Striking a pose: the new Warhol piece by Jennifer Muller at a studio preview
Tuesday November 17th, 2015 – Choreographer Jennifer Muller has been commissioned to create a new dancework for Introdans, the Netherlands-based contemporary dance company. The piece will premiere in February, 2016 on a program entitled Absolutely Amerika. This evening, at her studio on West 24th Street, Ms. Muller presented a sampling of this latest work, along with excerpts from some of the more recent additions to her Company’s repertoire.
The room was packed with Muller friends and fans, and her lively and distinctive troupe of dancers seemed to ignore the fact that this was a studio showing, instead dancing at performance level. The dance-space is limited but the choreography is spacious and often fast-paced; yet the dancers moved with abandon, often coming within centimeters of the viewers – or of the ceiling, during the many lifts that the Muller repertory calls for.
Two excerpts from FLOWERS were offered before dancer Michael Tomlinson (above, warming up) demonstrated a signature motif from the new work, which is inspired by quotes from the late Andy Warhol and is danced to a collage of music associated with the Warhol era.
Above: the opening of MISERERE NOBIS
I was particularly glad of another opportunity to see some passages from Jennifer’s 2014 masterpiece, MISERERE NOBIS, a compelling piece that has lingered in my mind since first encountering it. Originally danced by an all-female cast, Jennifer has now incorporated the Company’s men into this ritualistic work which is danced to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, which was inspired by Allegri’s immortal Miserere. The choreographer’s addition of men to the cast changed the flavor of the work slightly but didn’t diminish its power and beauty in the least.
The evening closed with excerpts from ALCHEMY, an exciting multi-media piece which Ms. Muller premiered at New York Live Arts earlier this year.
The dancers were moving too fast most of the time for my camera to catch them, however here are a few images I was able to capture:
Brittney Bembry, Michelle Tara Lynch
Brittney Bembry
Shiho Tanaka
From MISERERE NOBIS
Seiko Fujita
Alexandre Balmain, Elise King
Sonja Chung
MISERERE NOBIS
Jennifer Muller, ever the perfect hostess
Jennifer Muller/The Works will be at New York Live Arts June 13th – 18th, 2016.
Striking a pose: the new Warhol piece by Jennifer Muller at a studio preview
Tuesday November 17th, 2015 – Choreographer Jennifer Muller has been commissioned to create a new dancework for Introdans, the Netherlands-based contemporary dance company. The piece will premiere in February, 2016 on a program entitled Absolutely Amerika. This evening, at her studio on West 24th Street, Ms. Muller presented a sampling of this latest work, along with excerpts from some of the more recent additions to her Company’s repertoire.
The room was packed with Muller friends and fans, and her lively and distinctive troupe of dancers seemed to ignore the fact that this was a studio showing, instead dancing at performance level. The dance-space is limited but the choreography is spacious and often fast-paced; yet the dancers moved with abandon, often coming within centimeters of the viewers – or of the ceiling, during the many lifts that the Muller repertory calls for.
Two excerpts from FLOWERS were offered before dancer Michael Tomlinson (above, warming up) demonstrated a signature motif from the new work, which is inspired by quotes from the late Andy Warhol and is danced to a collage of music associated with the Warhol era.
Above: the opening of MISERERE NOBIS
I was particularly glad of another opportunity to see some passages from Jennifer’s 2014 masterpiece, MISERERE NOBIS, a compelling piece that has lingered in my mind since first encountering it. Originally danced by an all-female cast, Jennifer has now incorporated the Company’s men into this ritualistic work which is danced to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, which was inspired by Allegri’s immortal Miserere. The choreographer’s addition of men to the cast changed the flavor of the work slightly but didn’t diminish its power and beauty in the least.
The evening closed with excerpts from ALCHEMY, an exciting multi-media piece which Ms. Muller premiered at New York Live Arts earlier this year.
The dancers were moving too fast most of the time for my camera to catch them, however here are a few images I was able to capture:
Brittney Bembry, Michelle Tara Lynch
Brittney Bembry
Shiho Tanaka
From MISERERE NOBIS
Seiko Fujita
Alexandre Balmain, Elise King
Sonja Chung
MISERERE NOBIS
Jennifer Muller, ever the perfect hostess
Jennifer Muller/The Works will be at New York Live Arts June 13th – 18th, 2016.
Thursday September 24th, 2015 – Jennifer Muller/The Works kicked off their 2015-2016 season with an open house/studio event attended by friends and supporters of the Company. Ms. Muller, ever the cordial hostess, spoke of the Company’s work (both in terms of performing and outreach) before turning the floor over to her vibrant dancers who performed excerpts from the Muller repertory, dancing full-out in a compact space yet never brushing against the viewers – nor the ceiling, despite some high lifts.
Jennifer Muller welcoming her guests
The works presented this evening dated from as far back as 1991 (Gen Hashimoto in a solo from REGARDS set to a Tracy Chapman song) to a glimpse of the Company’s current work-in-progress, INTERVIEW: THE WARHOL PROJECT with music by Steve Reich. Also in the mix were excerpts from FLOWERS (2004), ALCHEMY (last season’s brilliant multi-media dancework), and WHEW! (a light-hearted, full-company work that premiered in 2014).
Jennifer’s dancers are hard to capture in still photos: they are always on the move. I took a few photos during the showing, more as souvenirs for myself:
Michael Tomlinson, Seiko Fujita
Caroline Kehoe
Sonja Chung
Michael Tomlinson eyeing the female ensemble
Jennifer Muller/The Works have always been a mullti-national, multi-cultural dance troupe. This season the young Frenchman, Alexandre Balmain (above) has joined the Company.
Tuesday June 16th, 2015 – A triumvirate of distinguished female choreographers presenting their work at New York Live Arts: Jennifer Muller, Elisa Monte, and Jacqulyn Buglisi drew together to offer an impressive evening of dance, and each had the benefit of the excellence of her dancers.
Sacred Landscapes – Episode 1 (Buglisi/World Premiere) This dreamlike dancework is set to an evocative score by Paola Prestini, performed live by cellist Jeffrey Zeigler and vocalist Helga Davis. As the lights come up, the dancers – clad in diaphanous garments – stride towards us in slow motion as fog billows about them. A sombre theme from the cello sets the mood. Among the many danced highlights, solos by Ari Mayzick and the ever-ravishing Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch stood out. There are demanding partnering motifs, including some wafting high lifts.
Ms. Davis’s voice is first heard in whispered parlando; she will later sustain some other-worldly high notes. The cellist meanwhile veers from dreamy to profound. The dancing is ritualistic and the dancers evoke an atmosphere that is both spiritual and the sensuous. Ms. Ellmore-Tallitsch gave an enthralling performance: her simple act of crossing the stage near the end of the piece took on a depth of resonance thanks to this dancer’s particular mystique. Lovely to re-encounter Lauren Jaeger (such expressive hands) and Darion Smith – all the dancing, in fact, took on a fine lustre.
Hurricane Deck (Monte) begins with a quirky announcement: “A blow to the head…I’ve never been unconscious before!” and from there Elisa Monte’s eight dancers zip about the space against a sky-blue background, the choreography witty and active. Clymene Baugher, Maria Ambrose, Mindy Lai and JoVonna Parks swirl about in swift, playful combinations while the bare-chested boys – Malik Kitchen, Justin Lynch, Alrick Thomas and Thomas Varvaro – pursue and partner them: the movement is fun and eclectic.
David Lang’s score is a lively setting for all this activity, with odd rhythms, stuttering brass, and a sense of whirring at one point as the dancers switch partners. The backdrop has gone black as the dancers stand in a row, each stepping forward in an agitated danced narrative. They hit the floor only to bob up again. “Say it!…end it!” says the unseen narrator, and as the dancers embrace, silence falls and we hear their breathing. The piece seems to be over.
But instead, clanging sounds rouse them; the music turns rather ominous as they perform a sort of darkish coda to heavy brass. The atmosphere takes on a cloying tinge and the work moves slowly to an un-premeditative end. The dancers sustained this longish final section strongly, though I think the work might have benefited by stopping earlier, with the words “End it.”
Alchemy (Jennifer Muller/World Premiere): I had an opportunity to see this work in rehearsal a week before the performance. At that time, Jennifer mentioned there would be ‘projections’ but the production was in fact quite elaborate, with a scrim having been installed during intermission. Across the backdrop and scrim, thought-bytes appear in swift succession: “…a deluge of information…” and “…accumulating none-essentials…” are but two timely references. Later, catch-phrases from pop culture and Yahoo!-style headlines flash across the screens, making me chuckle. Eventually, single words come flying at us. The four-elements inspiration for Alchemy brings us a firestorm; projections of the scorched Earth finally give way to the blessed, cleansing effects of rain. Kudos to Mark Bolotin, who devised the video design.
All these visual effects might have tended to dwarf dancers of lesser power than Jennifer’s; but the Muller troupe – and Jennifer’s choreography – assured that the dancing held forth and remained central to the production. We first find Caroline Kehoe alone onstage, a feminine presence of alluring line; Seiko Fujita appears, striking a sustained arabesque. They are joined by Shiho Tanaka, Michelle Tara Lynch, and Sonja Chung: even thru the scrim, their personalities read clearly.
Gen Hashimoto, Michael Tomlinson, and Malik Warlick appear in stylized, slow-motion phrases; Benjamin Freedman will later complete the impressive male quartet. The dance becomes more active; the dancers rush about as if searching for something. Lightning flashes; threatened by Nature, Caroline and Malik dance an entwined, restless pas de deux.
Having been cast down upon the blasted terrain, Gen struggles back to the land of the living; as Seiko also revives, they dance a tender, earth-bound duet. Sonja and Michael are beautifully matched in their duet. A feeling of desolation creeps in. In the dim light, Shiho’s poetic hands evoke the rain…which finally falls, bringing a glimmer of hope and renewal.
Sand (Buglisi) is performed to a luscious Philip Glass score which continually put me in mind of Debussy’s L”après–midi d’un faune. Beautifully lit (by Clifton Taylor), this exotic pas de six calls for both lyrical movement and powerful elements of partnering. The three couples – So Young An with Juan Rodriguez, Stephanie van Dooren-Eshkenazi with Ari Mayzick, and Anne O’Donnell with Darion Smith – met all the demands of the piece whilst creating a sultry atmosphere, induced by the swaying sensuousness of the Glass score.
Above: from Jennifer Muller’s MISERERE NOBIS, with dancer Shiho Tanaka in the left-foreground
Thursday November 20th, 2014 – Celebrating the remarkable milestone of a 40th anniversary, Jennifer Muller/The Works invited friends of the Company to a studio showing tonight. Excerpts from five Jennifer Muller danceworks – plus a complete showing of her most recent creation, MISERERE NOBIS – were performed by The Works’ distinctive, dynamic dancers.
Above: dancer Michael Tomlinson warming up
The dances shown tonight ranged in date-of-creation from 2005 (ISLAND) to Jennifer’s current and wonderfully-contrasted successes MISERERE NOBIS and WHEW! As with all the finest choreographers over time, she has delved deeply into the vast catalog of music: tonight alone we heard Allegri, Mozart, and Barber in tandem with such contemporary composers as Julia Kent, Peter Muller, and Marty Beller. One moment we are in church and the next we are being jazzed; this musical variety keeps everything at The Works fresh and vivid.
In the intimate studio space, we the viewers come as close to dance as we are likely to get. The dancers of Jennifer’s company know this room so well that they are able to dance full-out without concern for spatial limitations. Big lifts, often a motif in Jennifer’s choreography, are often accomplished with just centimeters of head-room; but the dancers all seem to have a sixth sense of just how far they can take things.
The programme was so well-devised, with Jennifer’s illuminating commentary between works just enough to give us insight without becoming too chatty. The dancing was vivid and personal.
I attempted to take some photos but most of the movement was too swift for me to capture. Gen Hashimoto (above) was briefly almost still in his beautifully-executed solo from ARIA, performed to the poignant “Dalla sua pace” from Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI.
Otherwise, my only successful images came from MISERERE NOBIS which happens to be a particular favorite of mine from among Jennifer’s works. Here are a few photos from this all-female ensemble work:
Elise King
Above: Michael Tomlinson, Caroline Kehoe, and Shiho Tanaka of Jennifer Muller/The Works in a Carol Rosegg photo from Jennifer Muller’s jazzy dancework WHEW!
Click on each image to enlarge.
WHEW! had its world premiere performances recently at New York Live Arts on a programme shared by three choreographers: Jennifer Muller, Jacqulyn Buglisi, and Elisa Monte. Read about the performance here.
The ensemble
Seiko Fujita (foreground), Michael Tomlinson (background)
Michael Tomlinson
Above: Seiko Fujita and Chellamar Bernard rehearsing for Jennifer Muller/The Works. Photo by Brian Krontz.
Friday June 20, 2013 – Two companies shared the stage at New York Live Arts tonight: Elisa Monte Dance and Jennifer Muller/The Works. With two intermissions the evening stretched long, but the diversity of music and the appeal of both Companies’ dancers proved rewarding.
Grass, Jennifer Muller’s newest creation, opened the evening. I had recently seen a studio run-thru of this work, loosely inspired by Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass,
and I feel it’s one of Ms. Muller’s finest. Actually danced on a rectangle of living grass, and enhanced by subtle lighting (Jeff Crotier), Grass profits beautifully by being performed to live music: composer/cellist Julia Kent, seated stage left, wove some melancholy ‘Russian’ nuances into her poignant score which has a slightly folkish feel blended with Glassian lyricism.
Gen Hashimoto, one of Gotham’s most fluent movers, opens the ballet as he wanders pensively onto the patch of lawn. The other dancers come on one by one; the dance flows on Ms. Kent’s rhythmic shifts. In this collective which is not yet a community, many emotional textures are revealed as the dancers seek to form relationships. Olivia Jordan, her silky long hair giving her a vulnerability that was most appealing, seems to be the outsider; only near the end does the group view her with compassion. Having banded together at last, the dancers move off into the late afternoon, leaving Gen to stretch out on the ground in a solitary daydream.
Grass is at once simple and complex; it is a work which will reward repeated viewings since both in terms of choreography and psychological undercurrents it is too rich to absorb in a single performance. The dancers of Ms. Muller’s company – in addition to Gen and Olivia – are Rosie Lani Fiedelman, Seiko Fujita, Caroline Kehoe, Katherine Hozier, Duane Gosa, Chellamar Bernard, and Michael Tomlinson. Both as individuals and as an ensemble, they are beyond beautiful to behold.
Excellence of dancers is one thing the Muller and Monte troupes have in common. The power and authority of the Monte men – Prentice Whitlow, Riccardo Battaglia and Justin Lynch – became immediately evident in their first work of the evening: Unstable Ground. This brooding and unsettlling work is set to a Lois Vierk score that vibrates with dark foreboding. The men are handsomely costumed by Keiko Voltaire. It is a floor-oriented piece in which the dancers seem to strive against the impending collapse of their known world.
Things brighten somewhat in terms of both setting and music with Monte’s Shattered in which Michael Gordon’s score impels the dancers to broader and swifter movement. Maria Ambrose and Riccardo Battaglia have a striking duet, and the red-haired Lisa Peluso dances a spacious, dramatic solo which evolves into another duet with Riccardo. Mindy Lai and Lisa Borres move with fleet-footed assurance among the shifting patterns of the ensemble.
Volkmann Suite, a Monte classic, uses a gorgeoulsy ‘classical’ Michael Nyman score in this tribute to photographer Roy Volkmann. Three dancers – Clymene Baugher (topless), Prentice Whitlow and Riccardo Battaglia (both men in black briefs) – deliver sensual, sculptural partnering in a pas de trois laced with erotic imagery. The atmosphere suggests a photoshoot that turns into an intimate exploration of the models’ bodies and souls. The dancers were magnificent in their physicality and allure.
Speeds, danced by the Muller company, brought the evening to a bright conclusion. In this clever – but not cute – ensemble piece the dancers call out for changes of tempo as they move to Burt Alcantara’s panoramic synthesizer soundscape. All in white and brilliantly lit, the dancers seize on the eclecticism of the musical settings in a series of vignettes ranging from vari-paced walking to utter stillness (Katherine Hozier posing in a white picture-hat to silence). Ms. Hozier and Duane Gosa are a fabulous duo in a long pas de deux that is not long enough, while Rosie Lani Fiedelman and Michael Tomlinson have a sporting time in their jazzy duet. Seiko Fujita periodically interrupts the flow of dance to strike poses while enticing the audience with her quizzical expressions. This vastly entertaining white ballet capped the evening to fine effect.
Above: Chellamar Bernard and Seiko Fujita of Jennifer Muller/The Works. Photo by Brian Krontz.
Wednesday May 28th, 2013 – An invited audience of friends of Jennifer Muller/The Works enjoyed a sneak preview of Jennifer’s newest creation GRASS, as well as highlights from the Company’s repertoire at a private studio showing this evening.
Jennifer Muller/The Works will be performing at New York Live Arts June 20th thru 22nd, 2013, sharing the programme with Elisa Monte Dance. Ticket information here.
This evening’s studio showing opened with a quartet from EDGE danced by Seiko Fujita, Caroline Kehoe, Gen Hashimoto and Michael Tomlinson. This was followed by a richly emotional duet from HYMN FOR HER danced by Rosie Lani Fiedelman and Duane Gosa. A quintet from FLOWERS showed off a seductive sway, performed by Seiko, Rosie, Caroline, Duane and Gen.
In prefacing the excerpts from the new work GRASS, Ms. Muller spoke of drawing inspiration from Walt Whitman’s poetry, and told us about the impending arrival of the actual turf on which the work will be danced. For the NYLA performances, the score will be played live by composer/cellist Julia Kent. Jennifer then introduced the individual dancers, leading off with Olivia Jordan, in solo phrases. The ensuing excerpts were danced first in silence as Jennifer described the motifs of movement, and then danced again to parts of a recording of the score. Contrasting the solitude of the individual with the underlying seach for common bonds, GRASS should look incredibly beautiful onstage.
The evening concluded with a celebratory performance of the final movement of MOMENTUM, led with vivid energy by Duane Gosa. At the finish, the audience saluted all of the dancers and Ms. Muller with sustained applause.
Thursday April 26, 2012 – It’s always a great pleasure to visit Jennifer Muller and her dancers at her unique studio space on West 24th Street. This afternoon I was invited to watch a rehearsal of LOVERS, a 1978 work that Jennifer is reviving. I asked photographer Brian Krontz to meet me at the studio; above, two of the excellent dancers of Jennifer Muller/the Works: Jen Peters and Duane Gosa.
Inspired by the paintings of Gustave Klimt, LOVERS presents a series of four duets which trace the development of a single relationship: infatuation, lust, trust, and finally deep and committed love. The score is by Keith Jarrett. Those are the facts, but the back-story about the evolution of the piece as Jennifer related it to me is fascinating.
She had commissioned a score from Keith Jarrett; she had the dancework completed but the composer wasn’t sending her any music. He told her he wanted to see what she’d created so it was arranged that the dancers would run thru the entire piece while Keith improvised at the piano. The session was recorded and – miraculously – Jennifer had her score in one fell swoop. And what a great score it is, bursting with colour and rhythmic vitality.
Observing the rehearsal today, I could see how inspired Keith Jarrett must have been watching this choreography: the movement is spectacular, the partnering uncanny in its pacing and physicality. To be honest, I’ve seldom felt so blown away by the sheer dynamics of dance partnering: dancing at high-speed with incredible lifts and swirling motifs across the floor woven in, there’s no room for even the slightest error. The dancers of Jennifer Muller/The Works have mastered her complex and ultra-demanding choreography and the result is truly breath-taking.
One of the best things about watching a studio rehearsal at Jennifer’s is: the dancers go into full-performance mode. They fling themselves full-tilt into the choreography and immerse themselves in their characters, producing the same dramatic energy you’d experience in the theater: only here they are just inches away. Unfettered by any thought of restraint, these dancers – some of Gotham’s most fascinating movers – give the viewer a sense of exhilaration.
With an eye to upcoming performances, the duets have been double- or even triple-cast. Once I saw the complexity of the partnering I could thoroughly appreciate the energy and dedication the dancers have put into learning this work.
Buddy Valdez and Olivia Jordan (above) opened the rehearsal with a joyously expressive duet celebrating the discovery of mutual attraction; ardently flirtatious, the dancers frequently open their arms in expansive gestures that indicate their love knows no bounds. The ecstatic energy of the piece was beautifully caught by the two youthful and attractive dancers, while the choreography covered the space with the restless, questing movement. I was hooked on LOVERS within seconds.
Olivia and Buddy, above. The rehearsal moved on, with various partnerships evolving from one duet to the next. The Jarrett score constantly matched the dance nuance for nuance, quite amazing considering the spontaniety of its creation.
Here are some of Brian’s images from this series of duets:
Seiko Fugita and Eric Williams
Gen Hashimoto and Seiko Fugita
Gen and Seiko
Chellamar Bernard and Seiko Fugita
Chellamar and Seiko
Seiko and Chellamar
Duane Gosa and Jen Peters
Duane and Jen
Caroline Kehoe and Pascal Rekoert
Pascal and Caroline
Pascal and Caroline
LOVERS will be performed at the Katsbaan International Dance Center on May 5th, and will be in Jennifer Muller/The Works repertoire for the 2012-2013 season. I look forward to seeing (and hearing) it again.
All photos by Brian Krontz. Click on the individual images to enhance.
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