Episode 4: Rehearsal Video

Available on Vimeo at http://www.vimeo.com/826711.
Available on YouTube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=V4-ohiNOT3Q
Available on iTunes as a Podcast
Video by Gilles Papain

This shows some of the choreography that Jessica Keller discussed in her First Rehearsal post.

Episode 3: Rehearsal Video

Available on Vimeo at http://www.vimeo.com/826681.
Available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAKRuQXiIR0
Available on iTunes as a Podcast
Video by Gilles Papain

Our second week in the studio has just started. Monday morning tension was there… and slowly abated with the day. Sitting in the theater between two rehearsals, I suddenly realized how much the tempo has intensified since our first day of creation in Norway.

   Swan and I got to work with the dancers on Glassy Essence for the first time in the studio of the brand new Dansens Hus in Oslo. It was the last day of our tour in Norway. Despite the fatigue, everyone was excited to start something new and in some ways to be “home again”: the dancers had not worked with Swan for more than a year, and Swan was finally able to work on movements after countless hours spent thinking and talking about it! That day, we had for the first time some music samples from Stefano to work with… really basic and rough sections, but again, it was just good to start for real…
   The day prior, Swan and I had walked from our hotel to Vigelandparken, a park Northwest of Oslo known for its hundreds bronze, granite and wrought-iron sculptures by Gustav Vigeland; the park sculptures depict the stages of life from birth to death, one generation to the next. I took pictures of few of them… So much simplicity, and yet richness and poignancy… Art in nature, the kids at play around and on the statues, no separations nor limits set by a museum or a stage… This made so much sense to me…
   I like to think that the real start of Glassy Essence between Swan and me took place during our conversation that Sunday in the Park. It felt very liberating to talk about it in the special setting, far away from New York… It felt easy too…and uncensored…
   Today, while waiting for the next rehearsal, back in New York and its palpable stress, images of Oslo rushed back… The stroll in Vigelandparken is still echoing in us… quiet, safe, simple… I know that Swan and I will try in the stressful hours to come to go back to this first day…
   Over the week-end, I read an article about the French actor, Louis Garrel. While talking about the importance of creating a relationship with his fellow actors off camera, he says: “The film is a residue of a larger life”…

   Nick and Jason finally entered the theater for the next rehearsal. I snapped out of my thoughts. Swan and I exchanged a brief look. I smiled. Glassy Essence is a residue of a larger life… one with Francois and his photos, Gilles and his videos, Stefano and his music, and Alexander, and the dancers of course, and New York always… and Oslo… and its Vigeland Park, on a dear Sunday afternoon, in March.

-Alexandra

Glassy Essence rehearsal at Dansens Hus in Oslo

Swan at the cafe on the way to Vigelandparken

Sculptures at Vigelandparken

Sculptures at Vigelandparken

Detail on one of the sculpures that we really liked

Looks like Jason beat me to posting about the first rehearsal but I’m going to post this anyway.

I feel like we say this over and over, but the process is really collaborative. Swan starts by teaching us a phrase sometimes making adjustments as soon as he sees it on us. He doesn’t usually give counts but allows us to translate the phrase into our own bodies. After watching us do it, he uses the variations and changes that each person’s body adds to enrich the movement.

We’re working on a phrase with the group posed in that top photo. I think it might be near the beginning of the installation. We’re all walking forward slowly and little things happen. Just small, subtle movements so you don’t really know what’s going on. It could be kind of a mystical beginning to the piece but it could also go anywhere. That’s one of the great parts in creating new work; there are still so many possibilities.

Take for instance my character in Glassy Essence. I know the Swan and Francois have not finalized the story for the characters yet, but in my own mind I like to think of my character as a kind of angel. The ‘Bubble’ could be like a cloud… maybe? It works for me. I’ve always wanted to sit on a cloud. ;-)

I feel pretty good about rehearsal. We’ve been working on different parts of the installation leading up to this; the photo shoots, the flying, the costumes, but it’s great to finally start putting it all together.

-Jessica

Photo: Jubal Battisti

Today we had our first real rehearsal for Glassy Essence. It feels like forever since we’re created a piece with Swan. It’s been more than a year since he choreographed Vastav.

We started by generating movement from Francois photos. It was cool to see how the still images turned into movement and out movement worked through the still images.

The first phrase that we worked with today used inversions and a lot of arm work. Swan usually starts with something small then builds as we all become warmed up creatively. By the end I was feeling some burning in my thighs which is probably from all the squatting leg work.

I’m also working on duet with Nickemil. It great because Nick and I have worked with Swan for 4 years now so we all have a good feeling of what each other is going to do. The three of us have great chemistry so things just work. I love the adagio where tremors are running through our forearms and hands while our lower body is calm and still. The music for the duet sounds like a harp with a techno beat. As the beat builds into a layer of sounds it really drives the movement.

We’re still experimenting and trying things and it feels good to finally be in a serious creating mode.

-Jason

Photo by Jubal Battisti