The Art of the Solo
Meyerhoff Auditorium
The Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
September 29, 2006
Dance View Times (www.danceviewtimes.com)
by George Jackson
copyright ©2006 by George Jackson
The importance of the solo for modern dance is hard to exaggerate. Not only is the solo a declaration of the independence of the individual, but it is practical too, a crucial consideration for an artform that started as something done by outsiders. While it is one thing to look back and recognize the historical role of the solo, it is quite another to put on 13 “old” ones by almost as many different choreographers. That is risky. Nevertheless, it is what Mino Nicolas did on this program. Just contemplating the prospect raises all sorts of questions. Where to find authentic sources for the dancing, costuming and music? Will so many different visions co-exist or cause confusion? Who to cast and how — by type or, irrespective of type, by survival of the fittest?
Some of these thoughts were voiced by Madeleine Nichols before the dancing started. A director emerita of the New York Public Library’s Dance Collection, Nichols suggested that we look at the program from at least two points of view. One ought to involve the past by noticing the diverse patterns and ideas generated at different times in different places. The other perspective ought to be of the moment by responding to the performances being given by the 10 soloists on the roster.
The oldest work came first, although the program’s overall sequence had more to do with pace and pulse than historical order. Ruth St. Denis’s “The Incense” wafted into space as the image of a woman in motion amidst ascending spirals of smoke. Serenity, “spirituality” if you will, in this dance isn’t at odds with sensuality. The woman’s arms and hands caress a dense, luminous atmosphere. Her torso’s length segments itself and does so with self knowledge. Cynthia Word used her physical attributes and artistry — she has height, sculpted bones, technical flexibility and insight into character, to become three beings simultaneously: everywoman, enactor of a ritual and the refined Miss Ruth (as St. Denis is familiarly known). St. Denis performed this solo from her late 20s into her 90s. Word looked about halfway between, choosing to age herself for this role. What a powerfully subtle performance!
For the program’s other bookend — Isadora Duncan’s “Marche Slav” from ca. 1917 — subtlety wasn’t the point. Power was! Jeanne Bresciani was a figure larger than life. Weight seemed a burden, tension threatened to tear this body apart, resistance became a revolution and liberation from bondage the ultimate transfiguration. Bresciani, moving like those tubular Picasso women must if set free in time, brought “The Art of the Solo” to a rousing close.
There were major works and minor pieces between the St. Denis and the Duncan. Doris Humphrey’s “Scherzo Waltz” of 1924 was buoyant in its joyous and tempestuous passages as Elizabeth Lowe Ahearn folded herself into a hoop and burst from its embrace. Mary Wigman’s “Witch Dance” (ca. 1914, revised ca. 1926) still disturbs with its unexpected attacks and its mask that seems to change features. There exists remarkable film footage of Wigman performing the first seated portion of the piece but this reconstruction for Jessica Stephenson is the most convincing version of the entire “Hexentanz” that I’ve seen.
In striking contrast to the outbursts of “Witch Dance” there followed Eleanor King’s “Air”. Ahearn was featured again. In this 1954 work she sustained a statuesque calm as she tested space in absolute silence. “Air” made one hold ones breath until it was over. “Exuberance”, the newest piece on the program, was made by Pola Niresnka a dozen years ago for Laura Schandelmeier. Dancing it this time, Schandelmeier seemed to live its mood shifts fully whereas previously she had honed in on its spitfire technical challenges.
Anna Sokolow explored three attitudes in “Forgotten Melodies”, a 1991 collaboration with Mino Nicolas. The culminating “Tragica”, in which Lindsey Puclowski arched back like a bridge about to collapse, was memorable. This set had started with a “Meditazione” that became overly long although Vincent Thomas was stately and thoughtful in it. The middle solo, the bland “Primavera”, featured Stephenson again. A dancer from the UK, Amanda Thom Woodson, successfully tackled a piece of Americana, one of Sophie Maslow’s 1941 “Dust Bowl Ballads”. Woodson was right on, but the solo is too generic. Nor was I convinced by “Bailerina Real”, a dance for a defiant yet compliant harem girl. This 1918 role was first taken by Betty Horst. Later, Doris Humphrey and Martha Graham alternated in it. On this occasion Dana Martin danced the part. It seemed contrived, like a number of other Ted Shawn pieces.
There weren’t as many men in modern dance as women, but not as few as this program implied. Apart from Vincent Thomas’s single appearance, young Mathew Heggem danced two of the evening’s solos. In the overly stylized “A Priest of Knossos”, 1919 choreography also by Shawn, Heggem used his bare chest as breast plate armor – a manner Shawn often preferred. There were also agile hops, associated more often with fauns than priests. In “The Sleeper”, a solo made for Jose Limon that was part of Doris Humphrey’s 1951 “Night Spell”, Heggem looked nothing like Limon, yet he was terrific. His line and footwork were balletic. Importantly, though, he expressed a sensuality that still partly slumbered. It made his Sleeper haunting. I suspect this was an instance of Mino Nicolas’s “against the grain / survival of the fittest” casting policy. Congratulations!
The variety on “The Art of the Solo” astonished. No question that Duncan’s Slav, St. Denis’s Incense Burner and Wigman’s Witch — as well as their choreographers — were distinct individuals. So were some of the others. No strong vision interfered with another. Indicated in the printed program in some detail are the sources for these revivals, many of them staged by Mino Nicolas. For music lovers, the evening offered works by composers rarely heard these days: Harvey Worthington Loomis (“Incense”), McNair Ilgefritz (“Scherzo Waltz”), Mario Tarenghi (“Bailerina Real”), William Goetze (“Witch Dance”), Nikolai Medtner (“Forgotten Melodies”) and Priaulx Rainier (“Night Spell”). Of course, there also were a few well known composers’ names: Satie (“Priest of Knossos”), Bach (“Exuberance”), Woodie Guthrie (“Dust Bowl Ballads”), and Tchaikovsky (“Marche Slav”).
Photos (from top):
Jeanne Bresciani in Duncan’s “Marche Slav.” Photo by Kanji Takeno.
Lindsey Puclowski in Anna Sokolow’s “Tragica” from “The Forgotten Melodies.” Photo by Kanji Takeno.
Volume 4, No. 35
October 2, 2006
copyright ©2006 George Jackson
www.danceviewtimes.com