Wednesday, January 25, 2012

January 25th back at the Bockenheimer Depot

Yesterday was my birthday so I took an evening off of blogging. Alan Barnes an old friend and former Ballet Frankfurt member came for dinner and we had a good laugh and a nice talk. He lives upstairs from Tony so his commute was quick.

Yesterday was just more playtime in the studio. Bill talked about "shearing" another technology for improvising movement. The piece really started taking shape with Thom Willems in the room.

I strained my left calf in class, on a scale on 1-5 it's about a 1.2. In other words if I was in a situation where I had to perform it would be possible with a minimum of modification to the choreography. Nonetheless it was painful and difficult to walk normally but I was so embarrassed that I hid it very well. I just walked out of the petit allegro combination as if I had just felt like I had done enough. I massaged it on a ball all day and stimmed it with my handy little portable stim machine (never leave home without it) and today it was much better.

So today we were back at the depot and the stage space has been opened up both width and depth wise so it's now about twice as big as it was. Which was big enough to begin with. I love the change. It exposes iron I beam girder/pillars that sort of act as wings in a way.

I opted out of class but took the opportunity to write down Christine's class as best I could so I can incorporate some of her exercises and ideas into my ballet class. It was great just to sit and watch class.

In the upstage part of the space the "Hole in the Head" people worked on getting that piece back.

Bill worked downstage with the material for the new piece weaving it together in a sequence that I'm not sure is truly set in his mind. He really got down to business making notes on a legal pad. He made a sort of grid to keep track of who had contact and material with whom.

Thom is taking his cues from the dancers and the process seems totally organic. Thom and Bill seem to read each others minds. Watching them work together is a revelation. For a moment I thought, "This must be how it was with Stravinsky and Balanchine" but then it occurred to me that no, "This is what it IS like to be in the room with Willems and Forsythe. What a privilege to be present while, in my humble opinion, one the greatest composers and one of the greatest choreographers in history are creating together. They are unique and yet enhance each other. Their egos, at least in this instance, seem to meld into one or no ego. Their admiration and respect for each other is constantly apparent and they have fun. Two young guys playing. Heaped upon that their respect and love for the dancers who are banging out great work after great work. I am witnessing one of the great collaborative efforts ever! Oh! And also Mara, Jenny, Ulf, Dorothee and dirk with the technical aspects: sound, video, lighting and costumes. Witnessing this group play together is what it's all about!

After lunch Bill worked a while longer and then let almost everyone go but kept a few to work on a quartet. He wants an easy almost "marked" quality to it. To get the idea across he asked Roberta to just mark through some very familiar material..."Stuff from Duo." (one of the pieces that Bill took off the program. Thom started playing something that went with it. "Ooh ooh, Pari get in here" then he had Brigel join because they all know Duo. Riley had already left. It was just shear luck that Pari was still there. It really worked. Who knows if it will stay but it's definitely a jumping off point.

Bill's quote for the day.

"Don't be afraid to let things reveal themselves. Sometimes it (the subject) doesn't come until the end."

F...ing awsome day!

3 Comments:

At January 25, 2012 at 12:28 PM , Blogger TK said...

Happy Birthday!!

 
At January 25, 2012 at 4:42 PM , Blogger freedatravel said...

Patrick, this all sounds like a dream. A wonderful real life dream but the best part is hearing how delirously happy you are. Give me best to Bill. Kate

 
At January 25, 2012 at 7:37 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your happiness IS infectious! Big hugs to Alan and don't forget Dana! Xoxo

 

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