Blog | Bourgeon - Part 115

Interview with George Jackson

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August 15, 2006

August 15th, 2006

Rob Bettmann- George Jackson, you began writing on dance while at the University of Chicago as an undergraduate. A PhD and forty years later you have published in innumerable books, journals, magazines, and newspapers. Your work has required close attention and connection to the field. Out of all your experiences, might you offer one as your favorite experience?

GJ – I was an ice skatter as a child, and also saw all sorts of performances. I don’t recall the year exactly, but in high school I saw Alexandra Danilova, on a not very good night of the Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo. She was fabulous! She did a version of the Black Swan pas de deux that Balanchine had adapted for her. And she did it in dark purple, not a black tutu. I had never seen such elegance, such sophistication. in a way such wit with movement as she showed. And I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen it again.

Interview with Vincent Thomas

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August 14, 2006

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August 14th, 2006

Rob Bettmann– Vincent Thomas, in addition to teaching at Towson, your choreography career as director of VTDance is taking off. You recently returned from performing at the Edinburgh Festival. You’ve had a number of years working as an artist, and I know it’s something you love to do. And I was wondering if you could tell me about a favorite experience you’ve had working in the field?

VT – Well there have been many favorite experiences. But you know one that stands out is: I had been performing at the Goose Route Dance Festival in West Viriginia, Shepherdstown, and there was a lady who came to this pre-show lecture about text and movement. And she was expressive, but not so much a mover. Had a strong interest in dance. After the talk, she came to me and said: “I don’t understand!” She wasn’t a dancer, she was a writer, but was really intrigued with how text informed movement, and movement text, and she said, “I wish you could give me another example.” And I told her – the show is in like ten minutes – ‘hopefully it will be clearer when you see the work!’

And at the end of the show I was in the lobby selling t-shirts and greeting people and whatever. And she came in to me with a well of tears in her eyes and said, “I got it, I got it.” That was so powerful. Foremost I think she was emotionally moved by the content. What the dance was about. Which was a portion of the “Grandmother Project”. One window that people can come in through is their personal stories. Everyone can relate to having a grandmother, or a figure within their family that was a matriarch for the family. And what has been really beautiful with this project is that there are so many similarities between the stories that I hear – nationally and internationally. The slogan for VT Dance is “Universal, Tangible, Essential.” And I feel with the Grandmother Project, and with the experience in Shephardstown, that we get there.

Interview with Suzanne Carbonneau

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August 11, 2006

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Rob Bettmann – Suzanne Carbonneau, you have been a dance critic for over twenty years. You’ve seen more dance than many dancers. What has been your favorite experience in the field?

SC – I think all of my favorite experiences in dance have to do with the way they make me realize how much I don’t know about the world. I know that’s why I keep going to dance. Because it reminds me of the limitations of the experiences that we have in the lives we lead in the twenty-first century world. They remind us that there is more out there for us to see, think, do, feel.

One big epiphany I remember was going to see Merce Cunningham for the first time. I was just starting out as a dance viewer, and went to see Merce at City Center. I had read and heard that he was one of the great masters of our time. And I had my expectations of what that would imply from what I had seen before, which was mostly at that time ballet and what I would call classic or historic modern dance – Graham, Limon, Ailey. When I saw Cunningham I was completely taken aback because it didn’t look like anything I had seen before. Not in structure, or timing, or content. It was not what I had thought Art would be. I was bewildered.

I think that experience meant having to face the unknown, having to expand my own world or worldview in order to take in how Cunningham saw the world. Normally, my first reaction would have been to be angry with the choreographer for not fulfilling my expectations, for not giving me back the world the way I already saw it. But I think that what Merce taught me at that moment is that the world is much larger than the way I had understood it. And from that experience, I knew that I would have to be willing to follow what artists said was taking place in the world if I was to understand their work. Having to go off and try to figure out what Merce was trying to do – what he was seeing – has encouraged me to see the world from viewpoints that take into account different philosophical as well as theoretical ideas. It has meant having to do research in things like Buddhism and physics.
Seeing how Merce brings the contemporary world onto the stage makes me see the world differently when I walk out of the theater and encourages me to see the urban world as a source of beauty, not just of noise and chaos.

Interview with Jason Hartley

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July 27, 2006

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July 27th, 2006

Rob Bettmann: Jason Hartley, you attended the North Carolina School for the Arts, and from there went to Ballet Met, then Ballet Austin, then American Repertory Ballet. You have now been a member of the Washington Ballet for seven years, performing lead roles in classical and contemporary works. You were awarded the Princess Grace Award, and have also been the winner of the Kennedy Center Commissioning Project Award. Now at the ripe old age of 29 I was wondering – in all of the experiences, can you tell me what your single individual favorite experience has been?

JH: A number of my favorite experiences in dance have to do with that dance is a live performance. Thing can go wrong. I remember being a rat in this nutcracker. And at the end of one scene, the tree had to grow. Had to go up. But there was a present stuck to the tree. And it was keeping it from going up. And we can’t go on to the next scene until the tree goes up. In that version of the nutcracker the rats had been battling with these gigantic forks and knives. And so I took one of these gigantic forks and just swung at the tree like a giant piñata. (laughs.) I was able to knock the present loose, the tree rose, and we went on to the next scene.

I’ve always enjoyed thinking about ways to get through a problem scenario, or watching others find their way through. I’ve always found that, with live art, when things go wrong people tend to go on with the art. And with those live moments, those emergencies, you can start seeing personality come through in the dance in a way that sometimes it doesn’t when everything goes as planned.

RB – How old were you when you knocked that present off the non-growing tree?

JH- I think eighteen.

Interview with Jon Madof

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July 18, 2006

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July 18th, 2006

Rob Bettmann – So Jon, you’ve been a musican for a number of years, and have had the opportunity to tour the united states and Europe.

In all your experiences as an artist, and training as an artist prior, I’m wondering if you could tell me about one of your favorite experiences as an artist.

JM – As a musician?

RB – yes, your favorite experience as a musician. If there was one time, whether it was one show, making on record, one encounter having to do with music, related to your music making… whatever your favorite experience was.

JM – The first thing that comes to mind is a festival I participated in that John Zorn organized for his fiftieth birthday. I did a few shows for the festival; one was myself and Marc Ribot both playing solo and as a duo. I felt confident that I had the music together , but I was still really nervous about it. I don’t really play solo guitar and I was doing Zorn’s repertory and he was in the audience. I played the show and thankfully it went really well. But that actually wasn’t my favorite experience. My favorite experience was two days later when I did another show with my band Rashanim as part of the festival.

Each night, Zorn would do two sets of his music and then at midnight he would have another band play, one that was associated with him. I got there early and saw Masada play – with Joey Baron on drums – I just loved it. And then most of the people left. There were maybe twenty or thirty people left for our show at midnight. I had felt so much pressure earlier in the week to play his music right that I just didn’t care. I was tired, there weren’t so many people in the audience. I felt completely free of any worry or anxiety; I didn’t care. My bass player and my drummer were about to leave for a while, so it was our last gig before they left. And we had the most fun we’ve ever had. The only reason why we were there was to have a good time and play. And I really felt like how it was as a kid. I didn’t feel any pressure to be good. I didn’t feel any pressure for the music to be good. I really didn’t care. Unfortunately maybe it’s cause the pendulum had swung back from this incredibly stressful experience. I felt totally that there were no consequences. It was just about being in the moment and playing. It was great. And I think the music sounded really, great. I don’t have a recording, but subjectively, it was what I always want music to be.