June 2001 BAMcinematek 2001 Spring Season ___ 651 AFLlS

Andres Serrano, Hooded Warbler II, 2000

BAM Spring Season sponsor:

PHILIP MORRIS ~lAGf8lll COM PAN I E SIN C. B~~L1 Stagphill

Contents • June 2001 Brooklyn Spi rit 9 BAMcafe's glorious gospel brunch series, Sounds of Praise, looks forward to its second season. By Ann Lewinson Cries and Whispers 22 Renowned director Ingmar Bergman directs a haunting production of August Strindberg's The Ghost Sonata, which comes to BAM this month. By Stan Schwartz Program 17 Upcom ing Events 35 BAMdirectory 54

The Ghost Sonata Pholo by Bengl Wanselius Co\/or 1\ rtict

Andres Serrano was born in New York City in 1950 and studied art at the Brooklyn Museum Art School from 1967 to 1969. His artworks have been exhibited in galleries and institutions around the world. He has had numerous one-person exhibitions, including "Body and Soul ," a traveling exhibition seen in Norway, Germany, and England, and mid-career retrospectives at The Institute of Contemporary ArVPhiladelphia and the Groninge Museum/The Netherlands. His photographs have been included in many group shows, with recent exhibitions at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City; the Serpentine Art Gallery, London; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. He is represented by Paula Cooper Gallery, New York City.

Andres Serrano BAM Photography Portfolio Hooded Warbler II, The Andres Serrano image on the cover is from BAM 's new Photography 2000 Portfolio. The portfolio features 11 images donated to BAM by Richard 20" x 24" Avedon, Adam Fuss, Ralph Gibson, Nan Goldin, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Courtesy Paula Cooper Annie Leibovitz, Jack Pierson , Richard Prince, Andres Serrano, Cindy Gallery, New York Sherman, and William Wegman . All prints are 20 x 24 inches, signed and For BAMart informa­ numbered in an edition of 40. They will be delivered to buyers in custom­ tion, contact Deborah made linen portfolio boxes designed especially for BAM by John Cheim . The Bowie at pre-publication initial offering is $15,000 + tax and shipping. The portfolio is 718.636.4138 published by Serge Sorokko Gallery of New York and San Francisco. 6 Bmoklyo ~pirit

The first season of Sounds of "Go Jesus!" bellows Pastor Jeffrey White of East New York's Greater Temple of Praise. "Go Jesus!" Praise, BAMcafe's gospel brunch sings the Soul Stirring Crusade Choir. "Go series, has been a smash hit, Jesus! " chants the audience, not too stuffed with fried chicken, collard greens, and cornbread for a and the joyful song continues little impromptu roof-ra ising. We're at Sounds of next season. By Ann Lewinson Praise at BAMcafe on a Sunday afternoon, where $20 gets you a soul food brunch and the most spirited music in town.

Sounds of Pra ise was conceived by BAM 's President, Karen Brooks Hopkins, and its

Reverend Timothy Wright and Voices of Grace Executive Producer, Joseph V. Melillo, as a Tabernacle Choir Photo by Greg Mango way to enliven the new cafe space and make it

9 more welcoming to the community. "We said , will continue to feature gospel choirs from Brook­ 'Let's do gospel brunches,'" recalls Hopkins. lyn churches, and the following year BAM may "'There are so many great gospel groups in present gospel concerts in the Opera House Brooklyn. It would be a wonderful way to along with the cafe series. showcase that music.'" The series, programmed by BAMcafe curator Sounds of Praise's first season has showcased Limor Tomer in consu ltation with gospel singer such diverse gospel artists as Rev. Ti mothy and educator Syndi Graham, explores the Wright and Voices of Grace Church of Crown breadth of gospel in this borough of 13,000 Heights, Fort Greene's 47-year-old Institutional churches. "We're very lucky, being in Brooklyn ," Radio Choir, the venerable a cappella gospel says Tomer, "or aswe say in the faith-based com­ quartet Thrashing Wonders , and the Caribbean munity, we're blessed, because we have rhythms of the Direct Messengers Band. It con­ extraordinary, Grammy-winning, 8i/1board­ cludes this month with the contemporary sounds charted gospel talent. of The Voices of Citadel on June 3 and David Bratton and Spirit of Praise on June 17, two cho­ "We want to open these doors to a group of peo­ ruses based in Brooklyn. Next season the series ple who are not coming to BAM currently," Tomer

David Bratton (center) and Spirit of Praise continued on page 14

10 continued from page 10 continues. Meanwhile, the churches have group, which counts Bratton's wife, Valena, and opened their doors to BAM. "The first time I went their 13-year-old daughter among its nine in I felt like an interloper," she says, "and I was singers, will release its second CD at the end of just amazed at how incredibly open and friendly the summer. and welcoming everyone was. From the pastors to the bishops to the music ministers to the con­ Spirit of Praise's seven-piece band plays arrange­ gregation, people are just delighted that you've ments drawn from 1970s funk and contemporary come, no matter why." R&B, and the group is as likely to sample "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" as it would a Thomas The gospel choirs of Brooklyn are as diverse as Dorsey standard. "We have a couple of songs that the music itself. Some of the freshest sounds are sound like Boyz II Men , a couple that sound like coming out of Citadel of Praise and Worship, a Mary Mary, songs"that sound like old-time tradi­ church founded by Dr. Kevin Bond with 12 con­ tional gospel," says Bratton. "We even have a gregants in his grandmother's basement in couple of songs that we're working on now that Bedford-Stuyvesant four years ago and currently sound like bluegrass. " looking for a building to call its own. "Brooklyn is the borough of churches and all the good ones The choir has sung with Yolanda Adams and are already taken ," says Bond, who also teaches Andy Williams as well as at prisons and shelters. full-time at P.S. 308. David Bratton continued on page 21 The 40 singers of the church's three-year-old Voices of Citadel, directed by Professor James Hall , perform arrangements influenced by R&B and hip-hop. The group, which has just recorded its first CD, will be making its second appearance at Sounds of Praise. "We're very excited about the choir," says Bond , "and we're hoping that this album will really give them a lot of recogn ition."

The choir's urban-contemporary sound is accom­ panied by drums, a bass guitar, and a synthesizer as well as an organ. "We use different genres to get the message across, by any means necessary," says Bond . "The young people are drawn to more contemporary music, and the music is a drawing card to get them in. The music gets people's attention, the words will reach their heart. We want to reach the heart, so we can save the soul."

"I seek after JesuS/seek after the One who will conquer my inhibitions," sings David Bratton , who founded his nondenominational choir Spirit of Praise in 1991. Bratton , who plays the organ at Beaulah Tabernacle Church in Bedford­ Stuyvesant and teaches at P.S. 299 in Bushwick, formed the group to sing his gospel originals. "I began to write songs," he recalls , "and I would always forget the songs, so I put together a group of singers to help me remember the songs." The

14 2001 ~pri[)g

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Bruce C. Ratner Alan H. Fishman Chairman of the Board Chairman, Campaign for BAM

Karen Brooks Hopkins Joseph V. Melillo President Executive Producer

in association with

Baryshnikov Productions

presents White Oak Dance Project PASTForward

Approximate BAM Howard Gilman Opera House running time: June 5-9, at 7:30pm 2 hours and 30 minutes with Artistic direction Mikhail Baryshnikov one intermission Directed and written by David Gordon Lighting by Jennifer Tipton Videotape sequences Charles Atlas Dramaturgy Jim Lewis

Choreography by Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Simone Forti , David Gordon , Deborah Hay, Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer

White Oak Dance Project Dancers Raquel Aedo , Mikhail Baryshnikov, Emily Coates, Jennifer Howard , Rosalynde LeBlanc, Michael Lomeka , Emmanuele Phuon , Keith Sabado

General Management Baryshnikov Productions, Christina L. Sterner

Principal sponsor: The Howard Gilman Foundation

Major sponsor: HSBC Bank USA

BAM Dance support: The Harkness Foundation for Dance and The Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation

17 PASTFnnAl2m

The following work, Scramble, will be performed on stage as the audience enters the theater.

Scramble Created by Simone Forti (1970) Rehearsal Assistant Nancy Duncan

The performers in this work are drawn from the White Oak Dance Project dancers and from the community.

A steady state activity, like an ongoing flocking of birds.

This production has been commissioned by UCLA Performing Arts and the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation for White Oak Dance Project.

Prologue Video by Charles Atlas Principal archival photographs by Peter Moore Narrated by Mikhail Baryshnikov

Chair Intro 2000 Constru cted by David Gordon (2000) Music John Philip Souza "Stars and Stripes Forever" Lighting by Jennifer Tipton Rehearsal Assistant Scott Cunningham Dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov Chair / two times Constructed by David Gordon (1975) Lighting by Jennifer Tipton Rehearsal Assistant Scott Cunningham Dancers Raquel Aedo , Emmanuele Phuon or Keith Sabado

Valda Setterfield and I used to do four versions of Chair. The original, the symmetrical , with repeats, and with singing. The first performances were at the Paula Cooper Gal lery in New York. -D.G.

Satisfyin Lover Choreography by Steve Paxton (1967) Lighting by Jennifer Tipton Rehearsal Assistant Nancy Duncan

The performers in this work are drawn from the community.

Flat Choreography by Steve Paxton (1964) Lighting by Jennifer Tipton

Dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov

Satisfyin Lover and Flat are early examples of pedestrian choreography. - S.P. 18 ProgrAm

Talking Solo Choreography by Yvonne Rainer (1963) Lighting by Les Dickert

Dancers Raquel Aedo , Rosalynde LeBlanc , Michael Lomeka

This dance was originally choreographed by Yvonne Rainer for Terrain (Judson Church, April 28, 1963) and performed by William Davis, Steve Paxton, and Yvonne Rainer as they recited stories by Spencer Holst. The present version, with a recitation of an essay by Vladimir Nabokov, was per­ formed by LeBlanc and Lomeka as part of After Many a Summer Dies the Swan, a Rainer work commissioned by the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation and premiered in New York on June 7, 2000, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. - YR.

Whizz Choreography by Deborah Hay (2000) Music by Alvin Lucier "Clocker" (special version for Deborah Hay and the White Oak Dance Project) Lighting by Jennifer Tipton Costumes Martin Pakledinaz

Dancers Raquel Aedo , Mikhail Baryshnikov, Emily Coates , Rosalynde LeBlanc , Michael Lomeka , Emmanuele Phuon , Keith Sabado

Whizz is laced with choreographed strategies that heighten and simplify the dancers' moment-to­ moment experience of performance, in and of itself. The supposition is that audiences can access similar states of spontaneous alertness . -D.H.

This production has been commissioned by the Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) and the 8aryshnikov Dance Foundation for White Oak Dance Project.

INTERMISSION

The following work, Huddle, will be performed on stage during the intermission.

Huddle Created by Simone Forti (1961) Rehearsal Assistant Nancy Duncan

The performers in this work are drawn from the community.

The dancers climb, support, are a singular form , a sculpture in space.

This production has been commissioned by UCLA Performing Arts and the 8aryshnikov Dance Foundation for White Oak Dance Project.

19 PASTFnnAldrd

Chair/Pillow Choreography by Yvonne Ra iner (1970) Music by Ike and Tina Turner "River Deep, Mountain High" Lighting by Les Dickert

Dancers Raquel Aedo , Mikhail Baryshnikov, Emily Coates , Jennifer Howard , Rosalynde LeBlanc , Michael Lomeka , Emmanuele Phuon , Keith Sabado Additional performers Felicia Ballos, Sameena Mitta , Matsu Nakashima , Nicholas Yagoda

Chair/Pillow comprised a part of Rainer's Continuous Projects- Altered Daily, performed by Becky Arnold, Douglas Dunn, David Gordon, Barbara Dilley, Steve Paxton , and Yvonne Rainer at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, March 31,1970. Chair/Pillow was also a part of After Many a Summer Dies the Swan; a Rainer work commissioned by the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation that had its New York premiere June 7, 2000, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. There it was performed by Raquel Aedo. -YR.

Carnation Choreography, set, decor, and costume design by Lucinda Childs (1964) Lighting by Jennifer Tipton

Dancer Emily Coates

Carnation was created in 1964 for the Judson Dance Theater, New York. The piece premiered on April 24, 1964, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Phi ladelphia. It was previously revived in 1980, 1989, 1990, and 1993.

Foray Foret (excerpt) Choreography by Trisha Brown (1990) Visual Presentation by Robert Rauschenberg Music by John Philip Sousa Lighting by Jennifer Tipton

Dancers Raquel Aedo , Rosalynde LeBlanc , Michael Lomeka

Foray was the first piece in a new cycle of work called back to zero. It follows the "valiant" series, dances focused on powerful movement, and is the transition piece between two cycles of work. I find transition pieces very interesting because, as I shift from known vocabu lary to the unknown, you can see the wheels grinding. The excerpt you will see appears early in the choreography and is on its way toward the "subconscious" vocabulary of back to zero. The overarching subject of Foray is perception. In the original production the music of John Philip Sousa was played by a live marching band maneuvering around the exterior of the theater on a path predetermined by me. The music therefore simultaneously accompanies two choreographies; the one visible on the stage before the audience (Foray), and the second, an aural deduction by the listener of a spatial pattern circling and passing in the distance. Add to this, the mind working its way back in time through memories of other marching bands and their occasions of pomp and parade. The dance asks the question, "what do you see?" - T.B.

This production has been commissioned by Arizona State University Public Events and the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation for White Oak Dance Project.

20 ProgrAm

Homemade Choreography by Trisha Brown (1965) Film by Babette Mangolte Lighting by Jennifer Tipton

Dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov

The original Homemade, which was performed by Ms. Brown, was a sequence of discreet move­ ments drawn from her personal life and memory. Mr. Baryshnikov's own personal material has been integrated into this new version.

Trio A Pressured #3 Choreography by Yvonne Rainer (1966) Music by The Chambers Brothers "In the Midnight Hour" Lighting by Jennifer Tipton Assistant to the Choreographer Pat Catterson

1. Backwards Rosalynde LeBlanc , Emmanuele Phuon 2. Facing Raquel Aedo , Michael Lomeka 3. Forwards Raquel Aedo , Emily Coates , Jennifer Howard , Rosalynde LeBlanc , Michael Lomeka , Emmanuele Phuon , Keith Sabado

Trio A was originally a four and one-half minute dance performed simultaneously (but not in unison) by David Gordon , Steve Paxton, and Yvonne Rainer as The Mind Is a Muscle, Part I , at Judson Church on January 10, 1966. Since then Trio A has lived on in many incarnations. To name a few: In 1967 Rainer performed it solo as a Convalescent Dance (Angry Arts Week, Hunter Playhouse). At the Connecticut College American Dance Festival of 1969, 50 students performed it for more than an hour in a large studio for an audience that was free to roam to other events in the same bui lding. In 1970 Ra iner and members of the Grand Union- Lincoln Scott, Steve Paxton , David Gordon, Nancy Green, and Barbara Dilley-performed it in the nude at Judson Church with five-foot American flags tied around their necks during the opening of the People's Flag Show. In 1972 Steve Paxton performed Trio A for one hour at l:Attico Ga llery in Rome . In 1979 the PBS TV series Dance in America produced a version with Sarah Rudner of the Twyla Tharp Co ., Bart Cook of the New York City Ba llet, and untrained dancer Frank Conversano. More recently, on October 4, 1999, a four-part version- Trio A Pressured- was performed by Colin Beatty, Pat Catterson, Douglas Dunn , Steve Paxton, and Yvonne Rainer at Judson Church. The current version under pres­ sure (from its age, from your gaze?) has been adapted for seven White Oak dancers. -YR.

20A I2A~TFnnAldrd Overture to The Matter Constructed by David Gordon (1979) including Broom by Ain Gordon Music by Leon Minkus "Entrance of the shades," from La Bayadere Lighting by Jennifer Tipton Rehearsal Assistant Karen Graham

Performers: Mikhail Baryshnikov , Keith Sabado , and performers from the community

The Matter was performed by 20 students in 1971 during a teaching residency at Oberlin College in Ohio and dedicated to Camilla Gray Prokofieva who died suddenly that winter at the Black Sea. The second version was performed at the Cunningham Studio in New York in 1972 with 40 volunteer dancers and civilians. I added a solo for Valda Setterfield based on photographs by Eadweard Muybridge. The third version in New York in 1979 had 23 dancers and sections were later videotaped for PBS' Dance in America. The original overture was the improvised design of a structure by a single person with stop-action timing that, when completed, was disassembled by the cast. (I used to make a living doing window display.) The entrance of the performers to music from La Bayadere, and the broom solo were added in 1979. Unlike writing a book or a play or painting a picture, dances are made on people. Their abilities and idiosyncratic behavior, their response to direction and to music inform and color the material. I am terrifically sorry not to have the room here to name all of the people who have danced in this piece . I remember them. - D.G .

Concerto Choreography by Lucinda Childs (1993) Music by Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki "Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings" Lighting by Jennifer Tipton Original costumes by Anne Masset Costume Coordinator Deanna Berg

Dancers Raquel Aedo , Mikhail Baryshnikov , Emily Coates , Rosalynde LeBlanc , Michael Lomeka , Emmanuele Phuon , Keith Sabado

Program/casting subject to change

20B \A/bo'~ \A/bo

Choreographer Biographies

Trisha Brown , as a member of the Judson Dance Theater in the 1960s, pushed the limits of what could be con­ sidered appropriate movement for chore­ ography and in doing so changed modern dance forever. Since founding her own company in 1970, Brown has created a repertory including the Robert RauschenbergiLaurie Anderson collabora­ tion, Set and Reset; the powerful Newark, made in collaboration with Donald Judd; and the classic For M.G.: The Movie, and M. 0., hailed as a masterpiece by The New York Times. Her first opera produc­ tion , Monteverdi's Odeo , won the grand prix in 1999 and was performed that year at BAM. Recently, Brown joined with visual artist Terry Winters, composer Dave Douglas, and lighting designer Jennifer Tipton to create her first evening-length dance, EI Trilogy, which will have its New York premiere at the Lincoln Center Festival on July 18. The Festival will open with her production of Salvatore Sciarrino's opera Luci Mie Traditrici on member of the American Academy of Arts July 10. Brown is the first woman chore­ and Letters. ographer to receive the coveted MacArthur Foundation Fellowship , along with five fel­ Lucinda Childs began her career as lowships from the National Endowment choreographer and performer in 1963 as for the Arts and two John Simon an original member of the Judson Dance Guggenheim Fellowships. In 1988 she Theater in New York. After forming her was named Chevalier dans l'Ordre des own dance company in 1973, Chi lds col­ Arts et des Lettres by the government of laborated with Robert Wilson and Philip France and in January 2000 was elevated Glass on the opera Einstein on the to the level of Officier. She was a 1994 Beach, participating as leading performer recipient of the Samuel H. Scripps and choreographer (1976; and 1984 and American Dance Festival Award and, at 1992 at BAM). Since 1979 Childs has the invitation of President Bill Clinton, collaborated with a number of composers served on the National Council on the and designers on a series of large-scale, Arts from 1994 to 1997. In 1999 Brown full-length productions, among them received the New York State Governor's Dance (1979), with Philip Glass and Sol Arts Award. She has received numerous LeWitt, and Available Light (1983), with honorary doctorates and is an honorary John Adams and Frank Gehry. She also 20C \A/ho'~ \A/ho received a number of commissions from dance and narrative form wherein move­ major ballet companies since 1981. ment and words spontaneously weave These include the Paris Opera Ballet, together creating cohesive images of sub­ Bayerisches Staatsballett, Martha Graham jects ranging from world news to the roots Dance Company, and Les Ballets de of a cabbage plant. Forti has performed Monte-Carlo. Additionally, in the field of and taught throughout the world and has opera, Childs has worked with director received various grants including six NEA Luc Bondy on his productions of Salome fellowships. In 1995 she received the (1992-95) , Reigen (1993- 94), Don New York Dance and Performance Award Carlos (1996), and Macbeth (1999). She (Bessie) for sustained achievement. She is directed her first opera, ZaMe (Zaide) , for the subject of a chapter in Sally Banes' La Monnaie, Brussels, in October 1995. book Terpsichore in Sneakers. Her own In 1979 Childs received a Guggenheim book , Handbook in Motion, which was Fellowship and in 1996 was appointed pu bl ished in 1974 by the Press of the to the rank of Officier dans l'Ordre des Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Arts et des Lettres , one of the most was republished in 2000 in French trans­ distinguished honors given by the French lation by the Belgian dance magazine government for outstanding contributions Nouvelle de Danse. to the arts. DAVID GORDON : PERFORMER/JAMES Simone Forti began dancing in 1955 WARING, YVONNE RAINER COMPANIES. with Anna Halprin , who was doing FOUNDING ARTIST/JUDSON CHURCH pioneering work in improvisation and PERFORMANCES. FOUNDING MEM­ developing a workshop process. Forti went BER/THE GRAND UN ION. DIRECTOR/ on to study with Robert Dunn, who intro­ THE PICK UP PERFORMANCE COMPANY duced her to the scores of John Cage and (Founded 1971/lncorporated 1978 as not­ to a conceptual approach to composition . for-profit organization.) GUGGENHEIM Out of these two influences, which still FELLOW (1981, 1987.) inform her work, she created her first con­ PANELIST/CHAIR/NEA DANCE PRO­ cert titled Five Dance Constructions and GRAM . Video: PBS GREAT PERFOR­ Some Other Things. Dance critic Jennifer MANCES , KTCA ALIVE TV, BBC/CHAN­ Dunning wrote in a 1997 New York Times NEL4/GREAT BRITAIN. Dance: Companies review, "Simone Forti presented her first include AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE , dance program in 1960 and since then DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM , WHITE has had a steadily increasing influence on OAK DANCE PROJECT. Theater: THE post-modernist choreographers interested MYSTERIES AND WHAT'S SO FUNNY? in exploring "natural," or non-formalist, WRITTEN/ DI RECTED/1992/BESSI E!OBI E movement and dance. " From her early WINNER/ PUBLISHED IN GROVE NEW minimalist dance constructions, through AMERICAN THEATER/EDITED: MICHAEL her animal studies, news animations, and FEINGOLD . THE FAMILY BUSINESS, land portraits, Forti has always worked WRITTEN/ DIRECTED W/AIN GOR­ with an eye towards creating idioms for DON/1994 OBIE! SHLEMIEL THE FIRST, exploring natural forms and behaviors. DIRECTED/ CHOREOGRAPHED 1995/ Since the early 1980s she has been devel­ A.R.T./ A.M.T.F! A.c.T. (1996.) 1997 oping Logomotion, an improvisational DRAMALOGUE WINNER/DIRECTION/

20D (continued on page 37) The Royal Dramatic Theatre of August Strindberg may be best known in Amer­ ica for such angst-ridden dramas of searing Sweden brings August Strindberg's psychological realism as Miss Julie and The The Ghost Sonata to BAM under Father, but essential to the great Swedish play­ wright's output are his later dream plays. These the distinguished direction of film are evocative, symbolist fantasies shot through and theater dynamo Ingmar with Buddhist touches. At the same time these dream plays reflect Strindberg's growing interest Bergman. By Stan Schwartz in the 18th-century Swedish theologian Emanuel Sweden borg and his notions of spiri­ tual correspondence. Strindberg's works in this category include the epic three-part To Damas­ cus as well as th e aptly titled and equally epic A Dream Play. On a far more compact scale, there is The Ghost Sonata, one of Strindberg's so­ called late "chamber plays" written in 1907 for his own Intimate Theatre. With striking economy of language and its startling mix of lyricism and grotesquerie, The Ghost Sonata reveals Strind­ berg as a true master of the dream play idiom.

Dream plays are very tricky things-to write, of course, but perhaps even more so to direct. Bergman (left) at work Photo by Bengt Wanselius How do you stage events in a credible way

22 when logical cause-and-effect and psychologi- The Ghost Sonata Photo by Bengt Wanselius cal realism are jettisoned, or at least, substantially blurred? How do you maintain dramatic tension if much of the proceedings seems dreamily inexplicable? Enter Ingmar Bergman, arguably as much a legend, at this point, as Strindberg himself. Of course, Bergman is known to all as one of the great film directors. But for more than five decades, he's also shown himself to be a master conjurer of theater magic, principally at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre (known as Dramaten), where his most recent production, Schiller's Mary Stu­ art, has been playing to packed houses since its premiere last December.

There's no disputing that these two towering figures in Swedish cultural history are closely linked. The influence of Strindberg on Bergman's film work is formidable and , con­ versely, one cannot overstate Bergman's particular affinity for Strindberg's plays, not just the realistic plays with their fierce psychological warfare, but also for the otherworld Ii ness of the dream plays. After all, what is a dream if not The Ghost Sonata Photo by Bengt Wanselius the idiosyncratic presentation of pure, concen­ trated feelings expressed through a peculiar constellation of pure, concentrated imagery? And what better way to describe the entire Bergman oeuvre?

Over the years, Bergman has staged many Strindberg plays at Dramaten, and it's significant that the current production of The Ghost Sonata marks the director's fourth inquiry into its mys­ teries. Bergman has a habit of continually returning to the same play, but it would be wrong to characterize this as an instance of someone "trying to get it right." Rather, it's the mark of a master interpreter who feels com­ pelled to continually explore further. Bergman first staged The Ghost Sonata in 1941 as an amateur production, with understandably prob­ lematic results (the director was 23), but version number three, at Dramaten in 1973, was groundbreaking in its treatment of the play's dif­ ficult final scene. The current production further crystallizes Bergman's interpretation of Strind­ berg's enigmatic text into one seamless, haunting vision.

23 This leads to Hummel's own fatal comeuppance at the hands of the Colonel 's Mummy-wife, who emerges from her closet, clucking like a parrot.

Meanwhile, the Student is falling in love with the beautiful young Girl who mayor may not be the Colonel's daughter. In the play's last and most troubling and mystical scene, set in the so-called Hyacinth Room, the Student, now irreversibly poisoned by the household's menacing air, con­ fronts the Girl and reveals her as the horribly scarred and diseased creature she really is. The truth proves too much for her to bear.

That's the story. The challenge is to transform it into a coherent dream-vision-in the heightened , quasi-mystical sense of the term. The process seems to come remarkably easy for Bergman, himself a Sunday Child (a detail of fundamental importance to such films as Fanny and Alexander and Sunday's Children). The director understands that achieving a convincing dream-state onstage has nothing to do with hokey effects and every­ thing to do with mining the play's relentless inner logic and filling it out with an emotionally charged hyperrealism. To further the effect, Bergman employs a deliberate and elegant choreography to underscore the play's musicality.

All the while, the director punctuates the proceed­ ings with small, salient details not spelled out by Strindberg but logically extrapolated from his world: a maid emptying a pail of steamy excre­ ment, Hummel's hand bleeding from advanced psoriasis (Strindberg suffered from the same), that On paper, The Ghost Sonata sounds fairly sim­ same hand leaving a trace of blood as it caresses ple, if strange. In the first of its three scenes­ a white marble statue of a beautiful woman. Each "movements," if you like-the young Student of these small moments has the shocking impact meets up with the sinister, wheelchair-bound old of a sudden , unexpected film close-up. Taken man Hummel outside a house in Stockholm's together, Bergman's strategies conspire to create a fashionable bstermalm district. The Student is most particular and peculiar tonality best now revealed to be a Sunday Child (according to described as lyricism infused with grotesquerie Swedish folklore , a child born on a Sunday has and a certain amount of macabre humor. The visionary powers, and this Student is no excep­ tone is perfectly suited to Strindberg's twilight­ tion), which intrigues Hummel. The old man zone vision of Swedish upper-middle-class contrives a plan by which they will both end up respectability at the turn of the century: a sad invited to dinner later that night in the house, bunch of morally and spiritually bankrupt ghosts which Hummel explains is presided over by the doomed to fester in their exposed lies, and die. Colonel. Scene two comprises the famous "ghost supper" in which Hummel mercilessly exposes "Although it ends very tragically, I think it's a good the past crimes and false identity of the Colonel. thing, in a way, " says Jonas Malmjso. Malmjso

24 plays the Student (and in a striking casting coup, encounter some years back with the ghost of the role of Hummel is played by Swedish stage Strindberg. Upon hearing this anecdote, Malmjsb veteran Jan Malmjsb, the young actor's real-life laughs. "Well, you never know with Erland ! But father). "If you have deep dark secrets that are hey, I don't know! No one would be happier than just eating away at you," the actor continues, me if it was true. I like the idea of ghosts, that we "there can be some kind of salvation in meeting don't just disappear when it's all over." someone who unlocks whatever it is and forces you to confront your fears." In Bergman's hands, Strindberg's ghosts couldn't be more alive and palpable. But what about all those scarred, deformed ghosts? I recall a conversation I had a year ago with Erland The Ghost Sonata will be presented at BAM Josephson, chatting quietly in the Dramaten green Harvey Theater, June 20- 24. room (Josephson originally played in this produc­ tion but, regrettably, cou ld not join the New York Stan Schwartz is a freelance critic who has writ­ tour due to recent back surgery). The famed ten about theater and film for the New York Bergman actor had told me quite emphatically that Times, Time Out New York, Filmmaker Maga­ Dramaten was haunted-he'd had a personal zine, and Film Comment Magazine.

The Ghost Sonata Photo by Bengt Wanselius

25 \ALbo'c:. \ALbo (continued from page 200) CHOREOGRAPHY/L.A. GEFFEN PLAY­ the fabric for her solo performance reper­ HOUSE. PEW(TCG NATIONAL THEATRE tory. Her book Lamb at the Altar: The ARTIST RESIDENCY GRANT 1995. THE Story of a Dance, Duke University Press , FIREBUGS, DIRECTED/CHOREO­ 1994, documents that unique creative GRAPHED 1995/GUTHRIE THEATER. process. Her third book, My Body, The NATIONAL DANCE RESIDENCY PROJECT Buddhist, was recently published by GRANT 1996. THE FIRST PICTURE Wesleyan University Press. Hay received a SHOW, WRITTEN W/AIN GORDON/COM­ 1983 Guggenheim Fellowship in MISSIONED BY MARK TAPER FORUM/ Choreography and numerous National A.C.T., DIRECTED/ CHOREOGRAPHED/ Endowment for the Arts Choreography 1999. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A LlAR/ Fellowships. She was also the recipient of COM M ISSIONED/DANSPACE/1999. a 1996 Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio PASTFORWARD/WRITTEN/ DIRECTED/ Fellowship and this year she received a WHITE OAK DANCE PROJECT/COMMIS­ National Dance Project Touring Grant from SIONED/2000 FAMILY$DEATH@ the New England Foundation for the Arts. ART COMedy/COM MISSION ED/ She tours extensively as a solo performer DANSPACE/2001. Currently working on and teacher. PRIVATE LIVES OF DANCERS/PART ONE (Danspace/Jan/2002), an adaptation of Steve Paxton teaches, performs, and chore­ HE WHO GETS SLAPPED/w/dramaturg ographs mainly in Europe and the United James Lewis (Theatre for a New States. His technical background includes Audience/spring 2003)/THE CHAIRS study of modern dance, classical dance, (BAM/fall 2003) for a two-year celebration yoga , Aikido, Tai Chi Chuan , and of 25 years of the Pick Up Co., ten years Vipassana meditation. He was an early of Ain Gordon as associate director and 40 member of the Merce Cunningham Dance years of being married to and working with Company, one of the founders of the Valda Setterfield. Judson Church Dance Theater, Grand Union (both United States), and Deborah Hay, born in Brooklyn in 1941, Touchdown Dance (for the visually disabled, grew up dancing and was an early partici­ United Kingdom), and he instigated Contact pant in Judson Dance Theater. In 1964 Improvisation. He has used grants from she danced with the Merce Cunningham Change, Inc. (1972), the Foundation for Dance Company. Hay left New York in the Performance Arts and the award from a 1970 to live in a community in northern Guggenheim Fellowship (both 1996) to Vermont. Her daughter Savannah was support this research. He has received two born one year later. It was here that she Bessie Awards and is a contributing editor began to follow a rigorous daily perform­ for Contact Quarterly Movement Journal, a ance practice which continues to inform vehicle for moving ideas. her as a student, teacher, and dancer. In 1976 she moved to Austin , Texas. From Yvonne Rainer was born in San Francisco 1980 through 1996 she conducted 15 in 1934. She trained as a modern dancer annual large group workshops, each last­ in New York from 1957 and began to ed four months and culminated in public choreograph her own work in 1960. She performances. The group dances became was one of the founders of the Judson

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Dance Theater in 1962, the genesis of a seven feature-length films, beginning with movement that proved to be a vital force Lives of Performers and more recently in modern dance in the following Privilege (1990, winner of the decades. Between 1962 and 1975 she Filmmakers' Trophy at the 1991 presented her choreography throughout Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, the United States and Europe, notably on and the Geyer Werke Prize at the 1991 Broadway in 1969, in Scandinavia, International Documentary Film Festival London, Germany, and Italy between in Munich) and MURDER and murder 1964 and 1972, and at the Festival 0996, winner of the Teddy Award at the d'Automne in Paris in 1972. In 1968 she 1997 Berlin Film Festival and Special began to integrate short films into her live Jury Award at the 1999 Miami Lesbian performances, and by 1975 she had and Gay Film Festival). All of her films made a complete transition to filmmaking. have been shown throughout the United Some of her better-known dances and States and at major international film theater pieces are Terrain (963), The festivals. She is the recipient of numerous Mind Is a Muscle 0966- 68), awards and fellowships, notably two Continuous Project-Altered Daily Guggenheim Fellowships, a MacArthur 0969-70), WAR (970), and This is Fellowship , a Wexner Prize, seven NEA the story of a woman who ... (973). awards, three Rockefeller Fellowships, More recently the Baryshnikov Dance and four Honorary Doctorates. Her Foundation commissioned After Many a latest book, A Woman Who ... : Essays, Summer Dies the Swan, which had its Interviews, Scripts, was published New York premiere at BAM in June by Johns Hopkins University Press 2000. Since 1972 Rainer has completed in 1999.

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Collaborator Biographies (Paris) and has been the resident dra­ maturg at the Guthrie (MN), Second Stage Charles Atlas (videotape sequences) has (NYC), and INTAR (NYC) theaters. been making films and videos since Currently he is working on several operas: 1970. His film and video work has Purcell 's Dido and Aeneas , directed by ranged from directing feature-length docu­ Shi-Zheng Chen (Spoleto 2001l. and Lou mentaries to making media/dances to cre­ Harrison's Young Caesar, directed by Bill ating multi-channel video installations. T. Jones (Lincoln Center Festival, 2002), His 15-channel video installation The as well as a new adaptation of Ibsen's Hanged One was shown at the Whitney Lady from the Sea (Intiman, 2001). Museum in January-March 1997. His most recent film was an international Peter Moore (photographer) (1932-93) television co-production, Merce began his career as assistant to the great Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance industrial photographer O. Winston Link in (2000). Atlas is the recipient of three the 1950s and eventually became senior New York Dance and Performance Awards technical director of Modern Photography (Bessie). The most recent (1998) was in magazine from 1978 to 1989. However, recognition of the video collages he makes he is best known for his photo journalism for the monthly event Martha @ Mother covering the startling avant-garde perform­ in New York City. ances that took place beginning in the 1960s, including Fluxus, happenings, Jim Lewis (dramaturg) received Tony and and Judson Dance Theater. During more Drama Desk Award nominations for Best than 30 years of documenting these Book for a Musical for his adaptation of events, Moore amassed an unparalleled Gabriel Garcia Marquez' Chronicle of a archive of several hundred thousand Death Foretold (Broadway, 1995). Also images, selections of which have been with Graciela Daniele, he adapted published and exhibited internationally. Dangerous Games (Broadway, 1990), In 2000 Distributed Art Publishers issued and the off-Broadway sensation Tango a book of his never-publicly-seen Apasionado (Westbeth, 1988). He photographs of another milestone of the created the titles and narration for the 60s: the four-year demolition of New Bessie Award-winning dance/opera, by York's architectural masterpiece, Philip Glass and Susan Marshall , Les Pennsylvania Station. Enfants Terribles (BAM, 1996). His trans­ lation of lonesco's The Chairs has been Jennifer Tipton (lighting designer) is well produced regionally. He also served as known for her work in theater, dance, and production dramaturg on numerous proj­ opera. Her work in opera includes ects, including Anna Deavere Smith's Glyndebourne's Marriage of Figaro , Cos! House Arrest, Bill T. Jones' Dream On fan tutte, and Don Giovanni; Santa Fe Monkey Mountain, the WOZA AFRIKA Opera's production of Henze's Venus and Festival at Lincoln Center, and last sea­ Adonis; and Dead Man Walking for the son's OBIE Award-winning production of San Francisco Opera. The production of Granville-Barker's Waste. Lewis was pro­ Hansel and Gretel that she lit for the gram director for the American Center Welsh National Opera was recently

39 \ALho'~ \ALho awarded a Laurence Olivier Award in soloist and remained with the company London . Her recent work in dance from 1968 to 1974, when he left Russia. includes Paul Taylor's Fiends Angelical From 1974 to 1979, he danced with bal­ and Dandelion Wine, Twyla Tharp's The let and modern companies around the Beethoven Seventh for New York City world. He was a principal dancer with the Ballet, and Trisha Brown's EI Trilogy . In New York City Ballet from 1979 to 1980, theater her recent work includes a and from 1980 until 1989 he was artistic musical version of James Joyce's The director of American Ballet Theatre. In Dead at the Ahmanson Theater in Los 1990, with Mark Morris, Mr. Baryshnikov Angeles, Wallace Shawn's The Designated founded White Oak Dance Project. He is Mourner, and North Atlantic for the the 1997 recipient of a New York Dance Wooster Group. Tipton also teaches and Performance Award (Bessie). He lighting at the Yale School of Drama . received both the Kennedy Center Honor and the National Medal of Arts in 2000. Dancer Biograph ies Emily Coates trained Raq uel Aedo was at the Pittsbu rgh born in Miami, Ballet Theater School Florida , where she and the School of trained with Gerri American Ballet. Karuncho and went In 1992 she was on to attend the New awarded the SAB World School of the Mae L. Wien Award Arts . She has per­ for Outstanding Promise and joined the formed with the Ballet Theater of Miami New York City Ballet, where she danced and the Frederick Bratcher Contemporary in works by George Balanchine, Jerome Dance Company. Since coming to New Robbins, Peter Martins, Angelin Preljocaj. York in 1991, she has studied at the among others . In 1998 she left to study Merce Cunningham Studio and toured at the Merce Cunningham School and with Douglas Dunn and Dancers from joined White Oak Dance Project. This is 1992 to 1994. She joined White Oak her third season with the company. Dance Project in 1994. Jennifer Howard was Mikhail Baryshn ikov born in Boston and was born in Riga , raised in New Latvia , to Russian par­ Hampshire. She began ents. He began study­ her training at the ing ballet in Riga and, Boston Ballet School after a few years, was and was then certified accepted by the A.R.A.D. at Ballet Arts Vaganova School in under the direction of Mimi Ferrell. She Leningrad, where he studied under the graduated from St. Paul's School and renowned teacher Alexander Pushkin. At moved to New York to attend The Juilliard age 18 he entered the Kirov Ballet as a School. Howard has been a member of

40 \A/ho'~ \A/ho the FELDS BALLET/NY, Twyla Tharp's Emmanuele Phuon company THARPI, and the Lucinda Childs is French-Cambodian. Dance Company. She has worked as a She was raised in freelance artist with Kraig Patterson, Asia where she Unterwegs Theater in Heidelberg, studied traditional Germany, and Douglas Dunn. This is her Cambodian dance first season with White Oak Dance Project. and ballet. In New York she has Rosalynde LeBlanc danced with the Elisa Monte Dance was born in Baltimore , Company from 1989 to 1994, the Kevin Maryland, where she Wynn Collection, Buglisi/Foreman Dance, began dancing at the and Martha Clarke's production of Orteo . . Peabody Preparatory. for New York City Opera. She joined ···1·. . . : She received a bache­ White Oak in 1995. lor of fine arts degree in dance in 1994 from the State University Keith Sabado was of New York at Purchase. In 1993 LeBlanc born in Seattle, began her professional career dancing with Washington. He Bi ll T. Jones in the duet Shared Distance. moved to New York She remained with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie in 1978 and danced Zane Dance Company until 1999 and with several modern then joined White Oak Dance Project in dance companies, October of that year. Currently she studies among them the dance with Christine Wright and voice with companies of Pearl Lang, Pauline Koner, Ridley Chauvin . Hannah Kahn, Jim Self, and Rosalind Newman. From 1984 to 1994 he was a Michael Lomeka was member of the Mark Morris Dance Group, born in the Phi lippines and in 1988 he rece ived a New York and began dancing in Dance and Performance Award (Bessie). the island of Guam From 1994 to 1997 he performed with under the direction of the White Oak Dance Project. He also Teri Knapp. He was danced the role of Klinghoffer in the Peter accepted into The Sellars/John Adams opera The Death of Juilliard School, under Klinghoffer and appeared in the New York the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy, where City Opera production of Orteo, directed he performed in works by Jose Lim6n, by Martha Clarke . Most recently he was a Agnes de Mille, and Paul Taylor. Upon member of the Lucinda Childs Dance graduation he joined the Broadway com­ Company during its 25th-anniversary pany of The King and I and also has been year, in which the company appeared a part of the Broadway production of A at BAM. Christmas Carol, choreographed by Susan Stroman. Lomeka toured with White Oak Dance Project in 1998 and returned in the fall of 1999.

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Scramble. Photo, Stephanie Berger

WHITE OAK DANCE PROJECT

Artistic and Fundraising Consultants Sam Miller, Suzanne Weil Assistant Genera l Manager Huong Hoang

Production Manager Greg Rowland Lighting Supervisor les Dickert Community Outreach Programs Director Nancy Duncan Assistant to the Director Karen Graham Stage Manager lisa Porter Company Manager Meg Kowalski Wardrobe Supervisor Deanna Berg Production Associate Ann-Marie Brady Tour Videographer Peter Richards Video Operator Ryan Bronz Sound Engineer Michael Van Sleen Physical Therapists Susan Edgerton, P.T. , Sandra Foschi, P. T. Office Assistant Nicole Cousineau

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Our deep appreciation to Suzanne Weil and Sam Miller who have been our guides throughout this project. Also to Joe Melillo, who has been unconditionally supportive.

Also many thanks to Bruce Allardice for his support and counsel.

We thank the staff at BAM and Ellen Jacobs Associates for their committed work.

The Baryshnikov Dance Foundation is supported, in major part, by The Howard Gilman Foundation. Our heartfelt thanks to Natalie Moody and the wonderful staff at The Howard Gilman Foundation.

Funding for the creative costs of Yvonne Rainer's dances was provided by James H. Duffy in memory of his late wife, Martha Duffy.

Additional funding by The Danny Kaye & Sylvia Fine Kaye Foundation, and Merrill Lynch & Co.

The video component of PASTForward was made possible by a grant from the National Initiative to Preserve America's Dance (NIPAD), a program under the umbrella SAVE AS: DANCE, underwritten by the Pew Charitable Trusts and administered at Dance/USA.

New works created by David Gordon , Deborah Hay, and Yvonne Rainer have been commissioned by The Baryshnikov Dance Foundation for White Oak Dance Project.

The archival dance images seen this evening were photographed by Peter Moore and provided courtesy of Barbara Moore / Bound & Unbound.

Photos by Peter Moore © Estate of Peter MooreNAGA, NY, NY.

Costume construction for Whizz and Foray Foret by Carelli Costumes Inc. And always, thanks to Arthur and Barbara Matera.

New York Press Representative Ellen Jacobs Associates Legal Counsel Lawrence Shire, Grubman Indursky & Schindler, P.C. Accountant Bruce Nadell, Padell Nadell Fine & Weinberger Travel Arrangements Ilene Furgang Travel Service Consulting Orthopedist William G. Hamilton , M.D.

Henryk Mikolaj G6recki's Concerto for harpsichord and strings used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc. , agents in the United States for J&W Chester/Hansen London Ltd ./ASCA P, publisher and copyright owner.

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Chair. Photo, Stephanie Berger We would like to thank the following community performers for participating in White Oak Dance Project's PASTForward: Elizabeth Audley Gloria Llompart Kwame Ayesu Anan Mahone Felicia Ballos DJ McDonald DaShawn Brown Jaque Miles Kechea Brown Sameena Mitta Tyrif Brown Matsu Nakashima Vicki Calavo Berenice Noel Natalia de Campos Billy O'Handley Debbie Carter Shoshana Polanco Lydia Chen Elizabeth Reynold s Brett Christensen Kimberly Reynold s Jessica Desmond Veronica Rodriguez Vanessa Diaz Yari Rodriguez Niles Ford Julio Roman Sandra Foschi Ernestine Saloman Daman Harun Laura Silver Huong Hoang Keon Smalls Terry Holm es Bob Speck Al icia House Lu is Tentindo Brianne Hudson Thu-Lan Unsoeld Lorraine Jacobs Pablo Vela Kathy Kaw Bera Walker Shannon Kennedy-Rios Sarah Whiteside Shavon Kennedy-R ios Nicholas Yagoda Jayme Koszyn Christina Zani

List as of May 29, 2001

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