A Work In Progress
JULIE WIENER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
T n•an airy, clapboard building in a
inspired by the Holocaust,
with sets by Maurice Sendak,
author and illustrator of Where
the Wild Things Are.
A Selection includes nudity
and adult situations and will
not be included in the 2 p.m.
Saturday family performance,
which features a family-friend-
ly repertoire.
In preparing for Davenen,
creators met with rabbis and
teachers and read texts of reli-
gious interpretation. One
strong influence was I.B.
Singer's uncharacteristic por-
trayal of shtetl life in his novel
Satan in Gong. Another was
the ecstatic prayer described in
the Kabbalah.
Jonathan Wolken, Pilobolus
co-founder and artistic direc-
tor, is the only Jewish member
of his company and describes
the troupe's first religious work
as "reverential and referential
of Jewish things." The costum-
ing, quite different from the
leotard-like outfits usually
worn by the group, is reminis-
cent of Jewish life of the past.
"The piece stands by itself,
as any choreography must,"
says Wolken, who founded the
troupe 30 years ago. "It stimu-
lates the eye and the mind. If
you didn't know what it was
about and simply walked into
the theater and saw the pro-
gram, I think you would be
able to accept it as a piece of
interesting movement.
"I think all audiences —
Jewish and non-Jewish — will
find things that are evocative,
memorable, visually arresting,
stimulating, quizzical and
unusual. We don't think there
is particular meaning to the
piece, but rather there is a
wide range of possible inter-
pretations, which allow for
taking the piece and personal-
izing it."
Wolken says the idea of
designing choreography to
klezmer music gave the project
KINETIC KLEZMER on page 73
rustic Connecticut town, a bare-
chested man — his unruly brown hair
shaking as he moves — is praying. But
while his body sways fervently at first, it
turns more limp as he grows increasingly
distracted by the man curled in a ball on
the other side of a black rubber mat.
The first man approaches cautiously;
then begins to poke and prod until the
once-dormant man gracefully wrestles hint
to the floor. After a struggle, the two slow-
ly, and then with intensity, pray together.
A cross-legged man seated on the
wooden floor adjacent to the mat breaks
the silence.
"It seems more and more that this
shackling and davening business is going
to be common to all the sections," he
muses, using the Yiddish words for the
repeated bowing motions traditional
Jews make while praying.
This man, who has been scribbling
notes in a bound book for the past few
minutes, is Jonathan Wolken, co-founder
and artistic director of the Pilobolus
Dance Theatre. The piece his troupe has
been working on is titled Davenen.
While the troupe is seen in its very
early approach to the commission from
the National Foundation for Jewish
Culture and presenters around the coun-
try, the development of the work has
proceeded in ways that are similar to the
progression of other Pilobolus pieces.
"No matter what it means to us, it's
purposely constructed to be ambigu-
ous," says Wolken.
Robby Barnett, co-director, explains
dance development as "sort of a kinetic,
automatic writing" akin to putting tarot
c2rds together to determine a fortune.
Unlike some troupes that use dance to
tell a story or to interpret a piece of
music, the Pilobolus directors and six
dancers spend eight-hour days at their
studio thinking about a particular
theme, trying things out, talking, then
refining. The process is a combination of
trial and error with the directors confi-
dent that if they have Jewish issues on
their mind while working on it, the
Jewish influence will be apparent but
not overwrought.
For the most part, the dancers say
they're enjoying the interaction with
Jewish culture. Josie Coyoc, 32, who was
raised Catholic, hopes the experience of
preparing and performing the piece will
make her learn more. about "what's spe-
cific to" Jewish culture. ❑
Julie Wiener visited Pilobolus as the
troupe created "Davenen," to be performed
this weekend in Ann Arbor.
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