February 2nd, 2012

So things seem to be going really smoothly.
 

They ran the piece today and it was just about an hour. I love it.

I'm not one that thinks everything in art is or has to necessarily be "about" something. Of course I someone who enjoys ideas. Having said that, to me, this new piece Stellentstellen has to do with fitting in. The dancers are either framing each other in space or connected in these tangles or doing material based on these tangles. So it's just like life. We're all just trying to fit. It's almost always complicated and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but it's a constant negotiation of trying to join or be a part of a framework, physical, societal, personal, psychological, metaphysical.

The piece may resonate with me on that level because that's the way I've always felt. Always trying to fit in. Not tortured, mostly enjoying life but always searching for the fit.

I do feel it's a departure for Bill. It's a very gentle piece. It has purely sublime moments. I couldn't believe it had been an hour. Thom's score is of course impeccably musical. I watched him playing this afternoon and his technique is so beautifully apparent in the way he approaches the keyboard. Like watching a concert pianist. No not LIKE watching a concert pianist, I'm watching in my opinion one of our greatest composers creating his score live with the piece.

Ah! That's what I wanted to tell you about. Today Bill and Freya moved up to the command center at the top of the risers to run Whole in the Head. Bill took the helm like a conductor/spaceship captain. From left to right viewing from behind up in the "bridge" to go with the spaceship theme, were :
THOM WILLEMS
JENNIFER WEEGER (Sound and Video Designer),
FREYA VASS-RHEE (Production and Dramaturgical Assistant)
Bill (at center on headset) 
TANJA RÜHL(Technical Production / Lighting Supervisor)
MARA BRINKER(Technical Assistant for sound and video) and
ULF NAUMANN(Technical Production / Lighting Supervisor)



OK so I've seen a lot of cool stuff in my life, Blue Oyster Cult in concert, The Aurora Borealis, Mischa rehearsing a solo just for me, bioluminescent beaches and ocean water, Seraphic Dialogue at State Theater, Junior Vasquez at Palladium, the list goes on but this was absolutely the coolest thing I've ever seen. The theater became one organism. Bill and the crew out front, the performers and tech backstage and on stage and the audience in the middle. THAT'S what it is about Bill's work. That's why I always feel like I'm not just witnessing but I'm a part of something. It's real, it's tangible and I never fully understood it before. It's a symphony of life that Bill is conducting. The amount of energetic focus and communication going on is mind blowing. But let me make perfectly clear that this is not, at least to me, coming off as any control or ego trip. Of course those things come into play but the ultimate goal here is the experience for the viewer. They take you on a ride baby. I really felt as if we had left Mother Earth and were swooping through space and time.
And remember.......I'M SOBER!
I've never had such a great high. And she's been pretty high.

We'll see what tomorrow and the premiere will bring but this day was one for the books. And it was just another normal day for The Forsythe Company. Why not make this a normal day at CorbinDances in my own way. That's what I truly want. To take us all on a ride to experience something together.

Fasten you seat belts.