See. Site. Dance: A talk with Tom Pearson

Tom Pearson
(photo by Darla Winn)

See. Site. Dance. 

A talk with Tom Pearson of Third Rail Projects

by Melanie Greene

See. Site. Dance.

Site-specific work is never that simple, yet those words--See. Site. Dance.-- instantly come to mind whenever I recall my conversation with Tom Pearson, Co-Director of the award-winning Third Rail Projects.

Site-specific work takes dance or movement exploration out of traditional proscenium spaces and into the world. This practice expands the possibilities for dance presentations to reach a larger audience and spurs us to question who dance is for and where can it live and breathe. These days, in an ironic turnaround, artists are even coming back to conventional theaters as site-specific spaces.

How will the artist(s) interact with the space? What information does the space offer the performer and the work? How will the audience witness the work in the space? What legal permits (if any) need to be acquired, and how long will it take to get them?

These and many more questions run through the minds of Tom Pearson and his Third Rail Project partners and co-directors, Zach Morris and Jennine Willett, as they make art for the public sphere in a multitude of genres--dance-theater, performance, video and multimedia, and installation.

Left to right: Zach Morris, Jennine Willett and Tom Pearson
at the Bessie Awards 2013
(photo courtesy of Third Rail Projects)

Their masterfully crafted, immersive theater work, Then She Fell, won a 2013 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production Performed in a Small Capacity Venue.

“Lots of things were going on [at the time], and things were happening quickly in our company,” Pearson remembers. “The company went from 13 to 30…but now I can really reflect. If I had time to think about it as it was happening, I’m not sure I would have been able to do it.”

This was Pearson's second Bessie; he and Zach Morris first received a Bessie for choreography in 2008 for a production that ran only three days. He felt gratified to know that Then She Fell, at the time of its honor, was celebrating a run of one year.

"It feels right [to receive recognition] for something in the present,” he told me.

Receiving the Bessie proved to be excellent publicity, and now more people will get a chance to catch the work. Then She Fell's run has been extended through August 31, 2014--two years from its launch.

“The work was first embraced by the theater community, but it’s great to get recognition from the dance community where we attribute our history and roots,” Pearson notes.

Then She Fell is a cleverly curated work that takes each audience member on a unique journey. Audience members are shepherded from one room to the next, slowly piecing together fragments of a broken narrative. As you go around, you split off from familiar groups and join up with new ones, but sometimes, you're left alone to figure out and experience what comes next. You leave with a unique perspective all your own. (Here's mine: scenelaniereene.blogspot.com/2014/02/joining-her-twisted-wonderland.html)

In February 2014, Then She Fell was running 12 shows a week. The show can only support about 15 audience members per performance, which encourages intimacy. "It may not be a big money-making model," Pearson notes. "But it’s successful and keeps itself going and us all working.”

Photo courtesy of Third Rail Projects

How Site-Specific Works

There is no set formula for site-specific work. It's hands-on, a process full of trial, error, and discovery.

“It can get tricky," Pearson adds. "Depending on where you stand, it can be the difference between needing one permit [for use of a site] or five.”

When producing site-specific work, flexibility invites possibilities. It encourages an artist to see the potential in the chosen space.

In 2007, Pearson told an interviewer for China's TVB8 that site-specific work involves “investigating the architecture, the history, the cultural ideals that are inherent in a particular place and bringing that into the work." [See https://vimeo.com/7656763.]

My conversation with Pearson sparked my curiosity about how such hands-on, learning-by-doing can be taught to students of dance and emerging artists. I mentioned reading Site Dance: Choreographers and the Lure of Alternative Spaces, edited by Melanie Kloetzel and Carolyn Pavlik. Pearson was familiar with the book, and our conversation of it spiraled around the promise of generational history and future enterprise.

Kloetzel and Pavlik's book, a good resource, documents site-specific dance events through images, interviews, and accounts from practitioners. For Pearson though, the book's discussions seemed tilted towards a West Coast and historical approach to site-specific dance. We agreed that this geographical exclusivity didn’t feel intentional—just likely the product of publication deadlines and accessible material.

I joked with Pearson about the release date of his hypothetical site-specific book as future generations would benefit from his experience and knowledge.

“Who knows?” he replied. I'm convinced that this idea is merely waiting for the right time, when there is time.

Tom Pearson
(photo by Rick Ochoa)

Having Sights on International Sites

The way Pearson's career is going, time to write about his process might not be that easy to come by. Site-specific projects have taken Pearson to many parts of the world, like last year's visit to Almaty, Kazakhstan .

“I take on a lot. We all do. It can appear overwhelming, but we take on these projects and choose to do them. Maybe I should have not have gone abroad... with other Third Rail Projects works happening at the same time, but how could I not? And fortunately, there are three directors, so we do sometimes have the ability, not only to collaborate, but to fan out.”

In April 2013, Pearson and Morris worked with young artists of the Capacity Building Foundation during a workshop and performance in Kyrgyzstan in an abandoned Soviet mall. Participants helped clean the space. Nearly 300 people showed up for the performance. Due to this success, Pearson had little reservation about heading to Almaty in September for the ARTBAT Festival, along with Third Rail’s Associate Artistic Director, Marissa Nielsen-Pincus.

Pearson recalls the ARTBAT Festival as an “amazing experience…one of my favorites so far.”

“We find a site, find a partner or the partners will find us. We like to work with local people and look beyond the traditional scope of parameters to unlock the potential for engagement and success. This goes back to being able to look at a space with a sense of flexibility that expands the possibilities of how to exist in the space. ”

Even with several projects on his plate, Pearson values taking time off to rejuvenate. He enjoys camping and scuba diving but also likes to participate in conversations and other explorations that can inform his work. Inspiration can manifest from the most unlikely places and spark ideas for the next project.

“Immersive theater is having a huge moment in conjunction with site-specific work,” Pearson reflects. Artists are experimenting with new ways to curate experience for their audiences, and Pearson continue to wonders, “What is the next part of that conversation?”

For Pearson, the conversation, most recently, involved eggs--two rather big ones--with dancers inside.

A scene from Yolk
at Grace Plaza
(c)2014, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

In April, Third Rail Project curated lunchtime for office workers and tourists with a new site-specific project commissioned by Arts Brookfield. Yolk, an outdoor dance installation, premiered at midtown Manhattan's Grace Plaza with Roxanne Kidd and Jessy Smith slipping around inside human-sized eggs. Critic Eva Yaa Asantewaa called Third Rail Project's fantasy duet "meditative and beguiling" (http://infinitebody.blogspot.com/2014/04/third-rail-projects-and-two-good-eggs.html).

You never know. Third Rail Projects could turn up next at a site near you. Find out here.

BIO

Tom Pearson is a Bessie Award-winning artist and the Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects and co-creator (with Jennine Willett and Zach Morris) of the hit production, Then She Fell. He works in a variety of media that includes contemporary dance, site-specific and immersive performance, film, visual art, and large-scale installations. Each work introduces its own movement and/or visual vocabulary, defined by the parameters of the subject and performance environment. Through the lens of a contemporary movement vocabulary, he creates dense, evocative worlds that illuminate the transient and the transformational, using movement abstracted from and coupled with everyday action. Paired with this is a fierce percussive abandon, often complimented by meditative nuance. Likewise, Pearson uses art installation to achieve rich, multi-dimensional environments, and site-specific explorations seek to mine public spaces for hidden meaning and to capture and engage unwary and unsuspecting passersby.

Tom has been commissioned to create original works for Danspace Project; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation; Arts Brookfield; The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), among others. He has served as an adjunct faculty member of the Florida State University School of Dance (FSUinNYC), The Florida School of the Arts, and through master classes at a number of colleges universities, and arts-in-education programs including the High School of the Performing Arts and New York City Opera. He is also a writer whose work on performance has been published in Dance Magazine, Time Out New York Kids, Dance Spirit and as the Editor of the Public Theater’s Native Theater Journal online and in filmed interviews for NYU’s Hemispheric Institute. Tom holds an MA in Performance Studies from New York University.

Wendy Perron: Capturing Movement in Words

Dancer/dance journalist Wendy Perron
(photo by Cliff Roles)

Wendy Perron: 

Capturing Movement in Words

by Melanie Greene

You can’t beat a book.

I know you’re reading this from a computer screen or smartphone, and I thank you, but nothing beats the tangibility of a good ol' fashioned book. Flipping the pages of progress…feeling the weight of the words…supporting the contents bound within a strong spine, the center, the glue holding everything together.

We read books and scan blogs, websites, brochures, social sites, reviews, journals--and talk to people--because we are curious about what’s going on in the world. In the dance world, there are several go-to sources of information, and one of those knowledgeable sources is Wendy Perron.

I recently sat down with Wendy Perron on a rainy day on the Upper West Side. It was the day before Thanksgiving, with people intent on last-minute grocery shopping. Perron and I sat in a cozy restaurant, talking about her book and life as the movie-like scene scrolled by the large glass windows.

Although Perron spends a lot of her time writing these days, she did not know, early on, that she would become the writer in her family. Before finding her voice on paper, she found it through movement as a dancer.

Perron's new book,
Through the Eyes of a Dancer: Selected Writings
Wesleyan University Press

Over the years, Perron's extensive participation in the dance community--as a performer, critic, editor and educator--has made her a valuable source of knowledge on contemporary dance. Her eloquent writings capture the imagination of movement through words in her new book Through the Eyes of a Dancer.

The book surveys Perron’s writings—dance reviews, feature stories, essays, and blog posts—spanning from the 1960s to the present. It offers dancers, dancemakers, and dance enthusiasts a living history of the art. Huffington Post writer Jennifer Edwards comments that Perron’s book “flows like a choreographic retrospective. The reader has an opportunity to witness both the writer, and the work, evolve.”

Scanning its pages, readers are invited to take an intimate look into dance culture’s continuous influence over artistic, political, and social movements.

MEETING

Since I had never met Perron, our meeting was a blind date so to speak. In these situations, I always feel, one's face takes on a distinct look of anticipation--a cocktail of anxiety and excitement sprinkled with the illusion of composure. There's an unspoken protocol of what to do if you are the first to arrive, an insecure voice that wonders "What if they don’t show up?" or "What if I got the date wrong?"

I arrived shortly before Perron as the restaurant opened for lunch. The first women to arrive after me shared my look of uncertainty, but I was sure I would recognize Perron once I saw her. I imagined her with those wild tendrils of hair she described in her book.

I was carefully negotiating glances between my phone and the hazy rain outside when Perron arrived, warmly bundled up, small grocery bags in hand. She had stopped in a grocery store to pick up the last ingredients for cranberry sauce for a Thanksgiving repast.

“I am always in charge of the cranberry sauce," she said. "People know it’s what I bring."

After unbundling and settling in, we ordered lunch, and I asked Perron how she was feeling.

“In general, I wish I could sleep more than two hours at a time,” she responded. “I’ve just traveled from Japan. Traveling changes my sleep patterns.”

Perron had just returned from Japan to judge the Youth America Grand Prix competition. In her Dance Magazine blog entry My Week in Japan, Courtesy YAGP, she details the competition and dedication of the young artists she met during her stay.

“I’ve always wanted to travel to Japan,” Perron stated. “I tasted this plum wine there and brought it back for Thanksgiving.” Coaxing pleasant feelings of nostalgia, the taste of this wine reminded her of the thoughtful designs of Japanese gardens and the beautiful architecture.

VENUES FOR WRITING

Back in the US, Perron remains in the thick of the New York dance scene. Witnessing and participating in the transformation of dance criticism and reviewing over the past 40 years, she has seen dance writings repurposed to accommodate evolving technologies and the need for instant information.

More blogs, social media outlets, and self-produced videos are popping up to cover what was once tackled by expert writers and critics. Magazine and newspaper reviews have become obsolete. As the needs and expectations of the dance world change, so must the ways we write and talk about dance.

“This does not mean that respect is lost for traditional critics and those who have been around a long time. Publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post still wield so much power,” Perron offered. Perron has been writing a dance blog as part of DanceMagazine.com for over 6 ½ years.

Today, information is just a click away. To reach the largest audience, dance writing must appear on the Internet and be user friendly. While many sites still support longform articles, others—like Twitter—prefer it short and sweet. Perron's blog posts and articles serve the in-depth reader, while her Twitter feed offers audiences quick links back to substantial information.

“There is something interesting about the challenge of saying something in 140 characters,” she says of tweeting. Within this new medium, you must choose your words carefully, saying just enough to entice the reader to want to know more.

“I see so much and there are people in New York and the world who don’t get to see what I see, so I like to be able to say something about it,” she says. Twitter challenges her to say it creatively and quickly.

Perron today, at right, with Olsi Gjeci
in Vicky Shick's Everything You See
(photo © 2013 Anjolo Toro)

WHAT WE WRITE ABOUT

Whether you write serious criticism, lively reviews, blog posts or tweets, the new digital media can offer space for your purpose: assessing dancemakers' aesthetic choices, uncovering the history of a dance form or its cultural relevance, examining how the art fits into the current political climate, and more.

“Ultimately, the responsibility lies with the writer,” Perron said. “The role is to respond honestly with your whole self on many different levels—not just thumbs up or down.”

“It is our responsibility to provide context…to say what the roots are…how [these artists] emerged, and what they have done before,” Perron added.

It’s important to open one’s eyes to the present and not become, as Perron would say, trapped by one's past.  Even in repertory companies, dance works will change. Things will not look and feel as they did five years ago. We have to be open to that evolution. 

The night of our meeting, Perron was going to see Chéri, a dance-theater piece by choreographer Martha Clarke, starring Alessandra Ferri and Herman Cornejo. “I like to see incredible performers challenged with something new," she said.

She also talked about how she continues to be excited about the fusion of forms in dance.

“Some people don’t like that word, fusion,” she said. “I’m not sure why.”

This sentiment possibly stems from conversations Perron has had with artists like Akram Khan, a British choreographer of Bangladeshi descent. His work combines contemporary dance elements and kathak, a form of classical Indian dance. In a 2008 blog post entitled Excited. Touched. Stimulated. Taken aback. Revved up. Honored., Perron wrote, “Khan likes the word confusion better than fusion, and to allow different stories to overlap or intersect. Somehow a lightness and a heaviness at the same time. A western-ness and an eastern-ness at the same time.”

“He is exciting to see," Perron told me, as we continued our conversation. "I can see both aspects of style and form so strongly” in Khan's East/West fusion.

WRITING PRACTICE

I asked Perron if she had a daily meditation practice or ritual approach to writing.

“My practice of writing is very haphazard, but I do have a daily movement practice,” she said. “I do exercises in the morning in my bed and in the afternoon. These exercises help to center myself in my body. I still see myself as a dancer first.”

Although she considers her writing approach haphazard, she likes to start writing early. Write a few sentences, then write a few more and print it out.

“I also show it to my husband. He’s extremely helpful,” Perron added. “Once I print it out, I lie down on my back and mark it up with a pencil.”

Perron attributes the effectiveness of this practice to the fact that “when I lie down, it’s closer to my heart, and I want to make sure it’s coming from my heart and not in there for just [arbitrary] reasons. If there is something I don’t feel strongly about, maybe I’ll take it out.”

A lot of her daily exercises and writing postures, she said, derived from her chronic back problems. Lying down helps relieve the stress on her back. This gesture, to me, speaks to the wealth of information that our bodies hold, how we exist in our bodies. We function as a result of the choices we make. If we listen, our bodies will inform new choices in movement and on paper.

THROUGH THE EYES OF A DANCER

“It never occurred to me to write a book,” Perron confessed, “but as you get older, you think about what you leave behind.”

Perron with Harry Sheppard,
students at Bennington College in the 1960s
(photo by Josef Wittman)

Whether intentional or by a marvelous accident, Through the Eyes of a Dancer became a way for Perron to reconnect with herself. Her writings propelled her back to memories of dancing with the Trisha Brown Dance Company, spending time in SoHo, and teaching at Bennington College, the Vermont liberal arts college that attracted Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Hanya Holm, and Charles Weidman, all pioneering legends of American modern dance.

We get a glimpse of Perron's dancing/writing ritual: how she would stay up late Thursday, stalling to work on final details until around midnight. After a pint of Haagen-Dazs coffee ice cream and a dose of procrastination, she would resolve that “there was nothing else to do but sit down and write the damn thing.”

She remembers dancing and choreographing a lot in the 1980s. “When I did more writing, I danced less, and when there was more dance, there was less writing.”

Perron talked me through her process of scanning old documents and articles into a machine as she prepared to write Through the Eyes of a Dancer. Like magic, her past would travel into her technological present in the form of Word documents.

“The scanner enabled me to edit my writings from 40 years ago. It was an interesting project for me because of the time travel aspect.” Something about words and digital documents provides something close to permanence for a famously ephemeral art form.

Parallel to preserving her writing, Perron once started a project to transfer 1970s dance works from their old, unstable formats on VHS and beta tapes to DVD. However DVD proved equally unstable. Discs would become corrupt and, just like that “all those years went up in smoke," she said. "There are tons of video, but there is nothing stable. I couldn’t save the choreography, but I could save the writing.”

Dance happens and then it’s gone. Recorded artifacts are not the same as live performance, and this, partly, drew Perron to writing which presented its own distinct challenge.

“How do you write about something that disappears?”

OUR GOODBYES

After lunch, I mentioned to Perron that I was looking for yarn store, and she kindly walked me to one that she’d passed only hours before. As we said our goodbyes, she left me with a thought that will guide my own intentions as a writer.

“Writing should lead the reader. I don’t want it to just be information. I want it to make a statement of some kind.”

A statement can come in the form of insight, approval, objection, or total rejection. Some notable statements appear in two of Perron's Dance Magazine blog posts--Blogging about the Process of Choreography—Ugh! and Is There a Blackout on Black Swan’s Dancing? In each of these posts, she ignited heated dialogues that drew a range of reactions in the dance community, from outrage to satisfaction.

Perron is a strong advocate for the arts and artists. Through the Eyes of a Dancer provides rich insight into dance within an historical framework. Moreover, it captures the essence and virtue of living a life through both movement and words.

 

BIO

Wendy Perron danced with the Trisha Brown Company in the 1970s and has performed with many other New York City choreographers. Her own group, the Wendy Perron Dance Company, appeared at the Lincoln Center Festival, the Joyce Theater, Danspace Project and other venues in the US and abroad from 1983 to 1997. She was one of eight choreographers profiled in the documentary film Retracing Steps: American Dance Since Postmodernism. She has taught at many colleges including Bennington and Princeton, and was associate director of Jacob’s Pillow in the early ’90s. In addition to contributing to Dance Magazine as editor in chief for almost 10 years, she has written for The New York Times, The Village Voice, and Ballet Review. In 2011 she was inducted into the New York Foundation for the Arts’ Hall of Fame, and she still performs occasionally with Vicky Shick and Dancers. She was artistic adviser to the Fall for Dance festival and has adjudicated for Youth America Grand Prix, the American College Dance Festival, and New York Live Arts. Her new book, Through the Eyes of a Dancer (Wesleyan University Press), is a selection of her essays, memoirs, and reviews spanning 40 years. Read more about it here.

Helen Simoneau: Movement Across Borders

Helen Simoneau in rehearsal
for among the newly familiar
Photo: Rachel Shane

Helen Simoneau: Movement Across Borders

by Melanie Greene

Leaves rustle and gently connect with the scratchy pavement. The air whisks a cool crisp breeze underneath the lining of my jacket, while I mentally negotiate the best combination of layers to complement the changing season. The sun’s rays warm the molecules of cool air around us....

One modest October afternoon, a pleasant chat with artist, performer, and entrepreneur Helen Simoneau became a welcomed addition to an otherwise normal day. We discussed dance, art-making and her December residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC). Simoneau was in New York for business meetings and performances, and I caught up with her during a brief intermission between engagements. Somewhere between a showing, a meeting, and a quickly-approaching plane ride, we managed to steal time to relax outside a small café in Williamsburg. We sat on a wooden bench that stretched the length of the café window, while the afternoon sun fought with vigor to penetrate my Canal Street sunglasses.

Before we began our conversation, a quick shuffle of our movement cleverly hinted at our lives as dancers. To prevent the relentless sun from blinding Simoneau, we gathered our belongings and switched places. Stepping through the strap from a bookbag here, avoiding the spill of a drink there, we settled on opposite ends of the bench while my shades served as a brown barrier between the sun’s rays and my retinas.

After an exchange of greetings and light conversation, I began by asking Simoneau how she felt, to which she replied, “I’m feeling good because I just performed last night. I feel in my body and grateful that I’m able to reconnect with my dance community here in New York.” This sentiment illustrates one piece of an interesting puzzle that roots Simoneau’s work and practice in both New York and North Carolina, where Simoneau currently resides.

I was first exposed to Simoneau’s work in North Carolina where I grew up and attended graduate school. During a North Carolina Dance Festival, she presented a solo, the gentleness was in her hands. Surrounded by three golden anchors of light, Simoneau moved as a lone figure within a triangle of light, completely mesmerizing. She moved in angular, awkwardly isolating ways complemented by soft, delicate extensions and undulations. Her head and torso would snake through space supported by long lines that journeyed from her hips into her feet. She was enchanting and, ever since, I’ve been excited to see and hear about her work.

Having moved to New York, I am fascinated by how other artists navigate across interstate lines. Simoneau’s dual state, as well as her international presence, situates her work and company--Helen Simoneau Danse--in an interesting state of mindfulness that radiates throughout her work as an artist, performer, and choreographer.

Here and below, a trio of scenes
from Simoneau's among the newly familiar
Photos: Steve Davis

Residencies                       Process                       Work/Time Separation


   Precious                 Movers              Thinkers               Community/Core


Boundaries                               Borders                              Limitless limits


Simoneau's three-week residency at BAC landed on her radar because she was familiar with artists affiliated with the organization and, from them, heard about the supportive nature of its residencies. This opportunity offers Simoneau a platform to invest in what her work needs without the pressure to produce a polished final product.

“BAC is meeting me where I am with my process,” Simoneau said. “Sometimes performance expectations hinder the creative process because you simply try to get to the end too quickly at the expense of exploration.”

For three weeks, she, along with several New York-based artists, will call BAC home as they work on two dances in different stages of development and process.

Process

For many artists, the process is a very important component of choreographic practice. Simoneau realizes that her works often reflect something that is currently going on in her life. Certain themes and ideas just develop subconsciously. “It is not usually my intention, but I noticed that I tend to work out things in my life through my work."

Interestingly, these findings reveal themselves over time when one has a chance to step back from the work, which explains Simoneau’s advocacy for work/time separation. Establisihing some distance from the work allows you to reexamine your choices as a choreographer. The work becomes not so precious and lends itself to a quizzical, choreographic eye.

Simoneau in performance
Flight Distance III: Chain Suite
(photo: Steve Davis)

Work/Time Separation

Time also helps you see the potential and possible evolution of a work. It can offer clarity and create an opportunity to witness the fact that a work doesn’t stay fixed. It is an ongoing process informed by decisions made in the past and present. “I am there and present [in the work],” Simoneau added.

Once time has past, this clarity and participation makes it possible to seek avenues back into a work.  With the luxury of time, she believes, “you begin to see patterns and unconscious choices." You can also make space to entertain the divestment of labor involved in a work that can make it easier to edit away unnecessary material.

Delving more into the process of creating work, Simoneau spoke of her gratitude for the women and men with whom she works and performs. “I work with dancers who understand me and my process. They are invested in the work, therefore are invested in the process.” Among many things, this process involves seeing and being with dance works over time. Dancers also contribute in the creation of material. “I’m excited about the dancers I work with,” Simoneau said. “I am inspired by them and confident that I can let go of material and trust that they will continue to inspire me as movers and thinkers.” 

For the BAC residency, Simoneau will work with a group of dancers who she hasn’t seen in nearly nine months. “It is a pleasure to work with this particular group of dancers and, when we don’t meet, I miss it. We are a community, a core.”

from Paper Wings,
developed at American Dance Festival
(photo: Grant Halverson)

A Company With Many Homes

I’ve seen Simoneau’s work in several North Carolina venues, and I'm fascinated to witness how her work translates and transforms within New York spaces. When asked about creating and presenting work in both locations, Simoneau admitted “Every year, I’m more clear…I realized [years ago] that there were several resources in North Carolina that I was not utilizing.”

Booking studio space in New York can be expensive. In North Carolina, there is a community that really values the arts. Resources and rehearsal space that may be more difficult to obtain in New York are more accessible in North Carolina.

She knows that reaching out to people for support is key. “Ask for what you need,” Simoneau suggested. “Be willing to bring your ideas to the table and prepared to offer suggestions about how to get there.” Instead of imitating the journey of others, Simoneau found it more advantageous to figure out what she needed and devise her own plan to get there, stepping outside the box to see past traditional models. 

For instance, Simoneau’s residency at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) brought dancers in for three weeks and gave them access to free studio space and classes. One big "Yes" later, Simoneau is in her fourth year working with UNCSA.

“I think [UNCSA] said yes because there is value for them in having professionals take class and interact with their students. We usually end up having students peek into rehearsal, sometimes understudying. We also end up having an informal talk with the students about life after graduation. They always have tons of questions.”

Traveling, especially overseas, and sharing work are important components of her aesthetic. “It’s scary to be in a vacuum," she notes, "because there is nothing to push up against.” 

Presenting and experiencing work widely seems vital to growth as a performer and artist. You might ask the same questions, but get different feedback. “Work is relative to the context in which it exists," she says. "It will be different in every place, but it should still find relevance in different contexts as well.”

After my conversation with Simoneau, I realize that as artists we often see and create opportunities out of necessity—a way to reconcile living and breathing the work we want to create and nurturing the individuals we want to be in this space, in our communities. Our intersecting paths are diverse and intricate from end to end, but it is possible to live what you love, love what you live, and, along the way, meet inspiring people who help to make your journey more clear.

BIO

Helen Simoneau is a native of Québec, Canada. Her company, Helen Simoneau Danse, is based in both North Carolina and New York City. She had the honor of winning The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: NYC with her solo the gentleness was in her hands. This work was also awarded 1st Place for Choreography at the 13th Internationales Solo-Tanz-Theatre Festival in Stuttgart, Germany. She returned to Germany as one of three finalists for the Kurt Jooss Prize 2010 in Essen for her quintet Flight Distance I.

Simoneau has been selected to choreograph for the Swiss International Coaching Project (SiWiC) in Zurich, the Bessie Schönberg Residency at The Yard, Bates Dance Festival’s Emerging Choreographer Program, and the American Dance Festival’s Footprints series. Her choreography has been presented in Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and has toured throughout Germany and the United States. Her work Flight Distance III: Chain Suite was recently presented in a nine-performance tour of Montréal, Tokyo, and Busan, South Korea, marking the company’s debut in Asia. Simoneau is a Bogliasco Fellow, a North Carolina Arts Council Choreographic Fellow, and a Fall 2013 resident artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City.

For more information about Helen Simoneau and Helen Simoneau Danse, visit
helensimoneau.com. Also, see Simoneau's choreography reel on YouTube.

Upcoming: DraftWork at Danspace 

Saturday, Dec 14, 3pm (FREE)

Click here for information and tickets.

Body Stories: the choreography of FIVE DANCES

Reed Luplau (left) and Ryan Steele in FIVE DANCES

Body Stories:
the choreography of FIVE DANCES

by Melanie Greene

Limbs spiral around a quiet calm torso. Hands pierce the space like sharp blades. Movement is blanketed by silence…a silence that is suddenly broken by the vibrations of a cello. He moves. His eyes seem familiar. He does not appear to be dancing for someone. He is dancing for himself. He is comfortable in this movement. His long, straight leg follows an imaginary circle in space, rotating bone within sinew. The energy emitting from his toe sends his motion along a downward diagonal.

FIVE DANCES is a captivating tale of a young talented dancer and his journey into the contemporary dance world in New York City. Directed by Alan Brown and choreographed by Jonah Bokaer, this film stars Ryan Steele, Reed Luplau, Catherine Miller, Kimiye Corwin and Luke Murphy. While I could talk at length about the cohesion of this film in terms character development, location aesthetic, and overall story, my interest lies within the composition of Bokaer‘s choreography and its impact on the overall story.

Bokaer is an internationally known choreographer and media artist. Through his cross-disciplinary work and social enterprise, he has made a unique impression on the dance world and worked with many artists including Merce Cunningham, David Gordon, and Deborah Hay. As a young choreographer, his accomplishments are impressive and his artistic vision—inspiring.

Ryan Steele in FIVE DANCES

FIVE DANCES tackles a traditional tale of a young dancer, Chip, portrayed by Steele, and his transition as a professional dancer in New York. Tethered to events occurring in his home state of Kansas, Chip must weigh his responsibility to his family and his responsibility to his career. Joining a small company in the city, his talent and determination couple with his innocence to generate a series of firsts. You will fall instantly in love with this character through his innocence and drive. His work ethic radiates through his range and capacity as a mover. There is something familiar about his character, and his history and hardships genuinely radiate from his eyes and into the execution of his movement.

Brown shot most of the film in and around an intimate dance studio in Soho. As the story builds around Chip and his four cast mates, the film takes on a ritualistic nature as their relationships build around the routine of their rehearsals. Movement becomes a true narrative of this film. Conversations through movement reveal the smallest, yet sometimes most important details.

Every now and then, city life seeps into their world as sounds and conversations hint at subway stops and cross streets. And while we are invited into the dancers’ life outside the studio, we receive the most information inside the studio.

Light pours in from the studio windows, warming the space and casting shadows along the periphery. The repetition of choreography throughout the films creates space for the audience to admire the personal and professional chemistry of the quintet. Bokaer's choreography adds richness to the story that illustrates a true sense of awareness and consideration by the characters. The dancers, and particularly Chip, negotiate the complexities inherent to the contemporary dance world.

I was captivated by how the actors negotiate breath, fluidity, and control within their movement palette. A similar fluidity guides the tension and release of their personal connections. Steele performs Bokaer’s choreography beautifully. The choreography feels strongly rooted in ballet technique, but defiant limbs, articulated torsos, and bare feet make it reminiscent of Merce Cunningham’s aesthetic.

While the repetition the core movement throughout this film became tedious at times for me, it allowed the story to develop in a captivating way. It created space to reveal the possibilities of the movement through camera angels and timing.

Captivating in its minimalism, FIVE DANCES is an enjoyable story told through movement. Although it is a familiar story, its artistic composition requires the audience to approach this content with different considerations and engagement.

Coco Karol: Journey of a Female Voice in Dance

Coco Karol
photo by Joseph Victorine

Coco Karol: Journey of a Female Voice in Dance

by Melanie Greene

4 o’ clock in the afternoon. The air is thick and hot. Eying a table and bench made of wood, we find a cozy spot underneath a covered patio. Condensation forms on the outside of my plastic cup and runs down the back of my hand—refreshingly cold against the vibrating heat. Ice cubes clash inside the container, melting into the green tea liquid. I’m look forward to taking a sip of this cool refreshment.

Karol sits comfortably on an adjacent wooden bench to my right. She carefully sips her tea, while I sip mine. In the shade, we catch bouts of wind that we gladly coax through the fibers of our clothes and against our skin. Taking one last sip of our liquid refreshment, we begin to talk at length....

If you Google or Bing modern dance images, you will encounter a visual menagerie of female and male bodies frozen in suspensions, extensions, and vertical contradictions to gravity. Refine your search further to choreographers and you may peruse lists counting up and down the decades of modern and contemporary dance greats.

I’ve become increasingly fascinated by discussions in recent literature surrounding the presence of the male gender bias in dance. From choreographers and company directors to performers, male visibility is undeniably large in a field dominated in numbers by women.

The Dance Advantage blog offers a possible reason for this phenomenon through a guest article written by Dorothy Gunther Pugh. Because there are fewer men, a perceived male scarcity leads to preferential treatment in the form of free training, bonuses, and unique performance opportunities and experiences (http://www.danceadvantage.net/2011/02/22/women-in-dance/a). It is within this climate that I wish to remember the female artistic voice in dance; the choreographers, creators, educators, performers, and provocateurs. To highlight the female artistic voice in dance brings into question what it means to be female or have a feminist voice in dance. The feminine mystique does not only appear in issues and content relating to females; therefore, it is not exclusive to females. This aesthetic can extend beyond culturally constructed ideas of gender, so it may be important to first define what I mean when referring to the female artistic voice.

Locating the feminist voice in dance involves considering how women and other under-represented minorities are represented in dance. It considers the stereotypes and portrayals of women and does not assume to locate a universal idea of feminine identity. It considers the fine line between oppression and empowerment. It is this voice that I wish to hear and highlight in this article.

To find the feminist voice in dance--and indeed that of other under-represented minorities--we must consider how the population is currently represented and treated in dance. We cannot assume that dance holds one universal truth about feminine identity that dictates how women should exist and participate in dance. Instead, we consider the information that flows through and around us as a tool to perceive, understand, and sometimes provoke existing circumstances. It is this information that shapes our understanding and consideration about interactions and relationships. It allows us to consider the fine line between oppression and empowerment, real and fantasy, and realized and fetishized. It is this voice that I wish to hear and highlight in this article.

I met Coco Karol during a six-week dance summer intensive in Durham, North Carolina. We participated in a theory class designed for dance professionals and artists wishing to obtain their Master of Fine Arts. We shared a unique space with others that nurtured questions and considerations about dance as it related to pedagogy, sexuality, phenomenology, and visual aesthetics.

Upon our first encounter, I was struck by Karol's careful consideration of thought during group discussions. She appeared genuine in the way she chose to articulate her ideas without appearing disrespectful, combative, or condescending.

Collective Collaboration         Passion projects                  Long hours


                Distant    work that brings people together


Different-Language-New                                                   Communication

                                                          Problem-solve

Collaborations cultivate a collection of ideas, insights, talents, and passion. It marries disciplines and encourages many languages to come together as one.

Karol and I shared stories about the nature of collaboration and the possibilities that can manifest even when artists speak very different artistic languages. It is very rewarding when artists are able to bridge gaps and discover new ways of communicating.

Karol has worked on a series of collaborative projects with artist Björk; photographer Steven Sebring; sculptor Eve Bailey; composer Inhyun Kim; and dancer Chloe Douglas. With each work and collaboration, Karol identifies a set of conceptual challenges that are influenced by the collaborative medium. These seeds of consideration and contemplation root the foundation of her works. As a set of challenges becomes realized, Karol sees it as an opportunity to explore new challenges. For example, when moving within the physical structures designed by Sebring, Karol spoke about how conceptual challenges served to mirror physical ones. Working inside a 360-degree photo rig with Sebring, Karol described how, “the two of us talked our way to a final product, each person at different times responding, reacting or having agency, within our respective mediums.”

As a mover, it is important to work within evolving environments that present new questions and challenges for the performer. It keeps the mind and body active, thinking, and agile. Many would agree that this trait is also advantageous in life. We have to be able to fluctuate and adjust to daily challenges. Collaboration gives you an opportunity to work with different people, which has the potential to generate unique excitement when you see “what can happen when everyone involved is learning and growing” together.

Collaboration with architect Marcos Zotes
from the installation Rafmögnuð Náttúra--
a temporary and site-specific light installation animating the facade of
Iceland’s Hallgrímskirkja Church with a large 3d video-mapping projection

from Karol's film-in-progress, Topography
photo by Azmi Mert Erdem

Entasis Dance (2012), Karol's collaboration
with sculptor Eve Bailey
photo by Adam Bailey

Examples of recent collaborative works for Karol include Entasis Dance with Eve Bailey, Rafmögnuð Náttúra conceived by Marcos Zotes, When Insight Comes In a Dream III. I write to you and you feel me composed by Inhyun Kim, and Karol's own creative brainchild Topography.

Interacting with sculptures designed by Bailey (http://evebailey.net/), video footage and images can be found of Karol twisting, molding, and elongating her body around organic sculptures. In Rafmögnuð Náttúra (http://www.rafmognudnattura.com/), Karol created and performed a dance in Brooklyn that was later projected on Hallgrimskirkja church in Iceland. During When Insight Comes In a Dream III. I write to you and you feel me, Karol's movement sequence created a duet with Kim's composition (http://findingcoco.net/videos) guiding the eye and ear to consider musical and physical forms.

Karol’s current Topography project continues along the spirit of collaboration, combining a collection of mediums, including dance, film, music, and projection. Her vision for this project continues to create a space that nurtures the intersection of diverse voices and disciplines. Topography enlists film to explore the human body as a landscape and navigates the physical perimeters of that space to allow the body to alternate between "map and means, path and pathos, guide and guided." While Karol spends a majority of her time teaching and performing, she is fueled by collaborative projects and doesn’t mind the flexible lifestyle. She attributes this to being surrounded by a supportive family and community of inspiring artists.

For a time, Karol articulated her gratitude for her experiences and opportunities. When I asked Karol how she comes by these amazing projects, she spoke about how they grow organically. Work begets work. One opportunity leads to another. She added that, “whenever you’re open to the possibility of something happening, something does.” She did admit that she has a difficult time saying no to projects, but fortunately she has met some amazing people by not saying no. Over the years though, she has figured out how to say yes with terms and conditions.

from the 2012 gallery show, Method of Loci
photo by Rogue Space

In Brooklyn, Karol built and managed a performance space called the Petri space: “a small petri dish concept, dedicated to experimentation, education, community, and roof top gardening" (findingcoco.com). While it was really hard to live and work in the same space, Karol spoke proudly about the nurturing vibe of the Petri space. Here you were allowed to fail, succeed, and discover. The Petri space cultivated beautiful moments where roles were given the space to combine, collide, and shift like an enchanted orchestration of improvisation. Karol has also participated in programs that promoted arts in education. Working with schools in Staten Island and Queens, she said, “You have the capacity to do more and feel rewarded by what you’re doing” when you see how it resonates with students.

Life/Inspiration

Karol was raised in Boston but has lived in Brooklyn for about ten years. She acquired her undergraduate degree at Tisch School of the Arts and has a background in ballet, modern, contemporary, and improvisation. The opportunity to travel a lot has greatly influenced her worldview, with trips to South Africa and Austria leaving the biggest impact.

As a proponent of physical and mental wellness, Karol advocates establishing a daily meditation practice of one's own. She practices a type of insight mediation, which brings one's busy, straying thoughts back to one's breath. The consideration here is to be mindful about the bodily sensation of breath and how it can inform one' s thoughts and treatment of reality. This practice allows you to observe how your mind wanders–or gets distracted, or reacts–and how to have compassion for it and treat it with gentleness without struggling to control it.

Remembering to breathe mindfully while living in a big city is very advantageous. Like a piece of advice a man once offered me while sitting over a continental breakfast in a hotel in San Francisco, “The most important thing for me is that next breath. Without it, there is no next step.”

There are many ways to find balance, but you must commit to it being an ongoing investigation. “One way is to remember to take a pause. You can go to the Met and have a home for a day,” Karol added. This mindfulness promotes a healthy life and state of mind when living in a big city. As many have experienced, life in the city can be difficult, but Karol reminds us that

"There are a lot of different New Yorks. You just have to carve out the right one for you."

As we concluded our interview, Karol spoke about her part in the dance world and her hesitation to call herself a choreographer. She doesn’t see herself as a conductor, commanding bodies in space. Instead, she sees her role as creator, dance maker, and dancer. “It feels good to be a woman creator in dance,” she says.

Karol occupies a powerful place that encourages women to be artistic explorers. Through her, we see, feel, and experience how the female voice becomes manifest within artistic mediums. This evolving voice may speak to many or only a few. It is generous, considerate, challenging, provocative, delicate, aggressive, and all that flows in-between.

A friend of Karol once gave her this powerful reminder that also inspires me and fuels optimism within my spirit as I continue my journey and personal history with dance…

The universe never says no, but answers with one of the following…

(1) Yes, (2) Yes, but not now, or (3) I’ve got something better.

BIO

Endlessly fascinated by the different modes, means and mediums of communication and transformation, Coco Karol has made collaboration with artists and musicians who speak in entirely different and vast artistic vocabularies, the focus of her choreography and performance work. Likewise, the language of existing or created environments, of installation or site specific stage settings, have excited her imagination.

After graduating with a BFA in Dance from Tisch school of the arts she has had the pleasure of getting to work closely with many interesting artists such as the singer Bjork and film collective Encyclopedia Pictura, designer Jennifer Gonzales, director Steven Cook, and magazine Beautiful Decay. Karol is an eager, existing member of Chris Elam's Misnomer Dance Theater, where she also wrestles with themes of communication in its varying degrees of choreographic language.
In Addition to performing works at an experimental performance space in Brooklyn, Karol built, called the Petri space—a small petri dish concept, dedicated to experimentation, education, community, and roof top gardening—her  collaborations have been shown at D.U.M.B.O Under the Bridge Festival, New York Studio Gallery, Galapagos, Brooklyn Ballet, Death By Audio, and Aunts collective, as well as at some unique community events for neighborhood youth and gardening.

findingcoco.net