The PGK Project

As much as I hope to promise objective discussion through this blog I hope for the same from my commentators.  I always welcome corrections and other points of view as dance moves far away and beyond my singular experience.  So, in that way this blog might become a platform that speaks to and for myself and others rather than just about myself and aspiring more than just what I can provide.                        

Peter G. Kalivas, Artistic Director The PGK Dance Project 

May 15th, 2012

The “Good Dance, Bad Dance” Party

So, the past few weeks I saw lots of dance in San Diego, too much dance.  Dance fans might scream, “Oh, I could never see too much dance!”  That’s because the dance in their imagination is not always the dance of our reality.  The dancing we see in our head is often good, meaning that everyone is qualified, trained and they can all do what they are doing really well, with conviction and a sense of purpose and drive.  The dance in your head is well crafted; if it’s a narrative it introduces a place and the various characters that inhabit it, takes you through their interaction with each other and circumstances that mirror the audience’s life experience in some way to make it feel familiar and similar to their own; relevant.  If it is abstract it is built on familiar concepts, qualities, notions, and elements and circulates around that in a variety of revealing, inventive ways.  

Much of the work I experienced these past few weeks attempted some of that and most just settled on being not very good or successful without knowing it.  Even a big name company brought to town by one of our local presenters left me with this sensation; as if they were resting on reputation rather than reality.  As usual in dance I often feel alone, like I am the only one at the “Good Dance/Bad Dance” party because people around me are exercising standing ovations, shouting “Bravo”, appearing sincere or legitimately enthusiastic when they say really nice things to dancers, choreographers, and directors after performances nonetheless.  Sometimes, I leave before artists come out to meet and greet, or I say very little or simply “congratulations” which can mean whatever the person interprets it to mean.  I am very, very uncomfortable with lying and I am equally uncomfortable with social politics.  I don’t like the idea of being responsible to be polite if I prefer not to because it doesn’t feel warranted.  Particularly when I feel that my field and the work I try to do is misrepresented by the failed attempts of others; those who do too little in my opinion to do better.  I am getting increasingly uncomfortable with the idea that I am the only one who feels this way, arrogant in my own demand, or that everyone else is settling because someway, somehow in an overgrown village such as ours we couldn’t or shouldn’t expect more? 

The PGK Dance Project at Dance on the Edge for ArtWalk

I used to think I was really lucky for seeing and doing so much throughout my career.  Danced in respected companies domestically and abroad; seen professional dance live and engaged with other professional artists literally throughout the world.  These benefits have created my impressions, insights and my desire to be the best version of myself.  Good dancers and good work in my observation maintain the things I described in your head.  If someone turns in a dance they do it with a certain sense of time, position and can often accomplish more than one revolution if they or the choreographer choose too.  If they jump, walk, stand, or anything else including movement that is the result of a process where a moment is released from the demands of specific, codified form it is from a place that knows the form it departs from; it has a sense of its binary and knows the expectation is based on an expectation.  Dancing at its highest and best level requires particular practice and investigation.  This is based on universal forms, theories and practices that are just as familiar to audiences which in and of itself creates comparison.  Even audiences who don’t attend dance performances see expected forms and representations of dance in media universally and that becomes their reference.  Work that suggests it’s built by professionals yet appears to be amateur at best is easily dismissed by those familiar with these standards.  Choreography requires the same, yet when I go out and see dance in San Diego in particular so much of it feels as if it doesn’t know where it comes from, why it exists, where it is going and where it could be taking us next.  It’s all just a reproduction of the same stuff I have seen here specifically over and over and I don’t quite understand it.  Alot of the work feels attached to narrow academic theory and others lack composition and purpose altogether.  If your mission is to dramatically shift and change the landscape of dance you must be absolutely convincing in this quest.  Your product needs to be beyond anything else before it in order for us to buy in otherwise we simply attach it to a failed attempt or possibly a good representation of something we already know.  Companies, who re-create, re-stage historical works do this.  The hope is to honor and share an earlier work which too has not been particularly successful around town.  Mostly, because some of the dancers themselves have not been accomplished enough to meet the task; it only takes one mediocre dancer to distract from the overall intention.   Is your product meant to represent effort or accomplishment?  Does San Diego try, or do? 

I realize not every choreographer makes a great work every time, BUT if you have good skills we can often see them nonetheless.  Like a good or great dancer having a bad performance.  Even when a good dancer falls out of step or completely misses a jump often their quality and skills have already been made clear and remain in tact.  I will bring non-dancing friends to performances and they too share this unfulfilled, unsatisfied, quality and leave less than impressed with much of their experiences with dance around town.  They want to respond, they want to appreciate, enter the work but feel they can’t with the various distractions put before them.   These range from mediocre to outright bad dancing; that which is marred by a lack of definition, control, ability to perform certain movements well enough and in a way that makes it clear to audience members that they are seeing someone with an established skill set.

Khamla Somphanh formerly of ODC/San Francisco and newly local inspiring dancer, teacher and choreographer

Compositionally, work is difficult to follow, or even write, insert and imply meaning because it can’t initiate or sustain a thread, lacks a sense of timing or knowledge on when to shift ideas, introduce new elements or point and direct audiences to information.  When you read “BIOS” many choreographers write about years of study, name people and places we should be impressed by and yet we don’t see the result of this before us.  We agree there is process but when we come to performances we seek product.  In all our efforts to produce I wish we could ask our selves “Why” and then “What” and most importantly “How”.  These are the gleaming elements answered beautifully in some of the best dance I have seen. 

When I criticize, which I openly do here I never discount myself.  In fact and often when I see both good and bad dance I spend most of the performance checking myself; “Oh, do I do that?,….have I ever done that?,…or “Wow, what a great idea that was,…that worked for me because…”  Its about constantly challenging myself and wanting to do what I do as well as I can otherwise I would prefer not even try anymore.  I would be arrogant to pretend I have not made bad work but the difference is that I knew at the time it was bad and I am concerned that some of the choreographers I have been watching lately don’t realize it or worse think its good or worse, worse, acceptable.  This most certainly is my opinion but when I watch dance, with my little barometer of friends I also watch audiences and the way they respond to the work as well.  I see them sink, squirm, sleep, whisper, make the “ugly & confused” face and other iffy gestures more than the sitting up, engaged, enjoying, writing, following along body and face.  I watch audiences watch my shows as well which is terrifying but necessary.  Their authentic responses are crucial to me and what I cherish the most.  So, here is mine. 

Enthusiastic audiences responding to a performance at "4 x 4 x Floor"

After these last few weeks of frustration watching meandering dances trying desperately to find their way, blurting out un-sustained ideas, performed by limited bodies I am inspired once again to work that much harder.  My aim is to be a part of something greater; rather than good enough.  Feel free to “Bring Your Own” and join me at any time.  This party goes all night.         

May 4th, 2012   

Sometimes moving forward means moving Back

Anyone who is familiar with me in my present context of dance production knows my mission to make dance available to as many people as possible regardless of their economic position, cultural association, and general exposure to live performance.  This task has me strategizing ways to make this happen bringing me to unexpected spaces well outside that of the theater into storefronts, café’s, warehouses, bars, lounges, and most recently a social dance club.  To some this might not seem like such a stretch; some artists are grateful to have their work happen anywhere really.  Still, others and particularly those who generally frequent theater spaces see this as something outside of that, and those who have not experienced a performance in a theater see this as the perfect option and opportunity to enjoy live dance performance whether for the very first time or as a refreshing alternative to the theater.

It is all relative and I suspect that when man first began performing his ideas, via storytelling, song, and on, it mattered not at all where this performance took place but only that it happened.  Over time of course and as storytelling, song, narrative dances become constructions to be performed for the masses, places for the performing arts formed which overtime time became Amphitheaters, stages, and on and on.  Eventually the commercial value of the arts became apparent and what was once an expressive art, intended for all, slowly became a form appreciated only by those who could afford to enter these newly restrictive spaces; houses for art.  This construct both portrayed and created many of our socio-economic realities associated with the theater as a privileged space.

If we look at Dance’s history and the development of its culture we have grown from religious demonstrations in the church being some of the first formal dances, through to cultural dances shared by everyone in a village, to the more demonstrative pretense of ballet on to the organic, earthy explorations of modern dance, post-modern dance which tried to move even further away from constructivism to current contemporary dance marrying a variety of codified aesthetics, processes and happy mediums if you will.  Often times we need extreme movements away from trends to land back; regress to our original intention.

The PGK Dance Project performing in KAVA Lounge

In the days of Modern Dance and post-modern approaches particularly is when the ideas about where dance performance happened really began to be challenged.  The effort to deconstruct the properties and values associated with ballet and similar commercial performances created for mass consumption found in musical theater and movie musicals directly inspired processes where choreographers looked to the ordinary and every day movements of the untrained body.  Here the goal was to discover potential vocabulary, known currently as both “pedestrian” and “authentic movement”, looked to nature and ventured into props, and conceptual works that centered on minimalism and the creation of visual and metaphoric implications attached to social, political commentary rather than the romantic parody often felt in theatrical dance as entertainment.  Along with this artistic deconstruction came the dismantling of the environmental properties associated as well which meant leaving the theater space altogether and putting their processes and performances in unexpected spaces from decommissioned churches, to warehouses, empty pools and on and on.  Dance performances became happenings occurring at unusual times of the day and night, audiences were asked to follow dance to several locations and to patiently participate in the creative process and development of works as part of the performance itself.  These new events coined many ideas and terms linked to dance still used today including the now irrelevant phrase: “site-specific”, authentic movement referred to above and deconstruction all of which rely on counterparts who continue to exist today as well.

Frankly, the survival of dance, particularly in the US is dependant not only on the artist’s ability to transcend expectations put upon it but also the ability of those who produce, present and enjoy dance regularly as well.  For me as a producer, presenter, and creator of dance the very limitations of my own organization have forced me, essentially to discover and generate necessary alternatives for the production and presentation of my work so that it exists at all.  Firstly, securing a theater space for production is often tremendously expensive, met with the accumulation of the variety of associative costs, then met with the tempestuous nature of audiences conflicted and distracted with the myriad of entertaining options or lacking awareness or association of local professional dance makes producing performances very risky.  Traditionally, when surveyed 9 out of 10 people really like dance in general very much however in that same survey 1 out of 10 attend dance performances regularly.  This kind of information makes changing the way dance is made available that much more relative and vital if it is going to maintain its value.  There are many, many conditions related to this problem; too many to discuss at the moment.  However, what I have chosen to do is to look at these issues one at a time and work to resolve each as best as possible for myself.

Over the last several years I have chosen to directly address the work I create, or commission and its relationship to our audience and where and how our performances happen.  I realize this might sound quite general but I assure you it is quite specific.  I remember when I first starting training in dance there would be wild discussions around the artist’s relationship to audience.  So many of us still learning about anything ignorantly proclaimed the audience mattered not, but what was most important was what we needed to say, express which the audience needed only accept.  This of course came with us not wanting responsibility for the audience’s experience but only wanting to claim responsibility or concern with what we wanted to do.  “Boy, were we ever wrong about that school of thought.”  In the real world of professional dance where artists create work, attach monetary value by charging admission, expect audiences to come and support your work repeatedly this platform is not always practical. 

The PGK Dance Project in The Mills Gallery as seen from outside, Boston

Artists who continue to insist on using themselves and their surroundings or exclusive experience as subject have a consistent yet generally small following often made up of friends, family who feel obligated to support the artist, colleagues who are a kin to this clan and therefore obligated to support the artist to justify their own work and then that even smaller crew of followers who find some strange comfort in sponsoring work that keeps them outside as well, toting it to brilliance, intelligent inspiration beyond their own appreciation through its many levels of confusion and essentialisms, “UGH!”

For me finally, my work has become about questioning who and where my audience is.  I don’t exist without them and them not without me and so begins our relationship.  This is now at the center of my work and everything I do, how and why.  Many artists fear this direct relationship with their audience.  Artists are often taught to avoid considering their audience because it might shift and dictate the properties of their work.  I say what’s wrong with that.  If you discover your audience responds positively to certain movements, music, then start there and slowly move them into other directions you want them to go with you.  Why begin with something so outside of their awareness and perception that they never enter your world because they are turned off, tuned out and feel dismissed or outside of it right away?

The PGK Dance Project in Alexander Salazar's Downtown Warehouse

Many, many artists spend a large amount of time alone, experimenting solely, lonely on an idea, concept, creating and exploring aesthetics and approaches.  Often times these processes are based on years and years of collected and practiced information derived from other practices and information that all operate in a variety of narrow, often times classroom, or inclusive rehearsal room context.  The artist arrives at a conclusion based on all of this private exploration and then at the culmination which is now a new work, feels ready to present.  A performance happens, which for all intensive purposes feels like a failure because of an obvious disconnect with the inevitable audience.  Most often this happens when the process and information that created this new work isn’t kept in tact.  It’s not clear how this concept came about, or why it exists and what is has to do with the audience and therefore why they should be concerned or care this performance is even happening.  

When you take a dance class for the first time you begin by learning basic concepts which are then represented by steps.  With a good teacher you are taught the process where one step is the foundation for the next step and on and on.  This is vital information for the training of anyone studying dance.  First you have this and this creates that and so on and so on.  Choreography and performance are no different.  Generally, choreographers have 2 choices when presenting a work with audience in mind.  You are either presenting something with elements universally recognizable to an audience or you are presenting a work with all new information they may not be familiar with.  Either way it becomes your role, responsibility, obligation to provide the necessary tools, information, keywords if you will, for the audience to follow the work.  It’s all quite simple really yet remarkable how many choreographers don’t know or perhaps care to do so. 

For me, this has become the base construct for putting my performances in alternative spaces to that of a theater.  Although, many people do in fact attend performances in theaters many, many more who are surveyed and say they like dance do not.  If I hope to serve and make dance equally available for those won’t or can’t come to a theater I will bring dance to them.  This effort has resulted in collaborative partnerships with storefronts, community centers, parks, lounges, warehouses, office spaces and lobbies for example; universal spaces typically frequented by public for our dance performances.  Bringing audiences to a familiar, recognizable space without pretense, suspicion, or stereotype allows the experience to be free of theatrical attachments and constructs which expands the performance’s capacity to include everyone.  Receiving these spaces at no cost in exchange for their promotion has enabled us to reduce costs keeping our performances affordable to more people.  Traditional theater spaces, and similar houses of art’s expectation on external and internal production has become so built up over time that the transferred cost to the audience makes live performance reserved for occasions or completely unavailable altogether for many.  This in itself works completely against the artist’s intention which for many is to serve, support and reflect our entire community through our work.  For me it’s become about challenging this ironic cycle and the now conflicted theater space.

The PGK Dance Project performing in 98 Bottles

As a direct result of this process our audience’s diversity has grown extensive and the shape and the subject of my work consciously challenged and deftly growing I hope.  Creating challenges like this comes with tremendous responsibility; not just to be successful and show that your idea works but to the audiences who come along for the ride.  You want them to faithfully support and develop conviction for your ideals and how what you do really is making an improvement.  It’s all a constant experiment relative to what is traditionally expected.  Each space we enter brings new challenges, creations, ideas and potentials that have greatly expanded my vision and the vision of the artists we collaborate with and that of our audiences to look well beyond what they anticipate from traditional live performance.  We have no fancy lighting, visual affects, costumes and on as that would increase our costs but instead rely merely on the work itself and our concept of how to present it in a way that makes it most available.  In an effort to move forward we have gone back to the beginning.

The PGK Dance Project at Dance on the Edge for ArtWalk

February 25th, 2012

Transforming: taking charge of what you are   

Growing up I was a chubby kid; sorry “husky” according the section I was left to shop at the department store.  This didn’t seem to matter too much when it came to Greek dancing, playing defense in soccer, floor hockey or wrestling where it became an advantage or even theater where I was then a “character” actor.  I mean even in the shows in High School where everyone was required to do an acting, singing and dance audition I often got dance solos because of my natural ability to learn and move.  The year we did “Annie Get Your Gun” everything shifted for me when the choreographer wanted me to do an Indian Dance with no shirt and I was horrified.  I was at the age where appearance began to matter more, images in media were unavoidable and the line between what you were and what was expected was clear.  That was the same year that “Flashdance” was out which of course I found unbelievably inspiring so I laid off the baklava and worked out in my basement for several weeks in an effort to feel comfortable performing shirtless in a theater of one thousand people.  By the time the show opened I was no where near skinny but I certainly felt better about myself for what I had accomplished; whatever that might have been.  I looked better than before to me and other people and that made me feel good. 

The reality is that I took control of something I might have been a little less happy about on my own terms to change it in a reasonable way by shifting how I ate and added exercise to my lifestyle.  It wasn’t the first time I felt uncomfortable about my weight but the goal of doing something about it was much easier when it was attached not only to my health but also my identity as a dancer.  My body image ultimately became entwined with my dance identity vs. all the other me’s I am and this then was the beginning of a long sorting out of identity, all my why’s and how’s and ultimately what stays and what needs to go in order for me to be successful and content. 

My Dad dressed up a la "Carmen Miranda" for his High School Talent Show. Not sure what talent he was showing.

Constructing who you are is a daily process and evaluation. 

December 27, 2011

“Picture it… (in the voice of Sophia Petrillo from The Golden Girls if you like) Long Island, New York 1964.   A little Greek-American boy is born on Christmas Day.  No, this is not a holiday tale; although I do enjoy celebrating my Birthday on Christmas along with my cousin who was also born on Christmas, but a love/hate story of sorts with dance.  Actually, my goal through this blog is to use my own story with dance and reflections about my experiences, both positive and negative, along with observations to share, reveal and hopefully inspire those who dance or enjoy dance in today’s world.  Not to presume that I think I am more interesting than someone else but more because like everyone else, I too have experiences I have learned from and might use to benefit others as they journey with dance whether professionally, as a hobbyist or ever so important audience member.

Many of us dance for different reasons and come to dance in different ways.  Moving my body always felt normal, right and completely expressive and it wasn’t until my early teens I began to appreciate it as a performance.  Growing up Greek (that totally sounds like a new reality TV Show) there was always food, music and dancing.  There would be “Greek Night’s” at our church, which now that I think about it, why did they need to be called “Greek Night” if only Greek’s went to our particular Greek Orthodox Church in Bluepoint, NY.  I know there are other cultures associated with Greek orthodoxy but we didn’t have any other ethnic groups besides Greeks attending our church.  Anyway, as a Greek you are obligated to engage in at least 2 of the 3 aforementioned things.  Eat and perform music or dance.  I definitely ate and although, I am musically inclined I always danced.  It was the one thing that made the absolute most sense to me and when I was dancing I felt the most present.  Sure, it was line dancing with a big group of other people, but there was something about learning rhythms and sharing the same steps that had cultural and artistic value to the group, that required being in unison with a band featuring the amazing articulations of the bouzouki, wailing clarinet and passionate singer of stories from a land we collectively belonged that had me enthralled.  I started when I was about twelve and by the time I was fourteen I was being invited to lead the line.  I would practice acrobatic jumps, slapping the heel of my shoe with my hand while in the air and waving my handkerchief like the older men in my basement whenever a “Greek Night” was approaching.  My family was proud of me when I danced and the crowd complimented me and this became part of my identity.  This was when dance began to define me and me dance. 

Photo: My father and I dancing at my cousin’s wedding.  You can gauge the time period from the clothes of course.

Anything in your life you value that then causes you to make space for eventually makes you who you are to yourself and others.  That can be very good and quite fulfilling however when others try to define you based on values they use to define what you do or themselves that is often “notta sew good”. (Sorry, my Sophia Petrillo voice came back).  Trying to be in charge of the way your dancing body is perceived, written and described becomes both a powerful and weakening experience all at once I realized the longer I dance.  Attempting to take control of these things people perceive you as arrogant and not taking control of these things people perceive you as typical; easy to manipulate and exploit.  Dance has taught me so many things about myself and others in fact.  It’s been a pretty long time since I was that innocent fourteen year old performing Greek dances at my church, enjoying the pride and appreciation of my family and my people.  Since then I left that world to convert to another: the professional concert dance world where acceptance, honor, pride, appreciation, respect and identity accumulate in different ways.  Those who dance professionally have a sense of what I mean as do those who know to admire dance and the commitment of dancers and choreographers. 

These are just some of the things I intend to discuss further in upcoming segments of this blog including: “The Desperation of Dance”, “Write Your Own Dance Before Someone Else Does”, “Pearl Lang takes the Bus”, “Selling Dance without Selling Out”, “Where is Front and who is my audience?”, “STOP and Think before you Move” and much more I hope in JADED: A Dancers’ Tale (a choreographic thin line between love and hate)

OPEN COMMENTARY: As much as I hope to promise fair and objective discussion through this blog I hope for the same from my commentators.  I always welcome corrections and other points of view as dance moves far away and beyond my singular experience.  So, in that way this blog might become a platform that speaks to and for myself and others and therefore aspires more than just what I can provide.