Dancemaker Amanda Selwyn: What makes us human

Amanda Selwyn
(photo courtesy Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre)

Scenes from a studio preview of Refuge
by Amanda Selwyn
Above: Adam Dickerson
Below: Robert Moore
(photos: Nir Arielli)

As she prepares for her November 2nd opening of Refuge at Brooklyn's Mark Morris Dance Center, choreographer Amanda Selwyn meditates on...


...the impact of working with her dancers on this new piece:

There was one short rehearsal we had in which we developed some of the core and iconic motifs from the piece that resonate strongly from this entire process.  It was a cold winter day, and we were in a tiny studio at Gibney Dance on Canal.  Our usual studio space was unavailable. So I had to scrounge for space and, as a result, we had a shorter rehearsal in this tiny studio later than I like to work. 

All that said, magic happened in those two hours.  We explored a movement pattern that mapped out four walls around each dancer.  These walls celebrated different parts of identity.  On each surface--like in a childhood bedroom where one pastes, on the wall, posters and clippings, a collage of inspiration and celebration--each of these four walls was a movement mosaic of different sides of ourselves.  We worked in a progressive way as we often do, not pausing to evaluate or judge the creative results, but listening to the body as it moved in space, and trusting what erupted organically.

I had the dancers repeat the sequence again and again and add on new gestures, new brushstrokes painting their landscapes onto the walls of their lives.  From the creative work in this one short rehearsal, so many core shapes and gestures evolved.

These gestures have since been developed into full body motion, locomotion through space, partner work, solos and large group sections.  The impact of this one rehearsal is what brings me back to my creative process with new vigor each day--the ability to trust the work, trust the interplay between me and my dancers, the refinement of each moment happening organically over time as we truly trust the movement in the moment.

...a personal experience that has influenced how she approaches her work:

There are so many things that are strong influences on my work. My yoga practice and global travels have had a significant impact.  They both continually bring me back to living in the present moment, listening to intuition, practicing being where I am at instead of always trying to be three steps ahead, having a sense of faith and adventure, and trusting the work. In the day to day frenzy of being an artist living in New York City, I need the daily grounding from yoga, and my periodic journeys to take me out of my comfort zone and expand my horizons to find new inspiration.

In recent years, I have hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, trekked in Peru to Machu Pichu, traveled through remote islands in the Philippines, and visited Israel several times where I speak the language from having lived there in my 20s.

Another personal experience that has significantly influenced my work was my time at Jacob’s Pillow.  Aside from having my work presented twice on the Inside/Out Stage where we performed in the glory of the Berkshire mountains and the amazing community of dance appreciators that make up their audiences, I also participated in an eight-day Choreographer’s Lab Intensive Program in 2008.  For these eight days, we did not focus on creating work, but rather unpacking, exploring and rebooting how we create work.  We were asked to go deep into ourselves, draft an artist statement through text, movement, dialogue and experience.  The relationships I built that week and the collection of moments resonant in my process since that time in a profound way, giving me a sense of purpose, rootedness and a community of support to turn to in those many difficult moments.

...how dance--as exemplified by Refuge--contributes to current conversations in society

In this work, I aim to connect with what makes us human, our universal search for grounding, safety and security.  From there, we seek fulfillment--meaning and purpose, expression and truth.  In this time of political and environmental strife, so much is uncertain.  I see dance as a way to empower the storytellers of our time not simply by the allegory of the dance itself, but in its dialogue with the audience.  Dance, using the language of the body and movement, speaks a truth that is universal, immediate and tangible.  As our society advances with technology, there are, increasingly, more and more opportunities to disconnect.  Dance revels in connection.  It pulses with touch, physicality and emotion.  Dance activates a canvas of ideas, truths and passions.  In my work, I aim to celebrate community, humanity and citizenship.  I do not attempt to tell a linear story or unveil new truths with Refuge, but rather to illuminate signposts that raise questions so that audiences can make meaning for themselves.

For information on the November 2-4 World Premiere season of Refuge, click here.

Mark Morris Dance Center
3 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn
(directions)

*****   

Amanda Selwyn founded Notes in Motion/Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre in 2000 and has directed over 50 productions, developed a network of artists, and created the curriculum for Notes in Motion Outreach Dance Theatre’s arts-in- education programs. Amanda’s choreographic works include Refuge, It’s a Game, Detour, Five Minutes, Passage, Undercurrent, Hearsay, Interiors, Disturbance, Salut, Tilt, Tidal, Shift, Siren, Contradicting Unity, Save My Spot, Hold On, Momentum, and Behind Us. She has choreographed dance for Chicago’s Motivity, a collective of modern choreographers; for theatre productions including House on Mango Street, Free to be You and Me, Once Upon a Mattress, The Wiz, Little Shop of Horrors, and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory; and for her original theatre productions, which include Herland, Yellow Feather, and Slitting the Clouds.

In addition to her choreographic work, Amanda has directed off-Broadway theatre in NYC at John Houseman Studio, 30th Street Theatre, Grove Street Theatre,  Kraine Theatre, Center Stage, and the Producer’s Club. Amanda teaches dance and theatre to New York City children and has been on the faculty at independent schools. She is the recipient of grants from the NY State Council on the Arts, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Friars Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Community Arts Fund, Bronx Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Development Fund, and the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation.


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651 Arts to present Sarita Allen and Dianne McIntyre [UPDATE]

651 Arts

in association with

Clark Center NYC

presents

Live and Outspoken: Sarita Allen and Dianne McIntyre

Thursday, February 13, 7pm

POSTPONED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER

New date: Friday, February 28, 7pm

The James and Martha Duffy Performance Space 


Mark Morris Dance Center

3 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn

(map/directions)

International dancer/choreographer, Sarita Allen, sits down with legendary choreographer/dancer, Dianne McIntyre, in a candid conversation about their experiences throughout their careers. This program will also feature excerpts from Dianne McIntyre’s repertoire.

For more information and to make a reservation, click here.

Spring Gaga

Saar Harari 

of LeeSaar The Company 

announces

Gaga Classes in New York

Starting on May 12, we will have new Gaga/people and Gaga/dancers classes at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn:

Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE) (Brooklyn):Gaga/people (starting 5/12). Saturdays, 11am-Noon – taught by Lee Sher

Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE) (Brooklyn) – Gaga/dancers (starting 5/12). Tuesdays, 8pm-9:15pm – taught by Jye-Hwei Lin; Thursdays, 3pm-4:15pm – taught by Candice Schnurr; Sundays, 12:30pm-1:45pm – taught by Hsin-Yi Hsiang

Mark Morris Dance Center (Brooklyn) – Gaga/people (ongoing). Wednesdays, 8pm-9pm

Classes at Mark Morris in May will be taught by Navarra Novy-Williams and Lee Sher.

The Gaga Summer intensive will be led by Adi Salant, Associate Artistic Director of the Bat Sheva Dance Company. August 18-24, 10am-5pm, in our studio in Park Slope.

For registration for the Summer Intensive, click here.

Jamison and Fagan in conversation

How long have I been at this?

Well, look at it this way: I've been here long enough to remember seeing Judith Jamison, herself, dance Cry, the signature solo that Alvin Ailey crafted for her and brought to the stage in 1971.

I've also been here long enough to remember when Garth Fagan's acclaimed Rochester, NY troupe, Garth Fagan Dance, was still called--with far more cheek than justification--Bottom of the Bucket BUT...Dance Theatre. I recall asking Fagan about the mischief in that name which, like my own at the time, has long since been buried.

So, it was hard to keep from grinning like a fool all through 651 Arts' Live & Outspoken conversation between Jamison (interviewer) and Fagan (interviewee) last evening at the Mark Morris Dance Center. Two solid gold titans of dance, originals unlike anyone else in their field, multiple award winners, paying tribute to each other as professionals and as friends, trading gentle humor and wisdom: It was pure heaven.

As if that were not enough, another dance superstar--Arthur Mitchell--was in the house, looking remarkably youthful and handsome.

I started thinking about dignified attitude and discipline--which all three of these people have in abundance--as cornerstones of durability.

Introducing her guests, 651 Arts' managing director Anna Glass put things in perspective: "Kodak's leaving [Rochester], but the Fagan company's still there!"

Fagan and company are not only still there but still making news. Robert Battle has acquired Fagan's From Before (1978) for the Alvin Ailey troupe, a development that makes the choreographer quite proud.

"Alvin Ailey supported me, from Day One, with advice, with money," Fagan says of Jamison's and Battle's great predecessor. "He helped me and nourished me."

Still, the Jamaica-born dance artist is never one to stifle an opinion, and he's not shy about setting conditions.

"Make sure the women are not floozies," he said he admonished Battle. "Please don't work the audience with that. I've seen enough of that tawdry stuff.

"We have tawdry women in our race, but that's in the mi-nor-it-TEE. It's important that the women have elegance and sophistication."

Of his vision for his own troupe, formed nearly 40 years ago, Fagan says, "I wanted to see a company of people dancing--a nice melange on stage of human bodies and body types, not six maids all in a row."

Fagan dancers--originals, like their leader, who excel at his challenging technique and off-kilter movement ideas--have to bring more than brawn and tricks. They must have intelligence and spirit.

He also loves to work with trusted, topnotch collaborators, which leads me to the next bit of news: Wynton Marsalis, who teamed up with his longtime buddy Fagan for the 1991 Griot New York, a triumph for both men, will score a new piece for Fagan's September 2012 season at BAM. Fagan fully expects to get the music at the last minute. ("That's how musicians do it," he says, "And they think that's how dancers can do it.") Visual artist Alison Saar, whose paintings and sculpture incorporate spiritual culture of the African diaspora, will design the set.

It wouldn't be Live & Outspoken without samples of the guest's creative work, and Fagan brought two offerings that had Jamison and audience nearly swooning. Haiti-born Vitolio Jeune (who, a few years back, competed on So You Think You Can Dance) showed off the extraordinary strength, limberness and timing required of a Fagan dancer in Talking Drums, a piece inspired by the sound of the storytelling/news-carrying drums of Burundi. Company veterans Norwood Pennewell and Nicolette Depass danced an excerpt from Griot New York--the deliciously slow, sultry "Spring Yaounde" duet, an unmistakable image of sexual coupling that unmistakably honors this act. Nothing "tawdry" about it.

Near the end of the audience Q&A, Fagan returned to the theme of negative depiction of Black people in the media. In the US, he said, African-American people seem to only get attention in the news when they are sought or arrested for crime.  Meanwhile Jamaican news outlets, Fagan said, borrowing an expression from his friend Alex Haley, "find the good and praise it."

As with all Live & Outspoken events that I've attended, the focus here was on all the inspirational good that could be found and praised. For more, see the Garth Fagan Dance Web site here.

And visit 651 Arts' Live & Outspoken page here for complete details about upcoming events:

Playwright Esther Armah interviewing A Streetcar Named Desire stars Carmen de Lavallade and Blair Underwood tomorrow, March 15, at Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts (free)

Musicians June Millington and Toshi Reagon on April 26 at the Mark Morris Dance Center ($20/$15)

Leichter dance: all the way live and outspoken

Shay Wafer, 651 Arts's new Executive Director, and Anna Glass, Managing Director, were on hand last evening to usher in a new season of Live & Outspoken. This popular series, presented at the Mark Morris Dance Center, features conversations between stars and innovators of the performing arts and samples of the artists' work. A magical interview between Ntozake Shange and Marc Bamuthi Joseph was one of my highlights of 2011.

Last night's session paired the richly talented Eisa Davis (playwright, singer-songwriter, actress, dancer) with dancer-choreographer Nicholas Leichter. Davis and Leichter go back a long way. When she first moved to New York, she took up residence in his basement, and they have collaborated. So it was no surprise that this conversation would be a breeze. Davis brought to it not only personal insight but fresh imagination, a real interest in discovery.

Eisa Davis (Photo by Colman Domingo)

Nicholas Leichter

Reflecting on his club-kid period, Leichter reached back to one source of the intensity in his dancing and dance-making.

"I did it so young and so early when it was still in this dark period," he said. "I saw a lot of crazy shit, though I never did any of that. There was hysteria, but there was also a crazy amount of passion on the dance floor. Such energy. It just ignited me.

"It wasn't as segregated as it is now. It was kind of pre-hip hop and felt like what modern dance should be--a mix of a lot of things."

Leichter developed an attitude towards concert dance that was a mix of a lot of things, too--the fire and fluidity of club dancing, yes, but also the discipline of the ballet studio. A technical wiz kid himself, he says that the rigor of his training still underlies all of his work, although it might not be as overt as it used to be.

The evening's talk was interspersed with excerpts from a smokin' duet (from Twenty, Leichter's evening-length work-in-progress) that features the choreographer and a younger dancer, Bryan Strimpel. Here's a bit of Strimpel.


French Kiss (excerpt from Black Barbra) from Nicholas Leichter Dance on Vimeo.

That's all fine, but you really must see Strimpel and Leichter dance together, a collaboration that, the choreographer says, revitalized his own dancing.

Different in age (by almost twenty years), race, body type and sexual orientation, Strimpel seems to have absorbed and enhanced the qualities that have always been wildly magnetic about Leichter--an elastic body nevertheless given to delivering rapid, sharp, percussive language, the entire body as speech and gesture. Leichter mentioned that critics, admiring of his dancing, sometimes chide him for not having dancers who can replicate his abilities. I suspect that there's a subtle distinction here: It's not about having dancers who look like you and dance like you but focusing on dancers who can stand up to you. Lanky, blond Strimpel does just that, approaching his work in a dramatically sexy deadpan way, matching Leichter at every turn and then some. The results are electrifying.

Catch up with everything from Nicholas Leichter Dance here, and with 651 Arts' new season here.

The new Cunningham diaspora

Here's a lovely piece on the--yes, hopeful!--future of Merce Cunningham technique classes in New York!

New Points in Space
by Siobhan Burke, DanceMagazine.com