Tweet
The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, VA.)
March 15, 2008 Saturday
The Virginian-Pilot Edition
Composer and troupe pay tribute to Armenia
by LAINE M. RUTHERFORD
Correspondent
For its most recent work, the Second Wind Dance Company did things a
little out of step from the normal process.
The modern dance troupe based in Chesapeake usually sets dance to
music, but when rehearsals began in September for Monday's premiere
of "Tsitsernakabert," Beverly Cordova Duane and her dancers had no
music to choreograph or practice to. They had no inkling of what
composer, conductor and Old Dominion University associate professor
Andrey Kasparov was imagining when he suggested a collaboration
between Second Wind and Creo, the contemporary music ensemble he
founded in 1998.
Duane, co-choreographer Christina Yoshida and their nine dancers
started with only a theme and an image to work with: the Armenian
Genocide of 1915 and a photograph of a memorial of the event, also
called Tsitsernakabert, in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
"The composer gave us a picture of the monument, which became the
inspiration for the work," Duane said. "He gave us some history, we
watched a movie together about the genocide, did small workshops and
then basically got in the studio, and we started creating."
At their Sunday night rehearsals, the dancers improvised. Duane and
Yoshida would provide structure to those improvisations, work on
details and, after refining, videotape their work and send the tapes
to Kasparov. He then composed the music, working in segments, and
completed his composition this month.
The resulting piece is a collaboration that surpasses both modern
dance and contemporary music, Duane said.
"The music doesn't sound like anything people are used to, and the
dance relies much less on traditional modern technique and instead
relies on a kind of more guttural, raw energy. We wanted people to
come into this theater to experience something brand new, and this is
it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
For Kasparov, the collaboration completed an idea he'd had for years
of paying tribute to his Armenian heritage and translating the image
of the memorial into art.
"It has been a long and arduous process," he said, "but Beverly
literally read my mind and realized in dance what I had in my
subconscious."
Kasparov's composition is written for five musicians, including a
violinist and two percussionists, as well as a mezzo-soprano. They
will perform live at the concert.
For the performance, Kasparov invited another artist to collaborate,
ODU art professor Peter Eudenbach. His abstract video art will play
on a screen behind the dancers.
The first part of the program, part of the F. Ludwig Diehn Concert
Series, will feature Creo performing Steve Reich's "Sextet," with
guest artists Buffalo Contemporary Dance. "Tsitsernakabert" will
premiere during the second part of the show.
Laine M . Rutherford, [email protected]
if you go
What Second Wind Dance Company in performance with Creo, the Old
Dominion University Contemporary Music Ensemble
When 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday , pre-concert talk at 7:30 in the
lobby
Where Old Dominion University Theatre
Tickets $15, $10 for students; (757) 683-5305
if you go
What Second Wind Dance Company with Creo, the Old Dominion University
Contemporary Music Ensemble
When 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, pre-concert talk at 7:30 in the lobby
Where Old Dominion University Theatre, 46th Street and Hampton
Boulevard, Norfolk
Tickets $15, $10 for students; (757) 683-5305
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
March 15, 2008 Saturday
The Virginian-Pilot Edition
Composer and troupe pay tribute to Armenia
by LAINE M. RUTHERFORD
Correspondent
For its most recent work, the Second Wind Dance Company did things a
little out of step from the normal process.
The modern dance troupe based in Chesapeake usually sets dance to
music, but when rehearsals began in September for Monday's premiere
of "Tsitsernakabert," Beverly Cordova Duane and her dancers had no
music to choreograph or practice to. They had no inkling of what
composer, conductor and Old Dominion University associate professor
Andrey Kasparov was imagining when he suggested a collaboration
between Second Wind and Creo, the contemporary music ensemble he
founded in 1998.
Duane, co-choreographer Christina Yoshida and their nine dancers
started with only a theme and an image to work with: the Armenian
Genocide of 1915 and a photograph of a memorial of the event, also
called Tsitsernakabert, in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
"The composer gave us a picture of the monument, which became the
inspiration for the work," Duane said. "He gave us some history, we
watched a movie together about the genocide, did small workshops and
then basically got in the studio, and we started creating."
At their Sunday night rehearsals, the dancers improvised. Duane and
Yoshida would provide structure to those improvisations, work on
details and, after refining, videotape their work and send the tapes
to Kasparov. He then composed the music, working in segments, and
completed his composition this month.
The resulting piece is a collaboration that surpasses both modern
dance and contemporary music, Duane said.
"The music doesn't sound like anything people are used to, and the
dance relies much less on traditional modern technique and instead
relies on a kind of more guttural, raw energy. We wanted people to
come into this theater to experience something brand new, and this is
it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
For Kasparov, the collaboration completed an idea he'd had for years
of paying tribute to his Armenian heritage and translating the image
of the memorial into art.
"It has been a long and arduous process," he said, "but Beverly
literally read my mind and realized in dance what I had in my
subconscious."
Kasparov's composition is written for five musicians, including a
violinist and two percussionists, as well as a mezzo-soprano. They
will perform live at the concert.
For the performance, Kasparov invited another artist to collaborate,
ODU art professor Peter Eudenbach. His abstract video art will play
on a screen behind the dancers.
The first part of the program, part of the F. Ludwig Diehn Concert
Series, will feature Creo performing Steve Reich's "Sextet," with
guest artists Buffalo Contemporary Dance. "Tsitsernakabert" will
premiere during the second part of the show.
Laine M . Rutherford, [email protected]
if you go
What Second Wind Dance Company in performance with Creo, the Old
Dominion University Contemporary Music Ensemble
When 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday , pre-concert talk at 7:30 in the
lobby
Where Old Dominion University Theatre
Tickets $15, $10 for students; (757) 683-5305
if you go
What Second Wind Dance Company with Creo, the Old Dominion University
Contemporary Music Ensemble
When 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, pre-concert talk at 7:30 in the lobby
Where Old Dominion University Theatre, 46th Street and Hampton
Boulevard, Norfolk
Tickets $15, $10 for students; (757) 683-5305
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress