Performing Arts

My collegue Mr. Campbell asks ‘Why the great War?’  My answer:  Why not? Holland may have remained neutral terrirtory in this conflict but the physchological and physical effects of the war had great impact far beyond borders. I see no reason to criticize Hotel Modern for their choice of material.

In fact, the Great War as an object of respresentation and as part of cultural memory and as an event that still resonates and still figures largely in Europe is of little surprise. The Great War was and still is a large  part of  the European High School curriculum. I grew up in England and vividly remember these lessons. I remember being struck by the power of the first world war poets in my English literature class, our endless visits to the Imperial War Museum’s WWI trench displays (we went several times in history class) and every year on the 11th day on the 11th month we were attacked by poppy selling kids on Armistice Day (1918). Poppies were the symbol of the day to remember the dead of WW I and commemorate the end of the war (on the 11th hr of the 11th day of the 11th month…blah..blah )as these flowers were the first to bloom in the war ravaged terrain. As per Mr. Campbell’s experience, these texts were handed to me by my 6th form tutor and they had a siesmic effect on my young, pubescent mind.  In particular I became very attached to the work of Wilfred Owen (Dulce Et Decorum Est) and Issac Rosenberg (Dead Man’s Dump).  And they still have an effect on me and my approach to history. In fact I will venture that  WWI set into motion events that are still spinning themselves out and impacting us today. Following the war, the League of Nations sliced and diced what remained of the Austro-Hungarian Empire/the Ottoman Empire putting the winners in charge of rearranged territories into newly minted countries like Palestine, Iraq etc..and yes, I think those resonances continue on today.

But is that what drove our friends Hotel Modern? I think not. I found it interesting to discover from one of the performers after the show on Saturday that the makers were interested primarily in the impact of war on the landscape. Am I being literal or is environmentalism  a whole new way to , to look at old WWI topic?  Certainly images like the striking pile of dead and decaying bodies at the end underscored this concept but… really… REALLY? Did anyone else understand this piece as a green  meditation on war? Not me. The more I think about it the more I do not see it. The camera’s point of view, the performers point of view, all seemed to dwell on the individual soldier’s experiences and the pointless waste of human life. And this I agree with Mr. Campbell is not a new take on WWI events, I grant you.

However,  even with these inconsistencies I found the performance interesting and resonant. As I said, I will never tire of this topic I’m a bit geeky about it. And like my other collegue, Mr Kelley-Pegg, I also enjoyed the skill and inventiveness of the performers finding, dare I say, pleasure in their restraint and handling of the topic overall.  Is that a bad thing ? To find pleasure in such difficult, ugly subject matter? I will admit that part of my pleasure came from watching  the ingenious way the events unfurled before me.

My vote goes to Hotel Modern as the overall winner of the 2010 crop o’ Out There performances.

Gulgun Kayim

Skewed Visions

I went to Mr. Guenveur Smith’s “The Watts Tower Project” on Friday evening and have felt intellectually constipated and irritable ever since. Wait, before we go any further I want to first make it clear that I thought the performance was a fine shinning thing. The thing that has been bothering me finally clarifed this morning, after reading the other reviews of the performance. For that I will thank my collegue, Mr. Charles Campbell for cracking open this performance nut and helping me to the otherside.  

Again, to clarify – my crankineess isn’t because the work wasn’t finely  made -  I thought it beautiful, sonorous, poetic and at times transcendent. Nor was it that Mr. Smith is an unskilled performer -  the work was beautifully articulated. Or even that I found the work’s various points of view uninteresting or appropriate to our present moment – in fact I deeply appreciated, no, LOVED the composition of ideas, politics, art, biography…etc

BUT, But, But its… because.. how can I put it? I had an itch. What AM I talking about?  Well, I found the experience physically frustrating. I wanted to leap from my seat because the work was so good and the formality of theater space so stiffling, so limited, so BORING, so UNINSPIRING, so FLATTENING to the power and potential of this performance and performer.

Am I echoing what Charles is saying? Yes, I think I am. During the show I kept thinking this was good but how much better it would be if I could experience it in a smoky crowded room full of sweaty people talking back to Mr. Smith? In fact, one of the reasons I was thinking such a thought was because some of the younger audience members around me on Friday night kept murrmuring their opinions in response to or recognition of  Mr Smith’s words. One young woman even got up, answered her cell phone then got back to the show. At first I admit, I was mildly annoyed but then..THEN I realized that those around me were responding to the call of the performance. That these were feelings and responses to the words on stage and part of the greater harmony of this work. This work NEEDED a RESPONSE,  which the majority of us were too cultured to give (I include myself in this group). In fact listening to the comments around me, made my performance experience better. And how much better it would have been if Mr. Smith could himself hear what was being said, or feel our responses and respond back to us? Or even, refine the beat of his monologue to the tune of the audience. Or if we could all feel free to comment, groan, answer our phones and yell our responses back to him? Wow, that would be a fine thing wouldn’t it? (Yeah, yeah I know Brecht said this already). In fact Mr. Smith had tried to make the space, smaller, more intimate by arranging the projection screens as far down as they could go – something I’ve seen others do here.

Instead that damn proscenium space made the work distant and flat, flat, flat. It destanitized my experience of the liveness of this performance – that blood sweat and goo that goes into making a living, breathing piece of work, and delivering it to a live breathing audience and making it all work in a mess TOGETHER.

Friday’s experience also made me rethink of Radiohole. And think that yes their work suffered from ‘The Space’ syndrome more than I probably realize. That work belongs in the intimacy of their space: The Collapsable Hole. And I know for a fact that Eric Dyer struggles with the concept of touring their mega messes. (I totally realize that this is my thing, my obsession – site based performance – and yes, of course this is what I am likely to say. BUT one of the reasons I left the theater building is because I am devoted and disgruntled.) Maybe we all need to take a moment and think about what the drive to make more money, to build bigger theaters, to create these commercial, conventional performance spaces ..what it has done or can do to deaden the life of work that is made in another context for another context and what we need to do to get the LIVENESS back into live performance. You know what I think needs to be done. Any other ideas out there?

Gulgun Kayim
skewed visions

It’s amazing how quickly you can establish a rapport with a coworker you’ve just begun working with. A bond is created almost instantly when you share experiences with the same solitary goal in mind. What’s even more amazing is how quickly you can establish a rapport with a coworker on the opposite end of the world.

This is something I have come to realize over the past couple of weeks while working on Rimini Protokoll’s “Call Cutta in a Box: An Intercontinental Phone Play.”

Working as one of the project managers on this performance for the visitor services department, I have been fortunate enough to interact with the members of Rimini Protokoll in India on a near daily basis. Our morning tech-checks give us the opportunity to chat face-to-face (via webcam) with many of our colleagues. These are rare and precious moments in which we can casually discuss the upcoming performances of the day, the weather differences between Minneapolis and Kolkata ( formerly Calcutta) , and other topics one would share with a coworker. This is our version of a water cooler conversation.

Because of an eleven and a half hour time difference between Minneapolis and Kolkata, the performers must begin their day at the call center at around 3 am (a time that I’m more comfortable going to bed at than waking up). However, once at the call center they are chipper and eager to get on with the day’s performances. The majority of our callers work for the call-center full-time, calling Europe and Australia, selling everything from travel packages to credit cards. Performing “Call Cutta in a Box” allows them the opportunity to step away from the daily grind and gives them an opportunity for creative expression.

Our between-show chats with the performers gives us a unique opportunity to see their personalities, albeit in a non-verbal way. It’s fascinating how the use of emoticons can showcase the performer’s personality. One of our more bubbly performers, Alakananda, loves to send smiley faces and strong arm emoticons along with her FULL CAPS messages to us. These little computer animations let us keep the mood upbeat and playful, especially in the frequently chaotic period between performances.

We have adorned our cubicle with photos that our Calcutta colleagues have sent us of them and their families, an album that grows with each day of performances (the photo of Susmita’s young daughter is quite a heartwarming image). The pictures are a constant reminder of the humanity and culture that we are interacting with. We get a sense of their daily routines, their humor and their style (Rishi, for example, is a particularly stylish fellow with his colorful shirts and aviator sunglasses).

At the risk of sounding sentimental, I must say that I feel I have established a bond between myself and my Calcutta coworkers. A bond that our guests experience in their hour long performance. We meet new people and follow them on a journey, ultimately feeling like you’ve just made a new friend upon the conclusion. “Call Cutta in a Box” presents us with a simple interaction that has the ability to strike a very deep chord with its participants. I consider myself lucky to be able to witness this on a daily basis.

- John Kaiser, Visitor Services Associate, Walker Art Center

“Call Cutta in a Box: An Intercontinental Phone Play” runs until January 31. To make an appointment please call (612) 375-7600 or click here for more information.

Check out Radiohole’s earnest and hilarious plea for childcare funds while they’re on tour.

We were able to go backstage today and meet one of these paypal-funded children in question, 2 year-old Mia, who put up with photo time exceptionally well.

We’re excited for this week’s upcoming performances! This Thursday night will be the big debut for the Walker-commissioned, world premiere of Whatever, Heaven Allows.

With Call Cutta in a Box running now through the end of January, and Radiohole performing Whatever, Heaven Allows this Thursday-Saturday, the Out There season is in full swing. Check out the Walker blogs for discussions with local performance ensemble skewedvisions. Feedback about Call Cutta is already percolating.

As part of the Out There series, the Walker is offering multiple ways to engage with the performances:

For the next three Thursday evenings, celebrate opening night and meet the artists after the show in the fourth floor Balcony Bar of the McGuire Theater.

For the next three Friday evenings, stick around for a brief post-show Q&A with the artists.

For the next three Saturday evenings, join the Performing Arts crew at SpeakEasy–an informal conversation in the Balcony Bar led by a local theater veteran and a Walker Tour Guide. (Think book-club discussion, only performance-style).

And Saturdays in the AM, participate in artist-led Inside Out There workshops in the morning. All workshops will be from 11:00 AM-1:00 PM in the McGuire Theater. Radiohole’s workshop will be Saturday, January 16; Roger Guenveur Smith’s workshop will be Saturday, January 23; and Hotel Modern’s workshop will be Saturday, January 30. Call or stop by the box office for details or to reserve a spot. 612.375.7600.

And remember that for any evening performance, the Balcony Bar is open before or after the show.

Wednesday night I went to the 40th floor of the IDS Center and skyyped with Santanu, a telemarketer in West Bengal. Our conversation was like a terminal with many trains coming and going, some missed and some caught, with no real final destination in mind.

I recorded our conversation in preparation for this blog, but I don’t want to recount it here because it would be a shame to give anything away. Rather than some shocking surprise ending, which I guess this piece also has, Rimini Protokoll’s Call Cutta in a Box: An Intercontinental Phone Play is rather like a one-hour, continuous surprise. And the surprises engage with all the senses, which makes the performance truly transporting.

I learned something new about peacocks, call centers, and the health care system in India, but you might not. Each conversation will be different. I was mostly disarmed or laughing. Our conversation oscillated between the absurd and the very real, sometimes in the same breath. And despite its strange premise, in some ways it felt like the most natural thing in the world to be having this conversation.

For me, the piece evoked travel, the discovery of another person in a foreign place that feels so unique, intimate, and lonely at the same time. Snowflake existences maybe, similar but unique, with our shared qualities both separating and binding us. My light-rail ride home (Kolkata is coincidentally the only Indian city with light-rail-like public transportation) felt more like a departure than the usual traipsing around the city, and I can’t shake Santanu waving goodbye from 15,000 kilometers away. Buy a ticket to Call Cutta in a Box and you’ll get something like Lost in Translation without the goodbye kiss. And from the 40th floor, it’s a great view.

Rimini Protokoll’s Call Cutta in a Box: An Intercontinental Phone Play runs January 8-31, and anyone from a teenager to octogenarians could appreciate this experience. Performances run Tuesday-Friday, 5-10 pm (on the hour); Saturday and Sunday, 12 noon-9 pm (on the hour). This is a solitary performance experience and an appointment is required. Please call the Walker Box Office soon to make your reservation, as spots are limited. 612.375.7600

We’re all looking forward to Erik Friedlander’s performance this Saturday evening in the McGuire Theater (8 pm), and a limited amount of student tickets are still available for $13.

Check out this video:

Friedlander’s fellow musicians have already been raving about Block Ice & Propane. John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats said, “There’s a breathtaking lyricism at work in these new tunes, but it’s infused with an almost breezy touch: like swirling dust in beams of light, the melodies dazzle and hypnotize and float along on their own currents. Emotional but never sentimental, profound but without pretension — these songs wordlessly communicate more easily and openly than a dozen singer-songwriters furiously scribbling in notebooks.”

I interviewed John Munger, Karen Sherman, and Carl Flink for a story in the July-August issue of Walker magazine. Their insights about the state of dance both locally and nationally were so astute that we’re publishing them in full here on the blogs.

First up is John Munger; we’ll follow with Karen Sherman and Carl Flink.

Munger is a locally based dancer who has, as he says, “been observing the field for 20 years or more, depending on how you look at my job descriptions.” One of those jobs is to create statistical portraits of dance – performers, companies, venues, performances, genres, etc. – both locally and nationally, in his role as director of research and information for Dance USA, a Washington, D.C.-based service organization. Click here for a full bio.

“When my first wife and I were dancing in Colorado and decided to move to a bigger pond, we looked around the country and thought the Twin Cities had a lot of promise. We moved here in 1978. So I’ve been here 31 years and part of the reason I stayed, aside from quality of life and things like that, is because as I’ve been here, the arts and dance communities have fulfilled that promise we saw when we were kids-it’s fulfilled it richly.

My succinct take on the evolution of the dance community here is: During the 1970s, there was an era of a handful of major companies. From about 1980 to 1995 or 1996, there was an era of enormous growth that was based on the efforts of individual choreographers here at home. And for the last 12 yrs or so, that model has grown into larger companies and greater national presence.

There are clearly two major dance centers in America, New York and San Francisco. After those, depending on whom you talk with, about 6 or 8 other cities are named as being among the four most significant, after those centers-including Chicago, the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Seattle, Los Angeles, and greater Washington, D.C.

These cities are not necessarily in competition with each other; rather, they’re all different from each other — we’ve determined this through research. We can quantify ways in which best practices from one community will not translate to another, because these places are genuinely, uniquely different.

And while the Twin Cities are in that group, quite frankly, the hardest message I’ve had to communicate in my 30 years living here is to tell media and the general public that this is one of the key dance communities in the country. It is the most diverse among those secondary those cities, and compact as well-and that is a unique construction.

For example, Seattle has basically 3 categories of dance companies, including a ballet company of major size. We don’t have a $6-million budget flagship ballet company in the Cities, but we do have about 10 categories of dance among our more than 200 companies. There are about 14 companies with budgets over $100,000 (up to $1 million) — including James Sewell Ballet, Ragamala Dance Theater, Shapiro & Smith Dance, Ballet of the Dolls, Zenon Dance Company. There’s also percussive footwork companies, there’s Indian dance. There’s Ethnic Dance Theater. Eastern European/Western Russian dance, classical and contemporary ballet. All these companies have budgets over $100,000.

Not one other city in the country matches our per-capita distribution of companies that size. Chicago actually has about 17 such companies, but their total population is two-and-a-half times our size. We also have more solidly established mid-sized companies in this city, on a per-capita basis, than anywhere else in the U.S. except New York City, which has about 37 mid-sized companies.

That is part of what makes us compact yet varied. We also have variations in age, with highly visible choreographers in their 20s and 30s, 40s, 50s, and even a few in their 60s. We have companies that have been around for 30, 20, and 10 year, as well as those recently formed. We have major mid-level and small upstart organizations working in ballet, in modern, in culturally specific dance, in percussive forms, experimental forms-all of them. We have over 50 nationalities and cultures represented through dance in these cities, and all of this is compressed into a community of about 3.5 million people. If you know where everybody is, you can go see any of them. Whereas in, say, San Francisco, or Brooklyn, those numbers are overwhelming.

This whole picture in the Twin Cities — ages of choreographers, degrees of experience, sizes and duration of companies, dance genres — all of that is richly represented. And that is what brought me here. I’m still here, delighted to be here, it’s a terribly exciting place to be involved with dance.”

Hello Walker friends,

I’d like to introduce myself.  My name is Mark McCloughan and I’m working as an Intern in Performing Arts forthe Summer.  While the summer may seem like a rather quiet time here at the Walker, with only a few events on the calendar(Momentum and Music and Movies in the Park), we’re already busily anticipating next season. 

One of the events I’m looking forward to next season is Micachu and the Shapes.  Playing at the Cedar Cultural Center on September 23, this concert is guaranteed to be fascinating.  One of my jobs so far has been to research press for promotional purposes, so I’ve been reading a lot of stories about this band recently.  There seem to be a few major trends that music journalists and bloggers are picking up on.  The first:

Some bloggers and critics (meaning there’s a mention in every single article you will read about this band) have picked up on the face that one of the tracks on Jewellery, the band’s debut album, prominently features the sound of a dying vacuum cleaner.  While my research neither confirms nor denies whether or not this rare and delicate instrument will make an appearance at this show, Micachu’s art-school pedigree means that this show probably won’t feature a traditional guitar-drums-voice setup.  This brings us to the second point about the band many critics have picked up on:

Mica Levi (Micachu’s real name) has been called an art school prodigy by some (meaning all) critics.  While this isn’t uncommon for an up-and-coming experimental pop musician, Mica’s rather ridiculous list of accomplishments definitely earn her the prodigy label.  Born in 1987, at the ripe old age of 22 she has nonetheless managed to do the following:

• graduate
• release a pair of well-recieved singles
• release a critically acclaimed debut album produced by Matthew Herbert, the famous electronic musician whose current project is a record made entirely from sounds sampled during the lifetime of a single pig (more information at This is a Pig, where Herbert will be chronicling the project)
• compose an orchestral piece for the London Symphony Orchestra
• Tour widely

Levi is remarkably humble about her accomplishments, and in most interviews I’ve read with her she seems to be almost giddy at the fact that she is receiving worldwide acclaim for playing a vacuum cleaner (among other things).  Putting aside my extreme jealousy and violent sense of underachievment, I must say that I am happy for her.  Really, I am.  Aren’t you?

If you only see one avant-pop concert by a band of 22-year-old art school wunderkinds this season, see this one.  You can find more information about the show at the Walker’s Calendar.

If you want a taste of what you’ll hear at the show, you can listen to some of the band’s songs at their myspace - Golden Phone is my personal favorite.

Each summer the Walker teams up with the Southern Theater to showcase four fresh voices in Twin Cities dance with Momentum: New Dance Works. Photographing the selected choreographers, along with their performers, is a favorite project for the Walker’s performing arts program manager Michèle Steinwald and staff photographer Cameron Wittig. Last year, the pair collaborated with the performers and ultimately did photo shoots at four sites around town, from a raw loft space to a domestic bathroom.

This year they set themselves the challenge of finding one streamlined concept that would still show the divergent visions of Sally Rousse, Megan Mayer, Vanessa Voskuil, and Sachiko Nishiuchi (all of whose work was still very much in-progress at the time of the shoot). It involved calling on a sizable group of Walker performing arts fans/volunteers to come to the McGuire Theater for a four-hour shoot one evening; more than a dozen obliged, bringing along their own wardrobe items to boot. The assembled group walked through the each shot, creating a blur of human action as a backdrop to the dancers, who struck stock-still poses.

Here are outtakes from Nishiuchi’s shoot, taken by by performing arts assistant Emily Taylor. You can see Wittig’s final shots with all four choreographers in the July/August issue of Walker magazine, which will land in members’ mailboxes in mid-June (otherwise, pick up a copy at the Walker or at sites all around the Cities).