one hand on the honey pourer, the other with a metal spoon, lifting it with cream then dipping it back into the big sturdy porceline cappaccinno cup. lifting and dropping and stirring, languidly vertical. holding the spoon horizontal, carefully filling it to the brim with more honey. tipping the spoon, honey running into the cup from the air, than disappearing the line into the cup and stirring.
yesterday, i went to all three repertory auditions. they were all in 'the ark,' the building built for dance on duke campus (originally as a gym it seems from the historical photos on the wall). all made of wood, painted white. grey marley. vaguely ship-like, with a main dance floor, and an upper floor/deck that circles a few yards wide all the way around the floor, so you can look down on the dancers from above.
ming yang: a choreographer/dancer from taiwan who is dance director at taipei university. his emphasis is using the floor as support and springboard for all your movement. full breath rhythm. the phrase he gave us basically traveled in a line parallel to the audience from dancer's right to left--weighted jumps that move high into the air, arms that swing and hit edges or walls in the space, one idiosyncratic detail in the whole phrase (a crisp, jolting nod of the head at the height of the completing jump), suspensions into full groundedness.
abby yager: she danced with trisha brown for a long time, and has set her works on various companies. she teaches at taipei university also, and has been /practicing klein and alexander technique and yoga. for repertory, she is teaching part of brown's "offerto bach" (i think that was the name), extremely detailed movement, exploring moving geometry, lines and planes in space and in the body. yager said much of brown's movement is not counted, but has its own timing internal to what the particular movement is. we didn't perform the phrase she taught us to bach, i assume not to add that extra level of complexity. after we had learned the phrase, groups of five each did the sequence once, and with over a hundred dancers, it took quite a long time. the atmosphere in the room was hushed and to me seemed energetically full and creative. deliberate, precise, continual, relaxed, released, extended, focus clear and outward, internally very very quiet.
(almost a kneel, left foot forward, facing stage right; rise, left leg swings back, left arm diagonal down, right arm straight to the side at a right angle; left leg swings forward while right arm comes forward left to the side; step onto the left foot both arms to side right leg turned in attitude to the back; right leg comes to the side, cuts, arm swings through, second position facing audience;
nicholas leichter: he danced with ralph lemon, ron brown, gus solomons jr. and now is choreographing. his movement has a really fun sense of rhythm, precise and curvey hips, relaxed, hands down/on/over the body, a little capoiera. once we had learned the phrase he put on brandy and j.lo for us to do the phrase across the floor. people started clapping and yelling for each other. there's a group of students here from korea, and after a bunch of them had gone across they really got into clapping and yelling for their other friends--for a moment they were all shouting "work it out, glo-ri-a, work it out, glo-ri-a..." this is the kind of movement that distinguishes those dancers who can get down on the dance floor, from those dancers who have had most of their dance experience in a studio.
posted by Liza 9.6.03