Hi Mark, thank you for sharing your impressions and feelings about your post-catastrophe performance. I had to go out Wednesday night to review the Fringe Festival here in Philly when it resumed. I too felt that some of the works I saw must have been created after the events. I realized I was projecting some of my own grief onto them but I very much felt that Megan Wolfe's group in Stumble Thicket and Moxie danced with a fierce rededication to life and several of Moxie's works felt like solemn requiems or quiet prayers. I said so in my review and wish I had room to say how important it was for people to be out with others receiving the offering and the blessing that art can be. Alone, I listened to: Copland's Quiet City, Ive's Unanswered Question, Rzewski's The People United Will Never be Divided, Bloch's Schelomo, Moon Dog's New Amsterdam, Bryars' Tittanic and other works. But for religionless people like me, being out in an audience was the opportunity to commune with fellow Philadelphians in a shared experience. I want to commend you and all artists who were able to get out and perform so soon, encourage others and thank you all for doing what you do and being there for us. I'm sure your's and Dawn's concert was very poignant and meaningful to the people present. I'm sure it gave great comfort. All the best, Merilyn ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Coniglio" <troika@panix.com> To: <dance-tech@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu> Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 6:07 AM Subject: [OT] Reflections on our performances this week.... > Dear List, > > I will thank you in advance for letting me share some thoughts about > our performances this week. It is good to have a community with whom > I feel that I can share this... > > It has been quite an experience - performing on Thu (the first show > after Tue) was as difficult a performance as I can remember giving. > It became especially hard because the first work in the program, a > duet inspired by Dawn's consideration of her own mortality after > getting Type-1 Diabetes two years ago, suddenly had an absolutely new > meaning in light of the attack. She starts, in the voice of a > preacher almost, by saying "I'm feeling totally confused, > disconnected, afraid about the future..." Later, the other dancer > exclaims, as a contrast, "I'm feeling totally content" - you can > imagine how hard that was to perform. The piece ends with the other > dancer asking, "Are you ready for the end?" and Dawn answering, > "Yes.". Blackout. > > And then, Dawn's new solo piece: performed totally in silence and > accompanied only by a large television swinging on a 12 foot cable, > showing the images of clouds in the sky, she makes a gesture that > might imply that she was holding a globe - or the world - in her > hands, examining it, and then suddenly her fingers flex in way that > indicate that the object has crumbled. > > It was so eerie how seemed as if all these pieces must have been > created after rather than before the horrors of earlier in the week. > I suppose it is a testament to the work that it can speak to the > moment in which it was performed in such a powerful way. On the other > hand, perhaps it is only that everything can be seen only through the > lens of this horrible attack. > > The other hard moment in the concert came in the set of dances we > created set to the music of 80s pop band Devo. These were supposed to > be unabashedly fun, and a little campy. We'd literally never done > anything like that - we're always awfully serious as some of you > know. In one of the sections, I was playing video created with a > little rig I made to record stereo video, the kind that requires the > audience to don the old fashioned blue-red glasses to watch it. That > video consisted primarily of shots, taken with the camera pointed > straight up into the sky, of skyscrapers in lower Manhattan. > Thankfully, the WTC was not among them. Still, these images seemed to > be too much. I spent several hours on Wed. recutting a new video > without the buildings. We showed that video on Thu, but because I had > precious little other material, the piece seemed very empty. On Fri, > we reinstated the old video, and talked to the audience about it > beforehand. Luckily, the response after the concert was that people > felt it was OK to use this video. > > The part about this that was really hard was that the particular > piece to which this video was attached was "It's a Beautiful World". > The song itself is ironic, because the point is that it is indeed > _not_ a beautiful world. The combination of the somewhat campy > dancing, the words of the song, and the video of these 3D skyscrapers > was a strange, unsettling combination. > > For those of you who responded so enthusiastically to my email of > last week announcing that we would perform, I give my thanks. Dawn > and I were very unsure of our decision. In retrospect, it was totally > right to do, and served as our own way of defying those who would > terrorize us. It struck me that, as the 18 people who showed up on > Thu night gathered in the theater, that this was our community, and > that this is how we gathered together to console and comfort one > another. I am very glad that those 18 people had the courage to come > out of their homes and be with us, so that we could have the lovely > feeling of being able to give them something beautiful when all > around seems so ugly. > > With Warm Wishes, > Mark > -- > ================================================================ > Mark Coniglio, Artistic Co-Director | troika@panix.com > Troika Ranch Dance Theater | http://www.troikaranch.org > ================================================================ >
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