By Elsa Johnson & Victor Lucas
“Aging” is an important theme but not an easy one so we were heartened to hear of an upcoming dance and theater event at Dobama, Not What I Expected, in which young and old dancers, actors, and choreographers bring years of work to a concert on the theme of “Ages, Stages, and Rages.”
Not What I Expected is the brainchild of Tracy Pattison, who Cleveland dance audiences will remember from her long association with Verlezza Dance. Now that Artistic Director Sabatino Verlezza has left Cleveland for a teaching job in New York City, Pattison explains, she’s without her “favorite dance partner and choreographer,” and forced to produce her own concert. We caught up with Pattison by phone in order to learn more.
Cool Cleveland: We understand that this concert includes many of the same artists who collaborated with Verlezza Dance; more about them later. But tell us first about this new piece of yours, She Three, which fills the second half of the concert.
Tracy Pattison: She Three started out as a dance solo that I workshopped with Claire Porter in 2010. I was inspired by the very powerful words in the play Three Tall Women by Edward Albee, which I first saw in 1994. Claire and I had a conversation about the emotional colors of that play so when I took her workshop she said, “I know what you should work on,” so I came away with a solo after that first summer. The following summer I went to work on another solo without realizing at first that it was a continuation of the same character. The third summer I went back with a very clear intention to choreograph the third and final part of the piece.
So She Three is a 3 part solo choreographed and danced by you. And we see from the program note that you share the stage with 3 actresses.
Yes, three amazing actresses — Leighann DeLorenzo,Valerie Young, and Linda Ryan — perform dramatic excerpts designed to inform the audience of the point of view and emotional tone from which each of the dance solos in She Three was created.
We understand that you speak onstage in this piece, too.
I’ve never cared to see dancers speak onstage because I’ve seldom seen it done well but I went for it here and hopefully the results will work for the audience.
Let us ask you about the composers of the music in She Three. Elliot Sokolov composes for film and TV and is a frequent collaborator with Verlezza Dance. How did you decide to use the music of cellist Zoë Keating?
I met her here in Cleveland and she gave me permission to use any of her music. She said, “Dance your heart out.”
And who is Chris Gillooly, composer of the commissioned score for the first — the youngest — of your 3 solos?
Chris is a 15-year old student at Shaker Heights High School. I met him and learned that he was interested in electronic music so I listened to some of his music online. He’s very talented and he was interested in collaborating with me so I thought I’d give him a shot.
You’ve given a clear and complete description of She Three, which fills the second half of the concert. What I found initially confusing is that the first half of the concert is also divided into 3 sections, each one a solo focusing on a woman in a particular stage of life.
Yes. The first half of the concert is also 3 solos. The 3 dancer / choreographers are Heather Koniz, Kimberly Karpanty, and Claire Porter. The only direction I gave them was to tell them to create choreography from the point of view of the stage of life you’re in now.
We see that Porter’s piece, Falling For Prepositions, includes new music composed by Mary Ellen Childs and performed live by soprano Marla Berg, another frequent collaborator with Verlezza Dance.
In addition to being great with humor and text, Claire is a terrific grant writer. She met Marla through Verlezza Dance, interested her in Falling For Prepositions, wrote a grant application, and got funding.
Childs, Berg, and Porter are all highly respected artists with national profiles. Porter, in particular, is the recent recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship; she developed Falling For Prepositions while a Resident Artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. We hope their dance gets the audience it deserves.
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The Inspired Body presents Not What I Expected…Dances of ages, stages, and rages, featuring Traci Pattison’s She Three at Dobama Theatre, Thu 6/20 thru Sat 6/22/2013 at 8pm. Tickets $18 Adults, $16 Seniors, $10 Students w/ ID. Phone the box office at 216-932-3396 or http://dobama.org.
[Photo by Benjamin Hornstein]
From Cool Cleveland contributors Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas. Elsa and Vic are both longtime Clevelanders. Elsa is a landscape designer. She studied ballet as an avocation for 2 decades. Vic has been a dancer and dance teacher for most of his working life, performing in a number of dance companies in NYC and Cleveland. They write about dance as a way to learn more and keep in touch with the dance community. E-mail them at vicnelsaATearthlink.net.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118