Wednesday, 3/5/97
Remote Territories
Choreographer Meg Stuart’s "Remote" is among several pieces for
the White Oak Dance Project that explore the world of
modern dance.
By Alicia Cheak
Daily Bruin Contributor
Lithe and delicate, she peers through glassy green eyes, a
little uncertain. But once the initial formalities are over and the
issue becomes dance, Meg Stuart is full of life, movement and
memories.
Stuart is one of the four modern dance choreographers whose new
work, "Remote," will be featured Thursday night and through the
weekend at the Wiltern Theater. Specially commissioned by the White
Oak Dance Project, headed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, her work joins
those of three other choreographers: Merce Cunningham’s early 1953
work, "Septet"; the late Erick Hawkins’ final piece, "Journey of a
Poet"; and Dana Reitz’s "Unspoken Territories." Each piece will be
performed by Baryshnikov and his dancers.
Ask Stuart why she chooses to dance, and why in particular
modern dance, and she will reply, "How do you verbalize a touch?"
From this dilemma she begins the process of creation and
communication.
Likewise, the White Oak Dance Project, created in 1990 by
Baryshnikov and Mark Morris, is also exploring the language of
dance. It serves as the vehicle for the acclaimed classical ballet
dancer’s transition into, yes, modern dance.
Noted for its spirit of unconventionality, the company is
composed of older and selectively chosen dancers who are open and
able to work with a wide range of contemporary material. The
current repertoire testifies to that. With "Giselle" and "Swan
Lake" packed off to the side, audiences can now have the best of
both worlds – Baryshnikov in a new, contemporary light.
Stuart’s involvement came after Baryshnikov saw a videotaped
performance of a piece she did for the ballet company of Deutsche
Opera Berlin. He approached her with the idea of creating a new
piece of work for the project.
Previous White Oak commissions include works from master
choreographers like Twyla Tharp, Lar Lubovitch and Jerome Robbins.
Stuart, despite heavy projects schedules and managing her fledgling
Brussels, Belgium-based dance company, Damaged Goods, agreed.
"It took a long time, but I wanted to go very deep, very
personal with the dancers," Stuart explains of the three long
months of choreography and rehearsals before her piece, titled
"Remote," was finally ready. And even now, she continues to
fine-tune it. The first performance was given in New Hampshire two
weeks ago, and Stuart has faithfully followed it down to Los
Angeles for its West Coast premiere.
"To me dance is never finished, and what’s illusive and
beautiful about it is that it changes in every context it goes to,
and I think it’s going to have a different reading in L.A. than
other places," Stuart says.
Stuart’s approach is to break the human body and movements down
to basic tools and concepts – much like an architect does with his
rulers and measurements for constructing a building or a poet does
with emotions or thoughts when composing a poem.
She demonstrates by moving her shoulder slowly from its proper
position to a sharp angle until one side of her body is slouched
and defiant in opposition to the other half.
"Dance is pure movement and what’s interesting is that you can
take a movement or a gesture and mix it with pure lines or
geometric forms so the way I put them together is like a poetic
reading of a physical situation," Stuart explains.
"And what’s interesting about the medium of dance is to be able
to express things that aren’t easily expressed in words," Stuart
says.
Her work "Remote" has many issues packed in even more layers.
These include displacement, fragmentation, old models which no
longer work and conflict. The piece opens with a slow pirouette
which cannot quite be completed. Stuart says it speaks of
deconstruction and the importance of the temporal dimension in her
work.
"I work a lot with repetition and extending time which is very
important to my work. Instead of everything moving so fast, you see
one gesture but you see it again and again. I am interested in
what’s underneath. Not the action but why the action," Stuart
explains.
Only if a movement is distorted, undermined or destroyed into
components can it be rebuilt, Stuart explains.
She gives another example. "There’s these three women who fall
down and they are in a situation. Instead of getting up, I want to
follow the physical problem or paradox and the way they try to
resolve it. It is through the resolution that the audience engages
very directly with the performers."
It is what Stuart calls "under the skin, a level underneath
where the dancers are questioning and are vulnerable in a very
personal way" which appears to enrapture her audience.
At the recent 1996 Adelaide Festival, one critic reminisces
about the unnerving but captivating experience of watching Stuart’s
piece "No One Is Watching." He writes, "The dance for me was at its
most powerful either in the fragments of states of beings when no
complete image was achieved or in the moments of suspension of
action when the stage was filled with the memory of past events, or
with the threat of what was to come."
Another critic writes of Stuart’s 1993 piece, "To watch ‘No
Longer Ready Made’ is to watch an unfolding that is, no matter how
intense (and wanted) the movement, is unfolding that goes one,
relentlessly, as unfolding, not revelation."
Why is her new piece called "Remote" then? The paradoxical and
conflicted elements of her previous works are all present, but what
makes this one remote?
"There are many reasons and many interpretations," Stuart says,
going back to the multilayered nature of her work. "It could be the
feeling of being distant from a person or in the place where you
live. It could also be a search for a remote, safe place. Like, how
do we find comfort and ease when everything is moving?"
Despite multiple readings, what remains singularly important is
the force and the rawness of the movements.
Describing how she creates them, Stuart gives an anecdote.
"I had Misha (Baryshnikov) close his eyes and move naturally,"
Stuart recalls. "He’s such a natural mimic, so great at picking up
movement but I was interested in how he moves personally, in his
natural rhythm, and once I found it, I would put my personal
language over that."
She uses the same method with her dancers back in Belgium,
believing that the results are movements which are "so internal, so
honest."
Stuart’s fascination with movement dates back to her college
years, where she was a runner with the track team and a performer
in several theater productions.
"Dance is a synthesis of both," Stuart says. She received her
bachelor of fine arts from New York University in ’83 and was an
assistant to Randy Warshaw, working with his company from 1986 to
1992. In 1994, she established Damaged Goods, which is supported by
the Belgian government. Her work and style have won her recognition
and respect from the dancing community. In 1993, she received a
fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts and in 1996 was
nominated for the "Cultural Ambassador of Flanders."
While contributing her own personal style to the White Oak
Project and furthering its philosophy of exploring different facets
of modern dance, Stuart believes the Project has had just as much
impact on her work.
"It’s really fascinating to see him work. He’s always enjoying
and investigating a movement, always reading a movement. He puts
himself at risk, feels totally at ease making himself look
awkward," Stuart says of Baryshnikov. Impressed and inspired by the
dancer’s courage to explore new terrain, Stuart admits that while
she has imposed her aesthetics on the dancer, much of Baryshnikov
is also reflected in "Remote."
"I think my work is responding to that – the idea of transition,
the risk, the embracing. It really touched me. It really touched my
work."
DANCE: Mikhail Baryshnikov and the White Oak Dance Project at
the Wiltern Theater. March 6-9. Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sun., 2
p.m. Tickets are $35-$75 and $15 for students with valid ID. For
more information, call (310) 825-2101.Stuart’s approach is to break
the human body and movements down to basic tools and
concepts.Choreographer Meg Stuart