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Dance in France: A Look at Charles Weidman’s Influence on Contemporary Dance Today
This past spring, the Charles Weidman Dance Foundation had the pleasure of supplying video footage of Charles Weidman’s Lynchtown to the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine (CNDC) in Angers, France. The video footage was included in the Dance is a Weapon NDG 1932/1955 exhibit in the lobby of the Le Quai performance space from May 16 to June 17 and was free to the public. Julia Jurgilewicz, Charles Weidman Dance Foundation’s administrative assistant, and Weidman Dance alumna Claire Westby, happened to be performing at Le Quai on May 19th with Liz Gerring Dance Company and were able to stop by the exhibit. Julia recounts her tour experience, from exploring the Loire valley to taking Cunningham class at the CNDC with Robert Swinston, and visiting the Dance is a Weapon exhibit:
“Dance is a Weapon” exhibit.
Getting to Angers, France was an adventure in itself. I was able to dust off my French to change some of the dancers’ train tickets to stay in Paris for a few hours. We locked up our bags at the station, then walked along the Seine river, saw the Eiffel Tower, and got a delicious Parisian breakfast. The train to Angers yielded picturesque views of French countryside chock-full of roaming cows, ancient stone houses, and rolling hills.
The Eiffel Tower on our first, cloudy morning in Europe.
Angers itself is a quaint town complete with the glorious Cathédrale d’Angers, the sturdy 13th century Château Angers, and the steady Maine river which clips the town in two. We were fortunate enough to have the first few days off to explore the Loire valley. We took a long van ride through ancient villages to the town of Saumur where we saw the fantastical Château de Saumur and explored and ate lunch at the sprawling Château Villandry.
Cathedral d’Angers
View from across the river Maine.
The grounds at Chateau Villandry.
So far this trip sounds more like a fairy tale than the sometimes grueling, hard work of a dance company’s tour, but we were not without our sweaty rehearsals and long soaks in baths. Liz Gerring Dance Company is an extremely athletic company that allows its dancers to focus on strength and endurance. The company explores non-narrative movement derived from pedestrian gesture and athletic training. The hour-long work we were performing in Angers, Horizon, is a feat of of just that, or as Robert Johnson of New Jersey Arts put it, Horizon “is a dance for heroes.”
The Liz Gerring Dance Company in residency for Horizon. Photo by Miguel Anaya.
Before rehearsals, we had the pleasure of taking Cunningham class from Robert Swinston alongside his company’s dancers. Swinston was appointed the artistic director of the CNDC Angers in 2013, where he teaches Cunningham class, re-stages Cunningham’s dances, and creates his own works. Liz Gerring Dance Company and Swinston’s company were able to show-and-tell their dances in the studio and hang out after rehearsals to compare living and dancing in Paris and NYC. I had a great time practicing my French with these dancers and seeing the juxtaposition of Cunningham and Liz Gerring’s work.
The performance of Horizon took place at Le Quai, an amazing arts space along the Maine River. The center seeks to include dance, theater, opera, world music, and more. The facilities are a treat compared to the often cramped dressing rooms of NYC theaters and there is a great restaurant on the roof of the building. Le Quai is also a hip hang out space for the community; our first day there a skateboard and tattoo festival was going on out front.
Liz Gerring outside Le Quai Angers.
After the performance, I had some time to check out the Dance is a Weapon exhibit in the lobby of the building. It was a great exhibition with audio/video media, iconic photos, and colorful information banners. I was excited to see pictures of Charles Weidman and Martha Graham among other modern dance pioneers. Between the exhibit about early American modern dance in a home that features Cunningham’s legacy, and performing work by the next generation of contemporary choreographers, I had an array of dance influences melding to create an amazing experience.
Photo of Charles Weidman in Race of Life included in the Dance is a Weapon exhibit.
Julia post-performance at the Dance is a Weapon exhibit.
In Liz Gerring’s Horizon, the dancers explore non-narrative, athletic movement to an original soundtrack by Michael Schumacher and set by Robert Wierzel. The collaborative nature of the work is reminiscent of Merce Cunningham’s creations that often incorporated multiple artists, from sound designers like John Cage to visual artists like Andy Warhol. The movement is both contemporary and inclusive of codified modern dance techniques. The NYTimes describes the work as “fluently combin[ing] modern technique with a postmodern and quasi-analytical scrutiny of pedestrians and athletes.” The dancers use similar theories from Weidman technique including fall and recovery, flattening and curving of the spine, and released and suspended movements. At the close of Horizon, I do a series of repeated falls across the stage reminiscent of the falls in Weidman’s Brahms Waltzes.
Liz Gerring Dance Company dancers using flat back in Horizon.
Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman were interested in how gravity and momentum affected movement, an idea that is explored in rehearsal for Liz Gerring Dance Company. All affectation is stripped away, and we are asked to fall, throw, lunge, run, and jump honestly. While ballet and modern techniques are inherent in our bodies, the movements are results of gravity working for or against us and how much momentum we are allotted. Sometimes we are asked to spring from one shape to the next without “winding up”, or conversely, we are asked to gather all of our energy and hurtle across the space. This cause and effect theory is intrinsic in Weidman’s “kinetic pantomime”, though he played with the order and explored reversing these properties under a narrative context.
Charles Weidman exploring kinetic pantomime.
When I was studying for my Bachelors of Fine Arts degree at NYU, I had the pleasure of performing Weidman’s Easter Oratorio and Brahms Waltzes. A great lesson I took from learning these works was the importance of timing and duration of movement. A lot of attention was placed on how long a développé or suspension took or how still we were while holding a position. Liz Gerring’s work Horizon is centered around the duration of movement and the sustaining of shapes. Often times the music is adjusted live to our performance of the work as each movement and section can vary slightly in timing. While Weidman used these methods to convey an idea or feeling, Horizon uses timing and duration to give the audience an experience similar to a natural time lapse film- abstract, evolving, and surprising.
* For more detailed information on the characteristics of Humphrey-Weidman technique, see “A Reaffirmation of the Humphrey-Weidman Quality” by Svea Becker and Joenine Roberts, 1983, Dance Notation Journal vol 1 no 1 (available on the internet at the Dance Notation Bureau Theory Bulletin Board).
The stage at Le Quai post Horizon performance.
Myself (on the right) as a student learning Weidman’s “Brahms Waltzes”. Photo courtesy of Oberon’s Grove.
The end of our tour included a train ride back to Paris where the company parted ways, some for the States and some for more Parisian nights. I was able to do some traveling through Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid. Now all back in NYC, the Liz Gerring Dance Company is now gearing up for the premier of their new work (T)here to (T)here at Baryshnikov Arts Center November 10-12th, 2016.
(T)here to (T)here choreographed by Liz Gerring premiering November 10-12th.
Me on the top of Montserrat in Barcelona, Spain.
Lynchtown East and West
“A portrait of a community consumed by violent passions.”– Jack Anderson, NYTimes, 1985.
On April 28, 2014, Minerva Tapia Dance Group from Tijuana presented a concert as part of Jean Isaacs’ San Diego Dance Theater‘s Live Arts Festival at the White Box Theater. The dance group performed Charles Weidman’s Lynchtown, staged and directed by Weidman alumnus, George Willis. Mr. Willis was eighteen when he started dancing with Charles Weidman in California, first in Hermosa Beach and then Hollywood. He came into modern dance as a body builder and after his first class, he was “hooked.” Mr. Willis trained with Weidman for three years on scholarship until Weidman returned to the east coast. During that time, he performed Weidman’s Lynchtown, Fables for our Time, Flickers, and The War Between Men and Women.
Minerva Tapia Dance Group performing “Lynchtown” Photo by MANUEL ROTENBERG
Minerva Tapia Dance Group performing “Lynchtown” Photo by MANUEL ROTENBERG
Just ten days before the Live Arts Festival performance in California, Lynchtown was performed here on the east coast in New York City. The Charles Weidman Dance Foundation hosted Preservation of the Charles Weidman Moving Image Archive, a fundraiser for their project with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. New Jersey based contemporary dance company, Nimbus Dance Works, performed Lynchtown at the event, staged by Margaret O’Sullivan and Samuel Pott.
Nimbus Dance Works in tech rehearsal for “Lynchtown” at Gibney Dance Center before the fundraiser. Photo by LARRY HALL.
The Charles Weidman Dance Foundation is thrilled that Weidman’s Lynchtown is being learned and performed across America and around the world! Lynchtown, the third dance in the Atavisms suite, was first performed in 1936 and depicts a lynching that Weidman witnessed as a child. It deals with problems of racism, mob mentality, and injustice that are still widely relevant today. We at the Foundation hope that Lynchtown will continue to be studied and performed in universities, schools, and by professional companies around the world for years to come.
“Lynchtown” being performed in Taiwan in 1993.
A program of a “Lynchtown” performance from 1986 in San Diego, CA.
Montclair State University students performing “Lynchtown” in 2011. Photo by MIKE PETERS.
Post by Julia Jurgilewicz.
Carry on… Newsletters from 1992-1995
We know you have been itching to read more of our Carry on… newsletters. The wait is over! Here are four more gems of Weidman history for you! Enjoy Carry on… from 1992-1995 the original way enthusiasts kept up to date on Weidman happenings!
Lynchtown in Taiwan!
Announcing the completion of Jonette Lancos’s thesis entitled The Movement Style and Technique of Charles Weidman and a two week summer intensive in Weidman technique!
Carol Mezzacappa reflects on her incredible journey to Taiwan with SUNY Purchase dancers to teach Taiwanese dance students Weidman’s Lynchtown. They formed an intimidating and beautiful cast and performed Lynchtown at the Taipei International Festival of Dance Academies.
Announcing the Humphrey-Weidman Gala held on Sunday May 1st, 1994 at Hunter College. The amazing program featured Weidman’s Submerged Cathedral, On My Mother’s Side and David and Goliath as well as Humphrey’s Life of the Bee and The Shakers, to name just a few.
Featuring reviews from Dance View and Back Stage on the Humphrey-Weidman Gala of 1994 with one opening line stating that the show was “one of the most important programs seen this season- or, for that matter- in recent years” (Jennie Schulman, Back Stage)! I’d say that’s a five star review!
Charles Weidman and the New Dance Group
“The story of the New Dance Group is one of constant experiment, of continued branching out, of conceiving new ideas and coming to new conclusions”1
The New Dance Group was founded in 1932 by Nadia Chilkovsky, Miriam Blecher and other students from the New York Wigman School who wanted dance to focus more on social and political causes. New Dance Group stated in their first program that “Dance is a Weapon of the Class Struggle”2 and sought to offer inexpensive dance classes to all ranges of workers and people alike. Classes cost ten cents and consisted of one hour of Wigman technique, one hour of creative work and one hour of discussion.
New Dance Group Class Schedule 1959-1960
New Dance Group Class Schedule 1959-1960
Gradually the interest in the proletariat “was replaced by a more general sense of humanity”3 and the curriculum branched out to include Humphrey-Weidman, Graham, eurythmics, percussion, folk, ballet and tap, in addition to the original Wigman and Holm technique.
Weidman’s “Classroom Modern Style” Front: Millie Hirsch Rockefeller and Behind: Lucy Biberman
By 1934, Charles Weidman was giving studio talks and appearing on New Dance Group programs. Other Humphrey-Weidman men such as Bill Matons, William Archibald and Jose Limon were also early participants. Humphrey-Weidman technique became a staple, taught by Beatrice Seckler, Nona Schurman, Bill Bales, Joe Gifford and others. Weidman continued his association with the New Dance Group at least until 1960, when he founded his own “Expression of Two Arts” studio on 29th Street.
“Mostly About Women” by Charles Weidman. Top row from left to right: Murray Berkowitz, Millie Hirsch, Lucy Biberman, Joe Whiteaker, Louis falco. Bottom row:Jack Wiener, Miriam Pandor, Charles Weidman, Marsha Gevins, Loretta Abbot, Ralph Davis, Charlotte Walsh.
- Weidman’s “Mostly About Women”. Top row left to right: Millie Hirsch, Joe Whiteaker, Lucy Biberman, Murray Berkowitz, Patricia Nachman. Bottom row: Ralph Davis, Loretta Abbot, Jack Wiener, Charlotte Walsh
At the 92nd Street Y’s extraordinary celebration of the New Dance Group this past February, we had the opportunity to learn about Weidman’s later work at the New Dance Group. Dancer and dance educator, Millie Hirsch Rockefeller, presented photos, programs and class schedules from this time, as well as information on two dances not previously included in Weidman chronologies, “The Convert” and “Mostly About Women”.
Portion of 1959 program showing redicovered dances: “Mostly About Women” and “The Convert”
- Millie Hirsch Rockefeller as The Reluctant One in “War Between Men and Women”
New Dance Group closed their doors in 2009 and now, unsuspecting dancers take class and attend rehearsals in what used to be New Dance Group studios, now DANY Studios operated by The Joyce Theater.
For more information on New Dance Group, check out this article by Victoria Philips.
1Lloyd, Margaret. The Borzoi Book of Modern Dance, Dance Horizons, 1949.
2Philips, Victoria. New Dance Group (1932-2009), Dance Heritage Coalition, 2012.
3King, Eleanor. Transformations, Dance Horizons,1978.
Words by Nadira Hall
Post by Julia Jurgilewicz
Charles Weidman and the New Dance Group
“The story of the New Dance Group is one of constant experiment, of continued branching out, of conceiving new ideas and coming to new conclusions”1
The New Dance Group was founded in 1932 by Nadia Chilkovsky, Miriam Blecher and other students from the New York Wigman School who wanted dance to focus more on social and political causes. New Dance Group stated in their first program that “Dance is a Weapon of the Class Struggle”2 and sought to offer inexpensive dance classes to all ranges of workers and people alike. Classes cost ten cents and consisted of one hour of Wigman technique, one hour of creative work and one hour of discussion.
New Dance Group Class Schedule 1959-1960
New Dance Group Class Schedule 1959-1960
Gradually the interest in the proletariat “was replaced by a more general sense of humanity”3 and the curriculum branched out to include Humphrey-Weidman, Graham, eurythmics, percussion, folk, ballet and tap, in addition to the original Wigman and Holm technique.
Weidman’s “Classroom Modern Style” Front: Millie Hirsch Rockefeller and Behind: Lucy Biberman
By 1934, Charles Weidman was giving studio talks and appearing on New Dance Group programs. Other Humphrey-Weidman men such as Bill Matons, William Archibald and Jose Limon were also early participants. Humphrey-Weidman technique became a staple, taught by Beatrice Seckler, Nona Schurman, Bill Bales, Joe Gifford and others. Weidman continued his association with the New Dance Group at least until 1960, when he founded his own “Expression of Two Arts” studio on 29th Street.
“Mostly About Women” by Charles Weidman. Top row from left to right: Murray Berkowitz, Millie Hirsch, Lucy Biberman, Joe Whiteaker, Louis falco. Bottom row:Jack Wiener, Miriam Pandor, Charles Weidman, Marsha Gevins, Loretta Abbot, Ralph Davis, Charlotte Walsh.
- Weidman’s “Mostly About Women”. Top row left to right: Millie Hirsch, Joe Whiteaker, Lucy Biberman, Murray Berkowitz, Patricia Nachman. Bottom row: Ralph Davis, Loretta Abbot, Jack Wiener, Charlotte Walsh
At the 92nd Street Y’s extraordinary celebration of the New Dance Group this past February, we had the opportunity to learn about Weidman’s later work at the New Dance Group. Dancer and dance educator, Millie Hirsch Rockefeller, presented photos, programs and class schedules from this time, as well as information on two dances not previously included in Weidman chronologies, “The Convert” and “Mostly About Women”.
Portion of 1959 program showing redicovered dances: “Mostly About Women” and “The Convert”
- Millie Hirsch Rockefeller as The Reluctant One in “War Between Men and Women”
New Dance Group closed their doors in 2009 and now, unsuspecting dancers take class and attend rehearsals in what used to be New Dance Group studios, now DANY Studios operated by The Joyce Theater.
For more information on New Dance Group, check out this article by Victoria Philips.
1Lloyd, Margaret. The Borzoi Book of Modern Dance, Dance Horizons, 1949.
2Philips, Victoria. New Dance Group (1932-2009), Dance Heritage Coalition, 2012.
3King, Eleanor. Transformations, Dance Horizons,1978.
Words by Nadira Hall
Post by Julia Jurgilewicz
Dr. Jeff Friedman’s lecture on Weidman’s “Lynchtown”
“…in Lynchtown (from his Atavisms suite) grim horror was the keynote. In this work, the audience witnessed not only the injustice with which a minority group of our population has been treated but also the primitive blood lust, the sadism which supposedly civilized persons reveal when a scapegoat for their savagery is found. Lynch Town strikes home, it strikes the very being of the American, for the trembling evil of the lynchers themselves and the evil of the lookers-on who share vicariously in the horrible thrill seem to vibrate across the footlights and attack the complacency of those who sit in the safety of the theater. The dancers move with racing frenzy, halting to look at death with lust and, perhaps, with fear. A figure stretches forward to get a better view of murder, and horror stretches along the invisible waves of art communications to remind the beholder that the battle for ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’ is not yet won.” -From Walter Terry, The Dance in America, Harper & Row, 1956
Weidman’s “Lynchtown”
On May 7, in historic downtown Jersey City, Tachair Bookshoppe hosted a fascinating, multimedia lecture by Dr. Jeff Friedman. “Weidman’s Lynchtown: American Dialectics, Moral Questions and the Art of Persuasion” considered Weidman’s work from a dazzling array of perspectives including Laban Movement Analysis, Piaget’s ideas on the development of morality in children, and Cicero’s importance of gesture in Oratory.
Nimbus Dancer Yuko Monden
Nimbus Dance Works dancer, Yuko Monden, demonstrated movement from Lynchtown as Dr. Friedman related them to Laban’s concepts of free flow, bound flow, weight, spoking and arcing. The entrance walk of the lynch mob is an example of “bound flow”, while Monden’s final exit as she leaps off the stage is “free flow.” Using archival footage, Friedman also showed how the lynch mob’s entrance creates a “wall of movement” that physically and emotionally separates the audience from the victim.
Dr. Friedman went on to discuss Weidman’s early interest in comedy and satire. Archival photos of The Happy Hypocrite (1931) and The School for Husbands (1933) (choreographed with Doris Humphrey) were used as examples. Dr. Friedman’s comments on the social significance of satire were especially interesting.
Charles Weidman in The Happy Hypocrite (1930’s)
The lecture was followed by a lively discussion on a wide range of topics including the psychological challenges faced by performers in portraying such evil, the choice of the smallest dancer to portray “the Incitor” character of the mob, how the dances in Atavisms (Stock Exchange, Bargain Counter, and Lynchtown) relate to current events, mob behavior, and how best to teach about fascism.
Bargain Counter
If you missed Dr. Friedman’s lecture, you still have one more opportunity to attend on May 23 at 7pm at the Highland Park Public Library, 31 North Highland Park, Highland Park, NJ. For live performances of Lynchtown, don’t miss Nimbus Dance Works’ Jersey City spring season, “UNPLUGGED” May 30,31, and June 1 at the Barrow Mansion, 83 Wayne Street, Jersey City.
Highland Park Public Library
Words by Nadira Hall
Pauline Koner Centennial Celebration
On May 17th, 2013, dance lovers and connoisseurs will have a rare opportunity to see the choreography of Pauline Koner. Preeminent Koner expert, Evelyn Shepard, has lovingly and painstakingly reconstructed three important Koner works that will be presented at the 92nd Street Y’s Fridays at Noon series.
Pauline Koner
Dancefusion Company will perform Concertino (1955). The dance takes place in the time of the Renaissance where “a lady and her ladies-in-waiting are first at court” where they present themselves as “elegant, formal, conversational.” Next a solo reveals “the woman behind the elegant façade” and is followed by a lively dance where “the wear and tear of court formality are forgotten.”
Ryoko Kudo and Pablo Francisco Ruvalcaba of the Jose Limon Dance Company will perform Poeme (1962), a ”tender yet provocative” love duet,”influenced by Chagall*, whose women, when transported emotionally, fly in the air or soar upside down.”
“Dance” by Marc Chagall
360 Dance Company will perform The Shining Dark (1956), a trio inspired by the life of Helen Keller. In Pauline’s words: “ I had long been thinking about Helen Keller whose only medium of communication was movement—the manual alphabet…so I dug in and learned the manual alphabet”. The dance is comprised of four sections: “World of Nothingness,” “World of Awakening,” “Panic of Loss,” and “Remembered Image.”
Danelle Morgan in Pauline Koner’s The Shining Dark; photography © Jashiro Dean
While dance maverick Pauline Koner is impossible to categorize, we consider her part of the Humphrey Weidman family. Pauline Koner’s initial dance training was with Michel Fokine. Early on she pursued her own solo career, while also performing extensively with Michio Ito and then Yeichi Nimura. In the mid 1940s, seeking guidance in the choreographic process, she began a long association with Doris Humphrey. Especially memorable for her role as Emilia in Limon’s Moor’s Pavane, Koner was also a guest artist with the Jose Limon Dance Company from 1946-1960.
Jose Limon rehearsing with Pauline Koner
Less known is Koner’s association with Charles Weidman. Inspired by Abner Dean’s** drawings, Pauline became intrigued with creating a satire on “the insanities, complexities and hilarities of living.” As the characters “crystallized”, she naturally thought of Weidman. “I approached Charles with trepidation. After all he was a senior member in the hierarchy of modern dance. Charles accepted and I was thrilled.” Thus, Amorous Adventure was born. Pauline played “A Kind of Wife” and Charles ”A Sort of Husband”, while Lucas Hoving portrayed “Variations from the Norm.” After it’s premiere in 1951, Winthrop Palmer wrote: “Pauline Koner’s Amorous Adventure …was a delightful spoofing of comic eugenics and the battle of the sexes with never a moment of social significance, for which it deserves a gold medal…”
Drawing by Abner Dean
Also a noted teacher, Koner developed her famous course “Elements of Performing.” Her elegantly articulated concepts of breath, suspension, rebound, and weight could easily be part of a primer on Humphrey Weidman technique.
Don’t miss this chance to see Pauline Koner’s artistic creations. Films will be shown in the lobby starting at 11:00 AM, followed by live performance and panel discussion at noon.
Friday May 17, 2013
92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center
1395 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY
To learn more about the event, visit the 92nd St Y website here.
All quotes from Solitary Song by Pauline Koner, Duke University Press, 1989
Also recommended: Elements of Performance by Pauline Koner, Harwood Academic Publishers, 1993
*Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was a Russian born artist known for his use of many artistic mediums including painting, stage sets, book illustrations, and ceramics to name a few
**Abner Dean (1910 – 1982) was an American cartoonist who often depicted extremes of human behavior
The Easter Oratorio
In 1967, Charles Weidman choreographed Easter Oratorio, a beautifully simplistic and joyous dance that premiered at the Expression of Two Arts Theater in NYC. It featured multiple sections including ensemble numbers and a trio for women all surrounding the topic of rejoicing at the resurrection. In the later part of Weidman’s career, his pieces took on spiritual tones which was unique to his previous genres of choreography. He especially focused on classical music by composers Brahms, Bach, Beethoven and choreographing joyous, grand, exalting movement. His first pursuit in this new tone was Christmas Oratorio to music by Bach created in 1961 followed by Easter Oratorio six years later also to music by Bach.
Tisch School of the Arts dancers performing “Fugue” at the 92nd St Y
Photo by Julie Lemberger
Weidman believed that music and dance were one, and Easter Oratorio is a prime example of how his movement was inspired by the composition of the music. “Fugue”, the opening dance of the Oratorio, features an ensemble of dancers moving in structured sections in time and sequence with the music. A fugue is a compositional structure where a short melody or phrase is taken up by other instruments/voices at sequential, overlapping timings (think of “Row, row, row your boat” sung in a round). Weidman took these overlapping sections and did the same with his choreography; the women start moving with one theme followed by the men taking up the same or different movement overlapping the women to create a beautiful, yet mathematic assembly of elated bodies.
“Fugue”
Photo by Julia Lemberger
Though Charles enjoyed following the structure of the music with his dance, he did so in an interesting way. Margaret O’Sullivan (Foundation Vice-President and Weidman company dancer) reflects on how Charles choreographed to the music in a unexpected way. Instead of starting on the 1 of every six counts, the impetus for the beginning of the phrase was always on the 6, making the movement seem to spurt out and grow in a way the was organic with the music, but simultaneously following its own rhythm and flow. This gives the Fugue the impression of always rolling forward and creates a play between the push and pull of the music and the dancers.
Margaret O’Sullivan in “Branches”
In 2010, the Charles Weidman Dance Foundation partnered with Tisch School of the Arts, NYU to re-stage and perform two sections from the Easter Oratorio. Janet Towner assisted by Margaret O’Sullivan taught the Tisch dancers the “Fugue” and the trio “Branches”. The two performances of these excerpts at the 92nd St Y and at Baryshnikov Arts Center were not only the first instance of Weidman/Bach performed to live music, but also the first time the excerpts had been shown in NYC since Weidman’s death.
Janet Towner working with dancer Michael Gonzalez
Photo by Larry Hall
The trio, “Branches” features three women holding laurel branches and circling around one another in sweeping and jumping movement. Each woman has a solo moment involving the first dancer with one branch, the second soloist with two, and the final woman wielding three branches in the formation of the cross. Each solo also contributes a different mood to the piece, the first stretching and arching on the floor with the single branch pointing to the sky, the second reaching and honoring with arms outstretched in a V shape , and the third swirling and whirling in praise and delight beneath the cross shaped branches.
The third solo moment in “Branches”
Photo by Larry Hall
Elinor Rogosin in The Dancemakers: Conversations with American Choreographers speaks to how “the expression of the joy of the resurrection is the overwhelming mood in the piece” and how as an audience member, you “could have been eavesdropping on someone at prayer”. Rogosin comments on the simplicity of the choreography and the absence of acrobatic movement “creating a refreshing impact of naive expression”. When learning Easter Oratorio, Tisch alumni Elizabeth Montgomery reflects on the technique of the face and chest in order to achieve the look of ecstasy: “I remember Margaret explaining to us the intention of “space in the face;” it should be as though you’re looking past whatever is in the room in front of you, as though you’re looking out into the horizon from someplace very high. Maintaining that energy in an of itself is exhausting. Now add the jumps, hinges, and pivots, and Easter Oratorio becomes one of the most challenging pieces I’ve ever danced, in spite of its choreographic simplicity”.
“Fugue”
Photo by Larry Hall
“Bach’s dramatic intent in the Easter Oratorio is the expression of the joy of the Resurrection. Despite the fringes of melancholy added by the adagio, and by some of the recitatives, the overwhelming mood is one of rejoicing”. -Charles Weidman on a 1971 program
1971 performance of Easter Oratorio
Post by Julia Jurgilewicz
Happy Humphrey Weidman Day!
Today is a very special day! It marks the 85th anniversary of the first presentation of Charles Weidman’s work!
On March 24, 1928, Charles Weidman and Doris Humphrey presented their first concert at the Brooklyn Little Theater (now called the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse). Weidman’s Submerged Cathedral (Cathedrale Engloutie) and Humphrey’s Color Harmony and Air for the G String were among the important works that premiered on the program.
Outside the Brooklyn Little Theater
Color Harmony, considered to be America’s first abstract ballet, was based on the color theory of light. Groups of dancers represented as different primary colors interact and mingle around the stage. Quoted from Doris Humphrey’s notebook, she describes the flow of the dance poetically; “Through the wild colors shoots a silver arrow–it separates the couples–it draws them one by one into form—all the flaming colors are laid down in rhythmic patterns—in a pyramidal form—up high steps to a climax, where a silver streak molds itself into a stream of light that goes up into infinity.”1 Also innovative for its time, Clifford Vaughan composed the music for the work after Humphrey composed the movement.
Craig Gabrian performing Weidman’s Submerged Cathedral
Weidman’s Submerged Cathedral is based on a Breton legend about a cathedral that periodically “rises out of the water. The ringing of the bells and the chanting of the monks are heard—silence when the cathedral sinks back into the sea.”2 In his performance, Weidman “indicated with a truly moving quality the surge of the sea depths, the rising and sinking of the submerged structure, and the tolling of the underwater bells.”3Opening and closing with swirling circular movements contrasted by sharp upward thrusting movements in the middle, the choreography foreshadows Humphrey’s 1931 Two Ecstatic Themes: Circular Descent and Pointed Ascent.
Weidman continued to perform Submerged Cathedral until his death in 1975. In 1993-1994, Peter Hamilton recreated the choreography which has since been performed by Craig Gabrian (pictured above) at the Sylvia & Danny Kaye Playhouse, the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It has also returned to its first home, the Brooklyn Little Theater, where, in 1996, the Charles Weidman Dance Foundation presented the Brooklyn Music School with a plaque commemorating the first concert. Again in 2003, for the 75th anniversary, the program included Easter Oratorio, Fables for Our Time, Submerged Cathedral and Two Ecstatic Themes.
Carol Mezzacappa, Lee Sherman, Howard Golden, Miriam Cooper at the Brooklyn Music School
The CWDF was thrilled when Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz proclaimed March 24th Humphrey Weidman Day. Celebrate Humphrey Weidman Day today and remember the great modern dance pioneers and all they established for the future modern dancers of the world. Thank you Charles and Doris!
Young Dancers in Repertory with Howard Golden and Carol Mezzacappa at the Brooklyn Music School
The original program from the first Humphrey Weidman Concert
1from Doris Humphrey’s notebook, quoted in Days on Earth, the Dance of Doris Humphrey by Marcia B.Siegel
2from Weidman’s program note, quoted in Reclaiming Charles Weidman by Jonette Lancos
3Soaring by Jane Sherman
Photos at Little Theater by Larry Hall
Words by Nadira Hall
Post by Julia Jurgilewicz
Study in Contrast
“To me one of the most valuable assets in dance composition is the formula of contrast. In painting, this formula is used in the contrasts of darks against lights, of cool colors against warm ones, of plain surfaces against highly decorative ones. In movement this is done with contrasting a soft movement against a hard, moving the body or body parts from a closed contracted position to an explosive one, or moving vertically to horizontally.”
– Charles Weidman
On February 1st, modern dance soloist, Jennifer Conley, will be performing ‘Study in Contrast’ as part of the 92nd Street Y’s Fridays at Noon series. She will be accompanied by the incomparable Pat Daugherty on piano. This will be Study in Contrast’s first solo concert performance.
Jennifer Conley performing En Dolor choregraphed by Ethel Winter
In the early 1930s, Weidman created ‘Study in Contrast’ as a way to teach principles of dance composition. It concisely shows contrasts between:
sustained and sharp movements,
bent, curved and straight lines,
symmetry and asymmetry,
vertical and horizontal,
drawing inward and expanding outward,
the body being pulled off center/equilibrium and returning to center,
internal and external rotation,
“parallelisms” and “oppositions.”
Composed in ABA form, the study contains myriad variations of the initially stated “bent limb” theme which recurs in an extraordinary variety of angles and rotations. As the body responds to lateral and spiral forces, the dancer is eventually swept from his/her fixed position in space and then finally returns to equilibrium and stability.
Carol Mezzacappa & Craig Gabrian performing Study in Contrast at a lecture demonstration at Hunter College 1994
Early on, Weidman presented lecture demonstrations devoted to the basics of choreography. Initially they were part of the lecture demonstrations that he and Doris Humphrey began in 1929. Then, starting in 1935, Weidman and his Men’s Group presented lecture demonstrations devoted entirely to composition studies. ‘Study in Contrast’ dates from this period. First performed by the Men’s Group, ‘Study in Contrast’ was later incorporated into Weidman’s technique demonstrations which he continued to present throughout his career.
Jennifer Conley performing En Dolor choregraphed by Ethel Winter
Jennifer Conley is a former member of the Martha Graham Dance Company and Pearl Lang Dance Theatre. As a soloist, she has performed the work of modern dance luminaries Martha Graham, Charles Weidman, Jane Dudley, Ethel Winter, Yuriko, and Stuart Hodes. She has received commissions to choreograph original GeoDance repertory on university dance programs across the country and has also staged her work in New York City venues such as HERE, Merce Cunningham Studios, and Lark Theatre. As a regisseur with the Martha Graham Dance Center, Jennifer has staged ten productions of Martha Graham’s ballets in the United States and United Kingdom. She has served on faculty at Laban, Brown University, Franklin and Marshall College, Temple University, and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. She holds an MFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and is a Doctoral Candidate at Temple University.
For more information on the February 1st performance, visit the 92nd St Y website here: http://www.92y.org/tickets/production.aspx?performanceNumber=87759&source=8587
Words by Nadira Hall
Post by Julia Jurgilewicz
Charles Weidman Dance Foundation 