Garth Fagan’s musical
choices are ever eclectic and surprising. The acclaimed choreographer has
collaborated with Wynton Marsalis on several occasions, and has been known to
turn to other jazz composers as well. But he is just as likely to turn to
Brahms or Dvorak, or composers of various nationalities, past and present. When his Rochester-based troupe returns
to the Joyce next week, he will unveil his newest work, set to selections by
various Chinese-American composers.
The impetus for the
premiere, Mudan 175/39, came from his
interest in collaborating with the Ying Quartet. They share a Rochester base,
since the Quartet is in residence at (and made up of faculty members from) the
Eastman School of Music. Fagan was drawn to the 2008 recording Dim Sum, which features a dozen
compositions—several of them never recorded before—that exemplify a conscious
blending of sounds, techniques and ideas from traditional Chinese music with
the string quartet of the Western classical tradition. They range in length
from just over a minute to 11 minutes long.
“I listened to it and just
loved it,” Fagan said by phone recently of the CD, from which he chose five
tracks, including works by Tan Dun and Bright Sheng. “And I listen a lot before I choose music. When I go
into the studio and give the dancers the movement in silence, because the music
is going on in my head. I have to know the score that way. Then I put on the
music, and it all fits.”
Fagan tends to give his
work intriguing, deeply meaningful titles. He decoded this latest one: “Mudan,
the tree peony, was the traditional national flower of China, until it was
changed in the twentieth century. This year is the 175th anniversary of the city of Rochester. And my company is 39
years old.”
He noted that these scores
offered him, and the dancers, new challenges. “It’s very difficult for the
dancers, because lots of it you can’t count. The meter is not like ours. You
have to really listen to the music and phrase with it. And the way the melodies
and the harmonies change or begin—that’s also foreign to western ears.”
The dance, which has a cast
of nine, is in four sections, titled “Nowhere,” “Here,” “Now Here” and “Now.”
Along with an energetic opening section, and a solo (for Khama Kgari), there
are a series of duets, each evoking a couple at a different stage of life, that
Fagan describes as “brief but chock full of flavor—like dim sum.”
The company is notable for
the range of ages within its roster. Dancers tend to remain with Fagan for many
years, and along with young newcomers, such as Vitolio Jeune, who appeared on
“So You Think You Can Dance,” there are those such as Steve Humphrey and Norwood
Pennewell, whose tenure goes back three decades. Those two veterans are featured
in Oatka Trial, a Fagan classic for
three men from 1979 that has been revived this season. Dancing alongside them
is 21-year-old Travis St. Denny.
Having dancers representing
such different generations “keeps us fresh,” Fagan finds. He enjoys showcasing
the vibrant abilities of his younger dancers, but “It’s good to see dancers who
are more mature. You don’t expect them to do what the kids can do. But they
know a lot of subtle things—musicianship and phrasing—that the kids don’t know
yet. Nor should they, or could they. I designed my technique because I wanted
to keep dancers dancing longer. Of all the art forms, dance is the one where
after age thirty, they throw you away. And nobody knows much about life at 30.
What you learn after 30, that you can bring to the dance—matters of subtlety,
matters of nuance, of stamina—are all the things that it takes time to
develop.”
Garth Fagan Dance
