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8/4/10Read More 0)
In Montgomery Park, or Opulance limbs and mouths move not in expression of an inward motivating spirit, but as prompted by a mandated simultaneity, the regimented coherence of the performance piece as aesthetic whole. The dual or multiple voices can only speak in harmony, in unison, in time with a metronome that functions like an organ regulating the aesthetic with a mechanical precision that replaces the heart's figurative emotive function.
Where there is surface there is language -- on the face, on the page, on the white wall that differentiates inside from outside -- and depth of feeling is signaled yet absent. Longing appears only as an afterimage, conjuring the faint memory of a past in which emotion was possible. Then, longing is directed toward defunct signs which remind us that longing has left us. The dancer in an apron is replicated in her partner and then the breathing woman becomes an archetype or reproducible typeface.
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8/4/10Read More 0)
written spoken, flash frags, cases on film... walls that open to oceans and worlds of intensely personal experience; many times expressionlessly expressed. as in shock. as in out-of-body. as in automaton.
words about walls, sometimes comforting, many times predatory. always alive and breathing.
boundaries, safety, deep disturbance,ruins, songs and silence in motion, in choreographed harmony. walls that open to ocean. walls to uncover. to waves upon waves.. to dissolve.first ourside with karinne, a caricature of a chef, a sign on her chest about goldfinch wall. 'your stomach will improve.."
i thought something in the past had upset her stomach..
was it the wallpaper that burned? wondering, wondrous, prosaic.. a touch of mystery and warmth on a cool summer eve. 'i have come from afaarr..' my kind of language. -
7/31/10Read More 0)
The most famous three words in mountaineering, apparently, are George Mallory’s: “Because it’s there.” These words, his response to a reporter who asked him why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, were relayed to an audience by artist-curator Matthew Porter at the opening of Seven Summits, a photography exhibition on view through the summer. Porter’s talk, the first of five on the evening of Friday, July 16th, ignored direct description of the works on view and a straightforward explanation of his curatorial choices in favor of an in-depth look at Mallory’s final Everest climb. The talk implied a connection between the pioneering climber’s attempts to reach impossible summits back in the 1920s, and a curatorial vision of the photographer as adventurer. Here, each artist is represented by two pieces: one a studio investigation and the other shot out in the world at large.
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7/28/10Read More 0)
"Census: the seed of an apple"
A musician acts like a scenic instrumentalist and not only to accompany the dancer. He creates a profound relationship whit the other two artists in the environment they inhabit, breaking through conventional forms to make a sound. Without hiding on a different level or in the pit of an orchestra, he takes over the entire scenic space. A complete man who uses his techniques, his body and his voice to express the whole human being without adornments.A singer creates a dialog with dancer and the musician uses and internal, instinctual language that vibrates in the space.
The dancer is like a giant in a cabin in the Catskills who shows the audience a Darwinian Evolution using his body. In the beginnings he moves as a primitive cell on the earth and changes into an upright human being. In this transformation, he explodes creating a dramatic and potentially dangerous condition. he travels past an intermediate level that evokes this transition between primitive and modern times.
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7/27/10Read More 0)
Experiencing “CENSUS”: Let me count the ways…
It started with a smile—not something one expects with a dance performance—And the joy—oh yes! of being barefoot, all of us, in this gracious and welcoming space—(shoes not allowed) beamed ceiling, gloss parquet, relaxed seating, and three persons, three performers, sitting and smiling…as if in conversation.
Or not…the words are simple, complex, puzzling—the classifications of animal groups—“pride of lions, stream of trout”—all human inventions of the mind. Why? Are we driven to name the beasts, to count, to corral—to subdue?
Now Will’s dance, and his vocal repetition of “a brief history of numbers”— these swift and simple motions, positions of arms, torso, feet—rudimentary, minimal, evocative. As we watch, we are gently unhinged from time…Will’s form slides from Egyptian pose to modern slouch, and beyond, at the speed of thought—