Benjamin Millepied's LA Dance Project Hits LA

Los Angeles is not known for its dance.  Its movie stars, yes.  Its films, yes.  Its Hollywood sign, of course.  But not dance.  That is all changing thanks to the creative vision of Benjamin Millepied and his LA Dance Project.  With its premiere last night at the Disney Concert Hall as a part of the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center, the LA Dance Project easily put dance on the map for Los Angeles.  A small group of us enjoyed Van Cleef and Arpels dinner before the performance, and Millepied’s wife, Natalie Portman, brought some A-listers to attend.  I’ve been to countless dance openings and premieres but this is certainly the first where I’ve seen Robert Pattinson.  

Ben with Natalie Portman (in Dior Couture) and Rob Pattinson

As the Founding Director for the group, Benjamin Millepied brought his love for the avant garde and modern dance to the stage.  The show opened with William Forsythe’s Quintett (1993).  The six dancers onstage poured through duets, solos and trios with utter grace and fluidity.  Dancer Frances Chiaverini especially lit the stage with her long limbs and delicate approach to the movement - her outstretched hand reaching and yearning for something in the distance was a vision I will not easily forget.  The slightly haunting yet hopeful score of Gavin Bryars’ Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, repeated the lyrics over and over, while the dance continued to change and evolve.  

Second on the program was Merce Cunningham’s Winterbranch (1964).  I have known and loved the work of Merce for years - even leading to a position with the organization and then later a seat on the Board of Trustees.  I found the choice of Winterbranch  an interesting one for Millepied.  The work is hard to digest as it is performed on an almost entirely black stage.  Originally performed with flashlights, the lighting has changed slightly so that you can better see the dancers, wearing all black except the white tennis shoes.  The movement was classic Cunningham, with dancers beautifully moving in and out of shapes and space.  And in typical Cunningham fashion, the music, 2 Sounds by La Monte Young, was both distracting and annoying with its pitchy tones and scratchy sounds.  But it’s Merce Cunningham.  I couldn’t help myself from giggling a little, knowing Merce’s sense of humor.  And from hearing the voices behind me complaining that it was the worst thing they had ever seen.  But the connection of Quintett to Winterbranch was apparent - and it continued to Millepied’s own choreography.

Finishing the program was Millepied’s World Premiere of Moving Parts.  Millepied is a master at creating non-stop movement as smooth as silk.  This work demonstrated the consistency of the three pieces and their use of duet, trio, and groups; and they all shared a wormy movement style with sensual and primitive moments.  Like Merce, Millepied believes in the importance of collaborating with other artists, and this piece had the stunning collaboration with artist Christopher Wool who created the visual installation.  The three large paintings were not just backdrop pieces to the dance, but in fact they were like three additional dancers on stage, moving around and creating patterns as they rolled along the stage.  Millepied also worked with designers Kate and Mulleavy of Rodarte for costumes.  The weakest component to the work, the black and red-striped costumes looked more like something out of a dance wear catalogue than the studio of such accomplished and talented designers.  Remembering Rodarte’s costumes for the LA Phil’s Don Giovanni in May, these fell short.  But the pipe organ more than made up for mediocre costumes.  Composer Nico Muhly played the exquisite pipe organ of the Concert Hall, also incorporating another dimension to the work, with clarinet and violin.  The music was rich and lively; and the dance paired beautifully with every note.  

Just a day before the performance I happened to find the ashes of Merce Cunningham in a box I was unpacking.  I thought I had lost them.  But here they were, and it felt as if Merce had made an appearance to give his blessing on Millepied’s endeavor.  Merce’s ashes now rest at the Disney Concert Hall outside around one of its beautiful trees.  My hope is that this could be an omen to the continuance of the LA Dance Project and the beauty and quality that it brings to the town of Los Angeles.    

Ben speaking at after party 

with fellow Southerner and dancer, Nathan B. Makolandra and fellow arts advocate Catharine Soros

To Bill Maher

I am a Democrat.

This is one of the charities of my choice.
(by the way it houses the LA Philharmonic not the LA Symphony)

This is another.

And here is another.

One more.

In your latest show (please everyone read the transcript of episode 247!!!) you trash charitable giving to the arts and argue that gifts to the arts should not be tax deductible. But modern civilization relies upon the gifts of its people to provide beauty and promise to everyone.  I support that calling.  As a dancer from just about birth, I have been privileged enough to study dance with greats like Bill T. Jones, Betty Jones of Jose Limon, Violette Verdy, Patricia McBride (one of the great Balanchine dancers and legacy teachers), Merce Cunningham, and the list goes on.  I have done these things as a student.  I remember making $150 a week, living in New York City as a nanny and spending every cent I had on my dance education.

I also attended Davidson Fine Arts School in Augusta, GA.  Davidson is an award winning public magnet school that introduced me to all genres of the arts.  There I studied Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Tennessee Williams, Sophocles, Thoreau (on whom I wrote my college entrance essay).  It is a magnet school available to any student in Richmond County that shows an inkling of talent and dedication to the discipline of learning an art form.

I was the Executive Director for the Augusta Ballet for three years in Augusta, GA.  We tried to rely on performance tickets sales only, but that is surely impossible.  Watching the decline of the National Endowment for the Arts during my tenure as Director of Development for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company was not only sad for me as a taxpayer but also devastating as an artist.  I can only write that without the tax deduction for charitable donations, our country will be without ballet, without art museums, without theater, without Mozart, as you pointed out.  And any research study that is worth its salt out there confirms that all of these things only enhance the learning and development of our children.  The children that we want to grow up to help other children with disease, without homes, with horrible living conditions that could only be imagined with empathy, with a spirit enlightened by the arts.

You are wrong Mr. Maher.  Terribly terribly wrong.  What is great about this country, that I love and admire so very much, is that we support and lift up organizations that would die and become a withered hand without the support of its people.  And for peanuts we support the most inventive and vibrant arts communities in the world. In a fifteen trillion dollar economy, Americans give just seventeen billion dollars a year to the arts, so the tax deduction on these gifts costs the government just $5bn a year. For $5bn of lost tax revenue we get the world's greatest symphonies, dance companies, and art museums, supporting the most dynamic new artists on the planet. And though you may think that you help our country and our world to persuade people not to give to these institutions, you are indeed bringing down society with these barbaric ideas.

A Final Goodbye

Merce Cunningham Studio at the Westbeth Artist Housing Building
Photo Courtesy of Banu Ogan (also past Cunningham AMAZING dancer)

I remember the first time I stepped into the beautiful studio of the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio.  I had just moved to New York City, with hopes of becoming a dancer or choreographer.  No one had prepared me for the genius that I would find and become so entranced with.  Nor the experiences I would have.

With Merce, ever stylish in his ascots, and long time Board of Trustees member, Sage Cowles: 1999 -
Gala that I directed at the Argentine Consulate in NYC

Today was the final technique class to ever occur at the studio.  Yes.  It's sad.  Merce was one of those special humans that had the gift of creating something completely original.  And anyone that has ever taken his class knows that it was nearly impossible to do correctly.  His dancers were equally as special.

Packed house at the last of the "sixes"
Photo Courtesy of Banu Ogan

Funnily enough, I was more than excited to attend the World Premiere of American Ballet Theatre's Firebird on Thursday night.  More excited, I was able to see ABT perform Merce's work, Duets (originally choreographed in 1980) on the same program.  As with fashion, I prefer my art to be simple and clean powered by bewilderment and awe...

ABT dancers at Segerstrom Center for the Arts opening


The art will live on.

A Final Goodbye

Photograph by Annie Leibowitz, 1997

I found myself back in New York this week in order to attend the final meeting of the Board of Directors for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.  Merce, the Artistic Director and sole choreographer for the Company, passed away two and a half years ago after his 90th birthday.

Changeling, 1957

Occasion Piece, 1999, with Mikhail Baryshnikov

 It was his wishes that the Company complete a worldwide legacy tour and then close.  December 31, 2011 was the final performance of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

Final Event at the Park Avenue Armory, 2011

Closing a non-profit is complicated and slightly messy.  Still waiting on invoices and monies to come in, it's also tedious and slow.  But, after the end of the third quarter, it was clear that the Board could begin to dissolve.  Our meeting was melancholy, with stories from Board members who had been with Merce since the beginning.  Everyone in that room had a special bond with our raison d'être, and I enjoyed the regalia and camaraderie.  At the end of the meeting we signed a letter of resignation from the Board. With my signature, 15 years of commitment and adoration to a genius came to an end.  

Afterwards, we attended a dinner in the beautiful studio at the top of the Westbeth building in the West Village.  Tables were arranged on the dance floor - something Merce would never have allowed!

Dancers from over the years attended along with long-serving patrons and staff members.  It was like a large family reunion celebrating the life and work of our beloved Merce.

Dancer Daniel Squire, right

Dancers Jamie Scott (left) and Lisa Boudreau

Dancer Holly Farmer with her husband

With Executive Director and great friend, Trevor Carlson.
Trevor and I started working for Merce at the same time 15 years ago!

One of the cool things about Merce was his idea to collaborate independently with other artists.  Artists like  Rei Kawakubo of Commes des Garcons for Scenario (1997).  No one could ever forget these costumes that made this work so special.

Or Roy Lichtenstein who did the haunting decor for one of my favorite works, Pond Way (1998), along with the calming music of Brian Eno. 

Andy Warhol even got into the scene with his decor of Mylar pillows that floated around the stage during RainForest in 1968.

And even in his eighties, Merce was still young at heart, collaborating with Radiohead and Sigur Ros in the work Split Slides (2003).

For his last work to ever be choreographed, Nearly Ninety (2009), dancers shared the stage with Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones and Sonic Youth.

Merce was special indeed.  He was a rare exotic bird with talent like no other.  And I am still amazed and honored that I had the tiniest of part in sharing Merce's brilliance with the world.  Goodnight Sweet Prince.