A screen is stretch on the diagonal upstage left, the 2 lower corners taut by 2 ballerinas in white tutus and pointe shoes. The mountain from Paramount Motion Picture Company is projected against it. Sally is carried out and attached to to a rope that hangs centerstage. She is wearing a kilt-like cape with an S. She is flung against the screen over and over and over. She pounds her fists and feet against it in the same rhythm with the same dynamic for what seems like 3 or 4 minutes- is this a proclamation or penitence?
Photo by Cameron Wittig, courtesy Walker Art Center
The next scene is a circus-like flurry of dancers including Jim Dominick, Taylor Dreyling, Sarah Fifer, Penelope Freeh, Marisha Johnson, Anshul Paranjape, Kimberly Richardson, Sally Rousse, Dylan Skybrook, and Laurie van Weiren. They waltz with flexed feet and spiraling arms. I see a bullfighter, Michael Jackson Thriller choreography, and a humorous moment when the dancers hit their foreheads with the heels of their hands. Who are they? What are their roles?
“Paramount to my footage” covers a history of the life of Sally Rousse. I see that Alek Keshishian, most known for Madonna’s Truth or Dare, was a creative consultant. Will Sally be just as sexy yet emotionally disconnected as Madonna in revealing what lies behind the public image of an iconic figure?
A lot of territory was covered in 45 minutes. Some poignant moments for me were seeing a projection of Sally’s father’s eye against the diagonal screen as if he were watching the performance from atop a mountain, Kimberly Richardson’s solo as Goddess of the Wind, a duet between Penelope Freeh and Sally in which they tap dance in their pointe shoes, LVW as an MC asking cliche celebrity questions, and when Sally finally mourned a loss- that of her first husband- and cried into a harmonica. I wonder what it would be like to explore just one of the many facets of Sally’s life more in-depth for a production? Say focusing on just the story of her first husband? Or the birth of her first child? or just her childhood? It’s challenging to face a time constraint of a shared evening.
An autobiography can be empowering because one can acknowledge that oneself has been through a lot to get where they are today. It can be triumphant and a testament to one’s survival through the good and bad. An autobiography can also be quite vulnerable. I wonder if I hadn’t read the closing statement that shares the details of the creator’s life prior to the performance. If I hadn’t, how might the experience been different? How can an artist transcend from personal to universal so that a viewer has a connection to the work? Let’s talk.
Caroline Palmer reviews the second weekend of Momentum in the Star Tribune.
Comment by Michèle Steinwald — July 27, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
Thanks for your comments, Cathy. I can’t talk right now, I am in Vermont! Maybe when I get back. Everyone seems to want to say “I’d love to sit down and talk with you about it.” That would be pretty much the most universal reaction I’ve come across.
I just showed the piece on video to two of my four brothers, Ed and Bob. Constant questions and suggestions, mainly from Bob. They wanted to fast forward through the slamming, of course. I wanted to be Warren Beatty and force them to sit in the dark silent and watch but it was impossible. Three kids puttering around us eating ice cream. I kind of loved it actually. I kept nudging Ed and saying “this is you!” and I realized just how much of my sibling is in the piece. Ed and I are 3 years apart and so we lived together the longest. The piece seems to just make them think I am weird. Not at all the feeling I got from audience members who saw it live, not on video.
I like the piece. I like the group of performers (okay, I LOVE them) and I maintain that it is important to not over-emphasize certain parts: that they all exist in the piece is for a reason and it’s not because they were the most formative times in my life or the most true (I include as many lies and exaggerations as truths. And what is the truth, anyway? Was I a conjoined twin? Felt like it sometimes.)
But for the record: I am not a conjoined twin or a twin at all, however I am obsessed with twins, twindom, magnets, closeness, remoteness (cast member Sarah Fifer is a twin); I am not Scottish but my children are via my mother-in-law; “Ode to Joy” and bagpipes and tartan remind me of the prep school I attended; Yes, I’ve had a lot of people die, I am used to it but I am kind of good with death. I accept it. Bill T. JOnes says “we are born dying.”
Ain’t it the truth?
Comment by sally Rousse — July 30, 2009 @ 10:12 pm
Sally- had no idea there was a comment here……..
I still think about your show today- 2 months later- congratulations, that is “successful” in my book. I think you’re show needs to be a full-evening. How’s that for truth? peace.
Comment by Cathy Wright — September 20, 2009 @ 10:11 pm