At this point, unfortunately, our 10-week residency at the Annenberg Community Beach House has ended ;( However, what I have are some fantastic memories, some great performance photos (by Rollence Patugan) and some wonderful new relationships. It was a great experience, one that I'm likely never to forget and one with lasting impact on my choreographic career.
Let me share some of my highlights with you (in random order):
There's a moment in the wall climbing section of the dance I called Poolside where Alena, Christine and Rachel--in unison--wrap their legs around the wooden wall and hang head down to the cement ground. Though I couldn't have asked for any better costumes (BIG THANKS to designer Marcus Kuiland-Nazario), during the dress rehearsal, Alena's dress slipped over her head and the unison moment on the building was lost . . . just as the music played Charlie Chaplin's classic tune, Smile.
Well, come Monday evening around 7:20 pm, Alena figured out how to keep her dress squeezed between her legs (not an easy feat when legs are the only things keeping the women from crashing head first onto the cement!) and the choreography matched the music beautifully! All three dancers hung nonchalantly down, extended their arms up by their ears toward the floor, turned their heads slowly from right to left and then proceeded to abdominally curl up to return to a vertical head-on-top position. To me, priceless.
Such was also true in rehearsal when, after several weeks of trying to find a way to not just throw movement that had no strong meaning onto the Garden Terrace section, the dancers and I managed to slow down the action and give it enough weight that it maintained a high level of power, focus and depth. Watching this in the rehearsal, sound designer Eric Davis took the moment and ran with it, layering a sonorous score (Arvo Part) that deeply etched the idea of timelessness, longevity and beauty into the choreography. The women in those stylish skirts, dresses and pants suits seemed to revel in the moment as well, reaching their limbs and lines long and luxuriously. Beautiful.
Preceding that on the plaza, I loved when the Groucho-masked dancers erupted through the crowd in a long snaking line that ended in a 1920s-like kick line drawn straight out of Marian Davies' early career as a chorus girl (that's what she was when Hearst "discovered" her). I was thrilled to see Christine and her successive sweep of dancers make some spontaneous decisions about where the line should travel, staying close to the viewers without jeopardizing either those watching or those dancing! It was a marvel!!
The last minute addition of actor/comic Clayton Shane Farris to performance artist Kristina Wong's traveling journey through the property proved to be a lucky fingers-crossed choice! The two had worked together previously and that history allowed their action to seem like it'd been worked out and rehearsed for weeks before happening ;-) I thought they were both funny, energetic and right on the money as the Harpo-esque and his "bathing beauty!"
You know, I didn't know what was going to happen with the community surfers showing up minutes before the start and doing their thing on the sand behind Gloria, Carmen and Louie! The dancers had worked long and hard to get their movement phrases together, they were offered an added challenge of making decisions in performance about if/when they moved their chairs toward the audience and, in the dress rehearsal, the wonderful surfer/attorney Todd Bechcraft spent 5 minutes getting his booties off of his feet . . . leaving the three dancers standing there facing the ocean (back to the audience) slowly rocking their hips from side to side. At the Monday performance, Todd knew better than to wear booties, but his pal Marc showed up and the two of them chatted casually with each other through the dancers' closing moments. Surprise to me, but great to have the reality take center stage!
And, what about that Groucho mustache on Ken Takemoto as he whirled the ever-glistening Klyda Mahoney around the porch in the Guest House during Everyone Says? I thought they were awesome! Rehearsed rigorously, they took their responsibilities as performers and as production "docents" to the perfect maximum; guiding the audience gently from one site to another after gliding around on the porch and Sunken Garden as if they'd been doing that together for decades, rather than weeks.
And, oh, here comes Kristina in her suit and heels screeching in with Clayton in her wake!!
And what a great asset it was for community performers Lauren and Bunny to join the cast! The two women were fearlessly funny! They entered the project with a willing and open mind, watched a short youtube clip of the Marx Brothers' Mirror Scene and planted that relationship on the Terrace Garden to remind the audience of those comic geniuses of the 20s and 30s! Thank you, new friends and colleagues!
Along with these fabulous movers and shakers, the contributions that sound designer Eric Davis made were knowledgeably appropriate, thought provoking and terrifically interesting throughout the hour long event. Introducing the often unspoken politics and economic class divide at the onset, highlighting the sweetness of some sections (Ken and Klyda dancing to Groucho's Everyone Says I Love You), the energy of others (Marian Davies' animals sounds, Bing Crosby crooning, the train to Hollywood) and technically managing the production was a job for a company of theater veterans. With the great assistance of his students Eric and Nick and some early-on help from photographer Rollence Patugan, the event flowed as smoothly as I could have ever hoped for. Thanks to all those guys!
Those of you who came to the show and are now reading this, feel free to write back with your responses. I/we'd love to hear what you think, how it looked to you and any other intereactive reaches. And to you, too, THANKS!!
all photos taken by Rollence Patugan
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