21 replies to this topic

[Helene]

Jayne, on Mar 2 2010, 06:19 PM, said:

Is it art?  Is it misogynistic? (sp?)  I was out of town so couldn't attend, but if Donald Byrd is talking about it (he wasn't gossiping, just criticizing the dancer's dry humping), I think we can have a legitimate discussion of what is dance and what is just shock value.

I don't think that review is aptly characterized simply as "criticism of the choreography", because key to Byrd's criticism is the personal relationships between the two dancers and Wevers -- the so-called "gossip" -- and what that represents, not simply the choreography itself.  Being caused to "gasp" in itself isn't a bad thing.  Does his criticism stand if the dancers had been unrelated to Wevers, or if the work was performed by another company?  I don't think Byrd has made that case.

The author, Jeremy M. Barker, writes:

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At the time, insofar as I noted the casually misogynistic representations of femininity, I wrote them off as in keeping with the work's overall themes, and, of course, sexist representations are hardly unusual in the arts. But with a few weeks' reflection and discussion, I see the largely fawning critical response to Wevers' work as a dramatic failure to address the questions the work raises.

I agree with his first conclusion, and I while I found the original rape scene a gasper, the final image, of nature being thrown into a trash can, to be more arresting for its casualness.  I don't see where earlier reviewers have apologized for this or swept it under the rug.  

In the blog post referred to in the critique, Catherine Cabeen discusses the historic use of pointe shoes:

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Pointe shoes are a very specific medium that say one thing well; women are to be light, frail and weightless.  Even direct, sharp movement is made piercing and fairy-like by these apparatus that for more than 300 years have allowed/forced female ballet dancers to embody an “idealized” version of the female form.  Ballerinas are to be slight and ephemeral next to the grounded power of the male dancer, who never wears pointe shoes, except in rare incidences of drag performance.  Certainly classical ballet technique requires incredible strength and the women in Wevers company performed with commitment and aplomb.  I am however a feminist scholar and can not help but to point out the unspoken assumptions that accompany ballet aesthetics which in part led to the creation of modern dance by women over 100 years ago.  I find it fascinating that the gendered hierarchy  that is inherent in ballet not only sells out houses and gets standing ovations, but is also so ingrained in our expectations of viewing ballet, that it is for many patrons, invisible.

I think she's right to bring up the underlying assumption when a woman is seen in pointe, whether it's in Robbins' "The Cage", the women in the "Melancholic" section of "The Four Temperaments" or "3Seasons".

In her review in The Stranger, Jen Graves takes on four issues:  

1.  That Wevers' attempts at humor fail
2.  That there is a difference in creating dance for women and men, something that Wevers disputed
3.  That Wevers is tone-deaf when creating for women
4.  That his approach to dance is not something that is part of On the Boards' raison d'etre

She does not address misogyny in Wevers' piece.

Barker does not agree with Graves' criticism, which he says in the article, and concludes that Byrd's point is elusive.  He then writes "But with a few weeks' reflection and discussion, I see the largely fawning critical response to Wevers' work as a dramatic failure to address the questions the work raises."  I have no problem with critics changing their opinion after further consideration or after seeing a work a few extra times.  However, he doesn't "address the questions the work raises" except to quote other people and then refute what they say, either.

[SandyMcKean]

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Is it art?

It's art if the artist says it is.......period.  Now, you and I can either like it, hate it, or be indifferent to it, but we can't possibly know what is art and what is not.  OTOH, any of us can decide to be an aritst.

[Helene]

Whim W'him opened with its first full program in Seattle as the resident dance company of the Intiman Theater last night, with a reprise of "This is Not a Raincoat" and new works by Wevers ("Monster") and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's "Cylindrical Shadows".

This is just first impressions:  I'll see the program again tomorrow night.  "Raincoat" is a quirky, humorous piece that addresses the tight hold of convention and pack behavior.  "Monster" uses one couple each to address homophobia, addiction, and abusive relationships.  I particularly liked two motifs in the first pas de deux -- the nested shuffle and the hand face mask, but it wasn't as immediately powerful as the middle pas de deux about addiction, a unique and quite unexpected approach to the subject, and brilliantly danced by the gorgeous Kylie Lewallen and Ty Alexander Cheng from Spectrum Dance Theatre.  The last pas de deux was filled with unusual, low lifts that I wish Ice Dance choreographers would adapt and steal, and while a more generally conventional approach to the subject than the middle section, was full of nuance and was personal and specific in detail, which created its power.  Melody Herrera was in pointe shoes, but unlike in 3 Seasons, there wasn't much exploration of pointe work, and they didn't seem necessary.

Ochoa, on the other hand, used pointe quite effectively for her two women, Houston Ballet's Melody Herrera and PNB's Chalnessa Eames.  This bodes well, since Boal has commissioned a work by Herrera for an upcoming PNB season.  But here and now, Chalnessa Eames' role is a star turn for the dancer:  with her clear, bold lines and technique and strong, clean movement through the torso, in the duet with Herrera and the Pas de Trois that followed in a work that bridged neoclassical and modern, this was classical dancing at its best.

[SandyMcKean]

My reactions to the Friday opening night performance are amazingly similar to those of Helene.  None of the 3 pieces stood out for me as a monumental creation, but I thoroughly enjoyed each of them.

"Raincoat" was fun and humorous, or "quirky" as Helene aptly describes it.  This quirkiness is to be expected from Wevers since he is well known for his humor generally, and has even used the word "quirky" himself to describe his outlook.  Altho this piece was my least favorite, I found Wever's use of the long, hooded raincoats very effective as a prop to demonstrate how we all hide much of ourselves from others, and conversely, the feeling of liberation when we are comfortable enough with another person to allow that shield to be dropped.

"Monsters" was my favorite, and like Helene, I found the middle section (on the monster of "Addiction") the most effective.  I am a dyed in the wool ballet snob, but I do enjoy much of modern dance.  The Spectrum dancers, Kylie Lewallen and Ty Alexander Cheng, opened my eyes to just how glorious dancers trained in modern can be.  Of course given Donald Byrd's style of choreography, a Spectrum dancer must have good classical technique also.  Perhaps it was the blended technique that made these 2 dancers so appealing to me.  Lastly for this piece, I don't know what made the two motifs Helene mentions so arresting, but these same two motifs had the same impact on me as on Helene.  Each was repeated in such a way as to make them easily noticeable, but beyond that each motif had a "humanitarian" impact on a visceral level given the subject of harsh negative judgment some in society impose on homosexuals: the hand in front of the face spoke to me of the undeserved shame many gay people no doubt feel (especially as they grow up), and the nested shuffle created a sense of how 2 gays can at least sometimes feel comfort and safety in the loving relationship they have with each other.  I'd give Wevers an "A" in choreography just on the basis on these two motifs alone.

Ochoa's piece had many moments of beauty but overall I didn't get a sense of unity from it (a requirement for me personally to truly be moved by a piece).  Perhaps it was Ochoa's eclectic choice of music that bothered me.  I loved the baroque piano clearly played by Glenn Gould at the start, but how the piece could go from there to the more contemporary sound as it did was lost on me.  It also bothered me that the title of the piece "Cylindrical Shadows" was spoken several times during part of the contemporary music section.  In short, I greatly enjoyed much of the movement in Ochoa's piece, especially the tableaux-like presentations of multiple dancers in various configurations, but the piece as a whole fell flat for me.

One bit of potential controversy exists in Wevers' "Monster": before each of the 3 sections, a poem was read over the PA system evoking the concepts behind the theme of that section (e.g.,  "addiction").  I found these poems to be very effective.  I take it from the program that these 3 bits of poetry were written by RA Scion.  His words cut into me deeply and were powerfully read (I presume by the poet himself).  I'm not normally a fan of the spoken word (or even the sung word) in ballet, but I thought it very appropriate in this piece.

Finally, allow me to echo Helene's praise for Chalnessa Eames.  She is a spectacular dancer for works like these.  Some might criticize her classical dancing, but almost no one I've seen can make less conventional dance based on classical technique come alive as well as Chalnessa does.  I think of her as the nurse in Maillot's R&J, or in Tharp's "In the Upper Room", or in Robbins "The Concert" or more recently as the Spinner in "Coppelia", and I can't imagine anyone else bringing such superb classical technique together with dramatic flair, enthusiasm, jest for life, and most especially, humor.

[Helene]

Tonight's performance was another sell-out:  I think I saw all of five empty seats before the performance began.  Congratulations to the Company!  Francia Russell and Kent Stowell were in attendance a few rows in front of me.  I think it took them ten of the 15-minute intermission to get out the door, so many people were trying to talk to them.

On second look at "This Is Not a Raincoat" -- I didn't see the premiere last year at Northwest Dance Project -- the themes of convention were even stronger.  Although the un-raincoated dance sections were more upbeat in general, I still wasn't convinced that this wasn't also a convention, and that remaining covered was now the taboo.  (My contrarian side thinks the decision to remain masked should be personal and valid.) Although they looked like more fun, the tension was in the sections in which each dancer was confined to his or her own stripe.

I didn't like the poetry in "Monsters" -- I managed to suppress it by the time I got home in total denial -- because when I can't understand the words, and the syllables run together, it reminds me why learning other languages has been so difficult and when I can understand the words, I don't like being told verbally what I'm watching:  I want the movement and structure to tell me.  That aside, it was even more powerful seen again.  I still read the sections as Bad Relationship V.1, Addiction, Bad Relationship V.2, or perhaps Bad Relationship, Addiction, Bad Relationship as Addiction, which didn't lessen the works impact.  

I was able to see so much more in "Cylindrical Shadows" on second viewing.  For one, the structure of the groupings, was even more clear, and I was able to see how rich the pas de quatre or the men was.  I was already impressed by Vincent Michael Lopez:  he's the smallest of the men, but once he starts to move, he's huge.  I noticed a lot more classicism throughout, and the final pas de deux for the soft, vulnerable Melody Herrera and Lucien Postlewaite was even more of a knockout.  If Herrera isn't available when it's performed again, I'd love to see Chalnessa Eames and Kaori Nakamura dance the role:  each would bring a different quality to it.  I'm really looking forward to Ochoa's commission for PNB.

I loved the musical selections for "Cylindrical Shadows":  each of the pieces had an elegiac feel, including the commissioned "Cylindrical Shadows" by David van Bowel.  In fact, I thought the music for all three pieces was great.

[SandyMcKean]

Helene said:

Although the un-raincoated dance sections were more upbeat in general, I still wasn't convinced that this wasn't also a convention, and that remaining covered was now the taboo

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Very interesting observation.  I hope I get a chance to see this piece again with your interpretation in mind.  Of course, any good work of art lends itself to multiple interpretations, so both our interpretations are valid.  I must admit that I was preconditioned a bit to my interpretation by Wevers' description of the piece in his program notes; specifically, where he says:

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"For many, perhaps most, the raincoat becomes part of them.  But bit by bit, one or two decide that what they really are is an open, unguarded self"

I'll be very interested to see how I might also see your interpretation next time I see it.

[sandik]

Well it looks like his side project is going to become his main job -- Wevers just announced that he's leaving PNB April 17 (after Midsummer) to do WW fulltime.  From the announcement

Dear Whimmers,

I have wonderful news to share with you about Whim W’Him, but first I want to tell you about a major transition in my life. As you may know, I have spent the last 22 years as a professional ballet dancer. I have had a dream career and have relished every opportunity to grow and learn as an artist. My time as a dancer has been inspiring, challenging, at times painful, but above all, filled with passion.

I’ve always known that this career has a very short time span, which is why I was so excited to discover a few years ago that there is something I am possibly even more passionate about than being a dancer—my choreography. These last few years I have grown and developed as a choreographer as well as becoming the Artist Director of my own company. With this promising new direction ahead, I am announcing that this coming month will be my last with PNB.

While this may come as a surprise to some, I feel blessed that I have Whim W’Him as this amazing vehicle for my creative voice, and am happy to retire from being a dancer with confidence, dignity and grace. Many of you have been supporters and fans of my dancing for years and I ask that you now support me as I move forward as choreographer and Artistic Director of Whim W’Him.

Monster

Since our performances in January we’ve finished our short film on “Monster”. Michael Ganyo worked with us closely and filmed the dancers on stage, between shows, to create a captivating distillation of the work. I am happy that I finally get to share this with you and hope that you will enjoy watching it in anticipation of it being performed again.

In that vein, I am happy to announce that the first movement of “Monster” will make its international debut April 22, 2011 at the 4th Copenhagen International Choreography Competition. “Monster” is one of ten pieces selected as a finalist; this is a great opportunity for Whim W’Him to be recognized internationally and for my work to be seen by the renowned panel of judges.

ReSet

Lastly, mark your calendars for the evenings of June 24 & 25, 2011 at 8pm. Not only will you get to see Whim W’Him at Intiman for our second series of 2011 performances - ReSet - but you can also celebrate my 40th birthday with me on June 25. At ReSet, you can expect a world premiere from me, a reworked 3Seasons with new set pieces by the diabolically inventive artist, Casey Curran, and the return of “Monster” due to its breakout success.

Join us in the courtyard immediately after the show on the 25th to celebrate the season, the beginning of summer, and my birthday! Grab your tickets at Brownpapertickets and keep your ear to the ground for more information on the shows and post-show merriment.

Thank you for your continued support—I look forward to continuing this adventure with you,

— Olivier