Going, Gone!
DANCE | Armitage puts punk sensibilities on display
Kansas-born Karole Armitage has been part of the international dance scene for decades, initially as a dancer but for many years as a choreographer. And she was a border crosser from the start, moving from ballet (dancing Balanchine's work with the Geneva Ballet in the early 1970s), to modern (dancing with the Merce Cunningham company from 1976-81), to pop (she was dubbed "the punk ballerina" by Vanity Fair in the early '80s, with her jagged work in pointe shoes and her cropped, corn-silk-blond hair helping to support the image).
Of course it didn't hurt at all that Armitage also supplied the choreography for two classic videos -- Madonna's "Vogue" and Michael Jackson's "In the Closet."
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Where: Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan
Tickets: $24-$28
Phone: (312) 344-6600
In 2005, Armitage -- who spends much of her time staging operas in Europe these days -- launched her own New York-based dance company, Armitage Gone! Dance. The troupe makes its Chicago debut Thursday through Saturday at the Dance Center of Columbia College.
The program is comprised of two pieces: "Ligeti Essays," a suite of dances set to the music of the Hungarian-born modernist composer Gyorgy Ligeti, who died in 2006, and "time is the echo of an axe within a wood," set to the music of Bartok, another Hungarian master who was an early influence on Ligeti. Both dances have been designed by David Salle, the renowned painter with whom Armitage, 54, was romantically linked during the 1980s, and with whom she continues an artistic collaboration. (Look for his silvery tree in the Ligeti piece, and his curtain of silver beads in the Bartok work.)
The following is a brief e-mail exchange I had with Armitage after she had just completed work on Gluck's baroque opera, "Orfeo ed Euridice," which was performed at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples -- the theater where Donizetti and Rossini premiered many works.
Q. What are the biggest differences working with opera singers vs. dancers?
A. They are different, as one begins with words and the other with the body. But there is no question that working with singers is easier, as they already know the music. With dance you are writing the score with bodies, starting from a completely blank slate. With music it is already written, and therefore you are arranging a presentation instead of creating from nothing. The creative process is very taxing.
Q. What have you carried over from your work in opera to the work you do with your own company?
A. It is more the other way around. From dance I have given singers more metaphoric expressive power to use through their bodies. Often directors use drama and realism only. I use both the narrative drama of the story and the pure musicality, which adds a whole new dimension for expression in the realm of the singers.
Q. What "instructions" did you give to David Salle when describing what you'd like for the sets for your Ligeti and Bartok dances?
A. David doesn't need instructions, as he is very good at creating an image that relates to subject matter. The important thing is to be clear about the atmosphere, the state of mind, the climate of the dream that is to take place on the stage. He is very generous, as he is always ready to try a new idea if his first one doesn't quite fit the needs of the production.
Q. What's your next project?
A. I'm going to revive a punk work from the late '70s and early '80s with live, loud music and create a short new punk-inspired piece.
