In this episode, we explore how choreographers and their collaborators help make sense of difficult aspects of the human experience - like war, loss, and inequities. Using Pillow conversations with three choreographers, Robin Becker, Ronald K Brown, and Francesca Harper, in dialogue with their collaborators, we hear first-hand experiences of how artists make sense of their worlds and in turn, use their craft to aid in the healing of individuals and perhaps society at large.
Into Sunlight trailer: https://vimeo.com/131009698
STILL: https://vimeo.com/476315913/3a7f9258bb
[Music begins, composed by J.S. Bach, performed by Jess Meeker]
NORTON OWEN: Welcome to PillowVoices, a production of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival with content from the Pillow Archives. I’m Norton Owen, the Pillow’s Director of Preservation, and it’s my pleasure to introduce Pillow Scholar Jennifer Edwards who is also the director/producer of PillowVoices. She will be your host for this episode looking at how choreographers and their collaborators help us to make sense of some of the hardest parts of the human experience - like war, loss, and inequities.
PAMELA TATGE: The devastation is huge. But I wouldn't do this work as my life's work if I didn't believe in the healing power of dance. And we need that community-building power of dance now more than ever, to really address some of the deep divisions in this country.
JENNIFER EDWARDS: That was Pamela Tatge, the Executive and Artistic Director of Jacob’s Pillow, from episode 56 of The Dance Edit podcast, released March 25th 2021. We’d like to give a shout-out to The Dance Edit team and the amazing work they do. In listening to Pamela’s conversation with Margaret Fuhrer I was reminded that the healing power of dance was a key piece of what kept the Pillow open during World War II when so many of Ted Shawn’s dancers went off to war. Shawn, a veteran himself of the first world war, was determined to keep Jacob’s Pillow open so that the soldiers would have a place to come home to in order to heal - their bodies, emotions, and minds.
Now, the arts can be many things to many people. Some might say art is abstract or intellectual or highbrow, exclusive, elitist. That has not been my general experience. I’ve witnessed art, self-expression, and creativity literally save lives both for art-makers and for those who experience art as consumers, or audiences. I chose this word ‘consumers,’ not for its common meaning in the capitalistic or materialistic marketplace - consumer as buyer. Rather, I invite you to think of consuming as it relates to ingesting, digesting - consumption as in taking in the fuel we need to power us through the day, week, or year.
The works shared in this third installment of Choreographing the Social Consciousness were created to help people make sense of their world. They each tie points in history together. In each case the artist was inspired by a happening - a war, a social movement, a pandemic, but that was just the beginning, it was the first step on a path that led to a journey. Each of these artists brought that impetus into a process with collaborators and what results provides, not just commentary, but a deep and viscerally humanistic reminder of how societies are bound together by shared experiences. We may view those experiences through different lenses or perspectives. We may be polarized by a specific world view, but what art, and particularly dance provides is the opportunity to feel in our bones, the emotional resonance or maybe residue of moving through time, through space, in a body, with others.
We begin with a PillowTalk, recorded in 2017 that took place after the screening of the documentary film titled, “Into Sunlight”. We’ve linked the trailer of this film in the episode notes. For context, the film explores the journey of a dance piece also called “Into Sunlight,” by choreographer Robin Becker which is based on a book, titled “They March Into Sunlight” by author David Maraniss.
The book focuses on a period of time in 1967 and draws parallels between young soldiers fighting in Vietnam and young protesters, objecting to the war on the campus of the University of Wisconsin. The idea for the dance piece was sparked by Becker’s response to the United States’ decision to take military action in Iraq and with the declaration of war in March of 2003. It was that exploration that led Becker to read Maraniss’s book which was released that same year, and which became the structural backbone and guiding narrative of the dance piece. The film, by Ron Honsa, traces this project and the rich intersections between the dance, the book, and the people involved in and touched by both.
Ron Honsa, it should be noted, has worked closely with Jacob’s Pillow on a number of projects including “The Men Who Danced,” a film about Pillow Founder, Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers, and on “Never Stand Still,” a feature-length film about Jacob’s Pillow.
We enter this conversation, facilitated by Pillow Scholar Maura Keefe, as Ron Honsa reflects on how this film came to be.
RON HONSA: The origin of this work was really Robin and I meeting at a, at a, actually a film festival. And she, she explained that she was working on this piece based on a non-fiction book. And I’ve always been interested in the notion of taking a choreographer’s work based on a narrative that was really factual, something that had some, you know, historical perspective. I think we all have seen wonderful dance, but very often, especially to the layman, we, we say what is that movement about or what, where does that come from? So as a filmmaker I really wanted to explore this notion of taking a narrative from a non-fiction book and the journey of choreographer stenciling the emotional experience of the book to movement. And I also was very captivated by the period, I came of age around this period of time, so the Vietnam War was something I was always personally very interested in. If you read David’s book, which I suggest you do, it, it’s an extraordinary account of this time, but he really does represent the commonality between these groups of people that, if we, if you grew up in that age, there was a great deal, sense that there was nothing but a polarization between those who favor the war and those against the war. But in looking back now almost 50 years, we see the, the, the plight that everyone was in. And I think Robin choreographed that in such a powerful way. And so that was my interest.
MAURA KEEFE: So Robin, you say in the film that you were really reacting to a specific moment in time, which was not the moment in time where you ended up. And if you could say something about, you know, were you ever, did you ever want to back off? And, and realize as you were starting to investigate and get deeper and deeper into it that, that this is a lot to take on and that you’re bringing this group of dancers on this journey that maybe you hadn’t anticipated taking in this way.
ROBIN BECKER: Absolutely. I actually tend to feel that way often. But this piece in particular, you know, when I teach choreography I always tell my students don’t take on too large of topics. Yeah, and with this there were many times I felt like, ‘what am I doing?’ but once something is birthed, it’s a type of pregnancy where you don’t really have a choice, and with this piece I really felt like I didn’t have a choice.
MAURA KEEFE: What I am struck by is thinking about the bodies and how it feels like you were having an, what I would consider a kind of choreographic experience in writing this. And just how your, I mean, absolutely as a journalist you would go into it with a sort of openness to multiple stories being told, but did your, did your perspective shift from Wisconsin boy to a global citizen?
DAVID MARANISS: Well, you’re right. I, I do come from the perspective of opposing the war, but I also come from a fairly humanistic perspective of trying to understand everybody by the forces that shape them and why they are the way they are. I knew the Wisconsin side of the story very deeply. I grew up in Madison, I was part of that whole era in that sense. I did not know the soldiers’ story until I started researching the book. And by the time I was done, they made me an honorary Black Fly and I’ve been, I’ll be friends with those soldiers for the rest of their lives and my life. So, yes, that, that really was a transformative experience for me too.
MAURA KEEFE: And Robin how about for you? Because you went into it from a kind of position of grief, ‘how do we keep entering war?’ And, and has your perspective on, on the men and now women who go to war, has that shifted?
ROBIN BECKER: Well for me, those two aren’t quite related. I think my respect for those who choose to go has, an honoring of that has always been high. But for me I think what was so transformative about this project was leaving me really with a sense of awe and a sense of community. Like, this work was truly a communal endeavor. It was so collaborative and I think it gave me hope to have something that was so collaboratively developed be so meaningful to so many people.
JENNIFER EDWARDS: As the film was being made, Becker and her company accepted an invitation to a three-city tour in Vietnam, to perform this piece. Here again, is Ron Honsa talking about that experience.
RON HONSA: Vietnam is a very different place than it was back then, and it’s quite remarkable how healing. And I think Robin speaks to this in, in, in the work as well as when we speak to audiences, our hope for this work is it does have a, a healing effect for veterans, for people who were in the conflict on either side. And that’s the beautiful thing about art.
JENNIFER EDWARDS: Art, in this case, dance, has the ability to viscerally tap into the truths of our individual experiences. Dance has the ability to imbue concepts with raw human emotion and connection. Through movement and bodies, choreographers can organize personal stories, spiritual journeys and craft an experience that contains enough universality to be understood by many. Ronald K. Brown is a master of this process. As are those dancers and musicians with whom he collaborates. Here is Pillow Scholar Maura Keefe in conversation with Ron Brown, and music director Arturo O’Farrill, with company members, Arcell Cabuag and Annique Roberts, after the company’s performance at the Pillow in 2018 in the Ted Shawn Theater.
RONALD K BROWN: The name of the company, right? Evidence by one, when people see the company, I want them to see a reflection of themselves and the human condition, right? And so using movement to tell a story, but we want them to recognize themselves. So I think that’s why we have the range of movement where it’s, yeah, physical because we need to get the emotion in there, and then we need some pede, pedestrian material to help us remember that we are real. And lets you connect with us on that level too.
MAURA KEEFE: So maybe you guys could talk as dancers of what it’s like to have those shifts. Does it feel really different when you’re in a kind of full-bodied something and nailing a turn, and then, ‘hey friend you’re back onstage now, you just had an exit and you’re back.’ What’s that like to, for, to experience that as movers?
ARCELL CABUAG: Yeah, I think one of the things that’s amazing doing Ron’s work is that in the rehearsal he reminds us that we’re real people and he wants us to be real people on the stage, he doesn’t want us to have that arrogant look where we’re looking up all the time up into the balcony. He wants us to be right here. Our note all the time is focus forward, focus forward, and focus, focus with each other. So that, you know, that’s how we communicate to each other, that’s how we dance to each other, that’s how we’ll convey the story if we’re just real people. And we bring in our real life, open our spirit up, and then that’s how the magic will happen on the stage.
ANNIQUE ROBERTS: And for me there really is no shift between being a dancer and being a regular person I think because Ron does encourage us so much to just be regular people. I think we do that through whatever movement he gives us. So it really isn’t much of a, ‘oh now I’m gonna be a regular person and now I’m gonna be a dancer.’ It’s, ‘I’m just gonna be a regular person dancing on stage communicating this message.’
MAURA KEEFE: So I, I think one of the striking things is, in this work, is hearing first the music of Nina Simone and then we hear Fela Kuti. Could you just talk a little bit about, about putting us in the world of those, of those fabulous musicians, but also kind of a moment in time with the, with the sound that we’re hearing.
RONALD K BROWN: So the, huh let’s see. I knew I had a Nina Simone piece in me at some point, but I, I had a piece called High Life and, and done with, dealt with the Civil Rights era in, in work before. So I knew it would come but I wasn’t going to stress out about it. But the company was traveling a lot, and our country is just going into Afghanistan and I was trying to figure out how I felt about it, like, grateful that people were dedicating their life to fight for us, our freedom, but fighting people who believe that they were going to be rewarded for killing, right? I’m gonna have these many virgins in heaven for killing you guys. And so we would be in the airport and we would see lines of young people playing Gameboys, whatever that thing is, men and women, right? And I was like, ‘oh man, grateful, but my goodness, are they ready to deal with this stuff?’ We were in Florida, one dancer lost his grandmother in, in Atlanta, he had to leave the tour. Then our, we were in West Palm Beach at dinner, got a phone call from Trinidad, his grandmother had made transition. So we ended up having to go to Miami where the next stop was, but he was gonna go to Trinidad. And we’re walking down South Beach and they had these makeshift placards out of cardboard for folks who had been killed. 18 years old, 21 years old. I was like, ‘oh man, what?’ So I’m cleaning my house and I’m playing Ms. Simone, and this song comes on, ‘Come Ye.’ It says, anyone who’s dedicated to fighting for your life, it’s time to learn how to pray. I was like, ‘ah, that’s how I feel,’ right? But what happened, this song is old, right? And so then I just started to collect music to help me, I realized I was gonna make a dance about us understanding that in a time of war, the destination is still peace, right?
ANNIQUE ROBERTS: Yeah I mean I was thinking about in, when the projections come on and they’re set in the ‘50s and ‘60s and then this piece was made in 2002. And then we have assembling bodies today in a very different way so if you want to say something about, I mean, maybe Arcell you could chime in here about what it’s like to revisit this work in a, in a kind of different era, but maybe in the kind of same era and the same way.
ARCELL CABUAG: Yeah it’s difficult times right now. Like, like Ron said when he set the work. And the, all these people were going to Afghanistan and we were just looking at them at the airport like, ‘oh my gosh, they’re much younger than us.’ You know, and, you know, and we’re here, here we are, we’re in line to go the airport because we’re gonna go on tour, and go dance onstage. And we’re like, it just made us so purposeful for like, oh what we have to go do out there on the stage to share with these people is real. And we need to touch the audience and so they understand. And so to revisit it now it’s like, wow, now we’re during this time and the Trump era, and it’s like, we need all these young people to understand all the people that were here before us fighting for our freedoms and the people that were voicing how they felt about what we needed to do. And how important it is for us to be the next generation to also share that and make sure everybody understands.
JENNIFER EDWARDS: Brown’s work honors his own roots and journey. The mission of the company as he alluded, is to promote understanding of the human experience in the African Diaspora through dance and storytelling and to provide sensory connections to history and tradition through music, movement, and spoken word, leading deeper into issues of spirituality, community responsibility, and liberation. This is an ethos that not only Brown, but his collaborators also embrace and embody. Here is Arturo O’Farrill speaking about his ensemble, Resist.
ARTURO O’FARRILL: The Afrolatin Jazz Ensemble is kind of the foundation of the group that we’re calling Resist. I think that every time you do an act of art, you are doing something subversive. Every time you teach a kid how to play an instrument or dance or how to write, or how to express themselves without resorting to violence or commerciality, you are being revolutionary. And so I can’t think of that, you know, a better group of people that I love than these folks to be able to be in the trenches with, so to speak. This music is very personal to me. I love these folks, I love Ron, and this is absolutely radical, revolutionary, subversive work that you’re all taking a part in and we have all your phone numbers by the way.
MAURA KEEFE: So it, so it’s new that you’re calling attention to it so deliberately, Arturo. That, that, that you are calling attention to the kind of activism that’s built into the act of making art.
ARTURO O’FARRILL: I have a big mouth sometimes. I’ve been known to post very strong things and do very strong things, and stand in for strong causes, and be involved with strong activities. I think we are, I don’t know how to say this, I’m just gonna say, we’re in a precipitous freefall right now. There’s a horror attaching itself to our nation, sorry. I don’t know if this is acceptable or not. And the only, the only recourse we really have is to resist. To stand up and say no, this, this cannot happen, this cannot be.
JENNIFER EDWARDS: Teaching as a radical act - engaging in art as resistance. This resonates with me personally because it is, in part, why I chose to develop this series, which highlights overtly, covertly and in some cases, subvertly political themes in works presented by Jacob’s Pillow.
Let’s turn now to a short film, titled STILL, that was commissioned by and created through the School at Jacob’s Pillow, by Francesca Harper in partnership with filmmaker, Nel Shelby. This conversation was facilitated over Zoom on October 8, 2020, by Pillow Executive and Artistic Director Pamela Tatge in conversation with the artists and the dancers who participated in this process. First, we’ll hear from Francesca Harper…
FRANCESCA HARPER: Well first of all, it’s just an honor to be here with everyone. Thank you Pam for the invitation and JR, you know, like I said, it was my first commission. I remember receiving the call and, you know, I realized in that moment that we needed some healing. It was really apparent to me, I thought we, you know, so I decided to create something collaborative. Something that I knew also that the dancers would be, would want to take part in. so we, I actually put together a google survey with a few ideas because I had been facilitating some other films and I put together a google survey and I asked the dancers to talk about themselves, give me a little history, and then I gave them three topics, you know, three possible, three possible directions. And one was, you know, I think digital portraits to kind of chronicle where they were and what was happening at the time, and then, you know, our current state of affairs and politics, you know, and really speaking out about what’s happening right now, and politically and that was the one most of the students chose. So that was exciting, that also helped me find and define a direction. And so I came in knowing the direction that we were going, and I started with some of the civil rights, Martin Luther King, my father was a civil rights lawyer so this is very near and dear to my heart, embedding works in such, social justice. So I said let’s just start by watching the speech. And so we watched the speech, oh we had a year, actually, sorry, I had a week with the students first in workshop. So we, we had fun kind of creating ideas, those red screens were a really interesting experiment that we saw that kind of bookended the film that I thought was so interesting. But, so we had some ideas, we had kind of a baseline of choreography, and then when we really started to immerse ourselves in the work, we watched the speech again. And we spent maybe two or three days with it, you know, just kind of really digesting it. And then the dancers, I thought, well it’s so important, you know, because they also wanted to make their own contributions. What are your responses to this now? What are the connections? How do we bridge the civil rights movement from back then and you all being in the middle of a movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, or just, just this movement, and Black Lives Matter movement right now. So that was so wonderful to kind of figure out similarities, disparities, you know, just and so we started then, then I had this idea to deconstruct the speech and just what, what they gravitated towards. Whether fragments of words or fragment, and that was so interesting, you know. And they came back, we came together as a group and I think they had three fragments each and then we started recording and we started building layers for the work. You know, I thought it was really interesting, and I know, I thank you Pam because I also knew this was really important that we are in the middle of the pandemic and I wanted to work in collaboration with a filmmaker. So I remember reaching out and saying, ‘can we please really, cause this is so important, I, I, I can do a little Imovie on my own, but it’s not at all kind of comparable to someone that can really create something with me, collaborate, and make it really finished and polished,’ which I thought was really important right now to honor this moment. So then now came in and, and it was great. We would have an hour everyday at the end of the session and Mel and Ashley would log on and so everyone was a part of the collaborative process. It was the dancers making their own contributions, Malik and I were responding and giving more directives, basically I call it choreographic design, designing. And, and then Mel and Ashley were also just in with us, you know, and also Milton and the teachers and JR. You know, we were asking for feedback. So it became very much a community event, a community ritual with all of us making contributions and, and sharing our emotions, sharing our reactions, responses to what was happening, you know, now. And it was so great working with Nel and really being able, like I was saying, dancers are now dancers slash filmmakers. Being able to frame these shots aand, and come up with the creative. I knew that I wanted it to be not just our Zoom squares, but really so much more, there was so many possibilities with, you know, kind of 360 camera movement around the dancers and being really clear about, ok, where are we gonna film this? Make sure your frame is clear. You know, we just wanted aesthetics to be really of high value and so it was wonderful to have the time to really craft something. And we had, actually we ended maybe two days early and had more than enough footage, which was really exciting, so, you know, it was really a satisfying and very fulfilling process all around.
JENNIFER EDWARDS: Next, here’s a reflection from one of the student dancers, Cristina Barretta.
CRISTINA BARRETTA: I wanted to share something that Francesca told us during the week residency. ‘Your devotion is your legacy,’ and that really stuck with me, not just through our art form, but just through our way of life. Our devotion to making the world a better place and how we can do that in our daily life and in our art form. And I felt like that was really the theme of this film. Devoting our art to create change and be the change that we want to see in the world and, I thought that was really beautiful.
JENNIFER EDWARDS: Here’s Pam Tatge prompting a response from another student dancer, Alexander Haquia.
PAMELA TATGE: What is the role of art and social change do you think? Did this, did this, did the making of this film make you think differently about it or think about its possibility? Anyone wants to comment on that? Hey, Alex.
ALEXANDER HAQUIA: Hi, how are you? I think for me what was so interesting about this process was how Francesca was able to foster in that environment where we were able to reflect on ourselves and our principles and be introspective in, in ways that we aren’t really afforded in regular life as, you know, as we are all so busy. But in this same way we were able to use that introspect, introspection to do something that is so much bigger than ourselves. So I think that it taught me that in order to inspire change I have to start kind of with myself and be introspective and that allow myself to reflect on what I think and how I feel if I ever want to inspire any real change. So I really enjoyed that process with Francesca and everyone.
JENNIFER EDWARDS: And finally, Pam Tatge poses a question that is first answered by Francesca Harper and then by dancer Patrick Gamble. And that’s where I’ll leave you, allowing these artists to have the last words.
PAMELA TATGE: What questions did this process evoke or were left unanswered? What questions did this process evoke or were left unanswered for you?
FRANCESCA HARPER: I think where we’re going, you know? I think we were really in the middle of pondering, my goodness what is next? And we could not answer that, I think that’s interesting, you know, to hear Patrick’s voice, you know, now’s the time, you know, for this change that I think that that for me was one fo the things, you know, we can’t, we don’t have a crystal ball. We don’t know what the, where the future is going right now, where we’re going. So that was the big open question I think that we also let just kind of hang open in the work. Which I think was really courageous, you know, collectively for us to be in that vulnerability and to be really raw emotionally. But to really just benefit so greatly artistically and emotionally from kind of visiting that place of uncertainty was something we really talked about in our sessions. You know, that we were really, this uncertainty that we were all feeling. That that’s just where we were, you know? And now we have it captured through the film.
PAMELA TATGE: Anyone else want to answer that question?
PATRICK GAMBLE: Yeah, if I may?
PAMELA TATGE: Please.
PATRICK GAMBLE: I think that one of the questions said the process evoked and actually came up with an answer for it simultaneously was how bad you need dance. I don’t, I’ve always been able to access dance whether it be improvisation in the studio or ballet class or even choreographing in my room. But in quarantine it would, it was just so empty that I felt like I was just in this blank, white void that was like nothing, nothing that you did could matter and nothing that you thought mattered did matter anymore. And so it was just this like, not really existential crisis, but there wasn’t really a, a drive behind my dancing anymore. And then this process showed me that it wasn’t necessarily a drive that was missing from my dance, it was just a, it was dance that was missing from my life. And dance is my drive. And in order to have a voice in this world, I think that I need dance and it wasn't really an option for me because it’s just a part of who I am. And this process gave me that voice back and it gave me the tools I needed in order to, I don’t know, be a good person, be a, a positive impact on the world. And I’m forever in your gratitude, thank you Fran, thank you Nel, thank you Jacob’s Pillow.
[Music begins, composed and performed by Jess Meeker]
NORTON OWEN: That’s it for this episode of PillowVoices. Thank you for joining us today. On behalf of Jacob's Pillow, we look forward to sharing more dance with you through the films, essays, and podcasts at danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org, and of course through live experiences during our festival and throughout the year. Special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts for helping launch this podcast series. Please subscribe to PillowVoices wherever you get your podcasts and visit us again soon, either online or onsite.