The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust opened its Decidedly Dutch Festival with a Pittsburgh Dance Council presentation of Dance Works Rotterdam, which offered a European take on pop culture. Shades of Andy Warhol! Read about it in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: anatomica, Andre Gingras, Andy Warhol, contemporary dance, Dance Works Rotterdam, Distinctively Dutch Festival, dutch festival, Freerunning, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Dance Council, pop culture, rotterdam | 
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Posted by jvranish
Photo by Chris Nash
Going Dutch. There was gouda arancini, smoked mackerel potato salad, red cabbage with smoked sausage and apples and slavinken, all signature dishes of the Netherlands and meticulously prepared by Meat & Potatoes restaurant. Yum Well, if Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s upcoming Distinctly Dutch Festival is as tasty as the food, we’re all in for a treat that will take us through the spring. I have loved the Trust’s previous festivals (Montreal, Australia, International Festival of Firsts), which gave us the opportunity to explore different cultures without leaving home. Of course we already knew that that the Pittsburgh Dance Council will be presenting Dance Works Rotterdam/Andre Gingras, which will open the festival Feb. 18, and Last Touch First, co-choreographed by Michael Schumacher and Jiri Kylian (a national and international choreographic treasure). But there will be plenty more to sample. For theater buffs, there will be Detroit Dealers, which is oddly set against the American car industry, Diespace, an interactive multimedia performance set against the Internet, and Jean Cocteau’s La voix humaine, featuring one of Holland’s foremost actresses. Halina Reijn. Music lovers can catch The News, a video/opera, or Dutch Women of Jazz. Girls ‘N’ Guns and Global Navigators will enhance the Pittsburgh art scene and Dudes and World of Rhythm will be geared to families. Accompanying it all will be workshops, wine tastings, a tulip display (of course) at the Phipps, film and more, including menu offerings at local restaurants. Hungry? Intrigued? (I am and will attend as many events as possible.) For more information, click on Distinctly Dutch.
Crawl-ing. The Trust also sponsors the Gallery Crawl four times a year, a great (and free) way to explore the Cultural District. This go ‘round on January 27 will feature Maddy Landi’s kNOTdance transferring your own drawing of a dream into a dance. Also interact with a digital installation, Summer Sky Eternal, and see how your personal movement affects it (604 Liberty Ave.). Or interact with a partner at Arthur Murray Dance Studio, with free lessons and demos (salsa at 7:30 p.m., tango at 8 p.m., swing at 8:30 p.m.) Much, much more, from Norwegian artist HC Gilje at Wood Street to a Cell Phone Disco. A real bonus — Chatham Baroque rocks the Trust Arts Education Center with three performances. From 5:30 – 9 p.m. Click on Gallery Crawl.
Emily Kitka. The Pittsburgh dancer, who joined the corps of New York City Ballet last fall, got her first real review in The New York Times. Congrats, Emily!
Risky Business. Top Dating Sites website has posted 10 Dances You Should Only Attempt if You Are a Pro. Really? How do you actually become one? See for yourself when you click on Dangerous Dance.
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EVOLVE-ING. Sarah Parker’s EVOLVE Productions was hard at work at Bodiography in Squirrel Hill, preparing for Pittsburgh’s Arts Alive. So I took a few shots with my new camera…look out!
WILDE AT THE MOVIES. It was great to go to The Oaks Theater — so cool on its own (Art Deco decor, healthier popcorn, great snacks) — and spend a Sunday afternoon watching the Bolshoi Ballet’s production of “Esmeralda.” But it was better because former Pittsburgh Ballet artistic director Patricia Wilde was there (she’s such a class act on her own). Hopefully we’ll keep this series around, but more dance fans will have to take advantage of this opportunity (the audiences have been sparse) to see some of the world’s greatest companies and some of the world’s greatest dancers. The Bolshoi has a terrific “Sleeping Beauty” (Svetlana Zakharova and American superstar David Hallberg) during November and England’s Royal Ballet “Nut” comes in for the holidays, with more treats to follow. Just check Listings because the films appear at Carmike theaters (Bethel Park, Greensburg and Altoona) as well.
TURKEY DANCE. Pittsburgh’s November dance calendar is up and running. See Listings.
PDC GOES DUTCH. The Pittsburgh Dance Council indulged in a Distinctively Dutch Conversation and Cocktails at Seviche, featuring Arthur Kibbelaar, Consul for Press & Cultural Affairs from the Dutch Consul-General’s office in New York City. We know that PDC has two highly-anticipated Dutch companies in the spring, Dance Works Rotterdam/Andre Gingras and the Jiri Kylian/Michael Schumacher collaboration. But there will be a complete arts festival, yet to be announced. Among those tipping a glass were Cultural Trust vice-president and PDC executive director Paul Organisak, sound engineer Herman Soy Sos Pearl and Peter Cooke, head of Carnegie Mellon’s drama department.
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“DISABILITY IS: natural, beautiful, original, artistic, amazing, normal, individual, sexy, vibrant, confrontational, mainstream, paradoxical…”
So reads the announcement of a partnership between FISA Foundation and The GIMP Project. It was a great solution to a ticklish, but pleasant problem — how to honor FISA’s century of service to Southwestern Pennsylvania, a century of improving the lives of women, girls and people with disabilities.
As executive director Kristy Trautman puts it, “How do you help the community change and adapt and really see people who have disabilities not as victims or deserving of pity, but just as a little different? We wanted something that would be a showcase of some of those core values.”
While scouring the Internet, she and her staff came upon GIMP, created by former Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company dancer Heidi Latsky. The website “absolutely captivated” them. “It was exactly what we are trying to do,” explains Kristy. “Heidi and her dancers are evocative, perhaps a little edgy, even confrontational about living with disabilities.“
But within minutes of watching the video, you start to forget about the fact that these people have disabilities,” she observes. “It’s much more about their abilities, power, emotion. By the end, it’s all about the artistry and the ability to transport people through art, from a place of feeling a little uncomfortable into just being part of something and moved by something. That’s a lot of what we hoped to do.”
And for Kristy, that’s what inclusion is all about. “It’s about how we come together as a community, recognizing that everybody’s different somehow, but that what is underneath the difference is where all the good stuff is. That’s where our strengths are. That’s where the power is. That’s where the connection is.”
With the rapt attention of the August Wilson Center and Pittsburgh Dance Council, FISA set about connecting this performance to everyone. FISA had worked with Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council for the past several years on inclusion in arts and cultural organizations.
She recognizes that many smaller arts organizations have good intentions, but limited resources. So with FISA support, GPAC sponsored a series of lectures and discussions on accessibility, inclusion and accommodation “in a way that is practical, meaningful and infinitely implementable, as opposed to giant and scary.”
With AWC and PDC completely on board, this performance will offer a full range of arts accessibility — seat removal for wheelchairs, sign language interpretation, assisted listening headsets, audio described performance for the blind through headsets (which requires a describer who specializes in dance) and read-time captioning for those not fluent in sign language. And all proceeds from GIMP will go to the Dee Delaney Arts Accessibility Fund (named for FISA’s first executive director).
“GIMP is an amazing thing in itself, but there is so much that is wrapped around it that is really exciting to us, too,” says Kristy, noting that there were additional master classes and talks in the area.
She’s also looking forward to the post-performance talk, where “Heidi says that everybody stays just to talk about this. What does it mean? What was it like? How did it happen?”
“Art is uniquely powerful in letting us look — and one of the things Heidi does is give us permission to look,” Kristy emphasizes. “Parents often give a contradictory message to their children: Don’t look. Don’t stare. I think that the way art is captivating and transporting is that it opens up different possibilities.”
See Listings for more information.
Watch for GIMP: Part Two with Heidi Latsky
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The past couple of years have been rough for everyone and, for the Pittsburgh Dance Council, it showed in the bottom line. As the Pittsburgh series with a real international flavor, PDC had always surprised and educated us with its global approach.But the economy hit everyone hard.
In the 2008-09 season, which had seven companies, over half of them came from outside the U.S., including Ballet Maribor, Inbal Pinto, Batsheva and Ballet Boyz. The following year, there was only one (Britain’s Vincent Dance Theatre) and Margaret Jenkins’ collaboration with Guandong Modern Dance Company. Last season there were only six groups and Israel’s Barak Marshall pulled out, to be replaced by David Dorfman’s Sly Stone project and giving the series an all-American flavor.
Not that all-American is a bad thing. But there is something more engaging about international diversity. We can say the economy was partly to blame, but so were visas for international artists, which became increasingly difficult. Still it looks like all is on the mend for next year, with a great balance of old favorites and new experiments.
Heidi Latsky’s “Gimp” gives the PDC a seventh concert, although it is a collaboration with the FISA Foundation, which helps girls, women and people with disabilities in southwestern Pennsylvania. The piece, which will combine dancers with and without disabilities, will provide workshops to involve the local community and will PDC’s first foray to the August Wilson Center. PDC patrons might recognize Heidi as a former principal dancer with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, where the tiny dancer paired with 200-pound plus Lawrence Goldhuber. In the years since she left the company, she has been forging her own choreographic reputation, as well as forming an interest in the healing art of dance.
The international accent is back, mainly due to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s “Distinctively Dutch Festival,” still to be fully revealed. Hopefully it will follow in the singular footsteps of the Australian and Quebec festivals.
Photo by Robert Benschop
The Dance Council will contribute a pair of programs, both United States premieres (always exciting news!), to the event. Former Nederlans Dans Theater artistic director and master choreographer Jiri Kylian has joined forces with Michael Schumacher, a leading figure in dance improvisation in Europe, for “Last Touch First.” Dance Works Rotterdam/ Andre Gingras features a revival from the Canadian choreographer, “Anatomica,” first presented by Rambert Dance Company in England and featuring “danger, beauty and consequences of the body on display.”
The rest of the season will comprise a group of American masters. MOMIX has blossomed under Moses Pendleton, also a co-founder of Pilobolus, and Cynthia Quinn since 1980. The company delves into the inventive garden of “Botanica” with video, projections and some very large props.
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
There will be some downsizing as Paul Taylor, the most revered choreographer of his generation, and Lar Lubovitch, that most symphonic of choreographers, return for the first time to the Byham Theater. Both had previously appeared at the Benedum Center. But they will be highly anticipated, nonetheless.
Joining them will be Karole Armitage, finally making her debut here in Pittsburgh. Known as the “punk ballerina,” she will extend the footprint laid down by George Balanchine in “Three Theories,” based on physicist Brian Greene’s best-selling book, “The Elegant Universe.”
Overall the PDC 2011-12 season exudes a strong potential in presenting both the force and the artistry of the body in exciting ways. Love the arc of the 2011-12 season, ending with Lar. Welcome back!
The full listing: MOMIX, Byham, Sept. 16-17; Paul Taylor Dance Company, Byham, Oct. 22; Dance Works Rotterdam/ Andre Gingras, Byham, Feb. 18; Armitage Gone! Dance, Byham, Mar. 3; Jiri Kylian and Michael Schumacher, August Wilson Center, Apr. 6-7; Lar Lubovitch, Byham, Apr. 28. Subscription packages run from $109-217. Call 412-456-1390. Heidi Latsky Dance is a Dance Council Special and will be performed as a separate event at the August Wilson Center – tickets only $17.
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