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Brought to
you by Flash Review 1, 11-13:
The Master's Piece By Rosa Mei Joyce Theater, Cunningham Dance Co., EVENTS, NYC, November 11, 2000. Windmill decor compliments of Cinto, from Sao Paulo. Don Quixote or Kansas. The journey is quixotic, Sancho Panza and the knight errant. Music by DJ Spooky and Takeshi Kosugi and the dancing by Cedric, Jonah, Lisa, Ashley, Paige, Holley, Jennifer, Mandy, David, Koji, Daniel, Jeannie, Derry, Robert and Cheryl. Merce takes a curtain call at the end. And now, in no particular order.... Jonah Bokaer is sublime. Prehensile feet in passe, overcurve. Now he is on the floor still in passe. Blink and he is sitting, precariously perched on his knees. Blink, he is standing erect. Zen master at the tender age of 19. Also sleek and ergonomically refined is Koji Minato. A fleet minnow, bounding across the stage with infinite elan -- even his hair is streamlined. Holley Farmer, blessed with mercurial grace and flawless technique, pirouettes perfectly and melts to the floor. Like butta. But I miss in particular Banu Ogan and Thomas Caley, now no longer with the company. But aren't they all exquisite in their own right technically? All have the lines, the balance, the feet, and brilliant motor coordination skills, but I always find my eyes drawn to those like B and T, and J and K and H who make it look like nothing, who make an art of sculpting silence. Sculptures. There they are intertwined intricately in couples and trios, complex and still like Henri Moore statues. #21, #23. Moore wrote, "All art is abstract in one sense. Not to like abstract qualities or not to like reality is to misunderstand what sculpture and art is all about·. I see no reason why realistic art and purely abstract art can't exist in the world side by side at the same time, even in one artist at the same time." Cunningham wrote (1982), "The Events were originally intended as a means of giving performances in unorthodox surroundings. Since then they have sometimes been given in conventional theaters." Oddly, in the Joyce, this particular Event (2000) comes across as very frontal. Dancers facing predominantly downstage. Is it a better vantage point in space? Are they being boxed in by the proscenium? Merce again: "The first Event was presented in the Museum des 20 Jahrhunderts in Vienna during a world tour.... Since the performing area was unconventional, just an open space in the museum, it did not seem to us that a conventional presentation of three or four dances was appropriate.... The audience was seated mainly in front of us, but also extended onto the two sides." Two sides of a coin. When you age, your muscles tend to lose that soft tissue plastique that you see in younger performers. All the while, you're becoming a stronger performer internally, mentally. Almost all the dancers on stage tonight are under 30. Robert Swinston is a notable exception. And I am so grateful to see him perform. His focus and razor-sharp intent make him unique, his presence riveting. Vienna 1964, Mittwoch 24, Juni 1964, 19:30 Uhr. Museum Event Nr. 1 (Erstauffuhrung). Tanzer: Merce, Carolyn, Viola, Shareen, Deborah, Barbara, Sandra, William, Steve and Albert. Musik: John Cage (Atlas Eclipticalis, 1961/62). In California, where they were performing, Valda said they had one more performance scheduled than they knew about and Merce did not have enough repertory, so they did an Event. He invited all to contribute and do what they wanted. The company was shy and bewildered and Merce was impatient that everyone was standing around looking timid. They later figured out things to do and during one point in the Event, Merce came out and shaved. "It was Merce shaving, but it was also that kind of attention to the brush and the action which was the same thing as when he was dancing." When Merce was dancing in 1976, Jack Anderson wrote that a few critics were particularly annoyed by Events. "But what is there to say about an Event?" One could try to describe it or even notate it, but to what end? What would be accomplished? One could sit there and try to figure out which movements came from which piece. A kind of fruitless trivial pursuit. Best to just sit back and enjoy nature. Anderson wrote, "Events are reminders of the importance of paying attention and staying mentally awake. Just as we cannot truly savor the objects we pass while walking down the street unless we really pay attention to them, so we cannot enjoy Events unless we carefully observe everything which happens in them. No wonder they can be exhausting to watch." Watching. The man sitting next to me left after half an hour. November 11, 2000. House is sold out. Back in '93, when I saw the Cunningham Company at City Center, the house was definitely not sold out. I took a friend, a musical theater composer, one with a slight case of Tourette's which is aggravated by silence, monotony or extreme creative activity. CRWDSPCR and Beachbirds. He started clicking 10 minutes into the first piece. "What is the point of creating art that has absolutely no entertainment value?!! Give me Paul Taylor any day." I don't think he's seen a Cunningham performance since. But really, how could anyone not like a Cunningham Event...? It's like a Mongolian hot pot, everything boiled together in a briny broth. All tasty ingredients combined, some mixing, some remaining separate. Sauce or not at the end. Tie-died raspberry unitards or indigo Star Trek outfits. The sauce is almost irrelevant 'cause the ingredients are so good to begin with. In a Cunningham/Cage Heraclitean universe, forever open to change, art acts as an imitation of nature. Planetary orbits, street traffic, birds mating. I just wish Merce would have shaved in the middle of the piece. That would have been really good. |
