2 0 1 3 -2 0 1 4 UMS LEARNING GUIDE DANCE SERIES
BALLET PRELJOCAJ
TA B L E OF CONTENTS
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LEARN
CONNECT
05 Why?
17 Invitation to the Dance
07 Artist
19 UMS Dance Education Events
10 Art Form
20 About UMS
13 Performance
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U MS DAN CE SER I ES
B AB TA LLE T ORFECLO P JO NCTAEJN T S
Angelin Preljocaj, artistic director Friday, November 1, 8pm Saturday, November 2, 8pm Power Center
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S U P P O RT E D BY
FUND E D IN PA RT BY
Maxine and Stuart Frankel and the Renegade Ventures Fund
Art Works
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LEARN Ballet Preljocaj
UMS.ORG / 734.615.0122
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WHY? U M S E D U C AT I O N A R T I S T I C S TAT E M E N T
THE WORK OF ANGELIN PRELJOCAJ, THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER OF BALLET PRELJOCAJ, IS CHARACTERIZED BY HIS DIVERSE ARTISTIC AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES.
Raised in France by Albanian refugee parents, Preljocaj studied judo as a young man, earning a black belt before switching his focus to dance. Preljocaj first trained extensively in classical ballet before studying with contemporary dance legends Karin Wehner in Paris and Merce Cunningham in New York City. He also studied Japanese Noh theatre technique while living in Tokyo in 1987.
And Then, One Thousand Years of Peace is the third work by Preljocaj that UMS has presented. Ballet Preljocaj made its UMS debut in 2001 with Paysage Apres La Bataille, and the company’s daring re-imagination of Snow White (Blanche Neige) thrilled Ann Arbor audiences in 2012. And Then, One Thousand Years of Peace premiered in 2010 at the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, featuring ten Bolshoi dancers and ten dancers from Ballet Preljocaj.
Preljocaj’s dances are typically abstract, without plot; he calls them “fundamental research” into the major concepts of dance movement, drawing upon traditions of ballet while expanding and redefining the term in a contemporary context. UMS Director of Programming Michael Kondziolka praises the intellectual rigor of Preljocaj’s works, calling them “big sprawling sketchbooks of ideas.”
Inspired by St John’s Apocalypse from the New Testament’s Book of Revelation, the piece should not be read as a literal interpretation of the text. Preljocaj asserts: “The very word Apocalypse (from the Greek apo: “to lift” and calypsis: “veil”) evokes the idea of revealing, unveiling, or highlighting elements that could be present in our world but are hidden from our eyes. It should thus evoke what is nestled in the innermost recesses of our existence, rather than prophesizing about compulsive waves of catastrophe, irreparable destruction, or the imminent end of the world.” 5
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WHY? ONLINE: CONNECTING TO THE PERFORMANCE Engage more fully with all that is UMS on the Lobby, where you can access the behind-the-scenes activities that keep us humming year-round. Visit UMS Lobby for multimedia and exclusive artist content, and to give us your thoughts about various UMS activities.
www.umslobby.org
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ARTIST BALLET PRELJOCAJ: FIVE (AND A HALF) THINGS TO KNOW
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Angelin Preljocaj founded the company in 1984; since then, he has created 45 dances.
There are 26 permanent company members, all of equal rank (in contrast to the hierarchal structure of traditional ballet companies, with corps, soloists, and principal dancers). Preljocaj says, “There are no soloists in my company – or more specifically, they are all soloists in my view.”
Preljocaj begins choreography for a new piece by leading his dancers in intense physical improvisation, which he calls “a way to evacuate all the things which are too obvious.”
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Since 2006, Ballet Preljocaj has been in residence at the Pavilion Noir in Aix-en-Provence, France, a building dedicated completely to the creation and performance of dance, for which Angelin Preljocaj also serves as artistic director.
Preljocaj’s works have been performed at Munich Ballet, Berlin Staatsoper Ballet, New York City Ballet, Milan’s La Scala, Bolshoi Ballet, Helsinki Ballet, and São Paulo’s Balé da Cidade. Ballet Preljocaj itself tours extensively, performing about 100 dates a year in France and internationally.
Pronounce it “PREZH-oh-kahzh”!
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ARTIST FROM THE CLUB TO THE CONCERT HALL Laurent Garnier, composer for And Then, A Thousand Years of Peace, is one of the leading DJs and producers of electronic dance music (EDM) in France. Garnier and Preljocaj first worked together in 2006 on a short commemorative piece for Ballet Preljocaj and when Preljocaj began work on And Then, A Thousand Years of Peace, he knew he wanted to continue their collaboration:
LAURENT GARNIER composer, And Then, One Thousand Years of Peace
PRELJOCAJ “[Laurent] was my first thought when it came to choosing a musical collaborator for this piece. DJs are like masters of ceremony, and when you see people like Laurent controlling crowds of thousands as he mixes his music, it’s an almost religious experience. And that’s what I wanted for this.”
The collaboration pushed Garnier into new stylistic territory: GARNIER “I didn’t use the same skills I use when I’m a DJ. And I didn’t build the music in the same way I would if I was trying to make people dance, because it’s a completely different story. Music-wise, it’s pretty far away from what people would expect me to do.” In fact, Preljocaj initially set the piece on the dancers using completely different music from Garnier’s score, so that they wouldn’t let the sound overly influence their performance of the choreography. Despite the unusual methods used, their collaboration was a satisfying one: GARNIER “We really understood each other…We had a very good relationship.”
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ARTIST ONLINE: LAURENT GARNIER’S MUSIC Laurent Garnier began his career in the club scene in Manchester, England in the 1980s. He then took up producing in the 90s, and more recently he created a 24/7 radio station, PBB (Pedro Basement Broadcast) Radio. Listen to some of Laurent Garnier’s compositions and DJ mixes online on Soundcloud. www.soundcloud.com/laurent-garnier
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ART FORM DANCE MOVEMENT Choreography is the series or combination of movements that creates these fundamental patterns in time and space. Like words in a sentence, the individual movements are just as important as the product of their combination. In dance there are many different types of movement. Here are some options to explore as you think about dance.
TYPE
DEFINITION
S U S TA I N E D
An even release of energy that stays constant, either fast or slow, but not both.
PERCUSSIVE
Sudden bursts of energy that start and stop quickly.
SWINGING
A drop of energy into gravity that sustains and follows through.
SUSPENDED
This is the movement at the end of a swing, before gravity takes over.
COLLAPSE
A sudden and complete release of energy, like fainting and either of the full body or a single body part.
EXPLOSIVE
A gathering of energy that is released as a burst of one huge sudden action, either of the full body or a single body part.
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ART FORM DANCE ELEMENTS The elements of dance — easily remembered with the use of the acronym BEST: Body, Energy, Space, and Time — can be helpful guides in watching or thinking about dance. (from Cornett, C. (1999). The Arts as Meaning Makers. Person Education, Inc.)
BODY
ENERGY
S PAC E
TIME
Parts: Head, shoulders, elbows, hands, knees, feet, etc.
Force: Smooth or sharp
Level: Low, middle, high
Rhythm: Pulse, beat
Isolation: Movements restricted to one area of the body such as the shoulders, rib cage or hips
Weight: Heavy or light
Levels: The height of the dancer in relation to the floor. When a dancer is at a low level, a part of his torso might touch the floor; when a dancer is at a high level, he might be in the air or on his toes
Speed: Pace, tempo, rate
Shapes: Curved/angular, small/large, flat/rounded Actions: (Non-locomotor) Stretch, bend, twist, rise, fall, circle, shake, suspend, sway, swing, collapse or (Locomotor) walk, run, leap, hop, jump, gallop, skip, slide Locomotor: Movements that occur in general space when a dancer moves place to place Non-locomotor: Movements that occur in a person’s space with one body part anchored to one spot and that are organized around the spine or axis of the body
Strength: Tight or relaxed Flow: Sudden or sustained, bound or free
Direction: Forward, backward, up, down, sideways Size: Large or small
Accent: Light or strong emphasis Duration: Fast/slow, short/long Phrases: Dance sentences, patterns and combinations
Destination: Where a dancer moves Pathways: Patterns we make with the body on the floor and in the air Focus: Where a dancer looks
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ART FORM ONLINE: DANCE IN DEPTH The Guardian’s “Step-by-Step Guide to Dance” • Thoughts on watching a choreographer’s work • Facts about the artist(s) • Video and article links
www.theguardian.com/stage/series/stepbystepguidetodance
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PERFORMANCE AND THEN, ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF PEACE
“WHEN YOU’RE CHOREOGRAPHING A NEW PIECE, IT’S NOT ABOUT THE CHOICES YOU MAKE IN ONE SINGLE MOMENT, BUT THE MIXTURE OF DIFFERENT THINGS YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED IN YOUR LIFE. WHICH TECHNIQUES, WHICH ART, WHICH EXPERIENCES…” - ANGELIN PRELJOCAJ
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PERFORMANCE AND THEN, ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF PEACE BALLET PRELJOCAJ Angelin Preljocaj, Artistic Director AND THEN, ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF PEACE Choreography: Angelin Preljocaj Music: Laurent Garnier (except Les Anges by Benjamin Rippert and Sonate au Clair de lune by Beethoven – Mix by Scan X) Scenography: Subodh Gupta Costumes: Igor Chapurin Lighting: Cécile Giovansili-Vissière BALLET PRELJOCAJ DANCERS Gaëlle Chappaz, Natacha Grimaud, Solène Hérault, Émilie Lalande, Céline Marié, Aude Miyagi, Wilma Puentes Linares, Nagisa Shirai, Anna Tatarova, Cecilia Torres Morillo, Yurie Tsugawa, Yacnoy Abreu Alfonso, Sergi Amoros Aparicio, Marius Delcourt, Sergio Diaz, Jean-Charles Jousni, Fran Sanchez, Julien Thibault, Yang Wang, Gaël Rougegrez, Joakim Lorca
T H E R E V E L AT I O N O F S T J O H N I N T H E N E W T E S TA M E N T, W H I L E O N T H E F A C E O F I T [ I S ] A B O U T T H E A P O C A LY P S E , H A S A P O L I T I C A L E L E M E N T T O I T, T H E D E S I R E T O OVERTHROW A REGIME, REVOLUTION. - ANGELIN PRELJOCAJ
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE Interview by Jackie McGlone for the Edinburgh International Festival 2012 with And Then, One Thousand Years of Peace choreographer Angelin Preljocaj
http://bit.ly/16UvmrO
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PERFORMANCE ONLINE: BALLET PRELJOCAJ ARCHIVE Learn more about Ballet’s Preljocaj’s three decades of dance, including video excerpts of many of the performances, by visiting Ballet Preljocaj’s online video archive.
http://bit.ly/16EKU9N
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CONNECT “Invitation to the Dance” (Courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival) 2013-2014 UMS Dance Education Events About UMS
UMS.ORG / 734.615.0122
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Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival
Invitation to the
Dance
By Ella Baff, Jacob’s Pillow Executive and Artistic Director Over the years, many audience members have shared their dance experiences with me. Some have described connecting immediately and viscerally with dance as the most basic and universal of the arts. Others were reluctant at first, but finally relented to a dance enthusiast friend and attended a performance. And some acquired a taste for dance over time, starting with a well-known entrée and expanding into an adventurous feast in new realms. Whether you find dance to be a familiar country, or worry you won’t “get it” and will be out of the cultural loop, read on. Here are some helpful guideposts for seeing, discussing, and appreciating dance.
Check your preconceptions at the door
Trust yourself
Multiple ways of understanding
It’s natural to come to any new experience with preconceptions. Remember when you had none, and try to get into that mindset. Try not to foreclose on your experience on the basis of preconceptions (and misconceptions) about dance’s accessibility. Many people have shared with me that they were convinced they wouldn’t enjoy a particular kind of dance or artist’s work but were delighted to discover something new and exciting.
Remember the analogy about being in a foreign country. You may feel ignorant not knowing the language, but relax; you packed your instincts, intelligence, interpretive skills, and curiosity. Let the work you see on stage “happen” rather than trying to make it happen. A dance will often reveal its own rules about how it should be “read” if we are attentive and patient. You may not know a particular dance tradition, form, choreographer, or company, but you are already equipped with tools that translate in new territory. No passport required.
Both scientific research and common sense tell us that people process information in many ways, and not all of them relate to verbal processes. Babies read non-verbal signals about human emotions long before they acquire speech. Body language is an essential form of communication throughout our lives, and we can often tell more about a person by how they move than by what they say. As the choreographer Martha Graham famously said, ‘Movement never lies.’ You can respond to movement and interpret meaning without the intervention of verbal language to characterize your response.
The language of the body Verbal communication represents much of how we think and who we are. When we communicate with others in the same language, there’s a good chance that the meaning of what we say will be understood. Sometimes we travel to another country where the language is foreign to us. We are on the outskirts of a secret that everyone else is in on. We may feel challenged or awkward. How do I interpret meaning? What if I make a mistake? Like music, dance has no linguistic equivalent. Dance is an art form of the body, and the body speaks in many dialects created by a vast range of choreographers and long-held traditions everywhere on the planet. Dance is typically more evocative than literal. It is non-verbal, and therefore imbued with unique capacities to communicate across language, cultural, and other barriers. Its vocabulary is often thrillingly virtuosic, but it is built on basic movement ideas that are a common life experience for all of us.
Location, location, location Contextual information locates valuable reference points that yield insight into a particular dance style, tradition, or an artist’s creative process. At the Pillow, you can find out about how dancers train and how dances are made. You can talk with artists; observe dancers in class with master faculty at The School; explore the Archives on site or online to learn about dance history or see performances from long ago or last week. You can attend free performances, informative talks before every performance, post-show discussions with artists, and related visual art exhibits. And you can take a morning movement class yourself; no prior experience required. Add to the resources you bring to your role as an audience member, and you’ll find that the experience becomes even richer.
Ambiguity can be a source of aesthetic pleasure People tend to read movement as intentional and literal. When we see ballets such as Swan Lake, we can follow a story; that helps. But dance is often abstract and ambiguous, and part of the dance experience is embracing that ambiguity. It may be puzzling and uncomfortable, but relax – you are free to make up your own “story” about what is happening on stage. Allow yourself to harvest feelings, images, and ideas from what you see. They may cohere or not, but you will expand your meaning-making. Ambiguity can be a source of adventure, pleasure, and personal discovery.
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Looking is learning Whether you are a neophyte or an aficionado, here are some tools that will help you to access the many different worlds that artists conjure for us on the stage. Exercise patience, and trust that “meaning” will reveal itself over time. Allow for the possibility that there may be moments of confusion or even boredom along the way. Give yourself over to the pace and energy of the work; free-associate with the imagery; and recognize that whatever your response, it is meaningful and authentic. Try out one or more of these approaches and see what works for you.
The Journalist’s Eye
The Anthropologist’s Eye Think of dance-going as a form of “field research” on a “culture” about which you have no prior knowledge. For experienced dancegoers, this is a way to keep one’s eye fresh and challenge preconceptions. Before making evaluative judgments, ask: • If you were an anthropologist, how would you describe the way these people move? • Do the men and women move in the same manner? • What kinds of bodies are on stage, and what parts of the body are being engaged? • Are the people moving in isolation or as a group?
• Do they appear to have rigid or flexible rules?
• How would you describe the movement in your own words?
• Try this fun exercise immediately following a performance:
• What is the speed and energy of the dancers? How do they change over time? • What connections can I make with how the movement looks, such as sports, nature, other dance works, or everyday movements? • What is the relationship between the music and movement? • What does the work evoke in me emotionally? How does my body feel when I am watching it? • What do I know about the work and the choreographer who created it? What does the choreographer say about his or her work?
I hope that by sharing some of my own thoughts and experiences as well as those of colleagues and audience members, I have given you some new tools to enrich your appreciation of dance. Practice is an essential tool for artists, and its value for audiences is equally important. With a new sense of confidence and curiosity, I hope you will feel comfortable talking about dance with friends, family, fellow audience members, and all of us at the Pillow. I promise you that every attempt to grapple with something new or unfamiliar will make you feel more empowered. Remember, there’s no passport required – and everyone’s invited.
• What appears to bring them together or move them apart?
A journalist typically asks what—and who, what, and where—before tackling why. Focus in on what you are seeing, and more global reflections on meaning will follow.
• What body parts are being used? In what way?
Go forth and talk about it
The Linguist’s/Grammarian’s Eye
Seeing Dance, Talking Dance
• Write down a few adjectives that characterize your initial emotional response. • Write down a few verbs that characterize the movement. • Write down a few adverbs to express the quality of the movement. Now work backward from the emotional feel of the piece (the adjectives) to a better understanding of the ways in which the movement material and choreographic structure had evoked your responses.
Engaging Dance Audiences is administered by Dance/USA and made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Source material for Invitation to the Dance, as well as other writing on dance literacy, is available in Presenting Dance: Dynamic Dialogues from the National Dance Presenters Leadership Forum at Jacob’s Pillow by Mindy N. Levine. ©Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival If you are interested in duplicating this essay or any part of it, please contact us at info@jacobspillow.org.
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CON N ECT
2 0 1 3 -2 0 1 4 U M S D A N C E E D U C AT I O N E V E N T S YO U C AN DAN C E Ballet Preljocaj: Saturday, November 2, 12:30 PM Compagnie Kafig: Thursday, February 13, 7:30 PM Wendy Whelan: Restless Creature: Sunday, March 23, 5:00 PM Ann Arbor Y (400 W. Washington Street, Ann Arbor) “You Can Dance” are technique workshops led by visiting artists from UMS performances that explore their company’s unique movement vocabulary. No dance training or experience necessary, and all levels, ages 13 and up, are welcome. “You Can Dance” events are free, but first-come, first-served until studio reaches capacity. Signup begins at 6:45pm.
UMS N I G H T S C H O O L: “ B O DI ES I N M OT I O N ” Mondays, January 27-March 10 (no class March 3), 7:00 – 8:30 PM with Clare Croft, U-M Assistant Professor of Dance U-M Alumni Center (200 Fletcher Street, Ann Arbor) UMS Night School is a free series of 90-minute “classes” that combine conversation, interactive exercises, and lectures with genre experts to draw you into the themes behind each performance. Sessions are designed to both deepen your knowledge of the performing arts and connect you with other audience members. In collaboration with the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Visit www.ums.org/learn for complete details.
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CON N ECT
ABOUT UMS U M S E D U C AT I O N A N D COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT D E PA RT M E N T S TA F F KEN FISCHER UMS President JIM LEIJA Director E M I LY B A R K A K AT I Teaching Artist SHANNON K. FITZSIMONS Campus Engagement Specialist JORDAN MILLER Intern CHARLIE REISCHL Intern MARY ROEDER Associate Manager of Community Engagement OMARI RUSH Education Manager
D T E E N E R G Y F O U N D AT I O N E D U C AT O R O F T H E Y E A R M AT T K A Z M I E R S K I I S C O N G R AT U L AT E D B Y Y O - Y O M A AT T H E U M S F O R D HONORS GALA.
One of the oldest performing arts presenters in the country, UMS is committed to connecting audiences with performing artists from around the world in uncommon and engaging experiences. With a program steeped in music, dance, and theater, UMS contributes to a vibrant cultural community by presenting approximately 60-75 performances and over 100 free educational activities each season. UMS also commissions new work, sponsors artist residencies, and organizes collaborative projects with local, national, and international partners. Learning is core to UMS’s mission, and it is our joy to provide creative learning experiences for our entire community. Each season, we offer a fun and fascinating lineup of workshops, artist Q&As, conversations, and interactive experiences to draw you in and out of your comfort zone, connect you to interesting people and unexpected ideas, and bring you closer to the heart of the artistic experience. We exist to create a spark in people, young and old alike, exposing them to things they haven’t seen before, and leaving them with a lifelong passion for creativity and the performing arts.
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T HAN K YOU!
CREDITS AND SPONSORS TH IS LEARN IN G G UI D E I S TH E P ROD U C T OF THE UM S E D UC ATI O N AN D COM M U N ITY E N G AG E M E N T DE PARTM EN T. WR ITTEN & R ESE A RC H E D BY
Shannon K. Fitzsimons
These performances are made possible through the generous support of individuals, corporations, and foundations, including the following UMS Education and Community Engagement Supporters:
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
University of Michigan
ED ITED BY
Omari Rush Special thanks to Liz Stover, Michael Kondziolka, Emily Barkakati, and Ballet Preljocaj for their contributions, feedback, and support in developing this guide. Additionally, special thanks to Jacob’s Pillow for providing content used in this guide.
Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation Anonymous Arts at Michigan Bank of Ann Arbor Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan Confucius Institute at the University of Michigan Dance/USA Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment Fund DTE Energy Foundation The Esperance Foundation David and Jo-Anna Featherman Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation David and Phyllis Herzig Endowment Fund Hooper Hathaway, P.C., Charles W. Borgsdorf & William Stapleton, attorneys JazzNet Endowment Mardi Gras Fund Masco Corporation Foundation Merrill Lynch
Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs Michigan Humanities Council Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C. THE MOSAIC FOUNDATION [of R. & P. Heydon] National Endowment for the Arts New England Foundation for the Arts Quincy and Rob Northrup PNC Foundation Prudence and Amnon Rosenthal K-12 Education Endowment Fund John W. and Gail Ferguson Stout Stout Systems Toyota UMS Advisory Committee U-M Credit Union U-M Health System U-M Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs U-M Office of the Vice President for Research Wallace Endowment Fund
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W W W. U M S .O R G