10.21. 2013

On Sunday, October 13, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, A Rite ended its premiere on the West Coast. The performance was a collaboration between Bill T. Jones, Jones’ associate artistic director Janet Wong and Anne Bogart, the director of the Siti Company. The piece was a tribute to Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and fell underneath the 100th year anniversary. The cast consisted of both dancer and actor, with everyone exploring each role.  It was a dance theater performance that expertly spun together movement, voice, and music. 

Interestingly, in an interview by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, in this month’s issue, of In Dance, Bill T. Jones says that he didn’t originally want to do a Rite of Spring.  Jones explains, “it seems like it’s a trap that every choreographer falls into.  They have to measure up and do a Rite of Spring”.  It wasn’t until Jones met Anne Bogart that he found he wanted to.  The article continues further clarifying that Jones had no intention of emulating Nijinsky.  As Jones and Bogart continued on they decided to keep certain iconic moments but to explore them through a different perspective.  They attempted to take the Rite of Spring as a “thing, as an event”.  Jones had no intention of shocking anyone.  The piece was a spiritual activity for Jones and the cast; it allowed them to make inquiries while experimenting.  Reading this article gave clearer background for me when reflecting on the performance.  I loved this show and had originally interpreted many of its directions as purposefully “shocking”, or confusing.  There was so much history and so much wisdom layered into the performance.  It was overwhelming but in the way that makes you excited.

The performance was so eclectic.  There were so many elements, some were brief and some stood as motifs.  There were many characters and storylines each reappearing and disappearing as the performance thickened.  Originally the costumes pulled me in, the pedestrian feel reflected in floral and trousers.  The colours of the clothing felt like withered winter; crackled leaves and snowflakes. 

The lighting began with a single light bulb and finished with a single light bulb.  What was in between was beyond amazing.  The lighting reflected some of the main themes of text including post war experience, the infinity of space and time, love, and the confusion that was present in all of these.  Most memorable was the lighting towards the end of the performance, when the backdrop rose and revealed white channels.  This simple idea translated so well on stage, it managed to transport the audience and alter their perspective.  The movement created with this effect was eerily inhuman as the dancers paired up and mirrored one another.  They seemed to travel an inescapable current.  Later the white channels thinned creating an abstract fence between the dancer and the audience.  A negative print was left in our minds as one of the main dancers ran back and forth, like a pendulum, behind the narrow slits.  Our perspective could either focus on his swift movements or the solid black lines we chose the environment.

In the articles I read about A Rite, there was a lot of focus on three major group sections, the jazz section, the retrograde, and the murder scene.  I found these sections to be moving, beautiful, and confusing.  It wasn’t until after that I realized the section where the cast and stage turn into a jazz club was reflecting the original score of The Rite of Spring. The older woman who was our history/music teacher had set it up and I failed to hear the familiarity of the original music.  Other authors have reported that this section was considered sacrificial like the original dance; this was the cast attempting to dance until their death.  At the time I took this section for face value, as a warm and happy interval.  I can see how it would be considered another way.  I really enjoyed the diagonal motion present in a lot of the performance.  It was mirrored often and eventually, in relation to the dialogue about space and time, it was in reverse.  The retrograde was fulfilling because it was familiar movement and it welcomed the audience to go on a journey going back.  It was a shared experience.  Most surprising was the section where the army man murdered all of the other performers.  He had been playing with this fictional gun the entire performance and suddenly it was real.  I didn’t filter the bodies lying on the ground until very late.

When I left the performance I ended up humming and singing The Rite of Spring for most of the afternoon. It was infectious. The performance did a good job recreating the simultaneous desire to the listen to the music again while wishing it would stop running through your head.  This performance included many magnificent dance, theater, and music elements.  It challenged the audiences perspective letting them decide what they see and do not see.  It honored and even included some of the past history and choreography that The Rite of Spring has seen while bringing it to a new level.  A Rite was larger than the stage and surpassed the constrictions sometimes present in a theater it was inspiring.