Source: The Mercury News
Dance troupe re-energized by live music
By Anita Amirrezvani, Mercury News
As a founding member of Pilobolus, the modern dance group often compared to living sculpture, Michael Tracy is used to all the sweat, drama and passion of the rehearsal studio. Even so, when he talks about making his newest dance, he can't hide the excitement in his voice.
Last year, Tracy and four dancers spent a week rehearsing with Canadian composer Christos Hatzis and the St. Lawrence String Quartet, an ensemble now in residence at Stanford University. Although Pilobolus has been a success story for decades, such an intense period of collaboration between musicians and dancers had been unprecedented because of its staggering cost.
The creative energy at Pilobolus' Connecticut studios lasted eight hours a day. While Tracy was developing the steps for his piece in collaboration with the dancers, ``the composer was rewriting the music, almost as if he were Shakespeare bringing down the latest pages for a play,'' Tracy recalls. ``It was as fluid and exciting an artistic experience as I've had.''
The members of the string quartet shared his enthusiasm, but from a different point of view. ``There was a visceral excitement in the air,'' says violinist Barry Shiffman. ``The dancers could feel music coming from living, breathing, sweating musicians, and we saw totally new and beautiful things in it.''
Pilobolus will premiere the work Friday and Saturday at Stanford's Memorial Auditorium. The show will include work that spans the innovative group's 34-year history, all with music performed by the quartet.
Even though Pilobolus has set a standard for innovation and spawned other successful modern dance groups such as Momix and BodyVox, it is still a struggle for the organization (and most other modern dance groups) to afford live music.
As a result of this special opportunity, funded by Stanford Lively Arts, the program has been tailored to focus on dances set to chamber music. Tracy's untitled work is set to an adapted version of Hatzis' second string quartet, ``The Gathering,'' originally written as a response to the war in Kosovo.
The new dance, which is for three men and one woman, is about the struggle of a group to allow individuals to thrive despite their differences, Tracy says.
The topic is familiar on a personal level to all the members of Pilobolus. Its four artistic directors -- Tracy, Jonathan Wolken, Robby Barnett and Alison Becker Chase -- have worked together for three decades, which Tracy points out (with a sly hint of humor in his voice) is four times longer than the average American marriage.
``We're very aware of the necessity of finding a way for the minority to survive within the majority, which I believe has some currency with the musical theme about Kosovo,'' he says.
The music, which the St. Lawrence String Quartet premiered in its original form a few years ago at Stanford, takes the listener on a journey to a peaceful place. ``It starts with eerie, mystical Eastern effects,'' Shiffman says, ``explodes into a war movement that is a bombastic, vicious dance macabre, and ends in a stunningly beautiful cello solo much like a prayer.''
Although Tracy's piece is new, it adheres to what he describes as ``the defining cellular conditions of our company.'' Pilobolus, which was named after a fungus, is legendary for having been formed at Dartmouth College by four students with no previous training in modern dance. ``We didn't have classical technique, so we had to be experimental and invent new movement styles outside the standard,'' Tracy says.
The oldest work on this weekend's program, ``Walklyndon'' is a perfect example. It dates from 1971, the first year of the group's existence, which founding member Wolken describes as the ``primordial ooze'' of Pilobolus. Performed without music, it's a humorous piece about walking, bumping and colliding that established the group's wit and experimentalism.
``At the time, we were living on a 500-acre farm cooking soy logs and making yogurt,'' Wolken recalls. ``We choreographed it in a squash court in Lyndonville, Vermont, because it was the only space to use.'' The group now has more than 85 dances in its repertory.
The other pieces in this weekend's show include ``Symbiosis,'' a duet Tracy created in 2001 to embody the ups and downs of a relationship. It is set to four pieces of music, including a new section written by Hatzis specifically for the dance.
The group also will perform ``Sweet Purgatory,'' a work made in 1991 by the four artistic directors that uses Shostakovich's remarkable 8th string quartet. ``Having performed this dance for 10 years to recorded music, it's very exciting to be able to play off the musicians,'' Tracy says. ``It's a great luxury for us, a once-in-a-lifetime event.''
Pilobolus Dance Theatre
The modern dance company will perform a world premiere to music by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and other works
Where: Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium, Serra Street near Galvez Street
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Tickets: $26-$40; (650) 725-ARTS, http://livelyarts.stanford.edu
Also: Pilobolus will dance to recorded music at 7 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Avenue of the Flags and Civic Center Drive, San Rafael. $28-$45; $18 for students 18 and under. (415) 499-6800 or www.marincenter.org
