June 05, 2014

Potential Energies

         May/June is a beautiful time of year in New York. Flowers and trees are blooming in May and the Cherry Blossoms are unforgettable. By June, the local parks have woken up and farmers markets have become the Saturday morning gathering with not only great food, but live music too. For this, it has been my favorite part of the year in New York, and as a musician, it has often been a time of celebration followed by rejuvenation. With many years here as a student, I’ve celebrated the end of the school year or the end of projects in May as well as the graduation of friends and eventually my own graduation; this as a teacher as well. June, on the other hand, has typically been the month of respite; the bounce back time until I begin looking for inspiration. This year, before I could wonder for too long on how or where I would find this inspiration, I was invited to Potential Energies, a Classical premiere with dancers. This concept piece expressed in some way my feelings of May/June in New York: to find renewed inspiration.
         Potential Energies was performed at BAM Fisher in Brooklyn by the Nouveau Classical Project and the TrioDance Collective. The BAM Fisher theater is pretty minimal with seating in auditorium style, and for this performance, there was no dressing of the stage as though we were seeing the performance from backstage or we were seeing them perform a dress rehearsal, the moments just before a shared realization. All of it was unadorned, not just the stage, the performers also were dressed simply in mostly black and grey; each dressed to accentuate their own personal form, but none were highlighted as a central character nor were they dressed to convey a personality or individualism. This was an interesting choice. It allowed the group to move and express itself as one unit, much like the corps de ballet in a ballet company, including the musicians in this case. Unlike a ballet, everyone was onstage with nothing hidden; I liked that.
         The show started with musicians filing in to sit along the back wall of the stage including a violinist, clarinetist, and flutist with a pianist off to the side. The cellist was more center stage and while plucking a staccato groove, a dancer, much as his shadow, began to move with him. As she became more independent, she began to gently move him and lean against him and his cello. Both liberated, she played music with him by plucking the strings.
         As this culminated, the remaining musicians along the wall, playing as you would expect off music stands, began to join the cellist one by one. The other dancers seemed to lure these musicians to join him. Each musician had a dancer that paired with them and explored their physical space and their movements as they played. The musicians influenced by their dancer began to dance while playing. The clarinet part I really liked: the clarinetist played a melodic hook that seemed to loop playfully and likewise she gracefully spun in a circle with her foot leading her through the slow, gentle movement. In this section, each musician huddled together near the piano with the dancers weaving in and around them as they seemed to wake up the musicians and their creativity. Dancer as muse, I really liked this; they expressed that unspoken spark that will drive a creator forward or open them up to a new idea- neat! This was my favorite part of the entire show.
         As the show continued, it seemed the role of the dancers changed. This was highlighted with solos and duos among the musicians; two, I especially liked. One duo was between the violinist and the cellist, who were sitting in chairs upstage facing the audience. As they played pretty spunky music with more frenetic rhythms and melodies, the dancers seemed not to lure the musicians, but to interfere and even argue with them. They were pulling their bow arm away from the instrument, trying to intrusively pluck the strings, and even pushing the musicians in and out of their seats. The dancers no longer that initial spark were the emotion or drive a performer may feel during a performance, particularly a challenging one.
         The other duo was between the flutist and clarinetist. Unlike the strings, they played facing each other, while standing center stage. Their duo seemed more like a private music-making moment or a rehearsal situation. Their music was less frenetic than the strings with smoother melodies and long, bright dissonances. The two seemed to be relying on each other rather than solely their inner drive/the dancer as they slowly moved together, changing their orientation to one another. That personal, inner drive or source of inspiration never left as the dancers would run up to the musicians and then run as far away from them as they could and stand still with their backs to them, never gone for long.
         It was a neat show and a cool concept piece. I enjoyed sitting and watching them play, to see that physical momentum transferred from dancer to musician. Impressive too, all musicians played by memory coordinated with their own dancing. Boundaries were loosened among performers that traditionally collaborate separately, not even sharing the stage, and it was enjoyable to see a collaboration that creates wonder on inspiration. As performers, what renews us? Maybe, it’s shows like these.

-Sally