|
More Buzz
Go Home
The Buzz, 9-9: Giahad
Kourlas Paints the Grey Lady Yellow
By Paul
Ben-Itzak
Copyright 2005 The Dance Insider
If terrorism can be
defined as the tactic of pursuing war by attacking innocent civilians
rather than an armed enemy who might actually shoot back, then Gia
Kourlas -- the vapid "Heathers"-escapee to whom the New York Times
has turned over much of its dance pages -- is practicing the journalistic
equivalent, most recently in a senseless and baseless screed published Tuesday in which
she effectively carpet-bombs the entire New York (modern) dance
community.
Don't mistake the reaction
you will read here and distinguish in the grumbling among the dance
community. Dancers don't mind being criticized, where the criticism
is intellectually rigorous, journalistically accurate, politically
honest and offered by an authentic critic; these Dance Insider pages,
most of which are filled by dancers, are proof that they are their
own severest critics, and don't blanch from levelling or listening
to serious artistic criticism or political feedback. But legitimate
criticism, responsible journalism, and intellectual rigor hold little
allure for Kourlas, whose resume includes an infamous Time Out NY
piece that effectively derailed the careers of two School of American
Ballet students who made the mistake of trusting her.
Kourlas's putative topic
in Tuesday's column -- the demise of modern dance in New York --
might have brought home some legitimate and effective points, had
the author dared to criticize by name presenters like the Joyce,
the once-great dance house which now seems more interested in safe
rentals than growing the art. (Or had she dared to take on Times
advertisers like New York City Ballet, which continues to represent
director Peter Martins as a choreographer. But the major New York
ballet companies seem to be immunized for life against serious Times
criticism.) But no, Kourlas is less interested in fighting the power
than in setting off powerful explosions (I'm speaking metaphorically)
and watching with glee as the powerless flee. (She's also not interested
in accuracy; her apposition of the European model as the panacea
gets just about everything wrong about the true nature of the dance
scene here in Europe, where I live.) So, rather than drop her latest
bomb on, say, the eve of the opening of a Joyce season highlighted
by Ballet Austin, Parsons Dance Company, ODC, and Jazz Tap Ensemble,
she picks the night before the opening of Dancenow/NYC, the courageous
festival which has provided more openings for New York artists than
any other presenter in New York. It's kind of like waging a campaign
by shooting at the Red Cross.
It's tempting to just
ignore the latest rantings of the resident Tourette's Syndrome sufferer
on the cultural staff of the New York Times. Not only because we
all know she's an idiot -- her piece is riddled with inaccuracy
-- but because getting a rise out of us is exactly the brief her
editors have apparently given her. (Years ago, a dance editor at
the Times told me the powers that be were unhappy because dance
wasn't generating as many letters to the editor as other arts coverage.)
Indeed, well-intended as may have been Dance/NYC's call yesterday
to barrage the Times with letters to the editor, I'd strongly counsel
against it; this is exactly what they want. Please don't feed the
Giabeast -- you'll only encourage her. However, this doesn't mean
we shouldn't hold the Times accountable and set the record straight.
Among readers who don't know any better -- who don't see a lot of
dance -- Gia's ramblings can do tangible damage. If New York dance
is moribund, for example, why should audiences bother to check any
of the hundred or so companies performing in the Dancenow festival -- an event
specifically designed to attract dance outsiders -- at Dance Theater
Workshop, Joe's Pub, and other venues around the city over the next
week?
But first, let's get
to Gia's mythical Europe, the land where choreographers frolic freely
in Judsonian fields as open-minded presenters toss money at them
and say, "Just follow your muse, Dancer!" I practically choked on
my pastis when I read her glazey-eyed statement that "innovation
flows like water from one country to the next" on these shores.
It may look like that out of Gia's rose-colored windows on W. 43rd
Street, but here in the trenches of non-dance dance-throttled Europe
-- where I actually live -- I can tell you: It just ain't so.
Incredibly, Kourlas
chooses to illustrate her depiction of our alleged mecca with an
accompanying photograph of the latest spectacle from Christian Rizzo,
on display this past summer in Avignon. If the camera were turned
the other way, it would likely show a theater half-emptied of spectators,
as was the case with most of the apparent drivel programmed at the
famous festival in Southern France this year. As previously reported
here, the most sensational show at Avignon 2005 was
the revolt of the spectators. "Puerile," "Indecent," and "Appalling"
were some of the words they used in fleeing the theaters. Like the
Avignon directors, Gia will likely sneer and say the audience just
can't take a little innovative provocation, but in fact what's dominating
the scene here -- at least from what I see in Paris -- is a sort
of self-hating dance, as choreographers, encouraged by the presenting-managing
cabal, prefer to trot out tired theatrical conventions in lieu of
charting new kinetic territory. They're not dancing. When they do
move, they aren't so much "still motivated by the work of Judson-era
choreographers," as Kourlas puts it, as imitating Judson without
taking it further.
Because the presenting
cabal also hates any American dance that's emerged in the past two
decades -- no doubt they'll be flashing Gia's piece around as confirmation,
just as newspapers and magazines are now headlining Katrina images
as further proof of America's two-tiered society -- local dancemakers
and audiences just don't realize that American dance has progressed.
(When a French presenter breaks from the pack and presents American
dance besides Merce, Trisha, and Bill, as was the case with this
summer's Festival Vaison Danses, the audience loves it. More than
3,000 spectators filled Vaison's ancient amphitheater to cheer Pilobolus.)
I know you must be over
my France-Dance bashing by now so, quickly, some of Gia's other
misses on the scene here:
-- There is "no perceptible
center of bureaucratic power," she posits. Independent French dancers
will tell you differently. When the spangled new Centre National
de la Danse opened last year, a rebel group of dance artists and
academicians plastered the neighborhood with posters complaining
of 'dance apartheid' in France, with resources parcelled out to
a chosen few. (At the CND, btw, the reigning goddess of 'dance'
is South African Robyn Orlin, also more interested lately in regurgitating
'60s theatrical spoofing than in moving.) Unlike the US -- and this
is critical -- the very fact that funding is doled out by a handful
of cultural arbiters means that anyone not deemed 'in' has few resources
with which to create art. The non-profit structure of the US, through
which companies are not dependent solely on public funding and can
seek individual and foundation support, is less present here. Consequently,
we have virtually no sustainable, visible underground, in France
anyway. The occasional determined independent miracle-worker will
mount something, but there are no Robin Staffs or Tamara Greenfields
founding anything comparable to Dancenow.
-- As opposed to US
producers, who "continue to support the status quo in programming
that does little to shift or expand the concept of dance," as Kourlas
puts it, European presenters "aren't afraid to try something new."
Perhaps this is true in Gia's imaginary Bizarro-World Europe, but
not the real one in which I've been viewing dance for four years.
As just one prominent example, later this month, the Theatre de
la Ville - Sarah Bernhardt here in Paris -- one of the leading dance
presenters and producers in Europe -- opens its season with Angelin
Preljocaj, who hasn't had a new idea or gripping concept in at least
five years.
-- "Many producers in
the United States communalize their opinions," Kourlas complains.
This is called pooling resources, and it makes sense. One of the
most compelling pieces I saw this year was "The H.C. Andersen Project," a multi-national collaboration
directed and conceived by Michael Laub. When I asked American choreographer-in-chief
Greg Zuccolo afterwards if the show would be coming to the United
States, he more or less laughed in my face, explaining that as the
piece had no theaters co-producing it, it could only go where theaters
could afford to present it, and this would likely not happen in
the US. A "communal" production would have helped.
At this point, you might
well ask, where do I get off criticizing a New York-based writer
for misrepresenting European dance when she doesn't live here, on
the one hand, and then taking her on on the subject of New York
dance, when I don't live there? Well, besides editing copy from
Dance Insider reviewers in New York, I also talk to New York dancers,
and here's what they're telling me regarding Gia's latest accusations:
She may be right about some presenters' conservative approach, but
she's wrong in concluding this influences the artists' creations,
and wrong in promoting experimentation for experimentation's sake,
while not valuing traditional approaches. She doesn't understand
how choreographers work. They're not interested in experimentation
for experimentation's sake. Rather, they are interested in working
through to their truth. How's that for a concept, Gia?
What's your view? E-mail paul@danceinsider.com.
More Buzz
Go Home
|
