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Dreams of a Dancer
October 15, 16, 17 2003 @ 7:30 |
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Program
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Dreams of a Dancer (2002-03) music: Tomas Svoboda (Dreams of a Dancer, Op 164) available at Dreams of a Dancer CD, NPM LD 011 dancers: 1. Poco allegro - Stefanie Gros, Taryn Johnson, Dana Loewen, Heidi Welter 2. Lento rubato - Taryn Johnson 3. Allegro - Heidi Welter 4. Lento - Stefanie Gros 5. Andante - Dana Loewen 6. Allegro ritmico - Taryn Johnson, Dana Loewen, Heidi Welter, Stefanie Gros musicians: Tomas Svoboda - piano, Marilyn Shotola - flute, Stan Stanford - clarinet costumes: original folk costumes from Nowosadecczyzna region, Poland Nearly always working from inside the music (with printed score), in this piece Agnieszka Laska goes even deeper, to the composer's extra-musical vision. Svoboda saw a solitary dancer, but Laska chose to render the four inner movements as solos, each for a different dancer, and the two outer movements for the ensemble. This is also interpretive of the Dreams of a Dancer CD cover print, executed by Jana Demartini, which superimposes multiple images of a dancer. Another unifying element is Svoboda's use of Czech (Slavic) folk flavors, shared extensively by Laska's neighboring native Polish culture and reflected in her choreographic interpretation of the score. She also inserts into the work several subtle quotes from the famous Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian. |
 Taryn Johnson & Dana Loewen in "Dreams of a Dancer" PSU Lincoln Hall, Oct. 17 2003  Stefanie Gros in "Dreams of a Dancer" PSU Lincoln Hall, Oct. 17 2003 |
 Sumi Wu, Shakir Najieb, Marilyn Shotola in "Diameter IX" PSU Lincoln Hall, Oct. 17 2003 |
Diameter IX (2003) premiere music: Jackie T. Gabel dancers: Sumi Wu, Shakir Najieb musicians: Marilyn Shotola - flute, Robert Shotola - percussion In this piece, Agnieszka Laska draws from Jack Gabel's modernist score (duet for flute and five tom-tom drums, premiered in 1987 by Robert Jr. and Marilyn Shotola). The intrinsically primitive instrumental pairing suggests a similar creative approach, though neither the music nor the choreography really goes native, but is, rather, a provocative counterpoint of forces in a modernist language. |
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Winter Solstice (2003) premiere music: Jan Malek (The Winter Solstice) available at Music form Bohemia CD, NPM LD 005 dancers: woman - Dana Loewen girl - Laura Shotola-Schiewe young woman - Stefanie Gros man 1 - Evan Halbert man 2 - Brad Cleary man 3 - Shakir Najieb nurses - Taryn Johnson, Heidi Welter, Jennifer Kirkpatrick street scene: Agnieszka Laska Dancers, A-WOL, Sobotka musicians: Tomas Svoboda - piano, Marilyn Shotola - flute, Stan Stanford - clarinet This work is as much theatre as dance. The score was commissioned from Czech composer Jan Malek for Trio Spektrum's Music from Bohemia CD. The dark timbres of the clarinet set the mood for a meditative single movement in three sections: slow chorale, fast neo-renaissance dance and return to a slow majestic dialogue. The story Laska tells through layers of murky intimation and deep emotion (eloquently portrayed by Dana Loewen) is of male manipulation, domination, abuse and finally reprieve - from the perspective of a woman raised in a society where only in the last year did the first-ever allegation of workplace sexual harassment finally make it into a court of law. The story is both intensely personal and broadly social. |
   "Winter Solstice PSU Lincoln Hall, Oct. 16 2003 |
 Taryn Johnson, Tomas Svoboda in "Autumn" PSU Lincoln Hall, Oct. 16 2003  Brad Cleary, Morgan Webert in "Autumn" PSU Lincoln Hall, Oct. 16 2003 |
Autumn (2001 - for the company Nomadas del sol) music: Tomas Svoboda (Autumn, Op 110a) available at Tomas Svoboda - Piano Works vol. 1 CD, NPM LD 006 dancers: 1. Moderato - Taryn Johnson, Jennifer Kirkpatrick 2. Allegro moderato - Shakir Najieb, Brad Cleary 3. Lento, rubato - Amber Davis, Taryn Johnson, Jennifer Kirkpatrick, Morgan Webert Brad Cleary, Shakir Najieb Tomas Svoboda - piano costumes: Valeria Irenia Perez Created in 2001, this choreography for two male and three female dancers was well received, both in its initial Mexico presentations by Laska's first professional company, Nomadas del sol, and later in Portland, Oregon, with composer Tomas Svoboda at the piano. The music, originally for koto (Japanese harp), works so well for piano that it was included in Svoboda's first CD of solo piano works on the North Pacific Music record label. The first time Agnieszka Laska heard the recording she immediately envisioned the opening choreographic gestures which thoroughly seduced her into the ordeal of working out in dance the devilishly complex rhythms, particularly those in the score's third movement - the result: a work of both lyrically beautiful exchanges and combative duets, true to the music at every turn. |
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Folk Dance (2003) premiere music: Tomas Svoboda dancers: Polish folk dance company SOBOTKA: Anna Brozek, Marek Grzelak, Leszek Kurzyna, Henryk Lepis, Marek Stepien, Jeffry Uecker Stan Stanford - clarinet costumes: original folk costumes from Krakow region, Poland A clarinet solo, is a farewell gesture to the old Moravian Folk Festival in Straznice. The light, happy, dance recalls the music shared among Moravian artists. It's dedicated to Svoboda's friend, clarinetist Josef Krcek of the renowned ensemble, Musica Bohemica. Agnieszka Laska enlists the Polish folk troupe Sobotka for a light - not entirely authentic - folksy interpretation, but in keeping with the score. |
 Folk Dance PSU Lincoln Hall, Oct. 16 2003 |
   Voices & Echos PSU Lincoln Hall, Oct. 16 2003 |
Voices & Echos (2003) premiere music: Jackie T. Gabel (commissioned by Trio Spektrum) dancers: I. Allegro con spirito - Taryn Johnson & ALD flute interlude - Taryn Johnson & A-WOL II. Adagio espressivo. Allego energico - A-WOL: Brandy Guthery, Jen Summers, Julie Barnes, Stacey Silva piano interlude - Stacey Silva III. Alegretto giocoso - Amber Davis, Taryn Johnson, Jennifer Kirkpatrick, Morgan Webert, Brad Cleary, Shakir Najieb clarinet interlude - Heidi Welter, Shakir Najieb Finale. Allegro - ALD & A-WOL musicians: Tomas Svoboda - piano, Marilyn Shotola - flute, Stan Stanford - clarinet costumes: Ela Kwasek A new score from Jack Gabel (a commission from Trio Spektrum), the music is in a compressed classical form, cycling, through three movements, strikingly varied permutations of a single thematic idea, with an interlude solo for each member of the ensemble, which echoes and extends the previous movement, while setting the stage for the next. Throughout the work, dancers are deployed in various combinations with distinctive solos illuminating the score's architectonic structure, also coordinated by Ela Kwasek's costume design. Elements from each movement converge in a dynamic fourth movement finale - a tight responsive routine brings together the entire roster of dancers in a telescopic recapitulation. |