Are Creative Sources Necessary Info?, thoughts on Karole Armitage, Christopher Williams, Donna Uchizono
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/ballet/are-creative-sources-necessary-info/851/
When creating a dance, what do choreographers tap for material? And is it important that this comes across in the work, or is it OK to remove it, like a balloon from a paper mâche globe?
Contemporary dance casts such a wide net that it’s impossible to typify the process for choosing subject matter (if any), or how much of the original impetus is legible in the end result. Some performances I saw last week show how some artists have dealt with this process: Karole Armitage at Cedar Lake, Donna Uchizono at BAC/The Kitchen, and Christopher Williams at DNA.
Armitage’s company performed under the auspices of, interestingly enough, the World Science Festival. Three Theories‘ sections — “Relativity,” “Quantum,” and “String” — were inspired by relativity, quantum mechanics, and string theory as outlined in Brian Greene’s book,The Elegant Universe. Armitage purportedly incorporated specific concepts from each to create movement. I can’t say that I could read any of them, but I felt a kind of progression from section to section — after what Armitage noted was the “big bang,” from a searching, trial and error feel, through more organized and focused intent between the dancers, to organized lines and patterns. They changed from black bikinis to white tanks and briefs, which seemed to signal some form of enlightenment. But its trajectory was gratifying to watch, especially on her incredible dancers, whether or not the mental blueprint came across.
Christopher Williams departs from most of his peers by dipping into history, religion, and literature for source material. His opuses on female and male saints have themselves gained some legend in the dance world for their ambition in terms of casting, costuming, and overall scale. He showed two new works at DNA: Gobbledygook, in progress, and the premiere ofHen’s Teeth. The first contrasted a naked Adam Weinert throwing himself against a wall with the commanding Eikazu Nakamura speaking verse to atone for suffering and while doing movement that hovered between ritual and martial arts.
