If I have to single out one impression I took away from the Dance Talk on Orbo Novo, it is that the people who collaboarted with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui on the work maintained a genuine faith in and admiration for his process. Linda Monich, a researcher who observed the rehearsal process and Alexandra Damiani, Cedar Lake’s Ballet Mistress, gave a detailed description of the different stages of work with insights not only on Larbi’s philosophy and practice but also on the dancers’ response to the process. And, while there was quite a lot of material on the choreographer himself, gaining insight on the dancers’ perspective on the work and the collaboration was welcome and made this talk exciting.

Orbo Novo engages with ideas on boundaries and transitions (from the East to the West side of the world, from the right to the left side of the brain), on perception (of the world) and contamination (by the world). As the piece sets out to explore ideas and behaviors rendered in physical terms, there seems to be a constant interplay between individuality and collectivity both in the collaborative process and the use of ideas and forms. Damiani, for example, described how Jill Bolte Taylor’s personal story (My Stroke of Insight) on which the piece is largely inspired, is magnified and rendered collective as Cherkaoui replicates her text and gestural vocabulary (based on an exhaustive study of her gestures in her video lecture that the dancers were required to do) and multiplies it among the bodies of the dancers. In fact, Cherkaoui’s work with small gestures (an idiom that partly accounts for the theatricality that critics have observed in his work) seems to hold a central position in the piece, exploring the limits between everyday behaviors and larger ideas.

This constant tension between the particular and the general, resonates also with the particularities of the dancers’ bodies and dance backgrounds, which Cherkaoui highlights (with movement as well as costume) instead of restricting to classical dance’s uniformity. In that context, as Monich and Damiani repeatedly stressed, the relationship between Cherkaoui and his dancers became one of mutual giving: in working on the choreographers’ “tasks” (elemental movement sequences that formed certain basic ideas of the piece) the dancers were compelled to find their individual path, discover what they had to bring to the process and find their personal way of getting where the choreographer wanted them to get.

Toward the end of the discussion, Monich and Damiani emphasized that Orbo Novo is a process- a work that is alive, that constantly grows and evolves. It is the faith and commitment to this process as it ambitiously explores fundamental, often archetypal, human concepts, that makes the piece an important work of art. Roslyn Sulcas notes in her recent New York Times article, “whether [Cherkaoui’s] work will appeal to American sensibilities remains to be seen. But what’s important is it will be seen.”

The next Dance Talk, which focuses on Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s Serenade/The Proposition, will take place on Monday, November 2, 6-8pm at Joyce SoHo (155 Mercer Street). Admission is free. Please call 646-792-8377 to reserve your place.

The Joyce Theater is proud and thrilled to be one of the 18 recipients of the 2009 Rockefeller Foundation New York City Cultural Innovation Fund Awards. This year’s winners were selected among over 500 proposed projects, for their innovative approaches to creation, collaboration, arts management, and development. According to the Rockefeller Foundation, the awards are granted to strengthen “groundbreaking initiatives that enrich the City’s cultural life and help to ensure the continued economic strength and diversity of the City’s creative sector.” For more on the awards and a list of winners, visit the Rockefeller Foundation website.

For anyone interested in getting an in-depth understanding of the performances at The Joyce Theater and contextualizing the works within broader intellectual movements and artistic interests, The Joyce Theater Dance Talks provide an excellent opportunity. The talks highlight the creative process, the personal interests and intellectual inquiries of the artists, and offer multiple viewpoints on the works as they complement the artists’ views with audiovisual material and invite the audience’s participation.

Last Monday’s talk on the work of Lucinda Childs, with the presentation of Patrick Bensard’s documentary and a discussion with the artist herself, was astonishing in how it enriched the experience of watching Childs’ DANCE at The Joyce. Bensard’s film pointed to the connections between Childs’ interest in minimalism and broader intellectual and artistic movements (Dadaism, the art of Marcel Duschamp, Wittgenstein’s concept of ordinary language and how it can translate to dance). In behind-the-scenes sequences the film also revealed the creative process itself, the degree of heightened focus and concentration required of the dancers currently reviving the piece as they prepare to go on stage having to trace their way through the often a-rhythmical music of Philip Glass.

But even more than that, it was having listened to Childs herself, her beautiful voice, graceful and austere presence as she answered the audience’s questions, that immensely added to the experience of watching her performance. She explained her fascination with choreographing on repetitive or non rhythmical music patterns that allow her to explore pure, abstract movement; her process of scoring these choreographies with movement cartographies and beat sequences; her interest, in her current work, in exploring the boundaries and collisions between movement, music and text as they allow her to create “fragmented yet coherent narratives.”

Watching the footage of her work on her latest solo piece Largo (part of the current Joyce presentation) an audience member asked Childs how she sees her work changing with age. She simply answered that if she were to put it in words, she would rather dance it. And, true, watching Childs dance Largo on Tuesday evening was the most eloquent answer, of a body exploring space and the possibilities of movement, in gestures that are restricted and hesitant yet in command, a beautiful, beautifully aged body seeking and affirming its place in space.

It was a fortunate meeting, between artist, audience, documentation and the work itself, that made the performance of DANCE a full experience – intellectual, personal, artistic. I am looking forward to the next Talk on Orbo Novo.

The next Dance Talk, which focuses on Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet’s Orbo Novo, will take place on Monday, Oct. 12, 6-8pm at Joyce SoHo (155 Mercer Street). Admission is free. Please call 646-792-8377 to reserve your place.

Donors Choose has funded students of PS 56 Queens, The Harry Eichler School in Richmond Hills, NY to participate in a year of fabulous dance education with the Joyce Theater for 2009-2010.

American Idol season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert challenged his fans to  support performing arts in public schools around the nation.  Adam’s fans from all over the world accepted his challenge and gave—often in amounts of $9.11 in honor of 9/11.  As a result, 131 students are able to be involved in the Joyce’s Dance Education Program this season.

The Joyce will send a Teaching Artist to PS 56Q for students to work on four performances for study throughout the year.  PS 56 Q teachers are also looking forward to attending professional development at the Joyce along with evening performances at the theater.

We are thrilled and amazed by the generosity of those who gave so our students could express their creativity through dance in these trying economic times.  Bravo, Donors Choose! Bravo, Adam Lambert!  Bravo, all who gave and continue to give!