A leading force in the revival of 18th century ballet, challenging aesthetic conventions and bringing forgotten masterpieces to new audiences in what The Guardian has called “a whirlwind of desperately needed fresh air.”
Thank you to our dancers from over the years appearing in this collage: Thomas Baird, Michael Barriskill, Patricia Beaman, Brynt Beitman, Deda Christina Colonna, Justin Coates, Caroline Copeland, Seth Davis, Letizia Dradi, Sarah Edgar, Karen Eliot, Carly Fox Horton, Carlos Fittante, Jorge Fuentes, Junichi Fukuda, Stephanie Grover, Olsi Gjeci, Joy Havens, Timothy Kasper, Rachel List, Jason Melms, Hugh Murphy, Glenda Norcross, Valerie Shelton Tabor, Alexis Silver, Matthew Ting, Andrew Trego, Meggi Sweeney Smith, Catherine Turocy, Ani Udovicki, Seth Williams, Timothy Wilson, Gregory Youdan
We have been in rehearsal all of April and now we are at the exciting part where the orchestra joins us in our preparations. Marie Anne Chiment finished with the costume fittings yesterday and she was joined by Morgan, her assistant and the wig designer, Carissa, who has a multi-colored punk wig for our lead character, Thalia, the Muse of Comedy.
Join us for the modern premiere of an opéra-ballet that broke the mold! This present-day retelling cleverly swaps the original muses’ debate over the qualities of comedy and tragedy for composers, librettists, and choreographers debating which of their art forms garners the best reviews!
Produced by Opera Lafayette, Dance Collaboraters: The New York Baroque Dance Company
Join us for the modern premiere of an opéra-ballet that broke the mold for its time by putting contemporary characters on stage.(Produced by Opera Lafayette, Ryan Brown Artistic Director)
True to its innovative roots, this present-day retelling cleverly swaps the original muses’ debate over the qualities of comedy and tragedy for composers, librettists, and choreographers debating which of their art forms garners the best reviews!
With renowned conductor Christophe Rousset on the podium and Catherine Turocy directing, this witty, joyful, female-centric tale will have you laughing and cheering until the end. Thalie promises to uphold Opera Lafayette’s reputation as “one of the most creatively game and artistically sound operations in the business.”(The Washington Post).
Thalie features a diverse and talented cast of American singers including Jonathan Woody (Opera Lafayette Artistic Associate), Angel Azzarra, Pascale Beaudin, Scott Brunscheen, Jean Bernard Cerin, Patrick Kilbride, Paulina Francisco, John Taylor Ward, and Ariana Wehr. The production also includes eight dancers led by choreographers Anuradha Nehru and Pragnya Thamire, Julian Donahue and Julia Bengtsson of the NYBDC, and Caroline Copeland, Associate Director of NYBDC.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Terrace Theater Washington, DC Friday, May 3, 2024, 7:30pm Saturday, May 4, 2024, 7:30pmPre-show discussion begins at 6:30pm both nights.&El
Museo del Barrio New York, NY Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 6:00pm Pre-show discussion begins at 5:00pm at El Café.
Online Event at 6pm Eastern time with discussion, photos and videos looking at their recent production of Charpentier’s Les Arts Florissants, soon to be released as a recording!
Turocy and Richman, speak out on their work together over 4 decades of producing Baroque opera, using their last collaboration as a catalyst to reveal their perspectives on the vitality, emotional depth and beauty to be experienced in performing this art today.
Sign up with Eventbrite to Register for this Free Event!
Over 200 people from across the country, Canada and even as far as South America attended the first Early Music Summit. We saw old friends and made new ones. The sense of community was inspiring and I felt honored to be a part of it.
I stayed in an Airbnb with Julia, her son Jesper and her dad, Bjorn. We soon realized why Warrenton Street earned the name of Shear Madness Alley, but somehow it seemed appropriate!
Among the many presentations the ones which meant the most to me as a producer/performer of historical dance are the following:
NAGAMO: A Case Study in Collaboration & Decolonization (Lecture-Performance) Presenters: Jacob Gramit, musica intima Artistic Manager and Lucy Smith
Revolving around Elizabethan choral music by Byrd, Tallis, and Gibbons, NAGAMO features the unique musical perspective of Andrew Balfour’s reimagining of these motets into Cree and Ojibway. The video footage showed the work in performance with a mixed audience of engaged First Nation people and the usual early music audience. The integrated programming included indigenous music and song.
I was reminded of The New York Baroque Dance Company collaboration with the Shinnecock Indians in 2009 at the CW Post Campus Long Island University.
From Gramit and Smith I became aware of how to take our own project deeper into the community and how necessary it is to be open to others joining the project. There own project was structured with an open end, allowing things to grow and change.
Touring Music’s Stories (special format presentation) Presenter: Bill Barclay, Artistic Director, Music Before 1800
Mr. Barclay gave a very clear and inspiring talk on how to create a music/theater production through collaboration. He also stressed the advantages of inviting artists from different fields into the sandbox to help develop the initial idea. Challenges of funding can be met with presenters agreeing to sharing costs of the production in exchange for being on the premiere tour of the work. Even if the funding is not released until the performance, the notion of promised money is a way to get other funders involved. There are so many fascinating stories in dance history waiting to be told, surely our field can do this!
Uniting through dance in the 18th Century (performance-workshop) Presenters: Julia Bengtsson, dancer/choreographer, and Patricía García Gil, fortepiano
Looking at the development of the minuet in a combined workshop and performance, the audience experienced a journey through time and space by listening, watching and ultimately moving to music dedicated to the minuet – which dominated the dance floor for almost a century and spread from France across Europe and to the colonies. Bengtsson and Garcia Gil are a great team and we all hope they go more deeply into this project so we can hear more from them on this important subject drawing much attention from the field.
Julia Bengtsson emphasizing the importance of musicians and dancers working together and collaborating on presentations and performances.
Building on Bach: Six New Suites for Solo Cello (lecture-performance) Presenter: Jessica Korotkin, cello
Inspired by the creative practices of the eighteenth-century performer-composer, Ms. Korotkin created six cello suites drawing on the music and compositional methods of Bach. This process helped her to expand her approach to historically informed performance practice through discovering the composer-performer within. As I listened to her speak, I thought of dance and how we automatically analyze period choreographies in order to choreograph new works in the Baroque style. But there is something for dancers to learn about the importance of theory in addition to the practical questions. Her passion for theory erupted into a creative experience for her which was evident in the new music. If historical dancers could go more deeply into theory I think we would feel something similar.
Concerts were of a very high level. I especially appreciated the Young Performers Festival held each day. The summit closed with EMA’s Annual Awards Ceremony & Emerging Artists Showcase [ES] Marie Nadeu-Tremblay, baroque violin was unforgettable. Please see her perform live whenever you can. The Fooles, 17th century chamber ensemble took us to another level! And Maryse Legault, historical clarinet, with Gili Loftus, fortepiano, astounded me with the beauty of their instruments and a soul-felt performance by Legault.
Catherine Turocy and Julia Bengtsson at the EMA Summit and representing The New York Baroque Dance Company. Both Catherine and Julia are members of EMA and on the Board.
In conclusion, for the historical dance community, I would like to quote Lynn Garafola from her book, Legacies of Twentieth-Century Dance: “ A deep current of anti-intellectualism runs throughout the dance world, a mistrust of scholarly analysis, of probing beyond the evident, of questioning the truthfulness of received wisdom.” (2005, viii) I believe this is true and I would like to ask our historical dance community to join the Early Music America Summit next year. I am sure you will experience a different kind of summit where the presenters are both theorists and practitioners and the excitement of the presence of history in today’s world is palpable.
September 29 at Moody Performance Hall at 7:30pm with The Dallas Bach Society Dancers of the NYBDC, Brynt Beitman, Junichi Fukuda (making a special appearance), Meggi Sweeney Smith, Alexis Silver and young dancer Lidiia Volkova will appear in the DBS opening program for the season, “Bach and the Dance.”
Pictured below are Caroline Copeland and Roberta Lara caught in action by Liz Schneider-Cohen in a lecture presentation of “Bach Figures” at the 92nd Street Y in NYC
What are the dances on the program?
Bach Figures, choreographed by Catherine Turocy to select movements from the Bach Cello Suites, the choreographer wishes to answer the question: Is Bach’s music meant to be danced? This newly conceived suite of dances reaches out to today’s audience by artfully matching the aesthetic theory behind Bach’s music with dance theory and practice of the same period.
Movement 1: Beginning with the Sarabande from Cello Suite #3 in C Major the dancer appears in practice clothes. As she listens to the opening bars of the sarabande she first allows the music to stir inside her before the dance emerges from the body into choreography. The “movement of the soul” was an essential concept embraced by art theory in Bach’s time. In dance, the sweet sounds of the music are heard and enter the soul which is stirred to such a degree that movement can no longer be contained and must escape through the body. Being dressed in contemporary clothing, the dancer’s movements are more visible, not being hidden by panniers and long skirts.
Culturally, the sarabande has Spanish origins. Arm movements from Spanish dance are echoed in the dancer’s movements.
Movement 2: The Prelude from Cello Suite #1 in G Major is an imaginative play with the Golden Ratio. In this solo, choreography for a female dancer highlights the turning point of the Golden Ratio in the music. Another convention from Bach which is also shared by the dance, is a play with spelling a name. Bach would sometimes, through musical composition, spell his own name. Dance choreographers would honor a personage by spelling out the name in the path or track of the dance. Not only could the audience perceive the spelling of the name being performed, but the notated dance would be an obvious graphic record. In this movement the dancer spells B-A-C-H through a punctuated path in space. The dancer is in full Baroque costume with flow of the skirt creating an after-image of the motion.
Movement 3: The Minuet from Cello Suite #1 in G Major for two women explores the melody and rhythm of the music while performing the common figures of the minuet. The dancers are in full Baroque costume. The audience is deeper into the meaning of the dance having experienced the sarabande and prelude.
Movement 4: The Gigue from Cello Suite #1 in G Major is playful , conversational, witty and uplifting. This duet for a man and woman reveals the dance behind the music. The dancers are in full Baroque costume. Flirtation can be a part of court dance and this next layer of social interaction sets the audience up for the expressive allemande.
Movement 5: The Allemande from Cello Suite #5 in C Minor was a dance common to the ballroom and closer to the tempo of a bourrée. However, Bach’s allemandes are not the happy quick dances of young lovers, but something else completely. In this dance the choreography is inspired by the complex pairing of arms as the two dancers intertwine and pause in various romantic dance poses. These poses are directly from the dance manuals during Bach’s time and reveal a silent and mysterious courtship of movement. The dancers are in full Baroque costume, reminding the audience of Dresden porcelains.
Movement 6: The Bouree from Cello Suite #3 in C Major is a solo male dance of improvisation. Fully schooled in the dance theory and practice of the 18th century, the dancer allows the music to move through his body as he spontaneously releases the music into movement. Drawing from both the comic and serious styles, the dance is always a delight! The dancer is in modern dress, allowing the audience to see the shaping of the body more clearly and demonstrating how the Baroque dance style can feel contemporary when seen in today’s fashion.
Movement 7: This last movement is not to music from Bach and is played on the modern piano. Composed by Scott Joiner, the composition is beautifully inspired by Bach and is titled, “Prelude.” Returning to the stage in modern dress, the Allemande couple repeats the Allemande, but it takes on a more modern meaning in a contemporary context. The contemporary music under the Baroque dance emphasizes different parts of the period movement and allows the audience to relate to the dance in their own way. The past is always present whether we can identify it or not. Aesthetic theory from Bach’s time can still move audiences today.
Bach Figures is designed by the choreographer to play with a time cycle, beginning in the present, delving into the fundamental Baroque and returning to the present. Today’s audience relishes the journey and gains a deeper understanding of Bach’s music.
Bach’s French Suite #5 for Harpsichord in G Major
Storyline: Two couples meet for a fun evening of dance. The sophisticated evening eventually bends toward a tipsy loure and leads to a gigue for all 4 dancers which culminates in a game of musical chairs and much laughter.
The opening Allemande is beautifully played by James Richman. The following Courante sets the stage with the arrival of the two couples in full Baroque costume. The Sarabande is a dance for a solo woman in the majestic style followed by the Gavotte, a solo for a man in a joyous but elegant court style. Next comes the Bourrée, a duet for a couple, happy and witty. The Loure is a solo for a man which involves a drinking challenge and is very virtuosic. The final dance is a rollicking Gigue, danced by all as a game of musical chairs.
will be held on Tuesdays from 1-2 Eastern Standard Time.
zoom link:
Catherine Turocy is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Baroque Practice Time: Jan 30, 2024 12:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada) Every week on Tue, until May 14, 2024, 16 occurrence(s) Jan 30, 2024 12:00 PM Feb 6, 2024 12:00 PM Feb 13, 2024 12:00 PM Feb 20, 2024 12:00 PM Feb 27, 2024 12:00 PM Mar 5, 2024 12:00 PM Mar 12, 2024 12:00 PM Mar 19, 2024 12:00 PM Mar 26, 2024 12:00 PM Apr 2, 2024 12:00 PM Apr 9, 2024 12:00 PM Apr 16, 2024 12:00 PM Apr 23, 2024 12:00 PM Apr 30, 2024 12:00 PM May 7, 2024 12:00 PM May 14, 2024 12:00 PM Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system. Weekly: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZMtcu2hqTwsG9VJX2jqxaxJtlTlbThVFaZI/ics?icsToken=98tyKuGvrj4uE9OSthiGRpwEAo_4LPPwtmZdjfprtie3CTFLYxvcIu52PrBLGO72
This free class online is designed for the general public. The class will be hosted by Catherine Turocy with additional guest teachers from the NYBDC and colleagues. Most classes will be a movement class but some sessions may be guided discussions, interviews or an open meeting for practitioners in the field. Please watch our Facebook Page for specifics each week. The zoom link and subject of the class will be listed one week ahead of the class.
Mr. Caverley’s Slow Minuet ‘A New Dance for a Girl’
This Tuesday, November 14th, join Catherine Turocy in her free weekly online class, Baroque Practice. She will look at this notation from theoretical and pedagogical perspectives, illuminating the dance theory behind the choreography. Also, it is a fun solo dance and can be done in a small space!
Moira Goff has a lot to say about the history of the Slow Minuet.
Thank you, Hubert Hazebroucq, for emphasizing the need to look at notation as a starting point and not an ending point in reconstructing a dance. Your emphasis on the importance of carefully reading the text for descriptions of steps, and comparing this with how they are notated is so important. Ken Pierce emphasized this decades ago, but we still need to be reminded, and continue to do so.
Ken Pierce and Alan Jones illustrated further the many questions which occur when translating notation to the dance. In one student’s question to Ken Pierce wondering if one of the Favier minuet steps could simply be described in standard minuet vocabulary, his response steered us to the complexity of the interpretation from this notation system. In fact, reminding us of the danger of seeing something at first glance and wanting to translate it to a known system in our own experience rather than going through the thought process of the creator to discover the fuller dance idea.
With Hubert, Ken and Alan we learned the value in comparing dancing masters and their use of different notations giving further light to understanding the use of ornamentation and improvisation, especially in the minuet.
One question I have for Ken and Alan is, did Favier or Despréaux wish to have their notations accepted by professional dancers? Why did they not write a treatise like Feuillet?
Thankyou you all for showing us that delving into comparisons of different notation styles can lead to a broader understanding of movement concepts which we may be missing or different from the Feuillet Chorégraphie we are all accustomed to.
A deeper study of notation reveals the endless possibilities of step variations and with Hubert’s study of Taubert, we are reminded of the use of ornamentation during the Baroque period and how today, in reading a notation, we can add our own ornaments and indeed, this was probably expected in the performance practice of the day. He also demonstrated with his video what it looks like to do an unfigured minuet with improvisation which is key to the popularity of this dance for over 100 years. One student suggested having a ball with many couples dancing at the same time, doing their own minuets, and also having the couples come on and off the dance floor as they saw fit, rather than being so ordered as we have practiced in our reenactments today.
A chat comment from From Iris-Michaela Schmidtmann to Everyone:
Beautiful! one can understand, how Taubert describes, that sometimes the Couples had to be pushed from the Danceflour by force, because their Performance took to long
Caroline Copeland’s presentation fascinated our attendees who appreciated her research process and how she summarized her findings in edited videos taking the viewer through the structure of the dance, including references to sources and posing questions. Creating online platforms for the general public is so important to engaging our society and getting them excited about dance as a social practice with a deep history. Caroline also demonstrated the advantages to stepping outside of one’s box and creating a team of scholars to participate in the process either with a hands-on approach or as an adviser. Although the internet has been around for a while, it can be used as a tool for publishing ongoing research, especially research which is in a “pioneer” stage such as Caroline’s. The advantages to being online is that presentational material can be updated as the researcher grows in their understanding of the subject.
Catherine Turocy’s class
In Magri’s descriptions he emphasizes the use of forced positions and a more athletic use of the body. This is not new to us given John Weaver’s writings in the beginning of the century. However, to have a dance treatise written by a Grotesque style dancer certainly brings the physicality of the dance to the forefront and explains how the steps were used in moving larger on the larger size of a theatrical stage.
My goal in the class was to explore embodiment of verbal descriptions of dance steps. It is not enough to learn a dictionary of words and see how they sound when you say them just as it is not enough to try out the dance steps without employing them in a dance sentence or phrase. The concept of “play” from Historical Dance at Play is needed to digest all these ideas from the past.
As demonstrated in the beginning sessions of this workshop, our vision of the past keeps changing with new thought looking once again at the old treatises. With better communications today between a web of researchers and enthusiasts, we need to listen to what is happening and to keep ourselves in the loop and in the discussion. Our understanding of minuets and notation need to be updated!
Gottfried Taubert was employed at the University in Leipzig in the Philosophy Department and his specialty was Dance. Hearing Mark Franko speaking about transformation, transubstantiation and time reminded me of this and I think of Mark as a true dance philosopher engaging us today and taking us on a journey demonstrating dance, like the other arts, also delves into theory and questions of ethics and aesthetics whether its dance from the Baroque or dance today. In examining the beliefs and ethics of those in the audience and building a cultural context for how people behaved and functioned in society, dancers today can begin to understand their period audience. In performing the dance to an imagined period audience, different feelings, efforts and states of being can be experienced by the performer. This will inform practitioners about a circular energy between the spectators and the performers…but how does this apply to today’s performances when many in the audience do not believe in the church or government and come from such diverse backgrounds. Is it worth all the trouble?
I think we have to say, “yes!” Perhaps we need several sessions on theory of aesthetics from the 17th and 18th centuries, belief systems in religion and how that translated into everyday life, how Greek thought was used in building aesthetic theory and a new society. Etc. Not all stage dancers at that time were philosophers, but their craft in performance practice was molded by these ideas. Correct me if I am wrong, but I find all published dance treatises from the Baroque begin with an historical context and some include Biblical references and the importance of God and leading a virtuous life. For many people in today’s world thinking of God and a virtuous life is not on their radar, let alone understanding the Baroque definition of God and virtue, the microcosm /macrocosm. Movement of the soul (and by the way what is the soul?) In our modern times is there a fear or an embarrassment in looking into the spiritual life of the performing arts from times past? Perhaps looking into spiritual thought and thought derived from these meditations such as Descartes’ theory on the passions of the soul, could provide a link into understanding other cultures at that time. Are we so different? And how?
The interview with Melinda Sullivan brought us back to today and the offstage life of a performer/teacher. Hearing about her experiences touched many attendees with similar backgrounds. A quote I am taking away from her session is, “Make yourself valuable.” Or to paraphrase John F. Kennedy…Ask not what dance can do for you, but what can you do for dance.
Julia Bengtsson reminded me this morning of the discussion which ensued on the subject of dance history and its place in the university, Western dance history and early dance in relation to early music education. She suggested we could have more sessions on this topic and Jen and I agree.
An amusing comment from From Talitha MacKenzie to Everyone:
I was considering disguising myself as a prospective student and phoning up every institution to say that I want to apply for a course in Historical Dance and to ask what courses they have. Just to give the impression that there is a demand for this . . . I suppose this is also Historical Dance at Play!
Aimee Brown brought a new notation to bridge the gap between musicians an dancers. Interesting comments from the chat include the following:
From Iris-Michaela Schmidtmann to Everyone:
In a Performance I did quite a long baroque choreographie with an Orchestra and I think, it would have been much better if they would have known, where I jumped and where I did a glissé when they rehearsed the Peace. So I think, this is a very good Idea! Thank you
16:07:24 From Talitha MacKenzie to Everyone:
Using colour in the notation might help to get the message across more efficiently.
From Talitha MacKenzie to Everyone:
Talking about the nature of rubato is useful—they should try to retain a sense of the main tactus, speeding up as much as they have slowed down to keep an even tempo overall.
Julie Andrijeski was extremely helpful with her comments and I hope Aimee feels embraced by our community and our enthusiasm for this research and new, very practical, notation she has created. I suspect Aimee may find a mentor in Julie…and this is why we gather at Historical Dance at Play…to share our thoughts and our practice and to support each other.
Darren Royston took most of us into a new world with Laban and the minuet and reminded us that it was a dance currently taught in Laban’s lifetime. It was an old dance but not a lost dance. In the chat someone mentioned that the minuet was revived once the French Revolution and the Terror subsided. This reminded me of Alan Jones in our last workshop talking of Despréaux and his employment at court was more about teaching bowing and standing and walking than complex choreographies because the society.
Tyde Richards, Historical fencing specialist and dance enthusiast, presented his research on the connections between fencing, natural magic and dance suggested by the lavishly illustrated 17th century fencing treatise by Gérard Thibault produced under the aegis of Louis XIII. This session included a movement exercise with Jennifer Meller. Exploring the Spanish fencing style in the context of Spanish dance of the same period captivated our students and we are eager to learn more! Here is a link telling us more about Thibault. https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/G%C3%A9rard_Thibault_d%27Anvers
We hope to see you all throughout the year at dance classes, concerts, workshops and more! Please stay in touch!
Discover Despréaux and be one of the first students to participate in this first international online workshop dedicated to his work.
This groundbreaking online workshop offered on Fridays from February 17 to March 24 consists of six 75 minute classes and includes a lecture on the life of Jean-Étienne Despréaux, a theory class and classes on the notation system he invented which is no longer in use, early 19th century ballet exercises, samplings of early 19th century ballet repertoire and a presentation of quadrilles from his unpublished manuscript. We are so fortunate to have Alan Jones share his deep research on the early 19th century ballet style and to have Irène Feste take us through her work on the court style as it evolved from the Baroque into the pre-romantic era. This transition period sheds light on what came before and what came after, but perhaps it is its own thing…
This workshop consists of lectures and practical classes. The practical classes can be taken as a regular dance class or simply observed. All classes will be recorded and available for study a day or two after the class so students can study at their own pace and review. Also, because of the time zone, students will be able to attend these online events in real time or at their convenience.
Class 1: Introduction to the life of Jean-Étienne Despréaux (1748-1820). This power point lecture by Irène Feste with additional commentary by Alan Jones, contains rare images from the period, sheds light on this artist who was a French dancer, choreographer, composer, singer and playwright. The lecture includes an introduction to his repertoire and his unpublished manuscript and places his work within a cultural context.
Class 2: Dance Theory Lecture and Discussion. Alan Jones and Irène Feste present Despréaux’s ballet theory and practice revealing changes in ballet from the end of the 18th century into the beginning of the 19th century.
Classes 3, 4 and 5: Walking, Positions, Ballet Exercises and Notation. This practical dance class will draw the student into the basics of the ballet style at this time and introduce them to Despréaux ‘s innovative notation system which is quite different from the established Beauchamp-Feuillet system. Taught by Alan Jones and Irène Feste, dance phrases will be drawn from repertoire such as the Gavotte de Vestris, Forlana,Menuet de la Cour, and Les Tricotets.
Class 6: Presentation of Quadrilles. Irene Feste will talk about the evolution of the ballet steps as used in the ballroom emphasizing the origin of the dances, rhythm, measure and cadence.
The dance materials are at the BnF. Both the Terspi-Coro-Graphie and the Quadrilles are part of the Fonds Deshayes, Bibliothèque nationale de France (Bibliothèque-Musée de l’Opéra).
Dates: Fridays from February 17-March 24 from 12-1:15pm Eastern Standard Time
Cost: $130 which includes 6 classes and recordings of each class as well as supplemental materials.
This workshop is of interest to: dancers, choreographers, stage directors, ballet teachers, musicians, actors, Pre-Romantic ballet fans, Baroque ballet enthusiasts, American dance students, dance notation students and teachers and those interested in American/European cultural history of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
To Register for the workshop please contact Jennifer Meller at jenbeast@gmail.com
First of all a big Thankyou to Jennifer Meller for helping me manage Historical Dance at Play. She also acted as our tech person and was a great help to the presenters. This was our 15th multi-era summer workshop and I would like to acknowledge Richard Powers and Joan Walton for being a part of our creative team behind the scenes and helping to form the nature of these workshops.
We had 16 presenters for the 12 sessions and I cannot be more happy with what was brought to light, examined and truly enjoyed, as our eyes, bodies and souls opened to new vistas. Here is the wrap-up I presented yesterday for those who missed it…
“Thank you to all our presenters for sharing your research and artistry these past two weekends. I feel a new energy coming from the historical dance field and that we may be on some sort of edge.
In astronomy, the birth of a new star tells us so much about the universe and creation. In our session with Terrance Smith, he brought to us a new dance form emerging from today’s Memphis. Was this the kind of excitement the galliard created when it first appeared on the scene? His explanation of the history of jookin, the style, the moves, improvisation… Is the “bug jump” so different from the Renaissance ru de vache or kick of the cow? He deftly taught us the moves of this new urban ballet and it gave us so much to think about as we try to make sense of the past, present and future of dance.
On the same line of thought, Bruno Benne brought us into his dance inspired and emerging from Baroque forms. His class restored a natural weight and swing to Baroque dance steps. He is clearly not making a recreation of an historical style, but taking the style from the Baroque ballroom and stage directly to a minimalist form reminiscent of Merce Cunningham or Lucinda Childs with whom he has collaborated. He is taking what he learned as a dancer with Beatrice Massin and Marie Genevieve Massé further into the future of education for the common pedestrian and mixing, at times, his work with this group and his professional company, much like the court performances where professionals danced with the nobility. Both his classes and his staged work are Historical Dance at Play.
Yesterday we heard from the very articulate Caroline Copeland who is incorporating historical dance ideas from art theory, historical dance treatises, iconography and notations into her ballet, modern and dance history classes. She has made a call to action, encouraging today’s teachers to understand and use the past in their own teaching as a way of giving their students a fuller appreciation of the art and as a path to liberation, honoring the unique intelligence and abilities of the individual.
But what about traditional research, discussion and performance of historical dance with its recreations and new creations in the style? This work is continuing from a fresh perspective. Ana Yepes, Jeannette Acosta-Martinez and Ramon Martinez joined forces in comparing movement in dancing and fencing of the Spanish Golden Age. Their collaborative efforts underscored a necessity for our dance field to see movement in the broader sense, as a part of physical culture from an era. They opened the challenge to see beyond our own discipline into related physical arts.
Deda Cristina Colonna and Sarah Edgar gave insight to the value and process of an artist looking into the dance and music scores to bring past art works to us. With Deda, her research, the details of the notation and questions raised by the nature of the choreography were illuminated by her own experience as a choreographer. With Sarah, she looked into the life of Joseph Boulogne to create a cultural context which informed her stage direction and choreography. This was in addition to doing her due diligence of research and reconstruction of the late 18th century style. Both women were trained in dance techniques of today and are experienced in making contemporary work. I somehow feel this sharpens their eye in their reconstructions because they are familiar with the creative process in general.
In my own presentation I took our students into my choreographic process involving Baroque aesthetics and theory. How does one create the look of the style from theory and rules? Can these rules be an inspiration, liberating the creative flow of the artist? This practical application of the words of the dancing masters can release a new energy still within the period definitions of art. And as Caroline and Bruno showed us, it can release a new energy into contemporary art as well.
The exploration of Alan Jones into an almost unknown dance notation system took us into the late 18th century and early 19th century shedding light on early ballet technique and choreography. It was a delight to dance the exercises and to really see through Alan’s analysis the art of Despréaux. Alan opened our eyes to how much work still waits to be discovered. He is busy making cross cultural connections in geography and time. His research is original, deeply disciplined and groundbreaking.
How fortunate to experience the work of Edmund Fairfax on the same day as Alan’s presentation. The passion and urgency of Edmund’s video challenged many areas of assumed knowledge. Understanding the importance of researchers/practitioners in the last century such as Wendy Hilton, Shirley Wynne, Francine Lancelot literally breaking the code of the notation system and treatises, Edmund underscored the importance of continuing to challenge our knowledge of the past. What is really known? What has been assumed? In studying books published 30 or 40 years ago on the subject of historical dance, we must understand this was an early dance movement still in its beginning stages, there are mistakes, just as there are mistakes in my own past lectures which I strive to correct. We can only see what we can at that moment. And for Edmund Fairfax, he is unique in striving to really build an encyclopedic knowledge of ballet from its beginnings to today. With great determination and an open mind, he continues to unearth riches. In his presentation we discovered he welcomes questions and uses these challenges as part of his own process.
In today’s presentations we looked into the more recent past of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Talitha Mackenzie brought us the sophistication of social dance and how the latest steps were transmitted in Scotland. Her own work embraces a larger platform for dance outside of social and theatrical forms, including traditional dance. This broader perspective reminds us that multi-era workshops in social, traditional and theatrical dance can be a breeding ground for new thought and discoveries.
With Millicent Hodson’s presentation we began the process of looking at recent history, but history which was and is about to disappear. Is the information documented or gathered from conversations? Is one method of thinking more valid than another? There were so many versions how do you choose and what gives you that right? She and her partner and Husband, Kenneth Archer are brave. They show us how to search out the soul of the work, to appreciate the human struggle at the time the dance was created and to restore a sense of what these lost dances are. The complex exploration of there work brings dignity to dance and does give it a voice. The work of Marcea Daiter, Thomas F. DeFrantz and Loris A. Beckles honor their legacy and also give a voice to the history of African American dance. I am so thankful they shared their experience and showed us how the very heart of history remains with us now and that as we push the art forward we are also affecting its history.
Perhaps Thomas F. DeFrantz helped to summarize our efforts with this workshop when he said we are “Rendering history as an active process of creativity.”
Catherine Turocy, Artistic Director of The New York Baroque Dance Company and the Historical Dance at Play workshop
Thomas F. DeFrantz will be a guest at The New York Baroque Dance Company workshop, Historical Dance at Play: Welcome Home II. Marcea Daiter and Loris Beckles will join Thomas on a dance panel of choreographers who use their experience and understanding of the legacy of their own history as African Americans to create new work.
This short video from Thomas speaks to the place of history and dance history in contemporary choreography with a reflection on social justice.
The New York Baroque Dance Co. 
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