Performática: International Forum of Contemporary Dance and Movement Arts
Puebla, Mexico
15 - 23 March, 2007
www.udlap.mx/Performatica
New York-based dance artist Allison Waddell is participating in Performatica, and shares her thoughts about the experience day by day.
Day 5
My hardest day so far. It isn’t easy for me to be in the role of choreographer around performance time. I can recognize that I’m having a bit of performance envy. When I am performing I feel more in control of the success of the piece than as a choreographer who has to sit and watch it all unfold.
I made a piece on two male UDLA actors back in the fall. They performed tonight and I was happy with the quality of their performance. On the other hand, the lighting capabilities in the theater weakened their strongest assests as performers….their faces. We had created an intimate piece and the lighting (very limited front lighting) kept their faces in shadow and shut out the audience.
I’ve had work produced internationally before, and it’s always a struggle to communicate clearly because of the language barrier. Unfortunately, I don’t speak Spanish. I am grateful to the tech crew for their work to create the look they thought I was after. I was clearly not accustomed to their method of teching pieces.
As the UDLA students’ teacher/choreographer I felt responsible for showing their strengths on stage, and I felt incapable of translating/communicating my needs to the crew. I also realize that sometimes it’s very difficult to ask for what you need and not seem disrespectful (my worst fear in these situations).
It all turned out fine, and on a high note Heather Maloney performed a lovely, dark, multiple pairs of under dance, and Karl Anderson and Andee Scott also made me be happy to be in the theater.
The festival tide is changing as people are leaving and a new crowd arrives. My dear friends Julie Rothschild and Katharine Birdsall arrived today like care-packages from home.
Dinner and early to bed tonight.
–Allison
Day 4
Sunday- Time seems to expand here. I feel as if I’ve been in Mexico for weeks. The non-stop shifting from teaching to taking class, rehearsing and socializing, and especially taking in all the performances makes me feel that my life in New York is very far away.
This morning I checked in with home…dry cleaning picked up? are the cats ok? snow and ice in NY?….that must suck. Realigning my life with my partner’s helped me recalibrate and find my center here in Mexico.
After lunch today there was a remarkable Butoh performance in an intimate black box theater. As the dancer edged away from the classic Butoh form, I felt as if I were watching a condensed life span of an Aztec warrior. I so appreciated the authenticity, commitment and focus of every second the dancer inhabited….raw, powerful, grotesque, curious and moving.
And on the the theater for the evenings’s performance…. Tonight I was really moved by Jane Weiner’s solo choreographed by Mark Dendy, and Ground Zero’s performance (I’m really not being biased). I’m not sure if it’s a cultural thing, but my aesthetic sensibilities certainly resonated with these two works. Perhaps I’m reaching my dance watching limit, as I was drawn quickly into some of the performances, and others I literally couldn’t watch. I’ll be the first to admit, my attention span is diminishing and I can be a really cranky audience.
We returned to Cholula after the concert and stumbled upon the most amazing display of fireworks I’ve ever seen. Not only were there fireworks in the sky, but there was a contraption of spinning pyrotechnics- blazing chickens and churches, crowns and flowers, and the finale was a winged horse spinning at the top looking as if it might take off and fly away. The whole spectacle took place in the courtyard of an old church, and we were so close to where the fireworks were set off that it looked as if they were raining down on us.
And of course we ended the evening with more tequila drinking….
–Allison
Day 3
This morning I was honored to take the seat of teacher here at Performatica.
After having a gentle and playful wake up for my body in Glenna Batson’s Anatomy class, I taught partnering. It was more of an improvisation/composition class that focuses on building intricate and complex choreography quickly for duets and quartets. I love teaching this workshop because it reminds me that everyone is capable of making interesting movement. I find it empowering for me and the students. I learned some of the tools I taught today from Terry Creach and Stephen Koester….as I get older I find the need to honor my teachers more and more.
Anyway, the class was great. The work was interesting and the students seemed pleased and impressed with themselves and the collaborations they created.
This afternoon a gang of us set out for Cholula and had lunch at the base of the pyramid. We drank cervezas (beer), sangria, and Rob Petres tried the Mexcal complete with the worm. It was great to finally have an authentic Mexican meal as the cafes surrounding the university cater to the students who want pizza and college food. After lunch, giddy with our afternoon cocktails, we headed up the pyramid and into the church plopped on top of it. The view over the town went on for miles ending with the volcano puffing smoke from its peak. Somewhere in the distance a high school marching band played New York, New York and I found myself once again asking, “where am I?”
There was an academic conference that night in Spanish and so we took the night off from festival activities and hung out at a local bar watching ’80’s videos (awesome!) and then the Madonna Confessions Tour. The bar was remarkable…pictures of old pin-up girls on the walls and a vomitorium in the bathroom. We capped off the night hanging out at Ray’s house chatting, dancing, laughing and doing stupid human tricks.
Tomorrow, more dancing….
Day 2
What a joy to take a familiar technique class from an old friend and colleague! This morning I took Ray’s Schwartz’s class. Ray is such a master teacher, and the class itself was like getting to hang out with an old friend. So familiar, yet so much to catch up on. I loved that Ray seemed to be visiting his dance roots. Floor work from his NCSA days, a strange fusion of Horton technique and jazz from 1987, and the distinct flavor of Ray.
Following class I helped Ray rehearse the Stabat Mater, a quartet he had made for three men and myself several years ago. He had recently set the piece on 4 extremely capable UDLA students and it was lovely to see the piece breathe new life. Watching the students I felt a strange sense of physical dejavu….sitting still and watching something I know so well in my own body. I couldn’t remember the steps, but my body felt and remembered the dance, the essence, the power. I loved being able to share and pass on one of my most satisfying performance with the students. I had worked with some of the students in the cast when I was here in residency this past fall, but I felt a lovely bond with them as I passed the torch.
Later that evening the festival gathered for the second perfomance. It proved a long evening that was chock full of quality dance….so rare for a mixed bill. It was interesting to look at dance from the United States as dance from the United States, and not just everything under the umbrella of contemporary dance. I noticed the distinct differences of the qualities and tone in the body, subject matter, costume choices, music. I think our perspectives are so unique to our own cultures regardless if we as artists are cognizant of them or not. I am certainly grateful for how the change in geography, and placing myself in another culture altered my perspective on a dance form that currently to me seems predictable and often times boring. I was renewed and recharged by my shift in perception and able to see each dance with fresh eyes.
Hallalujah!
–Allison
Day 1
Today I woke to the unique sensation of not knowing where I was. The sensation only lasted a few moments as I took in my less than familiar surroundings. Bright sunlight through the windows, and cool air that promised to warm throughout the day….deep sigh. Mmmm, oh yeah….Mexico.
I started the festival by taking Moti’s contact improv class. As a contact improvisor it was nice to see the eager faces of students who had never even heard of Contact, yet were willing to try out the form. The class was gentle and playful, with a quick progression from moving through space and negotiating touch to weight sharing. Ahhh, and finally time to dance. So lovely to notice the rapid language of the body with a complete stranger, someone who doesn’t speak my native tongue but together we speak a language much more sacred and simple. I quickly learned her tone, her rhythm, her weight, and simultaneously she reminded me of my own.
After a leisurely lunch, and checking out the incredibly focused and quadricep punishing Butoh class, I walked toward the pyramid with Moti and Heather Maloney. We approached the foot of the pyramid and realized that if we wanted to make the evenings performance we would have to save our explorations of the pyramid for another day. I could already feeling the pull of the pyramid, and suspected it could keep us busy for a number of hours. We changed directions and ran into a handful of new, old, and familiar dance folk on the street and capped of the afternoon with a beer and get-to-(re) know you conversation.
Certainly the highlight of the day was the evening’s concert, a traditional performace of Flaminco and Folklorico. I must confess that typically I really don’t like folkdancing, but found myself moved to tears by the sincerity and presence of the children, and delighted by the joy and exuberance transmitted by all the dancers. The performance was the perfect kick-off to Performatica….reminding us of where we are, who our lovely hosts are, and aligning our hearts to share our dancing gifts in the days to come.
–Allison
Performatica Background
The city/state of Puebla, Mexico has a growing contemporary dance scene. It has an appreciative spectator base, a sense of both the value of its own tradition, and a desire to look into its global future. Because of this, Mayra Morales and Ray Eliot Schwartz – both professors of Dance at the Universidad de Las Americas in San Andreas Cholula – have brought Performática: International Forum of Contemporary Dance and Movement Arts to Puebla. During nine days this international forum of more than 50 dance artists and groups from Mexico, the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Nuevo Caledonia will convene workshops, roundtable discussions and performances. The goal is to facilitate international and intercultural exchange of dance practices, knowledge, theory and culture as related to the contemporary discourse of bodily movement, expression, and philosophy. Many of the visiting artists are award-winning choreographers, teachers, and performers.
With the arts as the centerpiece of Performática, the effects of the event will reach widely into the community. One of the missions of Performática consists of creating international institutional bridges as well as local ones, and, in doing so, the Forum has obtained the participation of local artist spaces and institutions such as the Universities of Ibero-Puebla and BUAP, Teatro de La Ciudad of Puebla, Casa de Cultura, The Pyramid of Cholula, Gallery 6 X 6, and various primary schools of San Andrés Cholula. Support has also been give by the Secretary of Culture for the State of Puebla, City Council of Puebla, the Office of the Cultural Attache of the U.S. Embassy, and local businesses and organizations in Puebla and Cholula. In bringing contemporary dance practices to all of these spaces – with free admission to all events – Performática will impact the area through the unique method of public sharing that only live performance can bring.
For more information, schedules, and biographies of participants please visit the webpage www.udlap.mx/Performatica or contact Ray Eliot Schwartz at zenmp@hotmail.com or phone +52-222-327-2970 (cellular)
