutionary, I have to say that the ambiance, the extremely talented and committed dancers and the inspiring collaborations with the musicians made it a very enjoyable and reflective evening. Spending it in the company of curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, architect Frank Gehry, gallerists Shaun Regen and Paul Schimmel and artists Alex Israel, Doug Aitken and Barbara Kruger, definitely added to the appeal, excitement and glamour.

BODYTRAFFIC AT THE BROAD

The Broad Stage presents

BODYTRAFFIC

World premiere of Death Defying Dances plus

3 Preludes and Private Games: Chapter One (preview)

Dancer Joseph Kudra.  Photo credit: Joshua Sugiyama

On Thursday, October 27th, I went to see BODYTRAFFIC at The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica.  I was running to get inside the theater before the curtain call. Even in this hurry, I couldn’t miss the handsome geometric charisma of The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage building–an attractive and inviting mesh up of wood, grey stone and glass. Luckily, the grand building is set within a humbling sea of cars and finding parking only took a few minutes.

Inside, the wooden walls of the theater welcomed my guest and I into a sublimely intimate yet strikingly grand space. We were about to see BODYTRAFFIC, one of America’s most compelling dance companies, performing three works from their new repertory: Death Defying Dances (world premiere), 3 Preludes, and Private Games: Chapter One (preview). Jane Dekanel, Director of the Performing Arts Center, welcomed the audience with a quote by Neitzche: “We have art so that we may not perish by the truth.” A great personal touch and an interesting thought to start the show with.

The first piece, 3 Preludes, was nostalgic and involved a couple dancing in what felt to be a moonlit cityscape next to a grand concert piano. This piece by illustrious choreographer Richard Siegal, founder and artistic director of The Baker Paris-Berlin, captured the essence of Gershwin’s sophistication and BODYTRAFFIC’s vivaciousness. Ukrainian born pianist Inna Falkis’ energy filled the room and my guest for the evening rightfully pointed out that the piece had the atmosphere and feel of a Ginger Rogers movie. Although I enjoyed the music, the light design by Burke Wilmore and the choreography, the dance execution felt rather mechanical and I felt a slight disconnect among the performers. Something, that unfortunately prevailed throughout the show. This work uses high octane movement and penetrating imagery to bring the audience into a mysterious and explosive world.

Private Games: Chapter One was a playful mesh up of dance, monologue and utter weirdness. Sudden shifts of mood within the piece, kept me on my toes and Guzman Rosado’s exaggerated grimaces, made me giggle. The story seemed incoherent but, as far as I understood, there was a man who was casting spells on people, turning them into monkeys, pigs, lemons and avocadoes. His wife was part of the story too and she was hysterically explaining to the audience why she is so in love with her husband. Both my guest and I really enjoyed the music, which was an interesting blend of tribal drums and classical violin scores featuring music by: Joseph Haydn, N.J. Zivkovic, B. Biskupstungna, Johann S.Bach and Drums of the World. However, there was a part where I didn’t feel it was necessary to terrorize the audience with five adults screaming like mad monkeys after an enjoyable Bach violin score. All in all, I felt it was a little too explosive for my liking.

Dancers Tina Berkett and Joseph Davis. Photo credit: Joshua Sugiyama.  

Death Defying Dances, a world premiere by Arthur Pita, was my favorite work of the evening. It was a vibrant and colorful piece inspired by the persona and lyrics of Judy Henske “Queen of the Beatniks” who, with her big voice and a bold personality was a mainstay of the sixties American folk revival. The piece featured not only her songs but also the mystical and satirical recitations and monologues she performed during her concerts. Pita wonderfully captured and translated her eclectic style into movement. In addition to this, I thoroughly enjoyed Yann Seabra’s bold and vivacious set and costume design. Smart props, such as a bubble machine and snorkels, in combination with a “swimming” choreography, were wonderfully used to convey an underwater sensation. The simple yellow backdrop and the bright pinks and greens of the costumes, truly resurrected the magic of Judy Henske.

I've been loving you too long to stop now  

You are tired and you want to be free

My love is growing stronger, as you become a habit to me

Ohh, I've been loving you too long

I don't wanna stop now

With you my life has been so wonderful

I can't stop now

You are tired and your love is growing cold

My love is growing stronger as our affair, affair grows old

I've been loving you oh, too long

I don't want to stop now, ohh, ohh, ohh

(Lyrics from Judy Henske’s I’ve Been Loving You Too Long)

It got me thinking about visual effects in my own performances and how, when approached with an open mind and endless creativity, tributes to artists can be incredibly educational and inspiring. I left the theater grateful for discovering Judy Henske and wondering who I could make a tribute to through my art.

Dancer Joseph Kudra. Photo credit: Joshua Sugiyama

Dance Performances Culminate Month-Long Recognition of Forsythe’s Work by The Music Center, USC Kaufman School of Dance and LACMA –

There is something magical about matinees. Part of your day is behind you and yet, as it’s only the afternoon, you still have the whole evening to reflect on what you are about to see.

San Francisco Ballet in San Francisco Ballet in William Forsythe's "Pas/Parts 2016." Photo by Erik Tomasson.

It is late October, weather in LA has started to cool down and there is a cool breeze coming in from the east. The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavillion welcomes you with its stylized columns and a glass façade refracting rays of the autumn sun in an encompassing atmosphere of grandeur. Emancipation is in the air and I have the honor of seeing three of the nation’s top ballet companies, San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Houston Ballet, celebrate the work of a visionary choreographer William Forsythe. In Celebrate Forsythe, each ballet company performs one of choreographer’s significant works: Pas/Parts 2016, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude and Artifact Suite. These are performed together for the first time, as part of the dance engagement and by ballet companies that were personally selected by Forsythe for The Music Center presentation. 

Considered one of the most prolific and influential choreographers of this era, Forsythe is recognized as revolutionizing the practice of ballet by pairing both classical and contemporary movement with contemporary music, transforming traditional ballet into a dynamic 21st century art form. Active in the field of choreography for more than 45 years, Forsythe’s interest in the principles of organization led him to produce a wide range of projects, including installations, films and web-based knowledge creation. He was appointed associate choreographer of the Paris Opera Ballet in 2015 and is also professor of dance and artistic advisor to the Choreographic Institute at the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance at the University of Southern California.

San Francisco Ballet dancers Carlo Di Lanno and Sofiane Sylve in William Forsythe's "Pas/Parts 2016." Photo by Erik Tomasson.

The show opens with a Pas/Parts 2016, performed by San Francisco Ballet and not only am I struck by Forsythe’s use of syncopation and counterpoint and the tree-dimesionality of his movement, but I am immediately drawn to the symbiosis between Thom Willelms’ instrumental and electronic music and Forsythe’s choreography and lighting. It is here that we see how music and dance, born independently from each other, can depict an integral whole, at the same time retaining their own full autonomy. Dancers seem to be in a large gray, open top box (It’s a cross between a shoe-box and space ship). They are wearing simple designs – black leotards with purple, blue or green blocks of color, a beautiful minimalist aesthetic designed by Stephen Galloway and visually adding simplicity to the complex piece. Simple shapes of color, penetrate the box that changes from grey to golden with subtle light transitions. The ballet’s name suggests a series of parts, through solos, duets, trios and mercurial groupings. The pairings seem random, the groups change and new dancers keep appearing. The structure adds to this intricate experience, as the viewer, enveloped by the meditative musical and visual composition simply gives in to the experience without questioning and trying to find an order.

The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet is set to the final movement from Franz Schubert’s Symphony No.9, thereby making it more traditional in nature than Pas/Parts 2016. Designed by Forsythe himself, the costumes are made of a beautiful shade of Matisse green, with perfectly round tutus and point shoes. We are presented with virtuosity, lyricism and a friendly display of formal manners between the sexes. Performed by three women and two men, and shorter than the first and last piece in Celebrate Forsythe, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude beautifully connects Pas/Parts 2016 and Artifact Suite right before the intermission, allowing us to soak up a breathtaking display of classical technique. This piece beautifully demonstrates how Forsythe sees the ballet vocabulary, as a range of choreographic possibilities, distilled in it’s purest and most brilliant form. The dancers’ ability to make technical difficulty into a triumph of physical mastery becomes a literal representation of ballet’s name – a vertical thrill of exactitude and precision!

Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers Margaret Mullin, Jonathan Porretta, and Carrie Imler in William Forsythe's "The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude." Photo © Angela Sterling.

Now, as the intermission is taking place, it is important to note that William Forsythe is a visionary choreographer and innovator in dance, who brilliantly “integrates ballet with the visual arts, in ways unprecedented since the era of the Ballet Russe,” (quote: Rachel Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center). This pairing of both classical and contemporary movement with very contemporary music has redefined ballet for a new generation and to me, as a performance artist, is exceptionally inspiring and thrilling. Coming back to my seat, I overhear murmurs from the ladies in my row - “I hear this next piece is supposed to be the best one!” During the intermission, my friend Tora and I don’t talk very much, instead we are lavitating on what we have already seen. How can this next piece be the best one, I wonder? My jaw has already dropped and my endorphins are firing left right and center.  

And so, Artifact Suite Performed by Houston Ballet begins. It is an edited version of an evening length ballet, Artifact, created in 1984 for Ballet Frankfurt.

Houston Ballet dancers Madeline Skelly and Connor Walsh in William Forsythe's "In the middle, somewhat elevated." Photo by Amitava Sarkar.

Set for the entire ensemble of a ballet company, Artifact Suite contains massive group sections amongst volatile solos and pas de deux. This is Forsythe’s first full - length ballet paying homage to great epochs of ballet. Dancers dissect traditional ballet movements across every corner of the stage, wearing golden leotards and black tights resembling ancient Egyptian emperors, and a single dancer stands out from the crowd. With unique and mystifying hand movements, drastic lighting changes, haunting shadow use and sudden curtain drops, during Bach’s energetic and mesmerizing Chaconne from “Partitia No 2 in D minor,” Forsythe’s meticulous exploration of the performance space is demonstrated. “William Forsythe knock(s) traditional ballet off center by expanding ballet vocabulary to include movement that can be sharp, angular, side to side or multiple tempo,”(quote: Michael Solomon, associate vice president of programming for The Music Center). This is by far one of Forsythe’s stylistic masterpieces for ballet that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

The audience’s standing ovation was a proof that I was not alone in my awe. This was a truly magical matinee in a wonderful venue and I couldn’t have imagined a better way to spend my Sunday afternoon. Even writing and thinking about it, brings butterflies to my stomach! As I left the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, I had the whole evening ahead of me to contemplate on Forsythe’s mastery of movement and visual representation.

California State University, Long Beach - College of the Arts & the Department of Dance

Variance

2016 Fall BFA Dance Concert featuring premiere choreographic works by

Guest Artist Robert Moses, Faculty Keith Johnson, and BFA choreographers

A Guest Blog Post by LA-Based Artist Sara Debevec

Photography by: Gregory R.R. Crosbby

On Saturday October 15 th , I had the pleasure of witnessing a unique blend of dance performances by California State University, Long Beach, Undergraduate BFA choreographers in collaboration with composers from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music. Variance took place at the intimate yet bold Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater, with excellent stadium seating, making it a great venue to view dance, even if, like me, you were sitting at the back row. This eclectic evening of dance explored varying viewpoints on issues of social justice, politics, technology, family and performance itself.

Setting off with As the Shoreline Recedes, So Do They Vanish, choreographed by Jasmine Mosher, with a haunting score by Cristina Lord, the stage turned into a space to explore world of suffering and detachment that calls into question the capacity of human compassion. Using black bin bags as props, and inviting us into the shifting viewpoints of the inside and outside, the piece explored societies detachment and engagement with the impoverished. The black bags, hauntingly turned into walls of exclusion, representing our detachment from the ones who are suffering and in need of our help.

Decay On Us, by Madison Clark with original composition by Oscar Santos-Carillo, is a beautiful collage of solemn dance and interactions around a dining table, exploring love, support and tragedy in an intimate setting. Like a renaissance painting that has come alive, Decay On Us, invited the audience to bear witness to family dealing with loss and shifting paradigms. Seeing embodied desperation and shifting energies around a dining table really resonated with me as the process of grieving comes in waves and everyone deals with trauma in different ways. The use of orange light also created a kind of urban setting, placing the family, as if under street lights, with no shelter and no place to call home.  

With archive footage of news reports projected on the screen, dancers lining up and geometrically shifting from one corner of the stage to the other and a timeline of events slowly dropping from the ceiling, We Adapt Quickly, felt like an evolutionary journey through media discourse. This piece by Maili Schlosser, with music composition by Cristina Lord; was rooted in major social and historical events, shining a light on how response to tragedy evolves over time, as a result of shifting media, concluding in a memorable line: We Scream, We Shrug and We Forget!

Folly, was a playful solo by Faculty Keith Johnson with music by Marcel Grandjany, originally commissioned by Patrick Damon Rago of Loyola Marymount University.  Waves of laughter from the audience, quickly filled the room. Subtle thumbs up and a quick glimpse of unicorn-like horn prop, really tickled the audience. The smirk on dancer, Robert Well's face added to Johnson's exploration of whimsy and romanticism in the life of a man. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Great Expectations due to its combination of spoken word, narrative and the exploration of duality between the front and the back of the stage. Projected on the screen in front of us was a live footage of the backstage. The dancers moved to and from the backstage as directed by the voice of the choreographer (with a lethargic character somewhere in the corner of the backstage, sitting down on the floor, seldom moving and not taking their eyes off their phone). In this piece, Bradford Chin collaborated with composer Zachary Kenefick to explore humor and the absurd in the process and performance. Inviting the audience to witness a dance rehearsal featuring an overly ambitious choreographer (played by Bradford Chin himself) and demotivated dancers, Chin playfully illuminates and satirizes the world of performing arts.  Tech, of course was involved and kept messing up.

Kassia, I need you to be a strong powerful woman, pushing the air aside!

More intention! Strong women, and not tired women!

I can’t have you being dead on stage!

Guest Artist and CSULB Distinguished Alumnus Robert Moses, Artistic Director of Robert Moses’ Kin, is known for his physically intense and nuanced vocabulary. Moses states that his work "expresses my concern with the honor, dignity, truth and potential of real people. Moses's premiere of How Does One Approach a Short Story Technique?; couldn't have been a better close for this wonderfully diverse and bold show. While showing influence from the Afro-Carribean roots of his training, the work blended classical and contemporary structures that allowed for a collision of styles mirroring a human connection that was explored on stage. Moses plays with rhythm, texture, juxtaposition, and contact to reveal the individual spirit within the collective. Let me also add that the diversity of expression through the dancers involved was impeccable. Expressing their individual styles and uniqueness yet blending in with the unity of choreography worked brilliantly.

Leaving the auditorium with a full moon on my side, the performance left me with many social issues to contemplate on.