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| Courtesy BAM Hamm Archives |
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Babel, Babel, Bastille!
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A Visually Literate, Critical Generation
by Lucie Hecht
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This fall marked the 8th year of BAM’s Young Film Critics After-School Program, inaugurated in 2006. Fourteen students from Brooklyn area high schools spent 10 weeks with instructor Josh Cabat, watching films and learning how to talk and write about them. Cabat selected movies made by directors “outside of the white male-dominated mainstream,” introducing the students to directors such as Agnès Varda, Akira Kurosawa, and Hany Abu-Assad, among others. As is tradition in the program, the Young Film Critics benefited from a visit from a professional film critic; this year’s guest was Wesley Morris of Grantland.com.
According to BAM’s Assistant Director of Education John Tighe, “these kids are astute because, more so than any generation before, they are visually literate… They all love film because they can ‘read’ images.” The idea of a universal language of cinema that is best read by someone who has grown up immersed in its grammar is nowhere better exemplified than in the work of BAM’s Young Film Critics, whose final film reviews can be as elegant as A.O. Scott’s. Here’s an example from Ali Motte, a junior at the French-American School of New York: “While film is completely valid as a form of entertainment, Cleo from 5 to 7 engages the viewer in a melting pot of the gravity of reality and the light nature of fiction, inducing a delightfully confusing third reality.”
This season continued a powerful tradition and also marked a first: the fledgling expedition into distance learning between BAM’s Young Film Critics and Cabat’s students at Roslyn High on Long Island. The two student groups made strides for BAM’s expanding technological education initiatives as they discussed Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and its powerful resonance with youth today.
To read more of the students’ reviews, visit the program page. And, if you know a high schooler who would benefit from the program, check back in the fall for information on the 2015 application process.
Lucie Hecht is the general management administrative assistant at BAM and takes great photos of her cats.
This fall marked the 8th year of BAM’s Young Film Critics After-School Program, inaugurated in 2006. Fourteen students from Brooklyn area high schools spent 10 weeks with instructor Josh Cabat, watching films and learning how to talk and write about them. Cabat selected movies made by directors “outside of the white male-dominated mainstream,” introducing the students to directors such as Agnès Varda, Akira Kurosawa, and Hany Abu-Assad, among others. As is tradition in the program, the Young Film Critics benefited from a visit from a professional film critic; this year’s guest was Wesley Morris of Grantland.com.
According to BAM’s Assistant Director of Education John Tighe, “these kids are astute because, more so than any generation before, they are visually literate… They all love film because they can ‘read’ images.” The idea of a universal language of cinema that is best read by someone who has grown up immersed in its grammar is nowhere better exemplified than in the work of BAM’s Young Film Critics, whose final film reviews can be as elegant as A.O. Scott’s. Here’s an example from Ali Motte, a junior at the French-American School of New York: “While film is completely valid as a form of entertainment, Cleo from 5 to 7 engages the viewer in a melting pot of the gravity of reality and the light nature of fiction, inducing a delightfully confusing third reality.”
This season continued a powerful tradition and also marked a first: the fledgling expedition into distance learning between BAM’s Young Film Critics and Cabat’s students at Roslyn High on Long Island. The two student groups made strides for BAM’s expanding technological education initiatives as they discussed Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and its powerful resonance with youth today.
To read more of the students’ reviews, visit the program page. And, if you know a high schooler who would benefit from the program, check back in the fall for information on the 2015 application process.
Lucie Hecht is the general management administrative assistant at BAM and takes great photos of her cats.
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To Baba Chuck, With Love
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| Baba Chuck Davis. Photo: Jack Vartoogian |
By David Hsieh
DanceAfrica 2015—Brazilian rhythms, African roots ended on a theatrical and emotional high note. Multiple shows sold out completely with long cancellation lines. The high-octane Balé Folclórico da Bahia and the BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble roused the audience to their feet to join their samba/reggae dance. On the street, gorgeous weather brought out tens of thousands of people to the bazaar, sampling everything from crafts, fabrics, jewelry, masks, and clothes, to foods and drinks. The smell of BBQ wafted in the air, mixing with the aroma of soap and incense. The beat of drums were counterpoints to trumpet and saxophone lines. The impromptu street musicians conjured bazaar attendees to dance in the streets.
Then, at the last performance on May 24, a surprise tribute to DanceAfrica founder, artistic director, and performance griot for the past 38 years, Dr. Charles “Chuck” Davis, moved everyone present. As he dabbed away tears while surprise honors and gifts were piled around him, the audience—also in tears—applauded and cheered. Many purposely chose to attend this performance to say goodbye to their beloved Baba Chuck. Below are some highlights of the 38th DanceAfrica Festival.
The Bronx’s Bambara Drum and Dance Ensemble presented Unchained. Each segment of dance was woven into the next without a break, just like life. Different dances from West Africa—Kou Kou, Kawa, Konte Modou, Soko, Mendiani, and Dundunba—told the story of a great and resilient people. The man on stilts (Vado Diamonte) and a fast-spinning Ishamel Koyate were favorites of the many young audience members.
Balé Folclórico da Bahia is the only professional folk dance company in Brazil. Its program contained five distinct segments under the theme of Sacred Heritage. It celebrated the rich Afro-Brazilian religious tradition through a series of dances, which showed how members are initiated into the religion, and how the fishermen worship their sea goddess. Contemporary Brazilian dance was represented by samba, capoeira, and “Afixirê,” which paid homage to all the African countries which influenced and helped form Brazilian culture.
The tribute is a totally DanceAfrica-style affair: heart-warming, communal, and festive. Abdel Salaam, the incoming artistic director, stopped Baba Chuck by surprise as he was about to send the dancers and audience onto the street. While he distracted Baba Chuck, a big white throne and two totems were brought onto the stage, and from the ceiling a big mask was lowered. After all was set, Salaam turned Baba Chuck around and seated him in the throne. The tribute proper began. There were dancers from the the Restoration Ensemble. There were gifts from the Elders of Council. BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins announced the establishment of the Baba Chuck Davis Emerging Choreographer Scholarship with an honorarium of $10,000 to further the study and promotion of African dance. You can see the entirety of it in the video above, including a historical video produced by the BAM Hamm Archives.
The tribute wasn’t just one way. At the reception after the opening performance on May 22, Baba Chuck presented a gift to Hopkins, who retired this year. He personally designed this windmill music box with candle holders. When candles are lit, the hot air pushes the windmill which in turn, triggers the music. It is an appropriate symbol—the torches, music, and dance of DanceAfrica will keep spinning into the future!
DanceAfrica 2015—Brazilian rhythms, African roots ended on a theatrical and emotional high note. Multiple shows sold out completely with long cancellation lines. The high-octane Balé Folclórico da Bahia and the BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble roused the audience to their feet to join their samba/reggae dance. On the street, gorgeous weather brought out tens of thousands of people to the bazaar, sampling everything from crafts, fabrics, jewelry, masks, and clothes, to foods and drinks. The smell of BBQ wafted in the air, mixing with the aroma of soap and incense. The beat of drums were counterpoints to trumpet and saxophone lines. The impromptu street musicians conjured bazaar attendees to dance in the streets.
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| Balé Folclórico da Bahia. Photo: Jack Vartoogian |
The Bronx’s Bambara Drum and Dance Ensemble presented Unchained. Each segment of dance was woven into the next without a break, just like life. Different dances from West Africa—Kou Kou, Kawa, Konte Modou, Soko, Mendiani, and Dundunba—told the story of a great and resilient people. The man on stilts (Vado Diamonte) and a fast-spinning Ishamel Koyate were favorites of the many young audience members.
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| Bambara Dance and Drum Ensemble. Photo: Jack Vartoogian |
The tribute is a totally DanceAfrica-style affair: heart-warming, communal, and festive. Abdel Salaam, the incoming artistic director, stopped Baba Chuck by surprise as he was about to send the dancers and audience onto the street. While he distracted Baba Chuck, a big white throne and two totems were brought onto the stage, and from the ceiling a big mask was lowered. After all was set, Salaam turned Baba Chuck around and seated him in the throne. The tribute proper began. There were dancers from the the Restoration Ensemble. There were gifts from the Elders of Council. BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins announced the establishment of the Baba Chuck Davis Emerging Choreographer Scholarship with an honorarium of $10,000 to further the study and promotion of African dance. You can see the entirety of it in the video above, including a historical video produced by the BAM Hamm Archives.
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| Baba Chuck's gift to Karen Brooks Hopkins. |
David Hsieh is a publicity manager at BAM.
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In Context: COLLAPSE
COLLAPSE, LA band Timur and the Dime Museum's glam-rock requiem for Mother Earth, comes to BAM on September 17. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of articles and videos related to the show. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #TimurCOLLAPSE.
Program Notes
COLLAPSE (PDF)
Article
NWF: Next Wave Fashion (BAM blog)
Learn more about the band's collaboration with fashion designer Victor Wilde of Bohemian Society.
Article
When You Think Kazakhstan Think Timur, Not Borat (PRI.org)
The Kazakh singer emigrated to Kansas at 15, sang "Over The Rainbow," and the rest was history.
Watch & Listen
Video
"Heat, Beat and Treat," by Timur and the Dime Museum (YouTube)
Dancing skeletons and dire predictions haunt Timur's latest music video.
Audio
Songs by Timur and the Dime Museum (ReverbNation)
Listen to complete songs by the band.
Video
"This Opera Singer From Kazakhstan Has a Special Earth Day Message For You" (FUSION)
Planetary peril is sometimes best conveyed through cross-dressed glam-rock.
Video
Videos by Timur and the Dime Museum
Sample more "punk-operatic spectacle" (LA Times).
Video
"Moloch" Section from Ginsberg's Howl (YouTube)
COLLAPSE regularly references the ancient god Moloch, particularly in Allen Ginsberg's formulation as the false idol of industrial and bureaucratic capitalism.
Worthwhile Words
Dancing skeletons and dire predictions haunt Timur's latest music video.
Audio
Songs by Timur and the Dime Museum (ReverbNation)
Listen to complete songs by the band.
"This Opera Singer From Kazakhstan Has a Special Earth Day Message For You" (FUSION)
Planetary peril is sometimes best conveyed through cross-dressed glam-rock.
Video
Videos by Timur and the Dime Museum
Sample more "punk-operatic spectacle" (LA Times).
Video
"Moloch" Section from Ginsberg's Howl (YouTube)
COLLAPSE regularly references the ancient god Moloch, particularly in Allen Ginsberg's formulation as the false idol of industrial and bureaucratic capitalism.
Worthwhile Words
"I would describe COLLAPSE as a ride to the end of the world with a glass of champagne, if you can say that."—Frontman Timur Bekbosunov
Now your turn...
What did you think? Was COLLAPSE an effective environmental call to arms? Care to attempt your own creatively-hyphenated description of frontman Timur? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #TimurCOLLAPSE.
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In Context: Nufonia Must Fall
Program Notes
Nufonia Must Fall (PDF)
Read
Delicate, Controlled Manipulation: An Interview with Nufonia Must Fall's Puppeteers (BAM blog)
Explore the mechanisms underpinning this hyper-hybrid work of art in an interview with the show's puppeteers.
"Starting from Scratch" (Exclaim! Music)
A chance record store encounter and some Run DMC and Jazzy Jeff albums are the reason for DJ Kid Koala's career.
"Kid Koala: From Paperboy to Bluesman" (Interview Magazine)
Koala talks about floppy discs, being a horrible dancer, working with Radiohead, and more.
Watch & Listen
"Starting from Scratch" (Exclaim! Music)
A chance record store encounter and some Run DMC and Jazzy Jeff albums are the reason for DJ Kid Koala's career.
"Kid Koala: From Paperboy to Bluesman" (Interview Magazine)
Koala talks about floppy discs, being a horrible dancer, working with Radiohead, and more.
Watch & Listen
See what it takes to adapt a dialogue-free, 350-page graphic novel about robot love for puppets.
Art Talk with K.K. Barrett (Vice)
The Nufonia Must Fall director discusses his musician beginnings, chosing locations for films, diving into scripts, and more.
Art Talk with K.K. Barrett (Vice)
The Nufonia Must Fall director discusses his musician beginnings, chosing locations for films, diving into scripts, and more.
Now your turn...
What did you think? If you've read the graphic novel, what did you think of the translation from page to puppet? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #NufoniaMustFall.
What did you think? If you've read the graphic novel, what did you think of the translation from page to puppet? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #NufoniaMustFall.
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In Context: Rice
Rice, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's lyrical tribute to Taiwan's essential crop, opens the 2015 Next Wave Festival on September 16. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of articles and videos related to the show. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #CloudGateDance.
Curator's Note
Program Notes
Rice (PDF)
Read
BAM Blog Questionnaire: Tsai Ming-yuan of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (BAM blog)
You've seen him in photos—in BAM's season brochures, website, in posters, or postcards. Now get up close and personal with Rice's own Tsai Ming-yuan.
"Cloud Gate Dance Theater: A Roving, Bounding Symbol of Taiwan" (The New York Times)
"Cloud Gate Dance Theater: A Roving, Bounding Symbol of Taiwan" (The New York Times)
"When it began in 1973, Cloud Gate was Taiwan’s first professional dance company. Forty-two years later, it has become a roving, bounding symbol of the island."
"Grain of Truth: Lin Hwai-min on Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's Rice" (The Guardian)
No longer grown for colonial occupiers or with harmful chemicals, Taiwan's famous rice-growing region is thriving, says the choreographer.
"Cloud Gate Celebrates Completion Of Its New Home" (Taipei Times)
Cloud Gate's previous studio went up in flames in 2008. Now they have a new home.
"Grain of Truth: Lin Hwai-min on Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's Rice" (The Guardian)
No longer grown for colonial occupiers or with harmful chemicals, Taiwan's famous rice-growing region is thriving, says the choreographer.
"Cloud Gate Celebrates Completion Of Its New Home" (Taipei Times)
Cloud Gate's previous studio went up in flames in 2008. Now they have a new home.
"Cloud Gate Choreographer Lin Hwai-min Looks Back On A Life Dedicated To Dance" (SCMP.tv)
Lin Hwai-min is tired of talking about himself. "I could stay in my flat for a week without going out. I enjoy washing dishes, mopping the floor, sewing my underwear, reading: I do lots of things."
Watch & Listen
Lin Hwai-min On Rice and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (SCMP.tv)
The Cloud Gate choreographer discusses his inspiration for rice, coupled with footage of the company's performance in the fields of Chihshang.
"80 Faces of Lin Hwai-min" (YouTube)
"I said my god, I have to learn how to choreograph well. It's not a joke."
Worthwhile Words
Choreographer Lin Hwai-min:
What did you think? What is it exactly that art lends to agriculture? Did it satisfy your carb craving? How does the ubiquity of industrial farming affect how Rice is received? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #CloudGateDance.
Lin Hwai-min is tired of talking about himself. "I could stay in my flat for a week without going out. I enjoy washing dishes, mopping the floor, sewing my underwear, reading: I do lots of things."
Watch & Listen
Lin Hwai-min On Rice and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (SCMP.tv)
The Cloud Gate choreographer discusses his inspiration for rice, coupled with footage of the company's performance in the fields of Chihshang.
"80 Faces of Lin Hwai-min" (YouTube)
"I said my god, I have to learn how to choreograph well. It's not a joke."
Worthwhile Words
Choreographer Lin Hwai-min:
“After harvest, the farmers would spread out their rice grains in an empty space in the courtyard. We loved to mess around with it. Pretty often we'd get caught and were beaten up. Rice is something you take for granted but is so precious. I grew up right after the second world war and at that time parents would demand of their children that not a single grain of rice be left in the bowl.”
Now Your Turn...
What did you think? What is it exactly that art lends to agriculture? Did it satisfy your carb craving? How does the ubiquity of industrial farming affect how Rice is received? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #CloudGateDance.
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30 Years in 30 Days: A Celebration of the Black Rock Coalition
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| The Black Rock Coalition Orchestra, featuring Stew. Photo: Earl Douglas, Jr. |
Thirty years ago, at the crest of another "Black Lives Matter" epoch—hip-hop going mainstream, The Cosby Show, Spike Lee, Michael Jackson, and the rise of African-Americans and "urban influence" in media and pop culture—a group of cultural warriors were born. In the mid-1980s, the music industry operated (and, bluntly, STILL operates) under a type of cultural Jim Crow, where white artists were/are largely free to pursue any musical genres they chose, while black artists were/are relegated to genres considered more "traditional" or "conventional" (meaning, in real world terms, more commercially viable), like gospel, rap, R&B, soul, jazz, funk, reggae, blues, etc. This flew in the face of documented history, particularly of modern pop and rock 'n' roll, where Black artists were either creating or at the aesthetic forefront of these genres.
In April of 1985, Vernon Reid, Konda Mason, Greg Tate, Craig Street, and a loose group of musicians, writers, actors, filmmakers, academicians, journalists, and fans—driven by these incongruities and inequities in music and the arts—gathered initially to dialogue and vent and figure out solutions. They began to coalesce around the idea that black artists have the inalienable right to the same creative freedom and compensation for success as their white counterparts. By September, a name was chartered, a manifesto was drafted, and the Black Rock Coalition (BRC) was founded.
In April of 1985, Vernon Reid, Konda Mason, Greg Tate, Craig Street, and a loose group of musicians, writers, actors, filmmakers, academicians, journalists, and fans—driven by these incongruities and inequities in music and the arts—gathered initially to dialogue and vent and figure out solutions. They began to coalesce around the idea that black artists have the inalienable right to the same creative freedom and compensation for success as their white counterparts. By September, a name was chartered, a manifesto was drafted, and the Black Rock Coalition (BRC) was founded.
Over the course of those three decades, the BRC supported and promoted artists, organized events, produced DIY media, led seminars and panel discussions, supported like-minded media and projects, created exhibitions and academic curricula, published literature, books and zines, produced albums and films, engaged in the political issues of the day—all on the grass roots level and independent of the mainstream music industry and media. And even though the musical and cultural landscape has shifted drastically, the BRC remains committed to the twin concepts of cultural recognition and respect.
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| Andre Lassalle and Jeffrey Smith. Photo courtesy the artist. |
For black lives to truly matter, black culture has to matter equally. The BRC has been fighting this battle for 30 years before it became a slogan, investing in the work necessary to make it manifest.
Black Rock Coalition comes to BAMcafé Live for BRC30: BRC Orchestra Celebrates Band of Gypsysthis Friday and Saturday, September 18 & 19 at 9 PM.
Darrell M. McNeill is BAM's Associate Producer of Music Programming.
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Delicate, Controlled Manipulation: An Interview with Nufonia Must Fall's Puppeteers
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| Kid Koala's Nufonia Must Fall at the Noorderzon Festival in 2014. |
A tone-deaf robot, fearful of his growing obsolescence, tries to woo an office worker with his love songs in prolific producer and turntablist Kid Koala’s bold adaptation of his tender, and entirely wordless, 2003 graphic novel Nufonia Must Fall—coming to the BAM Harvey Theater September 17—20. Collaborating with Oscar-nominated production designer K.K. Barrett, Kid Koala enlists a team of puppeteers to stage the circuit-bent amoré as camera crews edit the footage in real time, resulting in a live silent film. To better understand this unique performance event, we spoke with three of the show's puppeteers (Clea Minaker, Felix Boisvert, and Karina Bleau) about the various mechanisms underpinning such a hyper-hybrid work of art.
When was your first experience with puppetry?
Clea Minaker: My first significant experience was seeing Ronnie Burkett perform Tinka’s New Dress in Montreal in 1998—such refined designs, and a compelling presence. I was totally inspired and began exploring and researching puppetry and making performances.
Felix Boisvert: It was in 2006, when I was finishing a master’s in music composition at Montreal Music Conservatory. I started a project where music and puppetry were bound together and started getting closer to the puppetry world.
Karina Bleau: I started being interested 18 years ago as it seemed like a great medium capable of not only tricking the perceptions of kids, but of adults too!
How did you train to become a puppeteer?
Felix Boisvert: It was in 2006, when I was finishing a master’s in music composition at Montreal Music Conservatory. I started a project where music and puppetry were bound together and started getting closer to the puppetry world.
Karina Bleau: I started being interested 18 years ago as it seemed like a great medium capable of not only tricking the perceptions of kids, but of adults too!
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| Clea Minaker |
CM: I studied at L'Ecole Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette, the teaching institution of the International Institute of Puppetry Arts (I.I.M) in Charleville-Mézières, France.
FB: My wife (Karina Bleau) has training in puppetry and she teaches me a lot. Besides that, I am self-taught.
KB: In training, there are many types of puppets with a unique presence and different level of fabrication. I started my training as a visual artist and sculptor, and was interested in movement which led me to puppets. Movement through this medium is for me a metaphor for life, in opposition to death and inertia.
I studied woodworking to develop building skills to recreate fine human movement and emotional expressivity, and was interested by Bunraku and thread puppets. I participated in master classes at the Association Québécoise des Marionnettistes and the International Institute of Puppetry in France. I specialized in fine mechanics and light manipulation (lighting, video) and earned a diploma in contemporary puppet theater at l’Université du Québec à Montréal. My practice interweaves performative and interdisciplinary art supported by a puppeteer background.
What techniques have you utilized to bring Kid Koala’s graphic novel to life? How have you had to modify your typical practice to cater to live filmmaking?
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| Felix Boisvert |
FB: The puppets in Nufonia Must Fall are different types, but mostly rod puppets, operated from below. It was a new challenge for me. When working for film, you manipulate the puppets while looking at a cinema screen, not the actual puppet, which is harder because every action is seen in reverse, like in a mirror. But the fun factor is really high, since you can experience the image just as the public is.
KB: The demands were specific: no visible threads and a controlled manipulation of fine movements. We used mixed techniques. For wide shots we used rod puppets with very fine mechanisms similar to thread marionettes. For the close up views, we built small puppets influence by bunraku puppets. We accomplished the super wide shots with “figurines”—simple rod puppets accomplishing one specific action.
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Karina Bleau |
What’s your favorite puppet production?
CM: No favorites, but sooo many I have adored...It is a medium that is infinitely varied in aesthetics and approach, I can't lose my thirst for it!
FB: I very much like the work of Teatro Gaia, which is puppetry intertwined with human body.
KB: My favorite work is eclectic in style! Yael Rasouli – Paper cut, Agnes Limbos - Ressacs, Roland Shön – Ni fini ni infini, Nicole Mossoux - Light.
What are you looking forward to most about performing at BAM and visiting Brooklyn?
CM: I think the programming at BAM is really exciting and diverse. I look forward to soaking up the atmosphere of this important space for creation and innovation. I am also excited to perform for a Brooklyn audience.
FB: Getting in touch with the NY public!
KB: To meet the local artistic community and visiting artists. Unfortunately, William Kentridge will not be there at the same time—I admire his work a lot!
Don't miss Kid Koala's Nufonia Must Fall when it comes to the BAM Harvey Theater September 17—20 as part of the 2015 Next Wave Festival.
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BAM Blog Questionnaire: Tsai Ming-yuan of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre
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Rice's Tsai Ming-yuan. Photo: Liu Chen-hsiang |
When did you join Cloud Gate? What are your responsibilities there? Is this your first visit to BAM?
I was one of the original members of Cloud Gate 2 when I joined in 1999. I became a Cloud Gate dancer in 2001. My prior performances at BAM include Water Moon (2003), Wild Cursive (2007), and Water Stains on the Wall (2011). Besides dancing, I also serve as a rehearsal assistant for the company.
What do you like about dancing?
To me, dancing is sharing—sharing the experience and joy of my life. I find that I see myself clearer through dance. This is particular true with Mr. Lin’s work, with its underlining philosophy. It is very challenging but also rewarding in the end.
I like to cook, which I find has a lot of similarities to creating. Mixing different ingredients and using different methods, you come up with different dishes. Good food always makes people happy, the way that good arts do.
What affinity do you have with rice, the grain?
What affinity do you have with rice, the grain?
I was born in Hualien county and grew up in Chiayi county, which is like the “bread basket” of Taiwan. My grandfather owned some rice paddies and grew his own rice. After the harvest, the rice was spread out in the yard to dry. That image and the golden rice swaying in the wind are some of my precious childhood memories. Because the rice I ate as a kid came from the hard labor of my grandfather, it tasted particularly good. I also learned not to waste any food by not finishing it.
Part of the training of dancing Rice involves working in the field of Chihshang, where the video is shot. Can you tell us what you learned from it?
Part of the training of dancing Rice involves working in the field of Chihshang, where the video is shot. Can you tell us what you learned from it?
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Tsai Ming-yuan and Huang Pei-hua in Pollination. Photo: Liu Chen-hsiang |
You have an intimate duet with Huang Pei-hua in the section called Pollination. How do you interpret it?
From the start Mr. Lin wanted us to be like “two snails in the soil intertwined.” It turned out to be quite difficult because if we’re not careful, we could hurt our necks and shoulders. But I trust my partner completely, as she trusts me. She is an excellent dancer. This mutual trust is what makes this duet possible.
Cloud Gate has a busy touring schedule in Taiwan and around the world. What is one thing essential in your luggage?
Aside from my massage ball, one thing I always have is something to cook food with. Some of us got food poisoning when we traveled to Prague in 2002. We were so sick that we could not eat or drink anything locally for three days. The magical medicine was a bowl of self-made vegetable soup. From then on I learned that if I don’t feel well or I get home-sick when travel, the best remedy is to cook something I like. Good food makes you happy and replenishes energy like nothing else!
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's Rice comes to the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House September 16—19.
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's Rice comes to the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House September 16—19.
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NWF: Next Wave Fashion
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| Victor Wilde's designs in action during opening night of COLLAPSE. Photo: Mike Benigno |
by Chris Tyler
New York Fashion Week might be over, but things are just heating up for this year’s Next Wave Festival. From Willi Smith’s work with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in ‘89’s Secret Pastures (for which Keith Haring designed sets), to the custom Pina Prada bags at the Two Cigarettes in the Dark opening in ‘94, Next Wave artists have a long (and stylish!) history of attracting visionary talent from the fashion world… and 2015 proves no exception.
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COLLAPSE star Timur Bekbosunov with costume designer Victor Wilde. Photo: Michael Bezjian |
The following week, dancers from Finnish-born, Stockholm-based choreographer Kenneth Kvarnström’s company take the Fisher stage in TAPEsporting costumes designed by Swedish designer Astrid Olsson of By the number. Olsson—a former dancer—celebrates collaboration between the fashion and performance worlds. In a recent interview with International Habit, she notes “I believe [fashion designers] can bring a fresh approach [to dance], because when you’ve lived and worked in a world where you know exactly what is required, how much and how little, you eventually adapt to it. I don’t have the same respect for tradition. That can be liberating.”
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| TAPE dancers in Olsson's roomy trousers. Each pair is made with over six meters of fabric! Photo: Mats Backer |
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| Ustatshakirt Plus member Makhabat. |
When the much-anticipated Hagoromo arrives at the Harvey Theater on November 5, audiences will be treated to a parade of bold designs by Belgian icon Dries Van Noten. One of fashion’s few remaining independent designers, the Antwerp-based Van Noten is a bit of an anomaly in the industry—eschewing standard practices like advertising and the creation of pre-collections. In a recent interview with Anja Aronowsky Cronberg for Vestoj, he notes “the most important thing to me is that my work is creative. I want to put all my energy and enthusiasm into colors, fabrics – things like that. I don’t automatically think about whether it will sell well or if I’ll earn a lot of money.”
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| Wendy Whelan in Hagoromo. Photo: David Michalek |
And no 2015 Next Wave fashion profile would be complete without mentioning the thoroughly modern Andrew Ondrejcak—whose vivid re-imagining of the 17th-century court masque, YOU US WE ALL, comes to the Harvey Theater November 11 to 14. One of the most sought-after production designers in the fashion industry, writer/director/designer Ondrejcak has worked with Vogue, Wallpaper, Italian Vogue, and W, among others. He is art director for Vivienne Westwood’s Paris fashion shows and also designed one of the new venues for the most recent iteration of New York Fashion Week. Ondrejcak’s exacting but imaginative eye endows his work with impeccable flair, channeling the frenetic energy of the international runway with poetic aplomb.
Werk.
Werk.
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| The courtly splendor of YOU US WE ALL. Photo: Hans Stockmans |
Chris Tyler is a Brooklyn-based performing artist and BAM's Content Marketing Assistant.
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In Context: TAPE
TAPE, choreographer Kenneth Kvarnström's duct tape-delineated postmodern mashup of modern dance and baroque music, comes to BAM on September 23. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of articles and videos related to the show. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #Kvarnstrom.
Program Notes
Coming soon! (PDF)
Watch & Listen
Video
Excerpts from Kenneth Kvarnstöm's YOUMAKEME(YouTube)
Human miming and mirroring inspired this work by the TAPE choreographer.
Video
Excerpts from Kenneth Kvarnstöm's Destruction Song II (YouTube)
Dystopian stylings, shot in beautiful black and white.
Audio
Jonas Nordberg Plays the Theorbo (YouTube)
The TAPE music curator and performer plays a baroque work on the lute's giraffe-necked cousin.
Read
Article
NWF: Next Wave Fashion (BAM blog)
Learn more about designer Astrid Olsson's collaboration with the company (including her work on some very roomy trousers!).
Article
"The Woman Who Invented Duct Tape" (KilmerHouse.com)
While serving in WWI, Verna Stoudt's sons struggled to get their ammo cases open. So she fixed the problem.
Now your turn...
What did you think? Are baroque music and modern dance happy bedfellows? Thinking about reviving your acid-washed wardrobe? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #Kvarnstrom.
What did you think? Are baroque music and modern dance happy bedfellows? Thinking about reviving your acid-washed wardrobe? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #Kvarnstrom.
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In Context: Antigone
Director Ivo van Hove's Antigone, featuring Juliette Binoche and a new translation by Anne Carson, comes to BAM on September 24. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of articles and videos related to the show. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #Antigone.
Program Notes
Antigone (PDF)
Read
Article
The unanswered question–how to get to the dark soul of Antigone(BAM blog)
Learn why van Hove calls Antigone "a play about survival: not the survival of an individual or a family, but of a whole society, perhaps even the world."
Article
Death becomes her: how Juliette Binoche and Ivo van Hove remade Antigone(The Guardian)
Uncover the personal sagas that allowed Binoche and van Hove to breathe new life into this ancient tragedy.
Watch & Listen
Video
Festival Portraits | Juliette Binoche
Art is a "link between the real and the invisible," says Binoche. "Eternity in something so ephemeral."
Video
Juliette Binoche on Antigone(YouTube)
The play's star discusses Anne Carson's "skin and bones" translation, the "Adam and Eve" inside of us all, the humanization of King Kreon, and why this story continues to resonate.
Now your turn...
What did you think of Anne Carson's colloquial translation? Do you side with sisterly love or kingly law? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #Antigone.
Watch & Listen
Video
Festival Portraits | Juliette Binoche
Art is a "link between the real and the invisible," says Binoche. "Eternity in something so ephemeral."
Video
Juliette Binoche on Antigone(YouTube)
The play's star discusses Anne Carson's "skin and bones" translation, the "Adam and Eve" inside of us all, the humanization of King Kreon, and why this story continues to resonate.
Now your turn...
What did you think of Anne Carson's colloquial translation? Do you side with sisterly love or kingly law? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #Antigone.
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The unanswered question–how to get to the dark soul of Antigone
Director Ivo van Hove's Antigone, featuring Juliette Binoche and a new translation by Anne Carson, comes to BAM on September 24. A note from the director follows.
by Ivo van Hove
Antigone, by Sophokles, tells the ancient story of one of Oidipous’s daughters, who refuses to follow the orders of her uncle Kreon, the new Head of State.
Kreon has ordained that Antigone’s brother Polyneikes, who, along with their brother Eteokles has just died in a cruel civil war, should not be allowed a burial because he is a traitor.
A war of words begins with short but razor sharp scenes between Antigone and Kreon: an exhaustive, long, bitter but also passionate discourse of opposing views on how to treat the dead, especially when they are deemed an enemy of the state.
Antigone states: "I am someone born to share in love not hatred." Kreon counters: "If a man puts family or friend ahead of fatherland I count him absolutely good for nothing." Antigone is driven by an emotional urge to bury her brother. Kreon places good citizenship above all else.
To understand Antigone’s deeds, we need to return to Sophokles’s Oidipous at Kolonos, in which Antigone and her sister Ismene take care of their aging father, who has been exiled from Thebes. His sons are to alternately rule Thebes every other year but after his inaugural year Eteokles refuses to relinquish the throne to Polyneikes.
A brutal war between the brothers ensues. For the sisters the situation is desperate: their mother killed herself, their father is dying and their brothers kill each other. Antigone is in deep mourning. Caught in this cruel tragedy, she can’t see or enjoy beauty and has no sense of a future. She follows her impulse to take care of her brother’s body. For her, all human beings are equal and, even if Polyneikes was wrong, the dead should be respected.
The dilemma of dealing with Polyneikes’s body became a terrifying reality recently when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over a Ukrainian war zone.
The dead were left in an open field, rotting in the burning sun for over a week. The whole world saw this as an act of barbarity. Once the bodies were recovered and brought to the Netherlands for identification, the Dutch government arranged a convoy of hearses in a 100km burial procession. This was a civilized and humane response, a mark of respect to the victims.
Antigone goes on a long, solitary road towards death. Scene by scene she cuts herself loose: from her sister, who won’t help with their brother’s burial; from Polyneikes; from the love of her fiancé Haimon; from Kreon’s policy; and, as an inevitable consequence, from society. "I’m a strange new kind of 'inbetween thing' aren’t I/not at home with the dead nor with the living," she concludes.
In a horrifying, magical scene she sees herself in her brother’s tomb, which in her mind becomes a bridal chamber. She imagines an emotional reunion with her father, mother and brother. Kreon imprisons her in a cave, buried alive "with a bit of food . . . no doubt if she prays hard the gods of death will save her life." But Antigone has nothing and nobody to live for. She can’t transform her grief into something positive. Her journey leads to self-destruction. There is nothing left other than to stage her own death, execute the ultimate control. Her life becomes meaningful by ending it.
And what about Kreon? The play starts the day after a cruel civil war with many casualties, provoked by Polyneikes and Eteokles. Also, Kreon’s eldest son has just died. It is clear that the old city of Thebes, a society based on blood ties, has been disastrous and destabilizing. But instead of mourning, Kreon does something positive to stop the atrocities; he tries to create structure, a society based on clear laws, on citizenship. He wants the citizens of Thebes to live in safety.
Before becoming king, Kreon was involved in the military operations of Thebes. Now he wants to run the city as if it is an army. His strategic plan is based on the rule, "you are with us or against us." Those who disobey should be punished. He thinks purely in logical and hierarchical terms. As a politician he has a new vision but old methods, successful in an army but which fall short in governing a society.
Kreon is his own worst enemy. He sees the value of citizenship but not of individual citizens. He wants to be the enlightened king of Thebes but ends a broken man, alone in the world with no public position and no family.
Both Antigone and Kreon are unable to develop meaningful leadership. A leader must value the wellbeing of his city or country as well as religious laws. A real democracy should allow its citizens to fulfil religious duties towards family without colliding with the laws of society.
What makes Antigone a drama of epic scale is the Chorus, who comprise senior advisers to the king, while also representing the people of Thebes. They cover the whole intellectual and emotional scope of the main characters in the play. The Chorus listens to what Kreon, Antigone and others tell them and adapt their point of view accordingly. They are empathic, they don’t hide when they are moved or horrified. They are the way people should be. They can be critical, neutral, mad or sad. But one thing they are not: hypocrites. Their journey starts with complete support for the new political views of Kreon. When Antigone enters, they immediately empathise, "o you poor awful child of poor awful Oidipous." After the intense discourse between Antigone and Kreon, and later Ismene, the Chorus starts to broaden their picture and awareness.
They tell Kreon the gods are responsible for this carnage. They judge Antigone harshly, claiming she disrespected the gods and the laws of Thebes. She is "too extreme." They turn their back on her. But, as they are only human, unrest lingers. They remind Kreon that he too is only human and the gods could turn against him.
When Teiresias, the prophet of Thebes, enters, they stay silent. They know he only comes when there is a real problem and that he always speaks the truth. And, what the Chorus daren’t say or even think, he says to Kreon: "The cause is you." After the imprisonment of Antigone, and Teiresias’s warning, they come to a new conclusion: "take advice... set the girl free bury the boy."
But the catastrophes are unstoppable and Kreon’s efforts to turn around his punishments come too late. By the end of the play his wife, Eurydike, and two sons are dead. Like Antigone, Kreon is "alone on his insides." He has been driven by a sincere ambition to turn Thebes, his beloved city, into a better place and has failed. In every scene he is given the chance to adjust his law but he can’t. His inflexibility leads to his downfall.
Antigone develops from a play about a brutal war into a play about politics and public policies and ends as a play about the helplessness of humans, lost in the cosmos. It is a play about survival: not the survival of an individual or a family, but of a whole society, perhaps even the world. The play is ambivalent and dark, modern and mythical, leaving one with more questions than answers.
Antigone plays the BAM Harvey Theater September 24—October 4.
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| Obi Abili, Juliette Binoche, and Patrick O’Kane in Antigone. Photo: Jan Versweyveld |
by Ivo van Hove
Antigone, by Sophokles, tells the ancient story of one of Oidipous’s daughters, who refuses to follow the orders of her uncle Kreon, the new Head of State.
Kreon has ordained that Antigone’s brother Polyneikes, who, along with their brother Eteokles has just died in a cruel civil war, should not be allowed a burial because he is a traitor.
A war of words begins with short but razor sharp scenes between Antigone and Kreon: an exhaustive, long, bitter but also passionate discourse of opposing views on how to treat the dead, especially when they are deemed an enemy of the state.
Antigone states: "I am someone born to share in love not hatred." Kreon counters: "If a man puts family or friend ahead of fatherland I count him absolutely good for nothing." Antigone is driven by an emotional urge to bury her brother. Kreon places good citizenship above all else.
To understand Antigone’s deeds, we need to return to Sophokles’s Oidipous at Kolonos, in which Antigone and her sister Ismene take care of their aging father, who has been exiled from Thebes. His sons are to alternately rule Thebes every other year but after his inaugural year Eteokles refuses to relinquish the throne to Polyneikes.
A brutal war between the brothers ensues. For the sisters the situation is desperate: their mother killed herself, their father is dying and their brothers kill each other. Antigone is in deep mourning. Caught in this cruel tragedy, she can’t see or enjoy beauty and has no sense of a future. She follows her impulse to take care of her brother’s body. For her, all human beings are equal and, even if Polyneikes was wrong, the dead should be respected.
The dilemma of dealing with Polyneikes’s body became a terrifying reality recently when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over a Ukrainian war zone.
 |
| Antigone's Juliette Binoche and Kirsty Bushell. Photo: Jan Versweyveld |
Antigone goes on a long, solitary road towards death. Scene by scene she cuts herself loose: from her sister, who won’t help with their brother’s burial; from Polyneikes; from the love of her fiancé Haimon; from Kreon’s policy; and, as an inevitable consequence, from society. "I’m a strange new kind of 'inbetween thing' aren’t I/not at home with the dead nor with the living," she concludes.
In a horrifying, magical scene she sees herself in her brother’s tomb, which in her mind becomes a bridal chamber. She imagines an emotional reunion with her father, mother and brother. Kreon imprisons her in a cave, buried alive "with a bit of food . . . no doubt if she prays hard the gods of death will save her life." But Antigone has nothing and nobody to live for. She can’t transform her grief into something positive. Her journey leads to self-destruction. There is nothing left other than to stage her own death, execute the ultimate control. Her life becomes meaningful by ending it.
And what about Kreon? The play starts the day after a cruel civil war with many casualties, provoked by Polyneikes and Eteokles. Also, Kreon’s eldest son has just died. It is clear that the old city of Thebes, a society based on blood ties, has been disastrous and destabilizing. But instead of mourning, Kreon does something positive to stop the atrocities; he tries to create structure, a society based on clear laws, on citizenship. He wants the citizens of Thebes to live in safety.
Before becoming king, Kreon was involved in the military operations of Thebes. Now he wants to run the city as if it is an army. His strategic plan is based on the rule, "you are with us or against us." Those who disobey should be punished. He thinks purely in logical and hierarchical terms. As a politician he has a new vision but old methods, successful in an army but which fall short in governing a society.
Kreon is his own worst enemy. He sees the value of citizenship but not of individual citizens. He wants to be the enlightened king of Thebes but ends a broken man, alone in the world with no public position and no family.
Both Antigone and Kreon are unable to develop meaningful leadership. A leader must value the wellbeing of his city or country as well as religious laws. A real democracy should allow its citizens to fulfil religious duties towards family without colliding with the laws of society.
What makes Antigone a drama of epic scale is the Chorus, who comprise senior advisers to the king, while also representing the people of Thebes. They cover the whole intellectual and emotional scope of the main characters in the play. The Chorus listens to what Kreon, Antigone and others tell them and adapt their point of view accordingly. They are empathic, they don’t hide when they are moved or horrified. They are the way people should be. They can be critical, neutral, mad or sad. But one thing they are not: hypocrites. Their journey starts with complete support for the new political views of Kreon. When Antigone enters, they immediately empathise, "o you poor awful child of poor awful Oidipous." After the intense discourse between Antigone and Kreon, and later Ismene, the Chorus starts to broaden their picture and awareness.
 |
| Kirsty Bushell, Samuel Edward-Cook, Finbar Lynch, Kathryn Pogson and Obi Abili. Photo: Jan Versweyveld |
When Teiresias, the prophet of Thebes, enters, they stay silent. They know he only comes when there is a real problem and that he always speaks the truth. And, what the Chorus daren’t say or even think, he says to Kreon: "The cause is you." After the imprisonment of Antigone, and Teiresias’s warning, they come to a new conclusion: "take advice... set the girl free bury the boy."
But the catastrophes are unstoppable and Kreon’s efforts to turn around his punishments come too late. By the end of the play his wife, Eurydike, and two sons are dead. Like Antigone, Kreon is "alone on his insides." He has been driven by a sincere ambition to turn Thebes, his beloved city, into a better place and has failed. In every scene he is given the chance to adjust his law but he can’t. His inflexibility leads to his downfall.
Antigone develops from a play about a brutal war into a play about politics and public policies and ends as a play about the helplessness of humans, lost in the cosmos. It is a play about survival: not the survival of an individual or a family, but of a whole society, perhaps even the world. The play is ambivalent and dark, modern and mythical, leaving one with more questions than answers.
Antigone plays the BAM Harvey Theater September 24—October 4.
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Peggy Jarrell Kaplan: Portraits of BAM Artists (1982—2015)
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| Mikhail Baryshnikov holding a portrait of Peggy Jarrell Kaplan. Photo: Peggy Jarrell Kaplan, 2000 |
Photographer Peggy Jarrell Kaplan has photographed approximately 135 artists who have performed or collaborated with BAM. In 1984, she had photographed enough BAM artists that Humanities Director Roger Oliver suggested she shoot the complete round of season artists to illustrate the Next Wave Journal. Kaplan also photographed the artists for the 1985 journal. She had two solo shows in conjunction with BAM: Portraits Celebrating BAM's Next Wave Festival: 1983—89 (Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, 1992) and Staged: BAM Artist Portraits (Harvey Theater, 2004).
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| Peggy Jarrell Kaplan, Sasha Waltz, 1995 |
Kaplan's black & white portraits, mainly of choreographers and dancers, have been shown widely, often in conjunction with performance festivals, in cities around the world, in addition to New York exhibitions at the Feldman Gallery and CPR, among others. Her photographs have been reproduced in countless publications, including a monograph of her work, and are in collections including the Met Museum and MoMA in New York and the Dansmuseet in Stockholm.
Fourty-four of Kaplan's portraits are on display in the cases on the third floor of BAM's Peter Jay Sharp building, on view through the 2015 Next Wave Festival. The 10 large ones are of artists featured in the current festival; some were taken years ago, proof of the deep ties BAM (and Kaplan) shares with many artists. A selection of 34 smaller photos show the scope of BAM's programming, as well as the durability of Kaplan's ongoing project and her tenacity in pursuing subjects.
Note: the monograph of Kaplan's work, Portraits of Choreographers (1988, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NY and Editions Bouge, Paris), will be available at Greenlight Bookstore. It includes 30 duotone reproductions.
Photos courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts.
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In Context: 17 Border Crossings
Thaddeus Phillips' 17 Border Crossings comes to BAM on September 30. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of articles and videos related to the show. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #17BorderCrossings.
Program Notes
Coming soon! (PDF)
Read
Article
"Thaddeus Phillips, Man of Two Fringes" (Philly.com)
Descend into the meta-theatrical, Mexican-drug-lord world of the 17 Border Crossings creator.
Article
A Brief History of the Passport (The Guardian)
Personal rights of passage had to be secured as early as 450 B.C.
Watch & Listen
Video
Thaddeus Phillips on 17 Border Crossings(YouTube)
It's "theatrical armchair traveling" with a cinematic sensibility says Phillips.
Video
Bizarre Borders: Canada & The United States (YouTube)
Drawing a 3,000-mile-long straight line is hard, it turns out.
Now your turn...
What did you think? How did the show resonate with your own experiences of transitional spaces? Props to Phillips' minimal set? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #17BorderCrossings.
What did you think? How did the show resonate with your own experiences of transitional spaces? Props to Phillips' minimal set? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #17BorderCrossings.
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In Context: Tabac Rouge
Physical theater virtuoso James Thierrée's Tabac Rouge comes to BAM on September 30. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of articles and videos related to the show. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #TabacRouge.
Curator's Note
Program Notes
Tabac Rouge (PDF)
Article
In Chaplin's Footsteps: How James Thierrée Became Vaudeville Royalty (The Independent)
The great-grandson of Charlie Chaplin had an auspicious theatrical beginning: playing a suitcase.
Interview
Flight and Bliss: The Work of James Thierrée (Brooklyn Rail)
"Certainly I don’t have anything against words," says Thierrée. "I just know that in my work, I’m kind of shooting so much visually and physically that words would just make you sick."
Watch & Listen
Video
Tabac Rouge Trailer (BAM)
Snippets from Thierrée's steampunk dystopia, courtesy of BAM.
Interview
James Thierrée's Tabac Rouge: Part I, Part II, Part III (Sadler's Wells)
"It's a show about desire and power and systems and mechanisms of society and how people organize ...[There're] really a lot of layers in this cake."
Now your turn...
What did you think? Convinced now that words are overrated? Thoughts on Thierrée's movement or particular brand of tyrannical overlord? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and on social media using #TabacRouge.
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Antigone, Interpreted
Last weekend, book lovers convened in the seat of justice in Brooklyn to discuss a play translated, adapted, and performed in countless iterations: Antigone, which comes to BAM in a new translation by Anne Carson September 24—October 4. In the ornate Borough Hall courtroom, philosopher Bonnie Honig and playwright Ellen McLaughlin joined performer Kaneza Schaal to discuss the play.
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| Discussion begins in stately Brooklyn Borough Hall. Photo: Beowulf Sheehan |
by Nora Tjossem
Approaching Antigonefrom a philosophical standpoint, Honig kicked off the event by proposing lamentation as political action—the eponymous character not as martyr, but as activist. McLaughlin introduced the piece as “perfect theater,” living on in such works as The Island, a two-man, play-within-a-play performance of Antigone set in South Africa, and her own Kissing the Floor, an adaptation set in the Depression era US.
All of the great classical tragedians were veterans, Honig explained. In a society always at war, theater was a venue for veterans to speak to one another. The agon, a dialogue constituting the simplest structure of theater, is also the model for democracy and threads throughout Antigone as an unresolved struggle between characters. If someone is “winning,” the panelists agreed, you may be reading it wrong.
Despite shared beginnings, theater and democracy have at times stood in opposition—in fact, Antigone itself can be studied as a response to the political silencing of women’s public mourning. An aristocratic practice, long and ostentatious funeral events take on a class dimension, raising politically salient questions of how to mourn.
We are still confronted by bereavement as a political act: occupy ourselves with mourning, or spur ourselves into action and advocacy for the living? Schaal invoked examples of the AIDS epidemic and the widely disseminated images of Emmett Till, a boy lynched in Mississippi in the 1940s whose mother shared the images with the media as well as allowing an open casket.
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| Honig, McLaughlin, and Schaal discuss Antigone. Photo: Beowulf Sheehan |
The ambiguity of mourning as personal and political, commendable and condemnable, is at the core of Sophocles’ tragedy. Introducing the possibility that Antigone’s sister, Ismene, first buried their disgraced brother in secret, followed by Antigone’s loud public mourning, Honig argues for the complexity of the two women’s stances on preserving both life and death. While the two sisters are often posed as respectively pro-life and pro-death, Honig’s claims expose even more tragedy. The suffering of the two women is not simplistic.
McLaughlin added that the obligation felt by both women is because the family was plagued by incest (Antigone, Ismene, and their brothers are all children-siblings of Oedipus). This adds a horrifying element that complicates their view of justice and amplifies the pain of their situation. “No one wants to be Antigone,” McLaughlin claimed. “The only people who want to be these characters are actors—and that’s because we want to be them and then go home and have a nice dinner.”
Antigone, in a new translation by Anne Carson, is at the BAM Harvey Theater September 24—October 4. Tickets are currently not available online due to limited seating. Please contact BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100 to purchase tickets.
Nora Tjossem is BAM's Humanities & Educations Events Intern.
Nora Tjossem is BAM's Humanities & Educations Events Intern.
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Reconfiguration—A Visual Transformation of Music by Other Lives
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| L-R: Josh Onstott, Jesse Tabish, Jonathon Mooney. Photo: Amanda Leigh Smith/YONDER |
Indie rock band Other Lives brings a cinematic expansiveness to music, and now a team of theatrical designers is providing a setting on stage befitting the sound. Conceived by producer Rebecca Habel and director Terry Kinney of Mixtape Productions, Reconfiguration: An Evening with Other Lives will be presented October 9 & 10 in the majestic Howard Gilman Opera House, as part of the Next Wave Festival. With a format similar to a symphony, ballet, or theater piece, the performances offer an inventive way to experience a band in concert.
Mixtape Productions, based in Brooklyn, is dedicated to creating collaborations between musicians and theater artists. Habel and Kinney visited the Other Lives band members to learn about their passions and influences, with the mandate that any imagery would emanate from the movement of the music more than the lyrics. Kinney laid out a three-act structure for an audio-visual narrative based on the group’s Oklahoma origins utilizing the band's back catalogue. From a conversation with songwriter Jesse Tabish about his recurring themes, obsessions and inspirations, Kinney sketched out a diagram showing a "script" focusing on boyhood.
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Concept diagram by Terry Kinney, in conversation with Jesse Tabish |
The core trio of Other Lives—Tabish (lead vocals, guitar) along with Jonathon Mooney (piano, violin, guitar, percussion, trumpet) and Josh Onstott (bass, keys, percussion, guitar, backing vocals), joined at BAM by Daniel Hart on violin, vocals, and guitar and Danny Reisch on percussion—recently moved from their hometown of Stillwater, OK to Portland, OR to record their third album, Rituals. This relocation had a profound effect on the impressive 60 new songs written over 18 months for the new collection.
“There was a spirit of change," Tabish says. “We had done [2011’s second LP] Tamer Animals, which was very close to us and about our home. So the next record was about the spontaneity of travel and being isolated. For the first time in our lives we were moving off on our own, away from our families and kind of coming into our own.” Other Lives also released a self-titled debut album in 2009. The band has toured with Radiohead and Bon Iver and is currently on a world tour in support of the new album.
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| L-R: Josh Onstott. Jonathon Mooney. Photo: Amanda Leigh Smith/YONDER |
Listening to “Easy Way” and “For the Last” from the session, there’s a mysterious cinematic build as Tabish’s vocals introduce his storytelling vibe. Layers of trumpet and violins over the guitars establish an orchestral interpretation; the drum kit provides a steady backbeat. There’s plenty of multi-tasking by the five musicians, and the band members are also known for switching instruments during shows. It's easy to imagine how these atmospheric songs, ripe for visual interpretation, will fill the historic Opera House at BAM.
Reconfiguration: An Evening with Other Lives plays the Howard Gilman Opera House October 9 & 10, and tickets are still available.
Jane Jansen Seymour is a music writer for New Music Matters (nmmatters.com).
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Blurring Circus Frontiers
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| Tabac Rouge's dynamic ensemble. Photo: Richard Haughton |
By Roy Gómez-Cruz
The fifth creation by the Compagnie du Hanneton, Tabac Rouge, directed and choreographed by virtuoso performer James Thierrée, is the first of several physical theater performances in the 2015 Next Wave Festival at BAM. The piece, which opens in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House tonight, explores the porous boundaries between theater, dance, and contemporary circus. With a cast of world-class dancers and high-level acrobats, Tabac Rouge represents the erratic desires of a capricious tyrant through the mesmerizing and whimsical physicality of his people.
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| Tabac's despot (Thierrée) makes a chance encounter with one of his subjects. Photo: Vincent Pontet |
Spectators seeking an organizing storyline to make sense of the frenzy will most likely be denied, as Thierrée draws primarily on circus dramaturgy. Born and raised in the cirque, Thierrée innately channels the genre's knack for unearthing fantastical worlds and displaying dazzlingly virtuosic bodies without clear narrative structures. Like Thierrée’s multi-faceted career, the circus has always been a malleable genre.
Since its inception in England in the late 18th century, the circus spread around the world as a funnel for a wide range of street performance traditions, folk acrobatics, and pop culture expression. But a pivotal transformation of the circus began in the 1970s after pioneering circus companies in Europe and French-speaking Canada dismantled their caravans, menageries, and sideshows and established professional circus schools. With these institutions at the core, a new artistic and intellectual revamping of circus disciplines is catching momentum.
While Tabac Rouge leans heavily on dance, it also reflects the current state of contemporary circus arts that push the frontiers between artistic disciplines. In the diaspora of circus virtuosos to galleries, theaters, and dance studios, Tabac Rouge offers a glimpse of the genre's trajectory as circus artists continue to be highly expressive in a form without an overarching narrative.
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| Opus in action (and flight). Photo: Justin Nicholas |
The other two Next Wave physical theater shows demonstrate the breath of the field. Hallohas just one man on stage, although he's joined by edifices that seem to have minds of their own and force the poor man to bend his body to fit them. Opusmay appear to be an acrobatics show. But add into the midst a live string quartet and the risk factor is elevated many times. The fact that the three shows come from France, Switzerland, and Australia—with performers from even more countries and regions—shows that physical theater is expanding artistically as well as geographically. Join the exploration.
Tabac Rouge, the first of the 2015 Next Wave Festival's physical theater offerings, plays the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House September 30—October 4, and tickets are still available.
Roy Gómez-Cruz is a Ph.D. student in Performance Studies at Northwestern University.
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Helen Lawrence—Dreaming in Art
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| Hrothgar Mathews and Lisa Ryder in Helen Lawrence. Photo: David Cooper |
From its contrived sets to its stark lighting, from its stylized costumes to its still more stylized dialogue, vintage film noir has a vivid unreality that’s positively dreamlike, though it’s hard now to untangle whether our films resemble our dreams or vice versa. After all, what did human dreams look like before movies? Like paintings or plays? Or is this the wrong way to peer through the lens—should we instead rightly think of our time’s visual arts as renderings of our dream lives?
Canadian artist Stan Douglas has worked these borders for most of his career, staging and Photoshopping photographs that look authentically antique (his “Midcentury Studio” series) and making films meant to be experienced as live installations: Journey into Fear, a seafaring drama based on Eric Ambler’s novel that ran in a 15-minute loop, though with bits of dialogue randomly iterated so that the entire film played out over 157 hours; or Circa 1948, a “storyscape” which appeared at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, in which viewers could walk through a seductive, computer-generated virtual landscape of post-WWII Vancouver. (It’s also available as an app.)
The bifurcated worlds of Circa 1948—the posh hallways of Hotel Vancouver and the seedy backstreets of Hogan’s Alley—come to life onstage in Helen Lawrence, a film/theater hybrid in which actors are filmed live on a blue chroma key stage while their images, married with computer-generated backdrops, are projected on a scrim in front of them. The result is something like a film shoot as a piece of theater, with cameras roving the stage and actors using functional props, combined with a projected film that looks uncannily like its vintage forebears.
Though he said he wouldn’t count himself a film noir aficionado, Douglas said, “I’ve always been impressed by the inventiveness of filmmakers who worked in the genre. Many of the films were low-budget B movies, and the look of them was often borne out of necessity: We’re shooting outside at night, we have an hour and can only afford two lights. What are we going to do?”
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Lisa Ryder. Photo: David Cooper |
For all its high-tech innovations, though, Helen Lawrence is intended as more than a formal exercise. With a script by screenwriter Chris Haddock which addresses some of the racial and sexual tensions of the postwar Americas, Douglas’ creation comes from an epiphany he had about the context that birthed film noir.
“The genre flourished during WWII and in the postwar period,” Douglas said. What he realized is that “the behavior of the tight-lipped tough guys and strong-willed femme fatales has something to do with the trauma of war, enduring hardships at home and experiencing or inflicting violence abroad. Under these circumstances people will often develop personas as defensive mechanisms to protect them from further trauma.”
The gap between this protective role-playing and flesh-and-blood human interactions is the liminal space conjured and occupied by Douglas’ work. “This separation is much like what happens constantly in Helen Lawrence,” he said. “At the same time that characters are appearing in spectacular images on screen, we always see their fragile human bodies onstage.”
At one key point, as if to emphasize this disparity, the projected film drops out altogether and we see an actor in desperation knock on a real door. Much as film noir’s distinctive look arose from necessity, this stage-only moment arose from a technical challenge (“The actors can touch props but they can’t touch the virtual sets,” Douglas explained). But also like noir’s high-contrast cinematography, it is an aesthetic choice now invested with meaning. As Douglas put it: “Whenever a character’s sense of reality is being disrupted by an event, the projection gives way to the stage.”
Helen Lawrence comes to the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House October 14—17, and tickets are still available.
Rob Weinert-Kendt is editor-in-chief of American Theatremagazine.
Reprinted from Sep 2015 BAMbill.
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