The Brooklyn Rail
Eidolon Ballet in Decology.
Photo by Paul B. Goode
DANCE
The Balletomane, Slaked: EIDOLON’S DECOLOGY
by David St.-Lascaux
October 1-3, 2009
Joyce SoHo
My favorite muscle in sixth grade was the gastrocnemius. A cohort of boys had become interested in sex, and I purchased a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, which had a complete catalog of images of human musculature, including the ischiocavernosus and bulbocavernosus (look ’em up in Wikipedia; you’re intimately familiar with them, I assure you). The gastrocnemius, if you don’t recognize its anatomical name, is the calf muscle, and it has a romantic history. Or rather, its tendon does, as readers of Homer’s Iliad will recall. It was by a leather thong threaded through its eponymous tendon that Achilles dragged Hector’s dead body through the Greek camp. Later, Achilles himself was killed by the cowardly adulterer Paris with a poisoned arrow in his vulnerable heel, where the tendon terminates. I’ve always had artistic aspirations; my preference for the gastrocnemius has always been aesthetic. So it remains a professional thrill to watch classical dancers perform balletic movements, given that the definition of their gastrocnemius muscles is, to say the least, pronounced. And impressive. And this has everything to do with the Eidolon Ballet’s recent performance of Decology at the Joyce SoHo in October.
Eidolon Ballet, founded in 1999 to bring dancers and other artists together “to create new and often unorthodox works,” has done just that with
Decology, a series of pieces that marks Eidolon’s tenth anniversary season. The program, which has wide-ranging themes, techniques, and emotional impacts, treats the audience to ever-changing, ever-surprising, but mostly ever-delightful movements and moments. Decology was choreographed by
Melanie Cortier, Eidolon’s co-founder and director; costumes were created by Melanie and Claudine Cortier, Yuki Kittaka, and the dancers.
The first piece, “Apposition,” set the tone for the evening, beginning with a clattering soundtrack as five dancers, clad in red, green, yellow, blue, and
orange tutus, clattered across the stage in classical mimesis. The tension between “it’s ballet” and “it’s not-ballet” recurred as a surreal defining
element of the evening. The dancers morphed, becoming music box ballerinas, flowing flowers, flouncy, fluid. It worked, even though it shouldn’t have, forcing the inescapable conclusion that, yes, I’ll take the five of them home for when I need the esthetic charms of dance. (I’ll even feed them.) And then they took off, taking the audience where? To Tahiti? Paris? Tigerlandia? Ardi’s ancient Ethiopic Africa? Clockwork-Doll-Utopia? They took us to the primitive, private place we know subconsciously we want to be. Telling us that there is only dance, there is only being alive, there is only now, here, yes, muscle, blood, sweat, women dancing in the chiaroscuro of firelight on calves, en pointe, the flames blazing, sparks flying. They took us there.
“Piano Pieces” followed to tinkling Clementi, Arne, and Chopin. Again, the juxtaposition of rehearsal studio classical music with modern movement gelled. First, the erotic trifle “Pas de Deux.” Danced by Kathryn Albarelli and Justin Allen, “Pas de Deux” was a puppy love fantasy of agile yout’, evoking familiar pleasures for anyone in love: teasing flirtation, a stunning redhead—all leg below a crushed velvet burgundy torso bodysuit—the pianoforte perfect, the movements mercurially whipsawing from frisky to maudlin, the pseudo-melodrama hilarious. Unfortunately, Decology’s costume designers chose to dress its males cap-à-pie throughout, obscuring their movements. “Trio” followed. A triad of nymphs, dusky Hesperides, music sylphs in the Elysian gardens of Attic reverie, cavorting, en tableaux, visually mellifluous, their garlands trailing as they shed their ephemeral petals, their innocence violently seducing. Then I recognized the immortal parody, and I’d been had again—it was only make-believe. Then a poignant change-up, “Duet,” a meditative allegory of friendship and sisterhood, ending with a head on a shoulder. Then “Pas de Trois,” a love triangle convincingly danced by Maureen Duke, Jerry “Chip” Scuderi, and MichaelWarrell. “Piano Pieces” closed with a final “Duet” danced by Temple Kemezis (she of the evening’s relentlessly captivating smile) and Claire McKeveny. The alabaster dancers’ bodies in contrast with their calla lily iridescent blue-black open-bottom-front dance dresses with the arresting orange
linings (ça plane pour moi). “Duet” was a hugely humorous competition between Kemezis and McKeveny, one in front of the other, en face, waving her four arms, then the allegros—quick steps—to gain the audience’s attentive advantage. A two-headed dénouement, in which Kemezis and McKeveny finally regarded each other—askance. Bravo.
Next up: “Billy’s Red Socks,” a wind-up doll dance. In its clever opening device, a child in her red dancer’s dress and leotard walked onstage to wind up the dormant automata—Albarelli, Allen, Duke, Kemezis, McKeveny, Amy Schulster, Jill Schulster, and Warrell—and then retired to the front row floor to watch the performance with the rest of us. And then they began moving, mechanically awakening, synchronizing with the appropriately eerie, pennywhistle music. The dancers dressed in beige and red, red-calfheight-socked and red-sock-armed, the socks deftly exchanged arm-to-arm. The music went loony, mysterious, the pennywhistles blew, the waltz beat amplifying the unreality. The dancers goose-stepped grotesquely, mechanically, in motor rhythm, going through their clockwork paces to electric jazz guitar, malleted xylophones. In signature Eidolon movements, the dancers became frantic, frenetic; the cartoon kazoo kicked in (Betty Boop Lives!), everything ran amok, and we were hooked—again. As in everything Eidolon does, the dancers make “Billy’s Red Socks” look like physical pleasure. In the end, we were right there with the little girl, applauding.
The second half of Decology opened with “Mana,” the supernatural power personified in dance, accompanied by Hawaiian slack key guitar (including Ozzie Kotani’s “Ku’u Kika Kahiko”). Three movements: Ao (dawn), Alaula (sunset), and Po (night). Ao’s striking Sargent Madame X tableau was stylistically inconsonant with the following movements. And the supernal, steel-stringed music begged for some svelte, synchronic sway as the celestial dawn unfolded. At least Alaula made metaphoric sense, with the two-tone orange fish dancer diving into the horizon, shimmering. Po featured five dancers—Albarelli, Valerie Cortier, Caitlin Maxwell, Christina Neil, and Amy Schulster—in black, conjuring Gaugin’s flowers, stone temples, the gift of food, the awakening of darkness, the Myriad Mysteries, the Ritual of Life, the Ineffable Feminine, the Concept of Beauty—all the things that dancing does, but words utterly fail to adequately express. Night fell; “Mana” ended well.
“Alone” was a kind of gimmick piece, with the musician Natalia Paruz performing on the saw with a holograph-wrapped bow. Paruz on sawproduces a seamless, eerie sound most equivalent to a dancer’s glissade, a theremin’s simulated human vocalization. Paruz herself describes the sound as mesmerizing. It’s also really dominant when placed center stage. As to the piece itself: Three dancers—Valerie Cortier, Kemezis and Neil—two in black, one in white, their forgettable, vague movements lost deep in the overpowering shadow of the saw.
And finally, “Dashpot” (a kind of viscous damper). “Dashpot,” danced by Allen, Valerie Cortier, Duke, Meredith Fages, Kemezis, Maxwell, McKeveny, Neil, Jill Schulster, and Scuderi, was the signature piece of the evening, and the most somnambulant. “Dashpot” opened with two dancers in ice-white floor-length gowns with a connected roll of sash. Intertwining, invisible presences protruded into the wall they made: faces, hands, and bodies against the sash, fishes in a trawling net, ideas trying to break through the mind’s amniotic wall to escape the ghostly prison of possibility. And then, without warning, they were gone, like dreams, like Internet romances, like loved ones’ lives, leaving the dancers in their iceberg ocean, their flowing sashes flying the white flag of pure emptiness. If this wasn’t enough, the Slate Blue Icons entered, sustaining the mythic, atmospheric mood: Max Ernst’s modern minotaurs, Picasso’s bicycle handlebar Head of a Bull, symmetrical one-wing butterflies, headless, faceless, slightly menacing, entirely amoral, prehistoric, instinctual, crudely and aggressively sexual—effects achieved by turning the dancers’ dresses up over their heads and holding arms up with elbows bent 90 degrees. They flapped their manta wings, they formed human caltrops, microscopic fauna with human legs, suggesting the eternal unknown. The final mass of dancers made a sunflower sunburst of heliotropic humans, arms reaching for the celestial ceiling. The audience, elated, was breathless.
In presenting the audience with ever-changing subjects, moods, and music, Decology might seem to have overreached. Viewed critically, the discontinuity between Greek maidens, clockwork dolls, and Hawaiian fish could have left the audience disoriented, or even dissatisfied. But it didn’t, instead eliciting a kind of awed euphoria. So how did Eidolon pull all of this eclecticism off? Here’s how: by being relaxed about it. A key to appreciating Eidolon’s appeal is to understand its intentionally informal approach. Eidolon doesn’t strive to be overserious, overperfect. And that magical ingredient makes all the difference: watching Eidolon’s dancers actually having fun, taking pleasure from their muscular movements, connecting with the audience facially, physically, and emotionally, giving themselves freely to our soulful thirst, only made us want more. Let’s hope we’ll see more of Eidolon—soon. My mind is thirsty, and they deliver.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David St.-Lascaux is a poet and author of the dance-themed Petit Soubresaut de Mon Coeur (My Little
Heartbreak) and e*sequiturs, the multimedia e-book. Website: www.davidstlascaux.com
The Balletomane, Slaked: EIDOLON’S DECOLOGY
by David St.-Lascaux
October 1-3, 2009
Joyce SoHo
My favorite muscle in sixth grade was the gastrocnemius. A cohort of boys had become interested in sex, and I purchased a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, which had a complete catalog of images of human musculature, including the ischiocavernosus and bulbocavernosus (look ’em up in Wikipedia; you’re intimately familiar with them, I assure you). The gastrocnemius, if you don’t recognize its anatomical name, is the calf muscle, and it has a romantic history. Or rather, its tendon does, as readers of Homer’s Iliad will recall. It was by a leather thong threaded through its eponymous tendon that Achilles dragged Hector’s dead body through the Greek camp. Later, Achilles himself was killed by the cowardly adulterer Paris with a poisoned arrow in his vulnerable heel, where the tendon terminates. I’ve always had artistic aspirations; my preference for the gastrocnemius has always been aesthetic. So it remains a professional thrill to watch classical dancers perform balletic movements, given that the definition of their gastrocnemius muscles is, to say the least, pronounced. And impressive. And this has everything to do with the Eidolon Ballet’s recent performance of Decology at the Joyce SoHo in October.
Eidolon Ballet, founded in 1999 to bring dancers and other artists together “to create new and often unorthodox works,” has done just that with
Decology, a series of pieces that marks Eidolon’s tenth anniversary season. The program, which has wide-ranging themes, techniques, and emotional impacts, treats the audience to ever-changing, ever-surprising, but mostly ever-delightful movements and moments. Decology was choreographed by
Melanie Cortier, Eidolon’s co-founder and director; costumes were created by Melanie and Claudine Cortier, Yuki Kittaka, and the dancers.
The first piece, “Apposition,” set the tone for the evening, beginning with a clattering soundtrack as five dancers, clad in red, green, yellow, blue, and
orange tutus, clattered across the stage in classical mimesis. The tension between “it’s ballet” and “it’s not-ballet” recurred as a surreal defining
element of the evening. The dancers morphed, becoming music box ballerinas, flowing flowers, flouncy, fluid. It worked, even though it shouldn’t have, forcing the inescapable conclusion that, yes, I’ll take the five of them home for when I need the esthetic charms of dance. (I’ll even feed them.) And then they took off, taking the audience where? To Tahiti? Paris? Tigerlandia? Ardi’s ancient Ethiopic Africa? Clockwork-Doll-Utopia? They took us to the primitive, private place we know subconsciously we want to be. Telling us that there is only dance, there is only being alive, there is only now, here, yes, muscle, blood, sweat, women dancing in the chiaroscuro of firelight on calves, en pointe, the flames blazing, sparks flying. They took us there.
“Piano Pieces” followed to tinkling Clementi, Arne, and Chopin. Again, the juxtaposition of rehearsal studio classical music with modern movement gelled. First, the erotic trifle “Pas de Deux.” Danced by Kathryn Albarelli and Justin Allen, “Pas de Deux” was a puppy love fantasy of agile yout’, evoking familiar pleasures for anyone in love: teasing flirtation, a stunning redhead—all leg below a crushed velvet burgundy torso bodysuit—the pianoforte perfect, the movements mercurially whipsawing from frisky to maudlin, the pseudo-melodrama hilarious. Unfortunately, Decology’s costume designers chose to dress its males cap-à-pie throughout, obscuring their movements. “Trio” followed. A triad of nymphs, dusky Hesperides, music sylphs in the Elysian gardens of Attic reverie, cavorting, en tableaux, visually mellifluous, their garlands trailing as they shed their ephemeral petals, their innocence violently seducing. Then I recognized the immortal parody, and I’d been had again—it was only make-believe. Then a poignant change-up, “Duet,” a meditative allegory of friendship and sisterhood, ending with a head on a shoulder. Then “Pas de Trois,” a love triangle convincingly danced by Maureen Duke, Jerry “Chip” Scuderi, and MichaelWarrell. “Piano Pieces” closed with a final “Duet” danced by Temple Kemezis (she of the evening’s relentlessly captivating smile) and Claire McKeveny. The alabaster dancers’ bodies in contrast with their calla lily iridescent blue-black open-bottom-front dance dresses with the arresting orange
linings (ça plane pour moi). “Duet” was a hugely humorous competition between Kemezis and McKeveny, one in front of the other, en face, waving her four arms, then the allegros—quick steps—to gain the audience’s attentive advantage. A two-headed dénouement, in which Kemezis and McKeveny finally regarded each other—askance. Bravo.
Next up: “Billy’s Red Socks,” a wind-up doll dance. In its clever opening device, a child in her red dancer’s dress and leotard walked onstage to wind up the dormant automata—Albarelli, Allen, Duke, Kemezis, McKeveny, Amy Schulster, Jill Schulster, and Warrell—and then retired to the front row floor to watch the performance with the rest of us. And then they began moving, mechanically awakening, synchronizing with the appropriately eerie, pennywhistle music. The dancers dressed in beige and red, red-calfheight-socked and red-sock-armed, the socks deftly exchanged arm-to-arm. The music went loony, mysterious, the pennywhistles blew, the waltz beat amplifying the unreality. The dancers goose-stepped grotesquely, mechanically, in motor rhythm, going through their clockwork paces to electric jazz guitar, malleted xylophones. In signature Eidolon movements, the dancers became frantic, frenetic; the cartoon kazoo kicked in (Betty Boop Lives!), everything ran amok, and we were hooked—again. As in everything Eidolon does, the dancers make “Billy’s Red Socks” look like physical pleasure. In the end, we were right there with the little girl, applauding.
The second half of Decology opened with “Mana,” the supernatural power personified in dance, accompanied by Hawaiian slack key guitar (including Ozzie Kotani’s “Ku’u Kika Kahiko”). Three movements: Ao (dawn), Alaula (sunset), and Po (night). Ao’s striking Sargent Madame X tableau was stylistically inconsonant with the following movements. And the supernal, steel-stringed music begged for some svelte, synchronic sway as the celestial dawn unfolded. At least Alaula made metaphoric sense, with the two-tone orange fish dancer diving into the horizon, shimmering. Po featured five dancers—Albarelli, Valerie Cortier, Caitlin Maxwell, Christina Neil, and Amy Schulster—in black, conjuring Gaugin’s flowers, stone temples, the gift of food, the awakening of darkness, the Myriad Mysteries, the Ritual of Life, the Ineffable Feminine, the Concept of Beauty—all the things that dancing does, but words utterly fail to adequately express. Night fell; “Mana” ended well.
“Alone” was a kind of gimmick piece, with the musician Natalia Paruz performing on the saw with a holograph-wrapped bow. Paruz on sawproduces a seamless, eerie sound most equivalent to a dancer’s glissade, a theremin’s simulated human vocalization. Paruz herself describes the sound as mesmerizing. It’s also really dominant when placed center stage. As to the piece itself: Three dancers—Valerie Cortier, Kemezis and Neil—two in black, one in white, their forgettable, vague movements lost deep in the overpowering shadow of the saw.
And finally, “Dashpot” (a kind of viscous damper). “Dashpot,” danced by Allen, Valerie Cortier, Duke, Meredith Fages, Kemezis, Maxwell, McKeveny, Neil, Jill Schulster, and Scuderi, was the signature piece of the evening, and the most somnambulant. “Dashpot” opened with two dancers in ice-white floor-length gowns with a connected roll of sash. Intertwining, invisible presences protruded into the wall they made: faces, hands, and bodies against the sash, fishes in a trawling net, ideas trying to break through the mind’s amniotic wall to escape the ghostly prison of possibility. And then, without warning, they were gone, like dreams, like Internet romances, like loved ones’ lives, leaving the dancers in their iceberg ocean, their flowing sashes flying the white flag of pure emptiness. If this wasn’t enough, the Slate Blue Icons entered, sustaining the mythic, atmospheric mood: Max Ernst’s modern minotaurs, Picasso’s bicycle handlebar Head of a Bull, symmetrical one-wing butterflies, headless, faceless, slightly menacing, entirely amoral, prehistoric, instinctual, crudely and aggressively sexual—effects achieved by turning the dancers’ dresses up over their heads and holding arms up with elbows bent 90 degrees. They flapped their manta wings, they formed human caltrops, microscopic fauna with human legs, suggesting the eternal unknown. The final mass of dancers made a sunflower sunburst of heliotropic humans, arms reaching for the celestial ceiling. The audience, elated, was breathless.
In presenting the audience with ever-changing subjects, moods, and music, Decology might seem to have overreached. Viewed critically, the discontinuity between Greek maidens, clockwork dolls, and Hawaiian fish could have left the audience disoriented, or even dissatisfied. But it didn’t, instead eliciting a kind of awed euphoria. So how did Eidolon pull all of this eclecticism off? Here’s how: by being relaxed about it. A key to appreciating Eidolon’s appeal is to understand its intentionally informal approach. Eidolon doesn’t strive to be overserious, overperfect. And that magical ingredient makes all the difference: watching Eidolon’s dancers actually having fun, taking pleasure from their muscular movements, connecting with the audience facially, physically, and emotionally, giving themselves freely to our soulful thirst, only made us want more. Let’s hope we’ll see more of Eidolon—soon. My mind is thirsty, and they deliver.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David St.-Lascaux is a poet and author of the dance-themed Petit Soubresaut de Mon Coeur (My Little
Heartbreak) and e*sequiturs, the multimedia e-book. Website: www.davidstlascaux.com
THE HAPPIEST MEDIUM
The Beátitudes: The Beat Goes On (Fringe Festival
2010)
by Stephen Tortora-Lee on August 20, 2010
What’s Beat? The Beat is Beat? Do you dig? (snap,snap).
The story we have is the story we were, twirling and twisting about in a blur whose end and beginning is a boy and a girl. That story – two ends – are tender and sweet . . . But what we got in the middle is what we call the Beat. (roll of tom-toms).
Eidolon Ballet Company’s The Beátitudes begin with a drum beat – complex but steady – pulling us forward through a photo montage of World War II while simultaneously we are bombarded by our heroic dancers doing what they’re instructed and pushing through the mess and grime of war. We see them acting like machines as they move through the repetitious motions of the military. However we see their body’s expressions inform us of their need to be human too as they take turns helping their fellow soldiers or as they are being saved themselves.
Then comes the day that the War Ends with great Glory and Adulation and we get to the real beginning of the Story at hand. The Kiss!
Theirs is the spark that connects the boy (Ray played by Jerry “Chip” Scuderi ) and the girl (Alvah played by Maureen Duke) through the rest of the story through many morphs and changes. It’s their spark that acts as a reflection of the sparks waking up everywhere else.
What’s the Beat so far?
The Beat is Jazz . . . Jazz filling up your brain cool and fast. The Beat is being free to be something different, but something that’s in sync with a greater groove so smooth, you don’t know where you’re going until you already left.
2. Values and Re-evaluation
After the aftershocks of the Returning Home fades, we see the Couple enter the Beat Scene as the Scene begins forming around them. It forms by way of the Subterraneans and Dean who acts as a shining star around which everyone is going to revolve. As the voice-overs of words and music from the time period inform us, this movement or experience that becomes The Beat Generation was at first alien to everyone, but everyone’s hunger for wonder fueled an amazing exploration of many new ways of appreciating other people and ideas and sensations.
They get brought into one group out of curiosity and then they are intrigued with the possibilities of expression and variety in people and ideas and art. This becomes obsession about what was once only something to be looked forward
The middle has most everyone lost in a new roles that make their heads spin in new ways. They’re finding mastery at arts and then realing they can go in another direction. They’re enlarging their emotional capacity for handling loss, creating independence and escaping dependence on others by leading. They’re learning all the sexual twists and turns one can make, but realizing that in the long run love beats mere sensation even in a world that’s Beat (as showcased in the budding relationship between Dean and Maggie played by A. Temple Kemezis). And Finally that there’s always something more to find.
What’s there Cracker-Jack as you look at your hands?
They tingle/touch/scream/settle into a new place.
Then when they finally find it -
This new flow in us becomes a dance we are becoming -
Shifting/sifting ’round and ’round we’re tossed until we find our balance.
Until we become who we really are…
For now anyway…
3. Tales of Filling Learning, Yearning, Burning, and then Re-Turning to Something New
The meat of the show has an almost overabundance of mental and emotional sustenance, with lots to read within and between the lines of this dialogueless play. The movement of the dancers conveys more than dialogue could in terms of the language of immediacy and urgency and the subtle transformation of self that happens when you learn something new yourself through careful study or thoughtful introspection that seem to be hallmarks of the ideals and themes of the times.
Also between the media displayed on the large and beautifully worked screen in the backdrop of this show and the playing of music and reading of words from leaders of that generation (like Jack Keruoac, Allen Ginsberg, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, and many more) The Beátitudes is one of the most in depth as well as entertaining history immersements I’ve ever had, especially for the time involved (35 minutes).
It was wonderful to watch and explore the progression of The Beat movement using the two main characters as elements exemplifying the best and worst emotional experiences that were typical of that era. These characters find a greater depth and satisfaction through their journey through The Beat Era, and what seem to be wholesome decent futures are resonant of who they were at the beginning of the play, but resonating on a higher but more complex level.
There’s really a lot that more I could say about this dynamic and beautiful show but I don’t want to go on longer than the production which is only 35 minutes long.
So I’ll end by saying that my hope for this show was to have a greater appreciation for this poetic and magic time of social transformation in our history. I came away from it feeling that The Beátitudes transmitted enough of the vibes of the time – The Beat – that I’m now a part of the revolution/evolution of the time too.
Let the Eidolon Ballet move you to the sound of their different drumbeat in the The Beátitudes.
Can you Dig it? (snap)(snap)
~~~
The Beatitudes
Eidolon Ballet
Writer: Justin Allen with poetry and jazz from the Beat Generation
Choreographer: Melanie Cortier
0h 35m
VENUE #1: Dixon Place
What’s Beat? The Beat is Beat? Do you dig? (snap,snap).
The story we have is the story we were, twirling and twisting about in a blur whose end and beginning is a boy and a girl. That story – two ends – are tender and sweet . . . But what we got in the middle is what we call the Beat. (roll of tom-toms).
Eidolon Ballet Company’s The Beátitudes begin with a drum beat – complex but steady – pulling us forward through a photo montage of World War II while simultaneously we are bombarded by our heroic dancers doing what they’re instructed and pushing through the mess and grime of war. We see them acting like machines as they move through the repetitious motions of the military. However we see their body’s expressions inform us of their need to be human too as they take turns helping their fellow soldiers or as they are being saved themselves.
Then comes the day that the War Ends with great Glory and Adulation and we get to the real beginning of the Story at hand. The Kiss!
Theirs is the spark that connects the boy (Ray played by Jerry “Chip” Scuderi ) and the girl (Alvah played by Maureen Duke) through the rest of the story through many morphs and changes. It’s their spark that acts as a reflection of the sparks waking up everywhere else.
What’s the Beat so far?
The Beat is Jazz . . . Jazz filling up your brain cool and fast. The Beat is being free to be something different, but something that’s in sync with a greater groove so smooth, you don’t know where you’re going until you already left.
2. Values and Re-evaluation
After the aftershocks of the Returning Home fades, we see the Couple enter the Beat Scene as the Scene begins forming around them. It forms by way of the Subterraneans and Dean who acts as a shining star around which everyone is going to revolve. As the voice-overs of words and music from the time period inform us, this movement or experience that becomes The Beat Generation was at first alien to everyone, but everyone’s hunger for wonder fueled an amazing exploration of many new ways of appreciating other people and ideas and sensations.
They get brought into one group out of curiosity and then they are intrigued with the possibilities of expression and variety in people and ideas and art. This becomes obsession about what was once only something to be looked forward
The middle has most everyone lost in a new roles that make their heads spin in new ways. They’re finding mastery at arts and then realing they can go in another direction. They’re enlarging their emotional capacity for handling loss, creating independence and escaping dependence on others by leading. They’re learning all the sexual twists and turns one can make, but realizing that in the long run love beats mere sensation even in a world that’s Beat (as showcased in the budding relationship between Dean and Maggie played by A. Temple Kemezis). And Finally that there’s always something more to find.
What’s there Cracker-Jack as you look at your hands?
They tingle/touch/scream/settle into a new place.
Then when they finally find it -
This new flow in us becomes a dance we are becoming -
Shifting/sifting ’round and ’round we’re tossed until we find our balance.
Until we become who we really are…
For now anyway…
3. Tales of Filling Learning, Yearning, Burning, and then Re-Turning to Something New
The meat of the show has an almost overabundance of mental and emotional sustenance, with lots to read within and between the lines of this dialogueless play. The movement of the dancers conveys more than dialogue could in terms of the language of immediacy and urgency and the subtle transformation of self that happens when you learn something new yourself through careful study or thoughtful introspection that seem to be hallmarks of the ideals and themes of the times.
Also between the media displayed on the large and beautifully worked screen in the backdrop of this show and the playing of music and reading of words from leaders of that generation (like Jack Keruoac, Allen Ginsberg, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, and many more) The Beátitudes is one of the most in depth as well as entertaining history immersements I’ve ever had, especially for the time involved (35 minutes).
It was wonderful to watch and explore the progression of The Beat movement using the two main characters as elements exemplifying the best and worst emotional experiences that were typical of that era. These characters find a greater depth and satisfaction through their journey through The Beat Era, and what seem to be wholesome decent futures are resonant of who they were at the beginning of the play, but resonating on a higher but more complex level.
There’s really a lot that more I could say about this dynamic and beautiful show but I don’t want to go on longer than the production which is only 35 minutes long.
So I’ll end by saying that my hope for this show was to have a greater appreciation for this poetic and magic time of social transformation in our history. I came away from it feeling that The Beátitudes transmitted enough of the vibes of the time – The Beat – that I’m now a part of the revolution/evolution of the time too.
Let the Eidolon Ballet move you to the sound of their different drumbeat in the The Beátitudes.
Can you Dig it? (snap)(snap)
~~~
The Beatitudes
Eidolon Ballet
Writer: Justin Allen with poetry and jazz from the Beat Generation
Choreographer: Melanie Cortier
0h 35m
VENUE #1: Dixon Place
ExploreDance.com
Photo by Lois Greenfield
Eidolon Ballet
Joyce SoHo
Saturday, October 3, 2009
By Megan Kennedy
ExploreDance.com
Eidolon Ballet presented their 10th Anniversary Season at Joyce SoHo October 1st – 3rd. The diverse company explored traditional pointe as well as contemporary dance during the course of the performance.
“Apposition”, a pointe piece opening the evening, showcased classical ballet technique. The five dancers were adorned each with a different, brightly colored tutu, contrasting with the stark blackness of their leotards and the rest of the stage. This was the first of three pointe pieces comprising the first half of the show. The following two proved to be the more memorable of the evening.
The variation in the five dances making up “Piano Pieces” was captivating. The initial pas de deux portrayed a sweet, honest relationship between the two dancers. The final two sections of “Piano Pieces” were especially memorable. The pas de trois played with traditional male/female partnering to reveal elegant, equal partnering between the two men and one woman. It gave the dance a unified, organic feel. The final duet contrasted with its playful nature. The two dancers engaged in highly entertaining, playful competition that provided a satisfying end to the series of dances.
“Billy’s Red Socks”, a new work by the company, continued the playful theme. The audience is transported into another realm as toys come to life. It was as though the audience was peering into a toy box at night with the lively imagination of a young child. The dancers frequently enter and exit the stage, seamlessly transferring the red socks from one person to another. This is a delightful addition to Eidolon’s repertory.
The latter portion of the night transitioned to more contemporary repertoire, opening with “Mana”. Spanning from a Hawaiian sunrise to sundown, the dancers illuminated the beauty and delicacy of nature. This piece was infused with influences of Hawaiian dance, particularly in the hand gestures, which added greatly to the artistry of the dance.
“Alone” was performed along with live music from Natalia Paruz (aka “Saw Lady”). Live music often adds to a performance, but for this particular piece, it was more of a distraction, with the musician sitting center stage. It didn’t seem to fit with the piece and dancers looked displaced to the sides of the stage.
The final dance of the evening, “Dashpot” had dancers partially enclosed within spandex costumes. The limited mobility led to creative movement. At times the amorphous bodies took on shapes that seemed bird-like. The creativity and diversity of movement within the confines of the costumes was remarkable – the perfect ending to a wonderful evening of dance.
Joyce SoHo
Saturday, October 3, 2009
By Megan Kennedy
ExploreDance.com
Eidolon Ballet presented their 10th Anniversary Season at Joyce SoHo October 1st – 3rd. The diverse company explored traditional pointe as well as contemporary dance during the course of the performance.
“Apposition”, a pointe piece opening the evening, showcased classical ballet technique. The five dancers were adorned each with a different, brightly colored tutu, contrasting with the stark blackness of their leotards and the rest of the stage. This was the first of three pointe pieces comprising the first half of the show. The following two proved to be the more memorable of the evening.
The variation in the five dances making up “Piano Pieces” was captivating. The initial pas de deux portrayed a sweet, honest relationship between the two dancers. The final two sections of “Piano Pieces” were especially memorable. The pas de trois played with traditional male/female partnering to reveal elegant, equal partnering between the two men and one woman. It gave the dance a unified, organic feel. The final duet contrasted with its playful nature. The two dancers engaged in highly entertaining, playful competition that provided a satisfying end to the series of dances.
“Billy’s Red Socks”, a new work by the company, continued the playful theme. The audience is transported into another realm as toys come to life. It was as though the audience was peering into a toy box at night with the lively imagination of a young child. The dancers frequently enter and exit the stage, seamlessly transferring the red socks from one person to another. This is a delightful addition to Eidolon’s repertory.
The latter portion of the night transitioned to more contemporary repertoire, opening with “Mana”. Spanning from a Hawaiian sunrise to sundown, the dancers illuminated the beauty and delicacy of nature. This piece was infused with influences of Hawaiian dance, particularly in the hand gestures, which added greatly to the artistry of the dance.
“Alone” was performed along with live music from Natalia Paruz (aka “Saw Lady”). Live music often adds to a performance, but for this particular piece, it was more of a distraction, with the musician sitting center stage. It didn’t seem to fit with the piece and dancers looked displaced to the sides of the stage.
The final dance of the evening, “Dashpot” had dancers partially enclosed within spandex costumes. The limited mobility led to creative movement. At times the amorphous bodies took on shapes that seemed bird-like. The creativity and diversity of movement within the confines of the costumes was remarkable – the perfect ending to a wonderful evening of dance.
New York Theater Review
The New York Theater Review is an annually published
collection of plays and essays. NYTR was launched in 2005 to help increase
recognition of downtown New York theater artists and productions. www.nytr.org
Sunday, August 15, 2010
NYTR FRINGENYC RECOMMENDATIONS: BUTTERFLY, BUTTERFLY, KILL, KILL, KILL! AND THE BEATITUDES
The Beatitudes
A recommendation by Libby Emmons
The Beatitudes
Eidolon Ballet
Writer: Justin Allen with poetry and jazz from the Beat Generation
Choreographer: Melanie Cortier
The Beatitudes, a new work by Eidolon Ballet, is a dance play that endeavors to express the atmosphere and emotion of beat literature and the characters who people it. Set to the music of jazz, the voices of the prominent authors of the time, and tight black pants, The Beatitudes is a fantasy look at a generation that was that was over ten years before it was idealized. Beginning with a celebration of the iconic photograph The Kiss, and traveling through nine scenes inspired by the travel intoxication and camaraderie of the era, the feeling of the piece is one of purity and prettiness.
… The Beatitudes was a creative reinterpretation of Kerouac’s and Ginsberg’s literature and characters as a dance story, and the performers do a great job telling that story. The tightest scenes were Maggie Cassidy and Lonesome Traveler, with stand out performances from A. Temple Kemezis, Ashley Talluto, and Jerry “Chip” Scuderi.
CATCH IT:
Sun 15 @ 11 Wed 18 @ 3:30 Thu 19 @ 9:15 Fri 20 @ 8
Libby Emmons: Producer & playwright: Blue Box Productions, curator: Sticky series, presented at Bowery Poetry Club & Galapagos Art Space, among others. Publications: “The Worm Turns at the Fort Peck Hotel,” 2009 New York Theatre Review; “Little Angel,” InterACT Theatre Co., Philadelphia, PA, 2000. Full-lengths include: The Little Room, shortlisted for the BBC’s 2009 International Radio Playwriting Competition; The Girls From Afar, reading with Desipina & Co.; The Sustainable Future, Blue Box at Galapagos Art Space; Decomposition in Blue and White, Blue Box & Theatre Double Rep., Phila., PA; Eyes of the Prophet, winner of John Golden Award; and Dirty & Leo in Tokyo, work shopped with Angelica Torn’s Geraldine Page Academy Sanctuary Playwrights. MFA: Columbia University School of the Arts, where she received the Liberace Fellowship and Miller Scholarship, among others. She was commissioned by the Williamstown Theater Festival to write a play for the Act 1 Company, 2006, and was nominated for the Dramatists’ Guild’s inaugural Wasserstein Prize.http://libbyemmons.com/Welcome.html
Sunday, August 15, 2010
NYTR FRINGENYC RECOMMENDATIONS: BUTTERFLY, BUTTERFLY, KILL, KILL, KILL! AND THE BEATITUDES
The Beatitudes
A recommendation by Libby Emmons
The Beatitudes
Eidolon Ballet
Writer: Justin Allen with poetry and jazz from the Beat Generation
Choreographer: Melanie Cortier
The Beatitudes, a new work by Eidolon Ballet, is a dance play that endeavors to express the atmosphere and emotion of beat literature and the characters who people it. Set to the music of jazz, the voices of the prominent authors of the time, and tight black pants, The Beatitudes is a fantasy look at a generation that was that was over ten years before it was idealized. Beginning with a celebration of the iconic photograph The Kiss, and traveling through nine scenes inspired by the travel intoxication and camaraderie of the era, the feeling of the piece is one of purity and prettiness.
… The Beatitudes was a creative reinterpretation of Kerouac’s and Ginsberg’s literature and characters as a dance story, and the performers do a great job telling that story. The tightest scenes were Maggie Cassidy and Lonesome Traveler, with stand out performances from A. Temple Kemezis, Ashley Talluto, and Jerry “Chip” Scuderi.
CATCH IT:
Sun 15 @ 11 Wed 18 @ 3:30 Thu 19 @ 9:15 Fri 20 @ 8
Libby Emmons: Producer & playwright: Blue Box Productions, curator: Sticky series, presented at Bowery Poetry Club & Galapagos Art Space, among others. Publications: “The Worm Turns at the Fort Peck Hotel,” 2009 New York Theatre Review; “Little Angel,” InterACT Theatre Co., Philadelphia, PA, 2000. Full-lengths include: The Little Room, shortlisted for the BBC’s 2009 International Radio Playwriting Competition; The Girls From Afar, reading with Desipina & Co.; The Sustainable Future, Blue Box at Galapagos Art Space; Decomposition in Blue and White, Blue Box & Theatre Double Rep., Phila., PA; Eyes of the Prophet, winner of John Golden Award; and Dirty & Leo in Tokyo, work shopped with Angelica Torn’s Geraldine Page Academy Sanctuary Playwrights. MFA: Columbia University School of the Arts, where she received the Liberace Fellowship and Miller Scholarship, among others. She was commissioned by the Williamstown Theater Festival to write a play for the Act 1 Company, 2006, and was nominated for the Dramatists’ Guild’s inaugural Wasserstein Prize.http://libbyemmons.com/Welcome.html
nytheatre.com
nyc theatre info,
listings, and reviews
FringeNYC 2010 Festival Review
THE BEATITUDES nytheatre.com review
Loren Noveck · August 14, 2010
A ballet about the rise of the Beat generation, inspired primarily by the works of Jack Kerouac and scored to a mix of live bongos, voiceover recordings of Beat writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg reading their work, and period music, The Beatitudes takes a very concrete approach to its underlying story. In a series of narratively clear scenes, each named after a Beat work, we see Ray, a young soldier, fight in World War II; return home and get introduced to the Beat scene by his girlfriend, Alvah; leave Alvah to go out West with a new friend, Dean; have adventures with other women while Alvah mourns his loss; and ultimately return home to reunite with Alvah.
The quality and technical strength of the dancing is terrific throughout, especially by the four principals, Ray (Jerry "Chip" Scuderi), Dean (Alfredo Solivan), Alvah (Maureen Duke), and Maggie (a woman Ray and Dean meet on their travels, danced by A. Temple Kemezis). "The Girls," a trio encountered at a roadhouse out west (Danielle Cortier, Valerie Cortier, and Ashley Talluto), also deserve special mention for their marvelously acrobatic and athletic pas de cinq with Dean and Ray. And the production elements are simple but elegant, with projections serving to fill in some of the story locations.
The mixture of spoken-word accompaniment, varied music, and live drumming provides an unusual rhythmic and musical palette, the piece primarily remains in the traditional idioms of contemporary ballet, with a little punctuation by swing-dance steps. The dance language is solid, very well executed, and enjoyable.
Pictured: Valerie Cortier, Jerry'Chip' Scuderi, Danielle Cortier, Alfredo Solivan, and Ashley Talluto (photo © Megan C. Chorman)
Venue: Dixon Place
Price: $15 - $18
Buy tickets for this show:
Sat August 14 1:45 pm
Sun August 15 11:00 pm
Wed August 18 3:30 pm
Thu August 19 9:15 pm
Fri August 20 8:00 pm
Artists Involved:
listings, and reviews
FringeNYC 2010 Festival Review
THE BEATITUDES nytheatre.com review
Loren Noveck · August 14, 2010
A ballet about the rise of the Beat generation, inspired primarily by the works of Jack Kerouac and scored to a mix of live bongos, voiceover recordings of Beat writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg reading their work, and period music, The Beatitudes takes a very concrete approach to its underlying story. In a series of narratively clear scenes, each named after a Beat work, we see Ray, a young soldier, fight in World War II; return home and get introduced to the Beat scene by his girlfriend, Alvah; leave Alvah to go out West with a new friend, Dean; have adventures with other women while Alvah mourns his loss; and ultimately return home to reunite with Alvah.
The quality and technical strength of the dancing is terrific throughout, especially by the four principals, Ray (Jerry "Chip" Scuderi), Dean (Alfredo Solivan), Alvah (Maureen Duke), and Maggie (a woman Ray and Dean meet on their travels, danced by A. Temple Kemezis). "The Girls," a trio encountered at a roadhouse out west (Danielle Cortier, Valerie Cortier, and Ashley Talluto), also deserve special mention for their marvelously acrobatic and athletic pas de cinq with Dean and Ray. And the production elements are simple but elegant, with projections serving to fill in some of the story locations.
The mixture of spoken-word accompaniment, varied music, and live drumming provides an unusual rhythmic and musical palette, the piece primarily remains in the traditional idioms of contemporary ballet, with a little punctuation by swing-dance steps. The dance language is solid, very well executed, and enjoyable.
Pictured: Valerie Cortier, Jerry'Chip' Scuderi, Danielle Cortier, Alfredo Solivan, and Ashley Talluto (photo © Megan C. Chorman)
Venue: Dixon Place
Price: $15 - $18
Buy tickets for this show:
Sat August 14 1:45 pm
Sun August 15 11:00 pm
Wed August 18 3:30 pm
Thu August 19 9:15 pm
Fri August 20 8:00 pm
Artists Involved:
- Cast: Jessica Brady, Danielle Cortier, Valerie Cortier, Maureen Duke, A. Temple Kemezis, Caitlin Maxwell, Meaghan Maxwell, Duke Mitchell, Mark Maestranzi, Claire McKeveny, Ericka Richerick, Jerry "Chip" Scuderi, Alfredo Solivan, Ashley Talluto, Bethany White, Rebecca South Woods
- Author/Creator: Justin Allen with poetry and jazz from the Beat Generation
- Producer: Eidolon Ballet
- Choreography By: Melanie Cortier
Pataphysical Science a theater/pop culture blog
Pataphysical Science: 1) The French absurdist concept of a philosophy or
science dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics, intended
as a parody of the methods and theories of modern science and often expressed
in nonsensical language. 2) What quizzical Joan studied in the home.
http://pataphysicalscience.blogspot.com/2010/08/fringe-beatitudes.html
Friday, August 20, 2010
FRINGE: The Beatitudes
The final performance of Eidolon Ballet's The Beatitudes is tonight at 8 p.m. at Dixon Place. I recommend trying to make room for it in your Fringe schedule. At only 35 minutes, it can easily fit in between two other shows.
The dance piece begins with Ray (Jerry "Chip" Scuderi) serving in WWII and follows his journey as he returns to New York, discovers the Beat Generation, heads west, and eventually returns home. The dance is set to jazz music as well as readings by Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. I don't claim to be a dance critic, but to these eyes, the dance set to spoken word is particularly engaging because it enhances the poetry of the language. The choreography by Melanie Cortier is lovely, if at times repetitive. Scuderi, Maureen Duke (as his girlfriend Alvah), Alfredo Solivan (as his best friend Dean), A. Temple Kemezis (as Maggie), and the rest of the company are captivating.
According to the press packet, Eidolon is dedicated to make dance more accessible to the community at large. With accessible pieces like this one, they are succeeding.
Posted by Linda at 11:03 AM
http://pataphysicalscience.blogspot.com/2010/08/fringe-beatitudes.html
Friday, August 20, 2010
FRINGE: The Beatitudes
The final performance of Eidolon Ballet's The Beatitudes is tonight at 8 p.m. at Dixon Place. I recommend trying to make room for it in your Fringe schedule. At only 35 minutes, it can easily fit in between two other shows.
The dance piece begins with Ray (Jerry "Chip" Scuderi) serving in WWII and follows his journey as he returns to New York, discovers the Beat Generation, heads west, and eventually returns home. The dance is set to jazz music as well as readings by Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. I don't claim to be a dance critic, but to these eyes, the dance set to spoken word is particularly engaging because it enhances the poetry of the language. The choreography by Melanie Cortier is lovely, if at times repetitive. Scuderi, Maureen Duke (as his girlfriend Alvah), Alfredo Solivan (as his best friend Dean), A. Temple Kemezis (as Maggie), and the rest of the company are captivating.
According to the press packet, Eidolon is dedicated to make dance more accessible to the community at large. With accessible pieces like this one, they are succeeding.
Posted by Linda at 11:03 AM
