Everyone has brought up Billy Forsythe. But who else? The chance of someone
being able to do this kind of work in the United States seems to be nil,
because one thing that Mr. Forsythe has that many others do not is
substantial funding = substantial time to experiment.
Imma said:
>If ballet choreographers feel restricted is their own fault, their lack of
>courage or even their not knowing how to aproach certain concepts, themes
>or ideas - or their lack of interest towords those different and "new"
>issues.
I agree about the lack of courage, though, as I imply above, I think it has
less to do with fear of ideas than it does with fear of losing funding or
not selling tickets (something that Imma points out later in her posting.)
Ballet, like opera, has a certain mindset of extravagence associated with
it, a mindset that stunts its growth. If there is not a gigantic set, etc.,
the audience won't come. (And even if there is they won't always come --
Donald Byrd's "A Harlem Nutcracker" lost a fair amount of money this past
season.) Even here in New York, there doesn't seem to be any experimental
"scene" for dancers who are making new "ballets" - at least not one like
there is for modern dance.
Getting back to ballet and technology, what troubles me most is that this
means the day we will see some technological experiementation in American
ballet is most likely the day that it will sell tickets. This means _safe_
experimentation. Was the Atlanta Ballet's interest in using Georgia Tech's
technology to use the medium to create challanging new artworks or in
generating ticket sales because they have something "new"? (Is there
someone on this list involved in this G. Tech project on this list? Do you
have insight to this?)
I must at this point that I am sure that most of us independents who are
trying to get gigs must feel grateful for the distinction that our use of
technology affords. But, from what I read on this list, it is not the goal
for people here but a side effect.
Ciao for now,
Mark
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Mark Coniglio, Artistic Co-Director | troika@panix.com
Troika Ranch | http://www.art.net/~troika
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