Why We Do What We Do, Part 2

At the beginning of the school year, we heard from our students why they dance, and the resounding answer was that for interpreting your feelings, there are no limits.

Now, if art is truly an individual’s means of expression – unique and without rules or limits - then formal training is not required. After all, you can sing in the shower, or paint or play the piano for your own enjoyment, thereby fulfilling your own need for expression. But without training, our vocabulary may be somewhat limited, which is why artists of all mediums study and perfect their technique in classes. And this is where Ballet Memphis School comes into the picture. Learning to dance teaches us not only the movements that become our “words”, but also the nuances of our language’s grammar and sentence structure. Ballet training gives us eloquence.

I’m not sure that our youngest students or their parents know that this is what’s going to happen when they begin studying in our school, but somewhere along the way, the metamorphosis from student to artist, from mimic to creator happens. It happens to every single student.

As Ballet Memphis School works to increase our school enrollment, and to make connections in our community, it is important to dispel the notion that dance is just entertainment, or an idle pastime. Instead, we want folks to know that when we dance, we are simply talking with our bodies, expressing who we are, and who we would like to be. I believe that the future of Ballet Memphis School will revolve around sharing this with children from all circumstances who have lots to say in their lives, but don’t know that art, or dance can be their language.

Why Does Art Matter?

When I planned this 22ndseason for Ballet Memphis, I decided to build it around a central theme, “Beyond Skin” from which new work would commence and grow, and make a finished product that you had to "See to Believe." This theme serves many purposes, including providing a lens for work or stories in existence; serving as a base for every program we perform this season; and being a gauge for all the other programs and activities we do beyond our professional company’s performances. “Beyond Skin” is intended to help us focus.

As dancers, teachers and students of dance and movement, and body awareness, Ballet Memphis’ very existence is owed to our belief that there are mysteries our bodies are here to attend to, to express, to care for. When a child is captivated by the magic of a performance and wants to take ballet lessons, that child is expressing a belief that there is somehow a “world” to be entered, to believe in. It is an impulse that is very real, and very important as we make our way in life.

One of the ways we enter this very real world of magic is the way we create stories about animals, giving them human characteristics. This program takes us into that plane of reflection and response through three works centered on aspects of our animal kingdom. All the works in this program have been commissioned by us. The first is Trey McIntyre’s Pork Songs, done for our Connections: Food series last fall and reprised now on the main stage. Although it is humorous, and danced to some very interesting Southern roots music, the fight for survival, which is not always pretty, is one we will all understand. Choreographic Associate Steven McMahon has tackled Carnival of the Animals without the verses by Ogden Nash, and the result is a gentle but penetrating portrait of some of our most interesting human fears, foibles and quirks, all colorfully illustrated. How he handles the formerly iconic “Dying Swan” is a marvel and its vulnerable beauty one of poignant exposure.

We close with Mark Godden’s new Firebird. I continue to appreciate Mark’s delightful way of thinking. He is looking at the story’s two chief characters—the Princess and Koschei—as exemplifying ways that humans struggle to decide how they will live. Koschei has chosen never to die. The animal creatures personified in the Russian tales of the long-living mythical Firebird, Mark sees as exemplary of the life cycle we must all experience. They accept death as part of life. Simultaneously, he is amplifying the shimmering music, and punctuating this seriousness with flights of humorous fancy that nod to us, reminding us that wit is a quality reserved for humans.

One of the most wonderful aspects of what we do at Ballet Memphis is that in helping people, young to old love and respect their bodies, we help them love the beauty that surpasses an image. The body and its image are a way to travel, not a stopping point. Our dancers look the way they do because they still believe in a greatness we all could share as living creatures.

Idealistic? Absolutely. Necessary? Indisputably. Spiritual? Of course. And that, above all else, is why art matters.

Food For Thought, And Dance

There is perhaps no greater connection than we feel to the world than through food. And dance is no different. Chefs are like choreographers, designing elements to mingle and play in conceptual arrangements on the plate. A full meal, thus tells a story from beginning to end, with ups and downs and surprises that help us learn something about ourselves or our world. This is what our annual fundraiser has sought to do these past three years.

Ballet Memphis will serve up its annual fundraiser, Connections: Food, on Saturday, October 18th at BRIDGES Inc., 477 N. 5th Street. The event begins at 7 p.m. Connections: Food, now in its fourth year, will feature live music, an expanded venue and celebrity chef Scott Peacock, named 2007 “Best Chef in the Southeast” by the James Beard Foundation and chef-owner of the celebrated Watershed restaurant in Decatur, Ga.

Each food course in Connections: Food will be paired with an original work by four choreographers that tells a story of the dish: Mark Godden, Camille A. Brown and Ballet Memphis’ own Jesus Pacheco and Jane Hope Rehm.

The First Course, Comedie of Taste by Jesus Pacheco, is set to music by Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B, Mozart Piano Concerto, and is paired with food by Karen Blockman Carrier and Tim Barker. The appetizer course is a variety of small plates which makes it difficult to choose of what to partake, just as the dancers dibble in dabble in relationships and jockeying for position on the arm of another partygoer.

The Second Course, Finding the Redd by Jane Hope Rehm is set to music by Beirut and is paired with food by Johnny Kirk of Stella restaurant. This second course is a fish course, salmon, and the dancers in heat-sensitive and color-changing suits "swim upstream" in search of their perfect mate.

The Main Course, Orange Bourbon Glaze by Mark Godden, is set to musical excerpts from Slavic Dances by Antonín Dvorak and "Tower of Song" by Leonard Cohen. The food for this course is composed by Jose Guttierez of Encore restaurant and consists of a pork tenderloin in, as I'm sure you can guess, an orange bourbon glaze. The work is gutteral and naked, and in the same sense fulfilling and rich, just as a main course should be.

For Dessert we feature Un Festin Divin by Camille Brown, set to original music composed and performed by Kirk Clayton and paired with food by Martha Hall Foose of Viking Cooking School. Her full use of the company on stage mirrors the plate which is served with choices of sauces and garnish - a full array of flavors.

With food for thought, we hope to see you there.

Pushing Forward, With Momentum

Momentum X leads off this season and asks our audience and our choreographers to look at our dancers from many angles. Why not try to change your perception? Step into a view that may be uncomfortable and perhaps disconcerting. The result just may be a new way of seeing—an amplified conception. Enjoy the change and bring your openness and willingness to the rest of our season. 

Our Momentum series has always been about pushing the boundaries, and looking at what's hot in fresh, young, choreographic talent. This year we bring three choreographers and three world premieres to the stage Labor Day weekend, and they each shared a little behind their piece and how it fit into the Momentum method. 

Nicole Corea, in constructing her piece, takes a long piece of fabric—inspired by a tattoo on her back that is based on the native American medicine wheel centering around the number four. This number refers to the four seasons and what they represent in life, and the four parts of us that make us complete as a person (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) and how our will is what drives us to finding the wholeness. The fabric, then, represents the things that thread us together.

Julie Niekrasz imagined a metaphorical wall separating the two Momentum stages (which are weaving around existing columns in an expansive turn-of-the-century hall.) She has the dancers immediately curious about the wall. She see walls within ourselves and between other people. in the second movement pas de deux, after the individuals touch, the wall then vanishes, a metaphor for our human story.

Gabe Masson and musician Scott Detweiler are both originally from New Orleans. Naturally they both have discussed their need to dig more deeply into their feelings post Katrina. Gabe thinks the residents of New Orleans were forced into a place of "necessary intimacy" when Katrina struck. All lines of division in daily life—race, class, etc.—were all of a sudden blurred and people had to go "beneath the surface," as it were, to (re)discover their humanity. 

The range of music throughout the three pieces ranges from classical to new age to original acoustic blues, and the range of emotions is just as wide. With the audience seated all around the stage, we'll have to be open not just to the experience, but to each other. 

Looking Beyond Skin

This season, it is our hope that every work touches upon the theme "Beyond Skin." We live in a culture that often seems obsessed with what is on the surface; but, the best artists and the most curious people, including our audiences, aren't content to lightly gloss over the substance of life. The things that lay deep within us, connecting us to one another and to a vibrant, changing, fascinating world, are what we crave to investigate and try to understand. Whether we laugh or cry, we want to make contact with what is deeply real, not glib or assumptive. 

For dancers who are artists, for choreographers who are seekers, for all who are thirsty for substance, the human body is an instrument that can be utilized to explore, to experiment, to push to new levels, and to be a part of expressing something greater than the sum of its parts. Our bodies are not used to sell a product, nor are they to be used for another's gain or sense of power and dominance. Our bodies lead us far beyond our skin in a never-ending journey to know more, be better, and be more whole. We believe this path is noble and needed in our current culture. 

Seeing Is Believing

For our 22nd season, we invite you to travel with us beyond the ordinary, to push the boundaries past the expected. Together, we'll look beyond mere skin, beyond our own bodies and those of the dancers to fully experience all that may not meet the eye. This year, more than ever before, seeing is believing. 

We love pushing the boundaries, and delivering on more than what people expect from a mid-size ballet company. This year alone we're bringing more than 15 original new works to the stage!

Three new explorations of beloved classics like Firebird and Cinderella will delight you like your first ballet or symphony. Through fairy tales, puppets and exciting new collaborations with our fine arts community, you'll explore new avenues of the imagination. Throughout our season we'll reach out to you with topics that beg you to question, to ponder and to talk back to us; to open a dialogue within our community about what our city can truly become with a fully-engaged and fully-supported arts community. 

Check out our website at www.balletmemphis.org  to request a brochure or check out our upcoming season. We're looking forward to an amazing journey with you.

Another New Journey

What gifts both this city this ballet company offer one another. As Ballet Memphis continues to stretch its repertoire and pour out new, original works onto national stages, it also brings more prominence and accolades back home. Did we ever believe that Ballet Memphis could shine so brightly on these national stages and receive such favorable reviews? We've proven the answer resoundingly—yes!

In return, Memphis is expanding its prestige, becoming known increasingly as a national spotlight for superior dance.

And Ballet Memphis continues to make physical movement, in all its forms, more accessible and well-loved to even more Memphians. Take, for example, the company's beautiful new Pilates Centre. As the only STOTT-certified teaching and instructor-training center in Memphis, the new location complements our mission of a stronger, healthier Memphis. 

Reaching out throughout our communities also includes educational enrichment opportunities—master classes taught by Ballet Memphis dancers and our school faculty, and school dance programs to give children who might not otherwise ever see a ballet a glimpse into this magical world. 

Finally, as ambassadors for Memphis, we're strengthening our touring schedule and reaching out to areas of the country that continue to be astounded by the talent we have here. The company continues to successfully push forward, and we hope that you'll enjoy the travels alongside us. 

Welcome to our blog!

Why We Do What We Do, Part 1

For a couple of years now, I’ve been watching as many businesses and industries, including Ballet Memphis, have been required to rethink and reinvent themselves to stay relevant in our quickly changing world. This has made me wonder if traditional dance training will be required to undergo a similar evolution, and if so, what might a new ballet school paradigm look like? The ballet school model in America has not changed very much in the last 75 years, but if significant adaptation is required, I want Ballet Memphis School to be a part of the leading edge of growth and change, not struggling to keep up or catch up. In trying to imagine where dance training may be headed, I thought it appropriate to first examine why we do what we do.

I sat down last year with the students in the highest level of the school and asked them why they dance. Before I tell you what they said, take a moment to think about what you’re passionate about, how you choose to spend your limited time and energy. Chances are you choose activities that make you feel good, that challenge you in some way, or that allow you to express yourself.

The students’ answers all fell into one of those categories. Yes, dancing makes us feel beautiful, and we enjoy its physicality; we like the intellectual challenge of mastering difficult movements and learning choreography; and we love performing with focus and passion and receiving adulation from an appreciative audience. But the students all agreed that the most important and compelling reason that they dance is that dance allows us to express things that words alone cannot say. That idea has become the tag line for the Junior Company – (we dance) “because words are not enough.”

Artists of all kinds, both visual and performing, create works of art as a means of expression, and each utilizes a different kind of language. Writers and poets have words. Musicians have sound and rhythm. Painters have color and shape. And dancers have movement. Each artistic medium uses a different language, but the intent is the same – we tell our stories, express our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs, through our art.

Even the simplest gesture is a means of communication. I’m not speaking just of traditional pantomime like: “I see you,” or even a gesture that suggests “I have a headache.” Rather, gestures in dance are usually abstract, and open to interpretation.

Through gestures and the postures and movements of the entire body, we portray characters, tell stories, or emulate familiar beings like animals. At other times we simply create an atmosphere that is inspired by the music and the exact interpretation is left up to the audience. As one of the students wrote about the experience of dancing: “The world tells us what the norm is and gives us strict rules to conform to. When we dance, there is no wrong way to move. We are free to express things any way we want. There are no limits.”