About erkert@illinois.edu

Head with body.

Adaptability

When I observed rehearsal on Monday I could see the effects on the cast of months of endless changes, and the upsetting news that two cast members were leaving the piece.  Dancers were doing the movements but the life was gone.  When I came in on Thursday night, the cast had energy – maybe it was halloween – and there was a sense of relief as I assured them I was not making any changes, but we were just going to go through each section and remember the specificity of each artist’s contribution.  My reading of the dance as a viewer is being taken on a journey into unknown territory.  The dancers need to be entirely invested in the journey in order for the audience to come with them.   Sophia worked with the cast on Wednesday and re-organized the first 5 or 6 sections to replace the dancers.  On Thursday, we began at the beginning and danced each section twice.  I asked the cast to name each section so we could identify a qualitative sense of each section, so they could perform a qualitative shift as they moved into new territory.  We came up with names for sections such as Eerie Fog Drop,  Breaking Bad, Churning Chocolate Indulgence, and Nostalgia.   These names – and remembering the artists they worked brought back the specificity Jennifer was longing for.  It also influenced the pedestrian walking – each section has different energetic states of walking – in one section it has urgency, in others it is more stylized.  The other thing we worked on was dancing as an ensemble – the unison movement was activated by sensing weight, breath and timing of each other.  This became much stronger – but still needs daily work.   We only got through the end of Becky’s section last night.  (25 minute point).   The cast needs to work on the last 25 minutes and re-place the 2 cast members on Monday.  I suggest that you start with Sara’s section ( which needed some work and we didn’t have time) and work forward to the end.  The designers would like a full run of the dance if possible on Monday.

Most/all of the musicians were present on Thursday and they started forming musical ideas for each section – running each section twice allowed them to refine the musical concepts and find entry points. My observation of their process was the first run often had too much and the second run -they reduced/took away – which in general gave more space for the dance and felt like the right direction.    Their energy really helped the dancers find a more solid weight/performance presence.  The designers had a discussion afterward.  John Boesche is working with ideas of simple lines/shapes that at times become something recognizable – a house, a bird.  A house filled with sky.  We talked about the music box, the shoes, as other objects that enter this abstract world.  I am very attracted to the image that Renee posted of the clothesline with shoes from Big Fish –  something tangible/known but slightly off.  We discussed possibilities of a real clothesline with shoes, or contained in the visual media.   Susan Becker encouraged all of us to understand the why behind the objects, or they will just seem arbitrary and confusing.  John suggested we use them in order to resonate with an emotion – a house, a shoe, a music box – but not enough to create a meaning or narrative.
I remember coming across Trisha Brown during a residency – she had an injured dancer, there was a flood in the theater – so they couldn’t rehearse on stage and they had lost the costumes – and she said “I’m just trying to practice adaptability.”   I know the journey of making the piece has demanded a lot of this cast – but what better life lesson then to learn how to be adaptable.  This dance is becoming right now – I know Sara will bring it home to the theater.  Enjoy the last leg of the journey – we are anxious to have you share it with your audience.