A Communal Spirit of Hope

The 28th annual Downtown Dance Festival is a platform for everything dance
by Mary Staub
www.encoremag.com

During nine days this August, dance companies from near and far will blur some of the boundaries between performer and viewer, one dance form and another, and bring the expressivity of movement to workers, tourists, families, residents and passersby in Battery Park, Chase Plaza and on Governor’s Island. The 28th annual Downtown Dance Festival, hosted by Battery Dance Company, serves as a platform for everything from classical Indian, to contemporary ballet, and, like in previous years, audiences will have the opportunity to learn segments of the choreographies they’ve just watched. Jonathan Hollander, Battery Dance’s founder and artistic director, hopes that this year’s festival, which, as always, is free, will evoke a communal spirit of hope.

Is there a particular company you’re especially excited about introducing to New Yorkers?
We hope to present a folk dance ensemble, Kolkha, from the Republic of Georgia. It’s tantalizing because we’re still worried about the immigration aspect. This company has 30 dancers and it’s notable because of New York’s relationship with Georgia due to Balanchine’s Georgian roots. Also, from a political standpoint, I think it would be interesting to put a human face on what was front page news on the political side just a year ago.

What is the DDF’s overall focus this year?
People have been so depressed about the economy, the state of the world, and the state of the government for eight years. Now the Obama administration has ushered in a new era and people are embracing a communal sense of hope. I felt this at the opening of BAM’s Muslim Voices festival in June where people of all colors and economic brackets were shoulder to shoulder under the spell of music and world peace; everyone from patrons to people who scraped together the money for low-priced tickets. I just hope that same spirit carries through in our festival where there are companies from many ethnic backgrounds and there’s a similar diversity in the audience.

How did you select the participating companies?
We received over 90 applications this year. That’s up from 70 last year and the most we’ve received ever. We love to present international groups because we feel there is never enough cultural exchange. A curatorial panel, which I’m not a part of, selects based on our mission of wanting to broaden the experience all New Yorkers can have of dance, not just the cognoscenti.

August 15–23: Battery Park, Chase Plaza, Governor’s Island.

Downtown Dance Festival Brings Global Dance Closer To Home

New York Sun
By MARY STAUB August 11, 2008

Manhattan's Battery Dance Company will bridge waters for the first time this year with its multiday Downtown Dance Festival, presenting performances on the greens of Governors Island. During the course of nine days, 30 companies with styles including flamenco, hip-hop, Indian, and Chinese traditional dance will tackle the stage on the island and also, as in previous years, at Chase Plaza and Battery Park in Lower Manhattan.

"New Yorkers are very open-minded and look for new opportunities to get out of the heat and explore new places," the artistic director of Battery Dance, Jonathan Hollander, said of his decision to add Governors Island to the performance venues.

During nine months every year, Mr. Hollander's Battery Dance is more than just a performing dance company; it takes on the role of presenter, seeking sponsorship, culling companies, and searching for sites in preparation for the annual festival, which begins its 27th incarnation this Saturday. Mr. Hollander takes it upon himself to bring dance to the people with post-performance opportunities for audiences to learn excerpts from the choreographies they've just seen.

"I have traveled all over the world and I still think that the amount of dance here is more than anywhere else," Mr. Hollander, whose own company has performed in countries including India, Turkey, South Korea, Mongolia, and China, said. "Yet general people on the street don't have anything to do with the dance world. We need to demystify dance."

The Downtown Dance Festival is one way Mr. Hollander has tried to do so for more than two decades. These daily, free, outdoor performances take place during daylight hours — over lunch or on weekend afternoons — thus reaching audiences who don't frequent the typical concert-dance theater, such as families with children who are too fidgety for prolonged seating, professionals who think dance is not for them, or downtown senior citizens who appreciate events within walking distance.

"The dance community aggressively needs to pursue new audiences," Mr. Hollander said. "There's a lot of great dance out there and we want people to know about it. We think it's our obligation."

Dance and movement exhibit a shared humanity, across borders, cultures, and ethnicities, Mr. Hollander said. "I am constantly inspired by what I see overseas," Mr. Hollander, who is traveling to 10 countries this year, said. "There are moments of serendipity when I see something maybe in South Korean dance, something that looks like waves on the shore, and it looks like what's in one of my own modern dance pieces that we're performing."

New York audiences can have a similar experience in Lower Manhattan, where, in a single day, they may see traditional Chinese dance by Dance China NY, followed by classical from Ballet Noir, traditional Kabuki by the Japanese Sachiyo Ito & Company, Isadora Duncan's more than century-old repertoire, and finally some flamenco moves by Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana. New York audiences, Mr. Hollander hopes, may start seeing connections themselves and thus open themselves to more unfamiliar cultural forms, whether in dance or elsewhere.

"We all have the same anatomy and people have explored this anatomy throughout history in folk dances," Mr. Hollander said. "It's sort of like beadwork. When you see Mexican and Indian and Native American beadwork, it makes you realize that they're all coming from the same place. I love the opportunity to break the matrix, so that audiences realize they can access other forms."

With people tightening their belts throughout the arts world, the Downtown Dance Festival is increasingly collaborating with other arts organizations to make the festival happen. Two festival days will focus fully on classical Indian dance and contemporary choreographies by South Asian dancers in a first-time collaboration with the Indo-American Arts Council. The Center for Traditional Music and Dance has also extended a hand and helped bring traditional dance from Japan and the Ivory Coast to the outdoor stage.

"Once you see how people respond and what effect the festival has, it's impossible to stop," Mr. Hollander said. "We get lots of letters and e-mails, and I recognize people year after year even though I don't know their names. I know for example there's a large senior center following, older people, retirees. For them it's great to have free events that they can walk to."

Saturday through August 24. For complete schedule, see batterydanceco.com.

Turning the Audience into the Act

New York Sun
By MARY STAUB August 14, 2007

In the sweltering summer months, outdoor dance performances pop up all over town, from Battery Park to Central Park and beyond. But one element that tends not to be on offer are workshops and classes that allow audiences active participation. The exception is the Downtown Dance Festival, a 26-year-old festival that begins this Monday at noon on Chase Plaza.

Known for a colorful palate of dance styles, the festival is organized by the founder and artistic director of the Battery Dance Company, Jonathan Hollander. For the past year, Mr. Hollander has been working with members of his company to add classes and workshops to this year's festival. "We wanted to try out an aspect of what has classically been a performance festival and move it a little bit into the realm of education," Mr. Hollander, whose company has led arts-in-education projects in local public schools for more than 20 years, said. "This is something New York City needs, particularly at the end of summer when families with less funds don't have the option to go out of town."

The festival's mission is an extension of the company's goal to make dance accessible to all. Indeed, the free festival typically attracts audiences as varied as its acts. Bike messengers, workers on scaffolding, and dance fans alike stop and watch the work of 19 companies. The festival features dance styles from Indian Manipuri, to a fusion of house and West African, to classical ballet.

The one population group whose appearances have been strikingly scarce, though, is that of young people, according to the education director of Battery Dance Company Tadej Brdnik. "I noticed that the timing and place were such that not a lot of teenagers, young kids, or families were involved during the week," Mr. Brdnik said. "I started looking for opportunities to blend the audience and performer line more, so that it would be more interesting for young people and they would not just be spectators, but also part of the festival as performers."

Mr. Brdnik's goal was to create a free two-week workshop wherein participants would watch performances of varying styles, then learn about their histories and techniques. What the company is able to offer this year is more direct: Every day, one of the performing companies will teach segments of their work in classes after their performance.

Kids and young adults, starting at age 10, will have the opportunity to try house and African dance on Monday with Vissi Dance Theater. On Tuesday, the focus shifts to ballet — with emphasis on boys — in a class led by Christopher Caines. Then during the rest of the week, teachers will instruct students in Battery Dance's own style, West African, Indian Manipuri with Darshana Jhaveri, and more.

"The parts that the companies are teaching are based on accessibility, so the kids don't have to be phenomenal dancers already," Mr. Brdnik said. "We want to give them a different perspective and allow them to feel that they are a little bit more than just someone watching performances."
Mr. Brdnik has contacted several summer programs for children — both dance- and non-dance related — to guarantee attendance including summer school programs he has worked with in the past such as Washington Irving High School in Manhattan and Millennium High School in Brooklyn. Passersby are also welcome. Those under age 10 will receive special assistance from volunteers, and those closer to middle age are also guaranteed a spot on stage.

"If we have a problem and have too many kids, that's a good problem to have. We'll just have them work in groups," Mr. Brdnik said. "This is a stepping stone for next year, when we will try to get funding for the full workshop."

What's for Lunch? A Global Dance Sampler

New York Sun
By MARY STAUB August 21, 2006

"In New York and all over the world, audiences tend to select an aesthetic and stay with it," the Battery Dance Company artistic director, Jonathan Hollander, said. "You'll find your ballet audience and your flamenco audience, but I don't want to encourage such parochial behavior. I want to encourage a taster's choice, so that ballet fans can suddenly be touched by an African dancer even though they thought they didn't have the knowledge to understand it."
Mr. Hollander makes his vision a reality today, as his Downtown Dance Festival begins shows at Chase Plaza for the 25th consecutive year. Starting at noon today, downtown workers, residents, tourists and dance fans can enjoy outdoor performances beginning with the most local of all companies, Mr. Hollander's own.

But Mr. Hollander has made it his mission to expand his audience's eyes. "I feel strongly about including all aesthetics of dance, and showing the public a full range of styles and techniques," Mr. Hollander said. "We worry that people do not get access to dance for economic or logistic reasons, or because they feel it's not something they'll enjoy.We want to open their minds and make dance accessible to the public."

So until Sunday, audiences can feast on a buffet of styles, ranging from authentic Chinese tribal dances to classical Northern Indian combined with other foot-stepping such as tap and flamenco. Monday's lineup travels from Argentina to New York and mixes ingredients of Austrian, Cuban, and American cultures. New Generation Dance Company bursts the boundaries of tradition with a contemporary-tango company directed by Argentinean Dardo Galletto. Rumba Tap is an Austrian tap dancer's fusion of 1930s tap moves and Afro-Cuban rhythms. And lastly, the New York-based Vissi Dance Theater combines jazz, West African, modern, and funk in an urban contemporary style.

And this year marks the first since 2002 in which the festival will run its weekday lunchtime Art in the Workplace series, which has been absent in recent years due to a lack of funding. A five-person panel, including Hollander himself and an Asian Cultural Council Fellow and dance scholar, Daisuke Muto, selected from 16 companies from over 60 video applications to participate in the performances.

The real novelty of this year's festival, however, is "Ocean of Light," a dance tribute to mark the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and to remember the victims of the Asian Tsunami. Instigated by Sanjay Doddamani, an "empanelled artist" with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, this homage resulted from the collaboration of dancers and musicians from India, London, New York, and New Orleans. The group will perform Thursday and Saturday, before moving on to New Orleans for performances later this fall.

But Mr. Hollander notes that his programming won't ignore classical ballet roots either. Peridance Ensemble will perform Igal Perry's Nocturne, and Elie Lazar will followup on Lazar Ballet NYC's debut at the festival last year. Kate Thomas, having moved from modern to contemporary ballet will present a preview of her new choreography with "Ballet Neo."

"This will be interesting for people who only think of "Swan Lake" when they think of ballet, but also for those who want to see where new choreographers are going," Mr. Hollander said.
The Downtown Dance Festival has long been a place for both the established and the newly emerging. As a result, festival audiences have ranged from pinstripe suited men craving culture over lunch, to families with children, dance lovers, workers, and more. With this year's emphasis on diversity of style, it promises to continue to do so again.

Until August 27 (various locations, for more information, call 212-219-3910).

Making 'Grendel' in Sets and Costumes

New York Sun
Lincoln Center Festival 2006
By MARY STAUB July 10, 2006

Music and song aren't the only things that make an opera. It takes costumes and set design, too. And the opera "Grendel" includes no shortage of visual effects to aid the tension between the familiar and the foreign, the good and the bad.

Costume designer Constance Hoffman and set designer George Tsypin worked closely with director Julie Taymor to develop costumes, puppets, and a massive set for the opus. "We all strongly felt that Grendel was contemporary, he had human qualities as well as beast aspects," Ms. Hoffman said. "Grendel's journey is about balancing or not balancing those two aspects of himself."

Throughout the creative process, Ms. Taymor, Mr. Tsypin, and Ms. Hoffman exchanged ideas on how the libretto, co-written by Ms. Taymor and poet J.D.McClatchy, would be converted onto stage.

"The libretto starts with the idea of jumping off a cliff, then Grendel changes his mind, but he is always drawn by the idea of releasing into death," Ms. Hoffman said. "Grendel talked a lot about a wall or cliff and is often seen looking at the world from heights as an outsider."

And so, at the center of this work stands an imposing 48-foot-long, 28-foot-tall mechanical wall that is both physical and symbolic. It rises and falls, rotates around itself and is driven by two motors, computer programs, and four live operators from within.As the sole set piece, the wall creates the epic's only scenery. With a Nordic winter's ice cracking on one side and spring's earth bursting forth on the other, the wall serves as unmistakable border line between the world of humans and the world of beasts, the world of us and the world of them.

As often in works by Ms.Taymor, who is best known for Broadway's "The Lion King," the visuals in "Grendel" tell a large part of the story. Not only the set, but also the costumes and puppetry are striking enough to be a show by themselves.

Human-scale puppets of flora and beasts are Grendel's relatives. His many voices, constantly debating one another within him, walk the stage in form of shadows, or doppelgängers, who intone upon him in different scales. The chorus, the villagers, are a monochromatic and subtle mass of people who, unlike Grendel, lack individual identity.
The main colors used in this stark story are earthy shades of gray and brown. They strongly contrast the rich reds and greens of the dragon, sung by Denyce Graves, who plays a pivotal role to Grendel. Ms. Graves, backed by three singing dragonettes, is a fantastical figure who sees forward and backward. She finally entices Grendel to accept his role of intruder and wrong-doer from the other side.

Almost all the characters in "Grendel" wear costumes made of felt fabrics that strongly resemble medieval Nordic clothing. Even delicate Queen Wealtheow, sung by Laura Claycomb, will appear in a seemingly sheer white gown with long trailing train that is made of a combination of felt and finer fabrics. Ms. Graves' dragon cape comes close to taking up the entirety of the stage.When combined with mask, tail, and fingernails that are a foot long, the costume creates a landscape all of its own. Grendel himself wears a heavy coat and old galoshes. His shadows haunt him as near identical triplets of a darker shaded gray.

When Clothes Help to Make the Dance

New York Sun
By MARY STAUB August 21, 2006

Like most experimental choreographers, Sean Curran throws costumes together on a limited budget. But for his work with American Ballet Theatre's Studio Company at the Joyce Theater, he had fashion designer Charles Nolan on his team. And the collaboration enhanced the character of the dance more than anyone expected.

ABT played matchmaker by bringing Mr. Curran - whose downtown dance troupe, Sean Curran Company, is known for its intelligence and physicality - together with Mr. Nolan, a designer with a talent for pretty frocks and sexy suits. The two met up at a company rehearsal for Mr. Curran's new work, "Aria," set to baroque arias of love and lament by Georg Friedrich Handel. There, Mr. Nolan sat quietly at the studio's side and watched the dancers and choreographer at work for an hour.

"I always have to have a story connected," Mr. Nolan said. "When I make clothes, I think: Where is she going in this? Who is she? Why is she wearing this?"
Similarly, when he watched the dancers dance excerpts from "Aria," he saw the story behind the movement. For a postmodern, collaborative choreographer like Mr. Curran, however, narrative usually takes a backseat to character and emotion.

"We might be imitating a scene from life in dance language, but I'm certainly not telling a story," Mr. Curran said. "What Charles did in a way was give us a back story. I was responding to the idea of love, loss, regret, and longing in the music. He placed them at a ball - after the ball, when some people were leaving the party with someone else and others are alone."
The women wear formal gowns of white, each of individual style. A deep scoop neck shows off one girl's decolletage, and a low dipped back emphasizes another's back; Deep cleavage for the temptress, a more modest collar for the reserved. The men wear formal attire, each in a distinct stage of undress.

With a deeper sense of narrative, individual characters for each dancer, and formal wear as clothing, Mr. Curran started coaxing more acting out of the young dancers. The Handel arias speak of love and longing, and the young dancers - ages 16 to 20 - started to visualize that feeling during costume fittings. The company trekked to Mr. Nolan's studio on Gansevoort Street where Mr. Nolan draped, cut, and styled the costumes.

"Charles was doing his own little dance, a duet, with each of the dancers," Mr. Curran said. "The women were being draped like fashion models. You put a costume like that on and it changes the chemistry, it adds a whole layer and gives you something more to work with."
And indeed, when these young men and women step onto the stage in classic black and white, they project a celebration of themselves at a transitional moment in their young lives. It may only be prom night, but the clothes do work.