Monday September 20, 2010 - To a score by Kaija Saariaho (above), choreographer Luca Veggetti has set MAA for performances at the Miller Theater/Columbia University on September 22nd, 24th and 25th. In anticipation of the production, the Guggenheim's Works and Process series inaugurated their current season with a preview in which both composer and choreographer spoke of their work and excerpts were danced.
I had a really enjoyable trek across Central Park as evening was just starting to descend, arriving a bit early at the Museum with time to take a few exterior shots of the New York landmark.
As an introduction to MAA, the Works and Process event showed us four excerpts from the work interspersed with a conversation with composer Kaija Saariaho and choreographer Luca Veggetti hosted by the Miller Theater's Melissa Smey. Ms. Saariaho had literally just arrived in our City from Paris; and traffic delayed her arrival at the Guggenheim til the last minute. The composer said that the excerpts being danced tonight were her first viewing of Mr. Veggetti's setting of her score.
MAA was commissioned by the Finnish National Opera and premiered in 1991. When MAA was first performed, the number seven was a key element in Ms. Saariaho's thoughts on structure: seven movements each in seven parts played by seven instrumentalists. The original choreographer, Carolyn Carlson, surprised the composer by utilizing 24 dancers; Mr. Veggetti's vision appropriately employs seven dancers. They are - with one exception - all either alumni of or currently part of the Juilliard Dance Division: Craig Black, Frances Chiaverini, Spencer Dickhaus, Min Youg Lee, Viktor Usov, Casia Vengoechea, and Chen Zielinski.
Four excerpts were performed tonight, each having a title: FALL (danced by four dancers with ethereal music of the harp played by Bridget Kibbey); ...de la Terre (a solo danced by Frances Chiaverini - her entire body expressively in tune with the music - with violinist Erik Carlson, a master of contemporary idiom); FOREST (a trio set to pulsing electronic rhythms) and WINDOW (all seven dancers moving in dreamlike, shifting patterns to the mysterious and somewhat ominous sounds of amplified whispering). One choreographic element which was especially effective was a sliding, gliding motif which the dancers mastered with skill, making it quite evocative.
The choreographer said of the composer's music: "It is like a poem." Luca told of his longtime desire to work with this score which, he said, creates its own space. Ms. Saariaho spoke of some of the sonic themes she incorporated: the sound of her own footsteps, whisperings, and the sound of the wind blowing thru a wheat field. With the electronics evolving from the live playing of the musicians, no two performances of the score are exactly alike.
Watching the dance, my feeling was of being in a cool-blue world that resonates with its own energy and sense of time. MAA, as the choreographer noted, is a poetic experience both musically and visually.
The dancers, with musicians Bridget Kibbey and violinist Erik Carlson (a familiar presence at Miro Magloire's New Chamber Ballet) taking a bow. The International Contemporary Ensemble, a stellar band of musicians will be playing the Saariaho score for the Miller performances. Ryan Streber is the electronics artist.
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