FACT/SF’s Pretonically Oriented v.3 The Dismantling of Identity

Ask anyone the simple question, “Who are you?” and you are guaranteed a concise response that is boiled down to a few key points- ignoring the layers of formative experience that led to the construction of identity. This bothers Charles Slender, artistic director of FACT/SF, enough that his newest work, Pretonically Oriented v.3 seeks to dissect the formation of identity and render it in live, multidisciplinary performance, where the creation of a dance work stands as a metaphor for identity formation and video documentation of the rehearsal process is viewed along with the live presentation. “This project provides real insight into the creative process of dance-making… and creates a dialogue about how things become what they are.” (the “pre” of the word pretonic- “tonic” meaning the syllable of a word that is stressed or emphasized).

Slender is known for work that is both intellectual and witty, that ranges from highly minimal to highly physical. “Perfect pirouettes and elegant extensions are paired with something deep, slightly dark and always thought-provoking,” says SF Bay Guardian’s Ariel Soto. One never knows what they might do next, and the audience is often involved. But FACT/SF isn’t just about thought-provoking performance; it’s looking to increase the viability of the performing arts; stretching its boundaries and ensuring its future survival. To accomplish this (since its 2008 inception), the company has performed locally 53 times and completed a statewide live performance crusade in every one of the 173 Wal-Mart locations in California.

“Pretonically Oriented v. 3 is the most risky work I have made,” states Slender. “I have been really fortunate to study with choreographers from different cultural backgrounds, so I think I bring all of that diverse experience to the rehearsal process… having a broad experience hopefully contributes to creating work that can resonate with the audience on many levels.” The company’s 2011 residency with CounterPULSE provided space to experiment and investigate. “Often I feel pressure to work quickly towards a final product, and I think this limits how rich and deep a work can be… I think audiences will be surprised at how original this work is… perhaps knowing more about how it was created will unlock a new, helpful piece of knowledge for the audience.”

To visit FACT/SF’s website, click here.

Gaga Dance Classes… Got Gaga?

 

 

The first time I saw the term “gaga” referring to a method of dance, I thought it was a joke. In my mind the word gaga conjured up images of pop diva superstars or stereotypical cartoon babies. I couldn’t imagine how it could possibly be linked to dance. After the New York Times ran a piece about gaga, describing it as an innovative movement language developed by the Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, my curiosity was piqued. But even after reading several articles about gaga, I was no closer to understanding what it was about. The descriptions were vague at best. Fate soon intervened: during an interview with dancer Bobbi Jean Smith from the Batsheva Dance Company, she mentioned they would be offering gaga classes while the company performed in San Francisco.

 

I signed up immediately. It was time to go gaga.

 

Class began. 35 dancers stood around the dance studio in a disorganized clump. Everyone (except me and one other girl) was wearing socks (I didn’t get the sock memo). Luckily socks proved to be unnecessary. We were advised to keep moving throughout the entire class, even while just sensing. We progressed through each movement and then “floated” in between, standing still to feel the echo of the movements resounding through the body.

 

The moves:

1. Weight changes. Our first task was to merely shift the weight of the body from foot to foot, feeling the motion echoing through the body and up the spine.
2. Curves. We moved the body in curves, isolating different body parts, even the head and fingers and toes, then moved the whole body in curves… different parts of the body “told a different story.”
3. Quaking. Quickly shimmying the pelvis from side, letting the movement carry through the rest of the body. The movement got faster and faster, we were encouraged to let it all go. While floating after this, I felt the electrical pulses of energy coursing through my whole body.
4. Balance. Keeping the weight on one leg, we played with moving the other, thinking about initiating the movement from the bones. The leg moved because the thigh bone was rotating in the pelvis… “like a gearshift knob.”
5. Feet. We articulated the feet, rolling through the them, even working the sides, imagining they were moving through something sticky.
6. The Floor. We came down to the floor, resting the weight on left hand and left hip, then worked with the concept of giving into the floor, then pushing away, using the upper body first then the whole body.
7. Quaking on the Floor. This one’s pretty much self-explanatory… and not that easy to do! We were told to change positions every few moments and continue quaking. Afterwards, we floated on the floor.
8. Petit Allegro. We began jumping in place, going higher and higher, then moving the feet quickly and precisely in a free-form pattern, going fast and faster.
9. Drumming. Using the hands, we drummed (vigorously) all along the body, while crouching and stretching into different shapes.
10. Free Play. The last few moments of class were a chance to re-explore the things we learned in whatever ways we wished.

 

As we progressed through the exercises, a collection of philosophical threads or concepts kept appearing.

 

The concepts:

Floating spine. The spine floats throughout every movement of the body. There is a sense of ease and lightness in the upper body.

Stretching the bones. Moving the bones apart from one another, stretching the body long, like a giant yawn for the skeleton.

30-50%. Gaga doesn’t demand 110% effort, like so many other forms of dance. There is the idea that one can do any of the moves in class all day long without tiring… and still think about plans for dinner at the same time.

Breaking body parts into pieces. The fingers and toes are made of many different pats, but so is the pelvis, for example. We want to move all of the pieces.

Separating the skin. Thinking of the skin as a suit that we wear over the bones, letting it move and slide.

As above so below. Awareness continues beyond the skin and into what is above and behind the body.

 

The purpose of gaga classes is twofold: to reorient oneself in the body and to break habitual patterns of movement. It was certainly unlike any other class I have tried before. Batsheva dancers take gaga class almost daily and it’s easy to see why the company is known for its fresh, sensual approach – there are daily opportunities for the dancers to reinvent themselves in gaga class.

Gaga isn’t just for dancers, either… the concepts are easy to understand and put into practice. Gaga is quickly becoming a worldwide sensation. During a gaga benefit (for Japan) in Israel last spring, 900 dancers showed up.

 

They got gaga. How about you?

Pina, Wim Wenders’ 3-D Dance FIlm

 

Pina, Wim Wenders’ Academy Award nominated 3-D dance film is now in theaters. For most dancers, would-be dancers and dance fans, the chance to watch dance in 3-D is enough reason to see the film, but there’s also an incredibly beautiful and rich aesthetic to the film that lives on in your mind long after the movie is over… you might want to see it twice.

 

Pina Bausch was a choreographer and dance visionary who loved to experiment. Her dancers are shown climbing over and through piles of furniture, flailing through puddles of water and waves, moving on a stage covered with dirt, climbing on rocks… Dance was her passion and her palette. The name of her company, Tanztheater, says it all. This is where dance meets performance art and theater, where human emotions and drama are expressed through movement, which seeks to fill the gaps when words just don’t suffice.

 

The film is comprised of several components, neatly woven together:

• archival film clips of Pina

• live performances

• interviews with her dancers

• Pina’s dance taken out into the world

 

The most stunning moments of the film occur when Pina’s choreography is taken out of the theater and into the world. The women wear elegant, flowing silk gowns and the men wear suits. Vibrant color is set against urban landscapes, such as busy traffic intersections, a community indoor swimming pool and an elevated subway. There are snippets of dramatic dance in a building made of glass, at the edge of a high cliff…

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Often there is humor. A ballerina practices her grand plies under a dim spotlight in an graffiti-laden abandoned train tunnel…. only as the camera pans closer do we realize the ballerina is actually a man… and his tutu is flapping open in the back. A female ballerina announces, “This is veal!” as she produly displays a pan of meat. She then uses the meat to pad her pointe shoes as she bourrees endlessly. We see the meat poking out of the tops of her shoes.

 

The resounding message from the dancers is that Pina was a memorable leader… and a woman of few words. She seemed to see through people and to know the right questions to ask to get the results she was looking for. Her dancers swear she saw everything, even when her eyes were closed. Some quotes:

 

• What are you yearning for? Where does this yearning come from?

• Show me a movement of joy

• Dance for love

 

Pina offers the viewer a taste of Tanztheater and insight into the woman who brought it to life. Just like life, her work is sometimes achingly beautiful, other times almost too painful to look at, and always a surprise.

 

OMG- NYCB from OPI!!

 

 

Every Spring, OPI announces its newest collection of soft shades. This year the collection is inspired by New York City Ballet (NYCB). The dancers and costumes provided a wealth of inspiration; beige, pink, and white lacquers bring to mind classic ballet slippers, tutus and leotards, while the sheer lilac and gray add muted color to ballet’s traditional pink. There’s also a silver sparkle for those who really want to shine.

Here are the colors! From top left:
· Barre My Soul: A sheer beige
· You Callin’ Me a Lyre? A soft pink
· Don’t Touch My Tutu! A sheer white
· Care to Danse? A genteel lilac
· My Pointe Exactly: A sheer gray [Ed note: omg, I love this]
· Pirouette My Whistle: Silver sparkle!

These colors will be available at professional salons and specialty stores beginning April 2012. They’ll retail for $8.50 each.

To find a store near you, click here.

Interview With Stephen Manes, author of “Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet”

The world of ballet holds an air of mystery and magic for all dance fans, from elementary school children breathlessly awaiting their first performance of the Nutcracker to 80-year-old grand dames who have supported the ballet for decades. But the mystery of how the magic happens has always remained exactly that… a mystery. Bestselling, prize-winning author Stephen Manes has changed that with his book Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet, an exploration of the work behind the art in all its dailiness and frustration, generosity and triumph—and considerable drama.

 

Manes spent a year in rehearsals, classes, meetings, auditions and performances following the life of Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet, one of America’s top ballet companies and schools. He also visited venues as celebrated as New York and Monte Carlo and as seemingly ordinary as Bellingham, Washington and small-town Pennsylvania.

 

Anyone who has ever marveled at the Nutcracker will love getting a behind-the-scenes peek at how much work goes into the production, especially rehearsing and preparing the flocks of young dancers that play such a vital role in the ballet. It’s hilarious to read about the difficulties of dancing in piles of paper snow… and just how much work it is to keep it clean!

 

 

Readers are taken backstage for a wide-ranging view of the ballet world from the wildly diverse perspectives of dancers, choreographers, stagers, teachers, conductors, musicians, rehearsal pianists, lighting directors, costumers, stage managers, scenic artists, marketers, fundraisers, students, and even pointe shoe fitters—often in their own remarkably candid words.Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet brings readers the exciting truth of how ballet actually happens.

 

Stephen Manes has had a long career making arcane worlds accessible to the uninitiated. He co-wrote the bestselling and much-acclaimed biography Gates: How Microsoft’s Mogul Reinvented an Industry—and Made Himself the Richest Man in America. His long-running columns on personal technology have appeared in The New York Times, Forbes, PC World, PC Magazine, InformationWeek. Manes is also the author of more than thirty books for children and young adults. His Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! won kid-voted awards in five states and is a curriculum staple in American and French schools. The sequel, Make Four Million Dollars by Next Thursday!, quickly became a Publishers Weekly bestseller. The books have won commendations from the National Science Foundation and the Child Study Children’s Book Committee, as well as International Reading Association Children’s Choice awards. His writing credits for the screen include programs for ABC Television and KCET/Los Angeles, as well as the ’70s classic 20th Century-Fox movie Mother, Jugs & Speed. He lives in Seattle with his wife, Susan Kocik. He is a terrible dancer.

 

1. You aren’t a dancer yourself, so why did you write this book? How did the partnership with Pacific Northwest Ballet come about?

Hereby stipulated: You don’t want to see me dance. Ever. But my wife and I love ballet and have been subscribers to PNB for more than twenty years. As a native New Yorker who saw all the ballet greats of her era, she got me interested in the first place.

Early in 2007, I took a sabbatical from my Forbes magazine column on personal technology. Not long after, the company offered its donors a backstage tour. It brought home how much is involved in creating ballet performances—not just dancing, but everything from the special responsibilities of the conductor to the $200,000 annual budget for pointe shoes, not to mention doing the laundry between shows. Fascinated, I went looking for a book to tell me more, but couldn’t find one. So I decided that to learn what I wanted to know, I’d have to write my own book.

I proposed it to PNB, and at a meeting a few weeks later, Artistic Director Peter Boal and Executive Director D. David Brown welcomed the idea. A few minutes later Boal urged me to follow him to a studio where he would be teaching a section of Ulysses Dove’s Red Angels to a group of male summer students. That was the beginning of being granted what turned out to be unprecedented access to the inner workings of a ballet company.

 

2. How did you come up with the title?

I was standing in the wings at a Nutcracker performance when a Snowflake flew offstage spitting salty fireproof-paper snow. The next thing that came out of her mouth was a loud obscenity. I knew instantly I had a chapter title: Where Snowflakes Swear. Eventually I realized that some variant might make an apt title for the book itself.

 

3. What surprised you most about The Land of Ballet?

There’s a whole book full of those surprises—and many more that I saw but couldn’t fit. I can’t begin to rank them. Every day I saw something I’d never seen before, be it a dancer calmly walking across the studio on pointe or a stagehand coming up with an elegant solution to a technical problem.

Follow PNB Corps de Ballet dancer, Jessika Anspach as she performs a grand total of THREE roles in ONE performance of the Nutcracker!:

4. How long did it take you to research and write “Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside The Land of Ballet”? Describe your process.

I spent a year researching, mostly at PNB, but also at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and School of American Ballet and a few other venues, before writing a single word. I went in to PNB or the theater virtually every day; during classes and rehearsals, I’d sit at the front of the room or the stage and take notes on a little notebook computer. When I could pry some time from people’s insane schedules, I’d interview them privately with a voice recorder. I ended up with many megabytes of material, and then spent two and a half years figuring out how to make sense of it all.

 

Watch Pacific Northwest Ballet company members perfecting their jumps in class:

5. What are Peter Boal’s greatest strengths as Artistic Director? How has the company evolved under his leadership?

Peter’s long history of stardom at New York City Ballet and School of American Ballet gives him access to just about everybody in the Land of Ballet. On the job, his knowledge, self-assurance, and sly wit are remarkable and translate into tremendous authority without a hint of being autocratic. His composure is remarkable: The job comes with the constant stress of trying to please conflicting constituencies—dancers, funders, musicians, stagers, audience—but I don’t think I saw him raise his voice more than once in the year I was there.

Unlike many artistic directors, Peter does not see himself as a choreographer, which has made for a major change from the Kent Stowell era at PNB. But because Boal’s tastes and knowledge are wide-ranging, he has brought in a stunning array of choreographers and works, both well-known and otherwise. His tenacity has brought Seattle a reconstruction of Giselle and Alexei Ratmansky’s version of Don Quixote, but also very quirky modern pieces by choreographers like William Forsythe and Marco Goecke.

Lecture Demonstration with Christopher Wheeldon and PNB Artistic Director, Peter Boal:

 

6. Please share any favorite moments or anecdotes you have about your experiences creating your book.

The most charmingly personal one involved Bruce Wells, who as a young dancer in the ’70s was featured in Joseph Mazo’s book Dance is a Contact Sport, which looks at part of a year at New York City Ballet back then. Today Wells teaches and choreographs at PNB, and he took me aside to remind me with mock imperiousness exactly what he told Mazo about how to get a real sense of the company: “We’re in this together. If we stay, you stay.” When I repeated this to my wife, she suddenly recalled taking open adult ballet classes from one Bruce Wells back in those very ’70s. The Land of Ballet can be very small indeed.

 

7. Which clichés about The Land of Ballet were proven to be untrue?

Most of them. Outsiders simply have no idea what ballet life and ballet people are really like. People often believe that because dancers typically don’t go to college, they must be airheads. Actually, the dancers I know tend to be incredibly smart and astoundingly focused. And though the competitiveness that ballet fiction always emphasizes is certainly not absent, the ballet world is far more generous that most outsiders realize. I wrote about that here.

 

8. What are the most important qualities for a dancer to possess? Which dancers left the greatest lasting impression on you and why?

Talent. Artistry. Focus. Tenacity. Generosity. Grit. Luck. And virtually every dancer I saw made a strong and unique impression. Watching the struggles of students, apprentices, and corps members trying to prove their worth was every bit as stirring in its own way as seeing experienced principals give spectacularly polished performances.

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s ‘New Works’ Trailer for 2012:

 

 

9. What were your greatest challenges in creating this book?

This was a major departure for me. I had never written about ballet before, and I’d never done this particular type of long-form reportage. But the hardest part was figuring out whose voice would carry the book. In the end I realized that the voices of the dancers and others in the Land of Ballet were so articulate and strong that they deserved to be heard as much as possible, and they provided a welcome counterpoint to my descriptive reporting.

 

10. How have your views about ballet changed since writing this book?

I’m more knowledgeable, I’m more critical, and I’m more tolerant. One thing most members of the audience don’t understand is the way dance is created on deadline; rehearsal time is precious, and choreographers and dancers don’t always get enough of it. Another thing I’ve discovered is the importance of stagers. The difference between a great performance and a good one can often amount to how well the stager knows and transmits the work, particularly if the choreographer isn’t alive or otherwise available to clean it up at the end.

Excerpt from ‘Caught’, choreographed by David Parsons:

 

11. You had the opportunity to watch some of the top names in ballet and choreography, such as Twyla Tharp, Christopher Wheeldon, Susan Stroman, Edwaard Liang, Jaime Martinez, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Nasha Thomas-Schmitt and Carla Körbes at work… are there any unifying characteristics to this group and in what ways were you impressed, amazed or horrified by their behavior?

I’m always impressed at how much laughing there is in the rehearsal studio. To an outsider accustomed to choreographers in the movies, who inevitably scream at and humiliate their dancers, what’s striking is how real-life choreographers and stagers tend to get what they want through gentle repetition, charm, and praise. One obvious reason: They’ve all been dancers themselves and remember their own experiences facing the mirror. My favorite locution came from Maillot, who often began his corrections with the phrase, “I think it’s nice if . . .” when he could easily have shouted “Do this!”

 

12. Is there anything else you would like to share?

Those who prattle about the “death of ballet” should put away their mourning clothes. Particularly in the United States, this art is almost certainly more vital than ever before. New works are being created all the time, and fine companies and schools are dancing up a storm all over the country.

To find out more or to purchase copies(s) of When Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside The Land of Ballet, visit:

http://wheresnowflakesdanceandswear.com/

 

Praise for When Snowflakes Dance And Swear:

“ Ballet companies are notoriously closed-mouthed about things like politics, budgets, salaries and injuries because ballet’s history demands that everything look effortless. . . . PNB artistic director Peter Boal was brave to allow Mr. Manes virtually free rein during his third season. . . . there is something for everyone to learn in a book that covers so much territory. “Snowflakes” should appeal to both ballet fans and professionals who have the same level of passion Mr. Manes exhibits.” Jane Vranish, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

Stephen Manes has written a remarkable account of a year in the life of a professional ballet company and school. . . . His love of dance with an outsider’s amazement are constantly displayed on every page. I encourage everyone with a real-life under-the-microscope curiosity about the world of professional ballet to take the time to read this marvelous edition. –Bruce Wells, choreographer and teacher

 

Stephen Manes has given us a thorough and accurate look at the day-to-day workings of a classical ballet company and its school. He has also thoughtfully incorporated the individual stories of the artists and employees involved in the process of bringing work to the stage. This is a rare look behind the curtain of the performing arts. –Peter Boal, artistic director, Pacific Northwest Ballet

 

 

 

A Ballerina’s Love Affair With Pointe Shoes, Part IV. The Agony of Da Feet

 

Conjure up an image of ballerinas spinning effortlessly en pointe and you’re not likely to come up with, say blisters… or corns… or bunions. Yet the two go hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly. Regardless of the shape of one’s feet, though, the show must go on and every dancer if eventually faced with the unfortunate and painful prospect of having to dance with bloody toes.

 

There are work-arounds, of course. There have to be. That’s where a dancer’s best friend comes to the rescue: good old Dr. Scholl’s. No, they don’t just make arch supports and sandals that are the equivalent of wooden flip-flops (but comfy!). Many dancers rely heavily on Dr. Scholl’s Blister Treatment, Corn Cushions (and remover), bunion cushions, and Moleskin Padding to protect wounds and sore spots when the going gets tough and the tough must keep going.

 

Every time I put on my pointe shoes, whether for class, rehearsal or performance, there was an elaborate ritual involved (which had nothing to do with the preparation of the pointe shoes… this part was all about the feet). It would be professional suicide to just stick your unprotected feet into a pair of pointe shoes and dance so long and hard that you give the 12 Dancing Princesses a run for their money. Instead, there is a process. What worked well for me was to wrap each toe with medical tape and then use paper towels or gel pads to make the whole experience more comfy. I dealt with the occasional corn (man, those suckers are painful!) by dosing it with remover and by using an oval-shaped corn pad to relieve pressure.

 

I was one of the lucky one who got blisters on very rare occasions… until I moved to Miami to dance with Miami City Ballet.

 

Miami is commonly acknowledged to be a part of the Continental US, but the climate (and the culture) is tropical by nature. It’s warm year-round, which brings tourists and older folks in droves and its monsoon season (typically in July/August) would rival that of Mumbai, India, Bali, Indonesia or anywhere else that gets pelted with driving rains so fierce that even with the windshield wipers on high it would be lunacy to attempt driving.

 

Miami is also humid as h*ll… which means blisters. Lots of them.

 

My time in Miami was the first and only time in my life when I had blisters all the time. The tropical climate kept everything perpetually moist and feet were no exception. Every day brought on new and disgusting terrors and no matter how hard I tried to stay on top of it, I got more and more blisters.

 

I even had blisters on top of my blisters.

 

But the winning moment came one night when we were on tour in Palm Beach. I was putting the final touches on makeup and costuming, attempting to delay the inevitable moment when I’d have to put my bloody toes in pointe shoes and dance my part in Concerto Baroco.

 

For the record, Concerto Barocco is a beautiful Balanchine ballet set to Concerto in D minor for Two Violins, by Johann Sebastian Bach (achingly wonderful music). It is also one of Balanchine’s most taxing ballets for the corps de ballet. During the entire 20 minutes of the ballet, the corps never leaves the stage. The first movement is brisk and uptempo, followed by a second movement that is quite slow where the dancers are forced to hold static lunge positions for many long minutes at a time.

 

But the end of the ballet is a real killer; it is fast-paced, technically demanding, relentlessly aerobic and in its final moments, there are a million soutenu turns from side to side and endless hops on pointe.

 

In essence, it might be the worst possible ballet to perform with a nasty collection of gaping blisters.

 

When life passes us incredibly painful moments, sometimes there’s no choice but to belly up to the bar(re). Which is what I did. After painstakingly cutting out moleskin pads that were perfectly-sized for each and every blister, I wrapped every toe carefully, cushioned the whole mess with padding and said a silent prayer before heading backstage to psyche myself into the proper mindset to get through the performance.

 

First I tried some pique arabesques. Those were tolerable. If you’re comfortable with the feeling of having your foot pierced by a red-hot poker. The soutenu turns stepped things up a few notches. The hops on pointe were worse than natural childbirth (I know from personal experience) so I stopped doing them. After that I stayed off pointe and kept my muscles warm until the final moment of reckoning arrived.

A taste of Concerto Barocco:

 

But when the music started, it transported me away from my worldly troubles… at least for the first two movements. Some music is inspiring enough that it can do that, force us to forget the things we’d rather forget and let our bodies simply respond to the exquisite sound of a musical masterpiece. Add the theatrical elements of bright light, a company of fellow dancers and an enrapt audience and the pain disappears… almost.

 

Except for the third movement and those bloody (literally) hops on pointe where I could feel the raw meat of my wounded flesh grinding against the concrete confines that were the boxes of my shoes… well, that was special.

 

Final bows were one of the hugest reliefs I’ve ever experienced. I walked off stage- okay, no- I hobbled. When I looked down I noticed blood had seeped through everything, including the pink satin exteriors of my shoes. Now that was serious.

 

Such is a day in the life of a dancer.