Point of view

Seeing What No One Else Did: Dance from Bucharest and Berlin

by Aaron Mattocks, Cuturebot, November 9, 2010

Thank Gibney it's Friday...or Saturday

Gibney Dance Center is running a "special" from now through December 30, a "TGIF Special." Rent Studio 2 for $10/hour on Fridays and Saturdays.

Click here for general information on renting at GDC.

To book space, email michele@gibneydance.org or call (212) 677-8560.

Wesleyan introduces curation certificate program

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts Announces the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) 

Nine-Month Certificate Program for Presenters, Artists, Curators and Managers Blends Curatorial Practices from the Visual and Performing Arts 

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA) has launched the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP), which brings arts professionals together to examine curatorial practices from the fields of visual arts and performance, in order to better understand and improve upon the ways in which performance is managed, produced and presented in this country.

Professional Certificate Program

Starting in summer 2011, the ICPP will offer a professional certificate program in Curatorial Practice in Performance. Students will study artistic and curatorial practice, social and cultural context, and entrepreneurial strategies and complete an independent project in consultation with an advisor.

Through a close examination of the practical and theoretical concerns of performance work, graduates of the ICPP certificate program will deepen their knowledge and skill base, enhance their professional relationships, and become better advocates for performance in the marketplace.

The certificate is a low-residency, nine-month program intended for early and mid-career working professionals. Students will complete work online in between on-campus intensives at Wesleyan University. Dates for the 2011–12 on-campus intensives are: July 9–24, 2011, November 18–20, 2011, and March 3–5, 2012.

Instructors and guest lecturers include ICPP Director Samuel A. Miller, Wesleyan professors Katja Kolcio and Claudia Tatinge Nacimento, and field professionals Doryun Chong of MOMA, Philip Bither of the Walker Art Center, and Judy Hussie-Taylor of Danspace Project. Artists in residence are TBA.

Applications deadline for 2011-12 

February 1, 2011 

Responding to Contemporary Performance Practice

The ICPP was founded in 2010 by Wesleyan graduates Samuel A. Miller and Pamela Tatge (Director of the CFA) in partnership with Judy Hussie-Taylor (Executive Director of Danspace Project) in response to the dynamic dialog surrounding idea- and technique-based performance practice in the performing arts field.

The ICPP aims to understand how performance can function within multiple landscapes, by building new models for understanding contemporary performance practice. The ICPP will serve as a meeting-point for academics, professionals, and students to share ideas and resources in both formal and informal ways. By creating a rigorous and creative learning environment, enhanced and energized by the outside activities of its students and instructors, the ICPP will provide students and instructors with a base for their future professional endeavors.

Filling a Gap

Currently there is no post-graduate program in the United States that is dedicated to addressing curatorial practice in performance. The ICPP looks to fill this gap, as an interest in contemporary performance continues to thrive even as the recent economic recession has hit arts organizations particularly hard. The ICPP is committed to training performing arts professionals who will build on the momentum of contemporary performance by using new information and resources as creatively as possible, while also understanding how historical practices have shaped our current trajectory.

For more information about the ICPP, visit http://www.wesleyan.edu/icpp or contact Program Coordinator David Milch at 860-888-3606 or icpp@wesleyan.edu.

A visit with "Raoul"

James Thiérrée performing Raoul 

at the Barbican, London

James Thiérrée's audience at Brooklyn's BAM Harvey Theater gathers before a stage that resembles an old sailing ship run aground, once proud sails collapsed upon themselves. In a sense, this first impression is true. Thiérrée's Raoul--a solo work from the brilliant leader and star of the renowned Compagnie du Hanneton--introduces a man who lives a shipwrecked life, castaway in a world of his own. Over the next 80 minutes, we're drawn into the fortified hut Raoul has built for himself. We become privy to its magic and its vulnerabilities.

Having first witnessed Thiérrée and his troupe in their 2005 BAM debut (Bright Abyss), I count myself among his fervent New York fans. I eagerly anticipated a work promising a focus on Thiérrée. Rest assured, for this year's Next Wave Festival, the man has packed his show with nearly everything he knows how to do. Given his multifaceted authority--as director, actor, dancer, mime, clown, acrobat, trapeze artist, magician and musician--that's quite a lot.

With gentle, stately music, houselights start to dim. A sunset glow drifts behind one "sail" and flows across another. Soon, fabric whips away, revealing a dark, looming structure of metal pipes draped in what could be a giant, dense and very dusty cobweb. A bearded, bedraggled fellow also appears--our Raoul. Or is it?

As Thiérrée storms the structure, crying hoarsely and mounting and dangling from it with his feet treading open air, some of the heavy poles begin to give way, dropping to the ground with a frightening jolt. You cringe and want to say, "James, are you sure?"

Raoul's trouble is that there's at least one other "Raoul" lurking, invading what he once believed to be a well-constructed reality. Thiérrée's skill at misdirecting our attention helps this annoying, not easily contained "double" seem to appear, like a magician's shiny coin, where we least expect him.

The hut, itself, is a kind of Raoul, harboring outdated but dearly loved things such as a gleaming Victrola and scratchy records. The two beings--man and armored home--are closely attuned to each other. They communicate. Now and then, Raoul grumbles something at the hut. When he rattles his shoulders and arms, it responds with a noisy metallic quivering of its own. It can also shift parts of its structure at will. Even the air answers to Raoul's movements with gusts of musical sounds. But the air, too, has a stubborn will, and the loner finds himself batting away these chords as if they were big, invisible flies.

The disheveled, often frenzied Raoul is, without question, a diagnosable refugee from the abyss. We are left to guess the source of his damage and his reason for isolating himself. He attempts to hold himself together as best he can, but his body wages war on itself. Other "Raouls"--not all of them of the human species--continually fire his nerve endings and seep through his pores. For instance, and for no detectable reason, Thiérrée channels a high-spirited horse with such exacting, exhausting and finally convincing physical detail that he thoroughly deserves that feedbag he straps on near the passage's conclusion.

Over time, certain external Others attempt to engage Raoul, and these creatures are absolutely beguiling, thanks to designs and fabrications by Thiérrée's mother and mentor, Victoria Thiérrée. (She is the daughter of Charlie Chaplin, sister of Geraldine Chaplin, and wife of Jean Baptiste Thiérrée with whom she founded traveling New Circus troupes that included their kids, James and Aurélia.) Since I expect you to try to see Raoul, I will not spoil surprises by describing Mme. Thiérrée's handiwork. I will say, however, that her contributions perfectly resonate with the whimsy, beauty and melancholy entwined in her son's artistry.

Raoul's dark underpinning is inextricable from its humor. If you go, you might notice some audience members chuckling at certain things that you do not find funny, and vice versa. Or you might feel sensitive to the grief floating beneath the playful illusions. Thiérrée connects with each of us and reconnects us with something vulnerable within ourselves.

Remaining shows November 9, 10, 12, 13 at 7:30pm and November 14 at 3pm

BAM Next Wave Festival

BAM Harvey Theater

651 Fulton Street, Brooklyn (directions)

Shirley Verrett, 79

Shirley Verrett, Opera Singer of Power and Grace, Dies at 79

by Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, November 6, 2010

Jill Clayburgh, 66

Jill Clayburgh, Oscar-Nominated Actress, Dies at 66
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, November 5, 2010

Leilah Broukhim explores "Traces"

Last evening, the 92Y Resource Center for Jewish Diversity hosted a presentation of excerpts from Traces: A Sephardic Flamenco Journey, a work-in-progress by dancer Leilah Broukhim. A New Yorker of Persian Jewish heritage, Broukhim has lived in Spain for a decade, becoming a performer of distinct style and command. Immersing herself in flamenco on its home turf took "a lot of work, a lot of patience, a lot of humility," she later told her audience in a post-performance Q&A. 

Traces reflects Jewish, Iranian and gitano cultures and derives from Broukhim's quest to "close the circle"--to uncover the meaning of her blended identity in a narrative of her people's exile from Spain and her sense of homecoming. The excerpts were a wonderful promise. Her handsome dancing--with its simmer and its exuberance, with its proud exactitude and its Near Eastern accents--marks her for flamenco royalty.

On hand to provide some deep, delectable sounds were Saray Munoz (vocals), Pedro Cortes (guitar) and Nacho Arimany (percussion) plus--and this was a very big plus--Bahram Ji, Persian singer and master of the santur, whose powerful drive channeled irresistible joy. 

Broukhim envisions the completed work as a multidisciplinary piece with a larger musical corps and a video of art (her mother, painting) linked to the flow of the music. I liked the intimacy (if not the sightlines) of her showing at the Y, and I hope she will resist any temptation to turn Traces into a mega-production. Following the Soledad Barrio/Noche Flamenca model, keeping it reasonably small, spare and close to the audience would be ideal, and I can easily see a successful run at Theater 80 St. Marks, Barrio's usual East Village stomping ground.

Keep watch for news of Broukhim's progress, and I will certainly let you know if I hear anything worth sharing.

Upcoming 92Y dance events of note

Sundays at Three: Lionel Popkin
Sunday, December 12, 3 pm ($10)

The Los Angeles-based dancer and choreographer shows excerpts from two pieces--a section from There Is an Elephant in This Dance (2009), a clever, funny and uncanny dance about how one body can hold multiple identities; and an excerpt from a work-in-progress, Looking for Ruth, as in Ruth St. Denis. A former performer with Trisha Brown, Terry Creach and Stephanie Skura, Popkin has shown his own choreography in Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Philadelphia and London. Dance Magazine has written that his work “heightened and transformed one’s perception of the theatrical space.” Q&A with Popkin following the performance. 

Dance on Camera: Richard Move

Sunday, December 19, 2:45-5 pm

In collaboration with Dance Films Association, we examine the interaction between dance and the camera. What happens when we put dance behind a lens? Examine how the filmmaker’s intention can guide everything from lighting to choreography. Joining us is downtown icon and Martha Graham-impersonator-extraordinaire, Richard Move. Move has danced with and choreographed for Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rasta Thomas, Debbie Harry, Shirley Bassey and the Martha Graham Dance Company. He has also made several films: Bardo, which earned a Jury Prize nomination in the 2009 Dance on Camera Festival; Bloodwork--The Ana Mendieta Story, which won a National Board of Review award; and Ghostlight, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The 92nd Street Y

1395 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan (directions)

212-415-5500