“The score is the common variable”
July 25 & 26, 2024 at 8 p.m..
70 Graham Avenue #3
Brooklyn, NY 11206
PAGEANT is an artist-run performance space in Brooklyn with an “elaborate, forthright
aesthetic” that is “‘all presentation, baby,’” (New York Times). Frequently premiering brand-new, sparkly works by less-established choreographers, it’s quickly become the place to be for New York’s downtown dance scene.
This week, though, PAGEANT will play host to a project of historical significance. The Deborah
Hay Trio Commissioning Project is a series of reimagined works that allows the choreographer to “examine and combine the practical magic of ‘the trio’ with the support and input from three artists, whose dancing and performing, each in separate contexts, have touched [her] deeply.”
It’s a unique retrospective endeavor, in that the three performing artists, Amelia Heintzelman,
Julie Mayo and Teddy Tedholm, are entirely responsible for the work’s upkeep.
“Deborah was responsible for putting us together as a trio, crafting the score alongside us for
two weeks of residency in Austin, and occasionally checking in with us over email,” Heintzelman shared. “Part of the agreement was that after Austin, the three of us would continue the practice without her, taking full responsibility for the trio's maintenance and lifespan. We become the producers, costume designers, musicians, etc.. It's a huge investment and responsibility.”
The work in question, “Without Fanfare,” is a readaption of Hay’s 2006 solo, “News,” which she created for the Solo Performance Commissioning Project at the former Findhorn Community Foundation, Findhorn, Scotland. Hay’s coaching during their residency in Austin was both meticulous and limited, according to the performers.
“Because of the interpretive, perceptual and choice-making nature of working with Deborah’s
language, the score is the common variable. And that’s it,” Mayo shared. “The process of
working with the language and the score alongside Deborah’s coaching (which was quite
minimal) was engaging and challenging. Interestingly, I found the silence to be its own kind of
‘coaching.’ There is a lot of room to become aware of one’s own ‘interference.’”
Hay’s choreographic process is rooted in language, Tedholm shared. “As our practices become informed by the score, so did the score become informed by our practices. Like most of Deborah’s works, the writing is informed by the performing which is informed by the writing and so on forever.”
As a form, dance poses complicated questions about legacy and preservation. “Classical” works are often restaged with utmost respect for visual accuracy. Learning one such work—especially when the choreographer is no longer with us—from a dancer on whom it was made is usually the go-to for this generation when it comes to keeping historic works alive. But what happens when the work one wants to preserve—or reflect on—is not a clearly laid-out string of steps, but—just as specific—a score?
“When I watch Deborah's work, I see a strong and unique performative quality that makes it
immediately recognizable. The dancers are present in an unnamable way. It takes a tremendous amount of practice for me to get there with my vision and dancing, and it's an honor to be trusted by her to fulfill the task,” Heintzelman shared.
“In performing ‘Without Fanfare,’ I find a sense of ‘adaptation,’ in terms of each iteration being a reworking, a mode of shifting that is alive and open,” Mayo said. “Each performance is an
adaptation, rather than a repetition of something fixed. This is the hope, anyway, and it is
buoyed by practicing performance in the studio and on stage.”
Tedholm added, “by the end of our two weeks together in Austin, we came to a point where the writing was ‘finalized,’ and from there the work lives, breathes, and changes each time we
practice it.”
Arguably, dances are preserved by only the warm, human bodies that inhabit them. We have
video documentation, sure, and we have teachers and stagers. But a performance itself exists
only in-the-moment. So it feels particularly important that “Without Fanfare” is made permanent only by its written instruction, and the practice of three individuals who not only perform it, but maintain its very existence.
I had the privilege of viewing the written score. It contains viscerally vivid instructions,
interpretive metaphors, and bits of guidance that start with, “you may need to...” It is alive and
practical, which feels related to another question I asked the performers, regarding Hay’s words, “the practical magic of ‘the trio.’”
Tedholm recalled, “We learned the work in an airy home dance studio on the second floor of a house in Austin. The ceiling had rafters... and boards formed triangles which held the ceiling up. It was a constant reminder that the strongest support shape is three points connected.”
“The ‘practical magic of ’the trio’ is not just about three individuals together in space, but our
connection to each other. If our connection falters for even a moment, the support of the space and the work itself crumbles. The parts of the score are spontaneously casted, so without connectivity to one another, we would simply not be able to achieve [the performance.]” Heintzelman mused, “I hope we get to continue this work and project for as long as the score and the questions feel unanswerable.”
“Without Fanfare” opens at PAGEANT this Thursday. Don’t miss it.
Comments