Well, you can dance

Switching gears now, kids, because, while I'm not done thinking about Shakespeare, I'm moving on to dance for a while. Last week, the giant choreographer Merce Cunningham died at 90 -- if you don't know him, read the comprehensive New York Times obituary by Alastair Macaulay.
Cunningham's death got me thinking about form in dance. A few year back, Anna Kisselgoff -- another great dance writer -- reprimanded me for reading too much story into a dance work. It's about form and movement, she said, not about your silly story-making. (That's a paraphrase.)
But I'm as devoted to narrative as Kisselgoff and Cunningham are devoted to form. So I was thrilled to hear Q2: Habitat choreographer Alison Chase, at the Stonington Opera House in Maine, describe her two Quarryography works as "narrative spectacles."
For more background on the two-year Quarryography diptych, spend some time surfing the Story at the Quarry blog. More succinctly: Chase is working on her second major site-specific choreography at the Settlement Quarry on Deer Isle. She includes professional dancers, some of whom are from her time with the famous dance troupe Pilobolus, of which she was a co-founder. Many others come from the community.
It's that community part that got me thinking about form. We all know professional dancers are trained. Presumably they can move in ways we find pleasing and thrilling. But Joe Fisherman onstage? I'm sorry; I'm thinking he's not going to be my Dancing-with-the-Stars dream guy.
I'm wrong. Chase filled me in: "Those community-and-professional dynamics allow a wider range so that you get a variety of gestural exploration. Because someone isn't a trained dancer doesn't mean they don't have a range of expression. We're always amazed at the power of simplicity. Once we get rolling, it's exciting to see the exchange between non-dancing adults and trained dancers."
In other words, she's not looking for a perfect plie out of Joe Fisherman. She's looking for an "individual expressive quality." And that information helps her shape the overall piece. She finds a dance move where it's least expected and then uses it. Ah, back to form.
That's perfect for Q2 because, as an event, it's happening in an unexpected place: a quarry. Which is where "narrative spectacle" comes in.
"It's about habitat, about who inhabits that space," said Carol Estey, production manager and the Opera House co-founder whose roots on the island go back to childhood. (She's in the picture here rehearsing with Chase.) The people who will "inhabit" the quarry at the sneak-preview-in-development Aug. 7 and 8, and then again in its premiere in 2010 are going to look a little like you and me -- except for those pro dancers in the group. And it's not just because Chase wants to see the unexpected. It's because she has a story to tell, and some of that story comes from the bodies of local residents.
"People have always wanted to perform," said Estey, who is a trained dancer. "People have always wanted to be in things. They realize now they can be, and they don't have to have as much skill as they have to have commitment and desire. They see the possibility."

posted with photos by Alicia Anstead on ShakeStonington.blogspot.com

Settlement Quarry

Settlement Quarry granite is 360 million years old. That's a long story, needless to say.... I'll hop right to 1900 when the Quarry opened. According to a 1908 publication succinctly titled Stone, "...the plant consisted of nine dericks, three engines, one traveling crane, one locomotive, two compressors, sixteen steam or pneumatic drills...." Well, you get the picture. Granite was in demand then and this quarry's stone still stands the test of time supporting the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges, protecting the New York County Courthouse, Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Kennedy Memorial in Arlington Cemetery.

Today, the clank, roar and screech of industry is replaced by a chorus of bird song. Spectacularly so, if you visit early in the morning during the spring warbler migration, as these folks did a few weeks ago. Island Heritage Trust now owns and cares for this historic property. It is open to the public whether you have two legs or four, wings or wigglabilty. Please visit and let us know who you met there at our "wildlife sightings" page on www.islandheritagetrust.org.