Fuller’s Dance in Sperling Style

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Yeuk San Shen

Two weeks ago, my classmates and I went to the 17 Lexington Ave building for a class by a guest speaker. Thinking that I am going to hear a boring speech on how someone named Jody Sperling succeed in life, I was surprised to find the lesson focused majorly on another person and how that person had influenced her. Ms. Jody Sperling gave us a small but very interesting lecture on Loie Fuller, a great dancer, in which she told us the life story of Ms. Fuller and the reasons for her to go into this business she had started.

Of course, as an introduction, she told us a little bit about herself. Jody was a student at NYU, where she began her career as a dancer (majored in Performance Studies). Ever since she fell in love with the Fuller style dancing when she was performing the Butterfly Dance (one of the symbolic dance of Loie Fuller) in the Library of Congress, she continued to invest in her interest by starting her own company. As the lesson went on, I noticed that, as a dancer, an entrepreneur and a choreographer, Jody Sperling is similar in many ways comparing to Loie Fuller. Perhaps that is why Jody had decided to focus on Ms. Fuller’s dancing styles when she founded her company—Time Lapse Dance.

Loie Fuller is the mother of modern dance, who actually invented the idea of abstract dancing. She was influenced by her father, who was in a business closely connected to music, and thus began her career as a very young dancer during the temperance movement. From how Ms. Sperling talked about this woman, I could tell that Ms. Fuller was her model. She told us that Fuller was very innovative and almost daring in a way, even from today’s point of view. Inspired by Skirt Dancing, a very popular dance during the period, Loie Fuller took the idea of “moving with the skirt” to a whole new level. She added light effects into the performance, which was never done before, and changed the complex clothing into a simple, long, white and silky costume. When she danced, as Jody described, “her body disappeared into the fabric”. Lights shined on her clothes, and because of the fabric, the different colors were displayed on the dress that Fuller wore. The whole dance became a live movie.

Jody Sperling, on the other hand, also wanted to do something different, added new elements into the “Loie Fuller Style”. Instead of following the “traditional” classical music trend, Jody used different music styles. In addition, she put in many different instruments from a variety of cultures to reflect the diverse pool of themes she wanted to show. For example, in a recent piece, Jody brought in a different theme by adding the turbulence into her background music, which immediately changed the entire mood of the performance along with the change of colors in lighting.

Loie Fuller was the creator of many symbolic dances, such as the Serpentine and the Butterfly. Although not recognized as an individual artist at first, Fuller worked toward her goals, despite all the obstacles, and eventually debuted in Paris with her name on the billboard—Loie Fuller. Jody also experienced many problems when she first started the company. With all the fundraising and dancing, she had to work as a businesswoman in addition to a dancer. However, like Loie Fuller, Jody Sperling is now well known for her achievements in Fuller style dance. She even invented her own spinning techniques along with her co-workers. She described it as a “meditation”, in which you would find “the new center of yourself and the world around you”.

The dance, as Jody told us, was a completely new experience every time. “When you dance”, she said passionately, “it’s amazing how a person can occupy such an amount of space with all the fabric.” If possible, I would definitely like to try this dance, for a feeling of “extending beyond ourselves” is not easily found in today’s world.

From http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/students/features/understanding-art/~/media/ArtsEdge/Images/Articles/Students/features/rebellious_streak/rebellious_key.jpg?as=1&dmc=0&w=610

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Jody Sperling, a Passionate and Creative Follower of Loie Fuller

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Gen Hua Tan

A woman of passion, Jody Sperling spoke graciously with a bright smile as she talked to us about her works and, even more notably, about Loie Fuller. Her love and style sprung not from a childhood idol but from an accident in 1997 when she was working as the Illustrations Editor for the International Encyclopedia of Dance. Together with Elizabeth Aldrich, Sperling choreographed a modern interpretation of Fuller’s The Butterfly Dance. She was initially against performing it at the Library of Congress but yielded to Aldrich’s persuasion. Experiencing the Fuller’s unique dance style first-hand, she became spellbound by its movements that utilized the entire body, which demanded her body to move in sync with the costume.

Sperling’s eyes seemed to sparkle when she formally introduced us to Loie Fuller. Fuller was a pioneer in dance, costume motion and lighting in the 19th century. Her career, however, did not begin in success; others stole and imitated her style but she was unable to win the copyright case. Her dance was judged as “no story, no character, no emotion” by the court. Fuller was not dishearten and became even more determined. She struggled to find a sponsor in France. But when she found one, her astonishing and flamboyant dance singlehandedly stunned France. Her style and techniques, as Sperling put it, “spawn modern dance.” The dance was all about the dramatic transformation and motion of the fabric, thus creating a vortex of shapes. Its effects were further enhanced by projecting vibrant lights onto Fuller’s white costume – each revolving light was human operated. Using such a technique, Fuller became more than just a dancer, she was the scenery.

Advertisement of Loie Fuller's Dance at the Folies Bergère. Poster by PAL (Jean de Paléologue).

(Poster credits to Jean de Paléologue)

As Sperling enthusiastically talked and showed us more of Fuller, through pictures and video clips of Fuller imitators, I was taken in by Sperling’s knowledge, eloquence and passion. I soon found myself mesmerized by the eccentric yet elegant dance style. Although Fuller’s dance style was visually appealing, a few photographs that Sperling showed gave us a fair idea of how extraordinary and difficult it was to perform dances in. It seemed impractical to perform a dance in a dress that was over ten feet long while holding two equally long flexible sticks on both hands. Just holding out our arms for more than two minutes would be exhausting; now, imagine Sperling doing it for an entire show. But with effort, dedication and determination, it was possible. In the clips that Sperling showed us on her and her Time-Lapse Dance Company for the dances, “Dance of the Elements” and “Clair de Lune,” we could see that natural and graceful movements that the dancers made. At one point they appeared to be butterflies flapping their wings and the next as whirlpools swirling in an ocean of blue. They seemed to move almost effortlessly despite the challenges in terms of stamina and the complexity of the dance. Together with the continuous changing of lighting colors, Sperling and her dancers were dazzling.

Modernizing and interpreting Fuller’s dance style with contemporary technologies and dance style was daring. Despite her struggles in fundraising for her company’s dance performances, which typically cost about $40,000 a show, she persisted in her efforts to outreach to sponsors, individuals and friends for fundraising. Sperling and her company were able to rise to the challenge and prevail spectacularly. They were able to perform in the Fall for Dance, Tripeca and SoHo stage, and other countries. As a person with so much success, forming and sustaining a dance company for ten years and dancing and choreographing thirty five dances in twelve years, Sperling was very humble when she came in to speak to us. Her firm demeanor revealed strong hopes for the future as she showed us her modern interpretations of Fuller’s dance style.

Without a doubt, Jody Sperling will capture the hearts of even more people through her passion, determination, efforts, and dances. And in doing so, she will surely revitalize the essences of Fuller’s stunning dance style and inspire others to contribute through their own creativity.

01-8FEB1711

(Photo copyright by Hans Gerritsen)

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Time Lapse Sperling

Posted on October 18, 2012 by isabelzhao

Before entering the room, I thought to myself, “How is someone going to talk about dance to us?” Dancing is something you would have to experience, not just something to be told about. This presentation, was surely more of an experience than I had anticipated.

Jody Sperling is a dancer, choreographer, dance scholar, and founder and director of Time Lapse Dance. As she progresses into her presentation, her love and passion for dance became readily apparent. She used her iPad to help her with her presentation which started 0ff with a little background of herself. Then, to give the audience who seemed a little distant something to connect to, she asks, “How many of you watch Friends?” This caught the audience’s attention, and she proudly tells them that there is a Loie Fuller poster used as a prop.

Who is Loie Fuller? Jody Sperling’s inspiration from the 19th century. Fuller created an adopted version of the skirt dance called the serpentine dance, which involved motion and light; with an elaborate costume with extended sleeves. The extension of sleeves gives more room for more fabric, which creates the beautiful patterns and colors when light was projected on the dancer. The depths of the costume would create depth in colors, which dance across the blank canvas. The costume, props, light, and movement of the dancers are what creates a new genre of dance and modernizes dance.

Notice the dimension and depth of the colors

Sperling plays a few videos for the audience to see the dancer dancing without sleeves as well as elegant dancing colors. The video of the dancer without a costume on served to be significantly less interesting. However, when the costume is put on with the projected lights, the dance is given life. She also presents the difficulties of the dance, such as syncing with all other dancers on stage. Spinning and dancing isn’t hard and is more like second nature for them. Once the dancers find a common pace, the rest of the dance will be magnificently sewn together.

Without the costume

Of course, creating your own company would cost a lot of money to get it started. Her passion for dance drove her to find the ability to start her own company. She provides a feeling of drive and perseverance. Ms. Jody Sperling tells her audience about fundraising ideas and asking for donations; she also explained some events that she held such as a little thrift sale and wine-tasting event. To surprise us a little, Sperling ends with a note that New York City Department of Cultural Affairs gives out millions of dollars more than the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jody Sperling has become an inspiration. She encourages others to do what they love to do. She is an excellent example that with time and dedication, you can really become whatever it is you want to be and fulfill your dreams.

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At My Age

Posted on October 18, 2012 by isabelzhao

Growing up, I guess I could be considered a spoiled child. Although I was given more responsibilities, I found myself slacking on my chores. I slowly ended up doing the dishes once a week or the laundry once ever two loads. Of course, my parents noticed that they were still doing just as much work, and lectured me about how I am old enough to do these basic chores without their help.

“When I was your age, I had to buy groceries and prepare meals for my family.”

“When I was your age, I had to climb up three flights of stairs just to get water from the well.”

And that wasn’t all. When I visit my grandparents, they would often ask my brother and I if we have started working yet. Although we’re still in school, our elders don’t really understand the idea that generations these days have it much easier than older generations. Back then, kids started working when they were still in grade school, something very different from now. They often learned how to cook when they’re still young teenagers. Now, the new generations are often spoon-fed everything they need.

After hearing stories from my parents and relatives, I’ve always wondered what changed. When was the turning point? When did generations begin having everything handed down to them?

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Who’s That Dancing Woman?

Posted on October 18, 2012 by wesleyyun

I was on the elevator and the woman across from me politely commented “you went to Stuyvesant” and chuckled. We got out and went our separate ways. As I entered the classroom, there was the same woman again. Apparently, the woman I just met was Jody Sperling, our guest speaker for today’s class.

She was gave us an interesting view on her life and how she went on to become a dancer. However, before jumping directly into the details of her own life she whipped out her iPad and her presentation began. She wasn’t just a dancer, she has an amazing knowledge for dance and credibility can be found in her writing as she told us she has written for various publications including the Village Voice. Her presentation really began by introducing Loie Fuller. She was Jody’s inspiration when it came to dancing. Fuller’s technique can be found in the Serpentine dance. A new type of dance was born. It was no longer the dancer moving around anymore. Instead, Fuller created a new experience that was exhilarating and intricate with the many various props, lights, and movements to create special image and picture for the audience. It is this aspect that the dance becomes surprisingly modern. The use of technology has modernized the dance world and created the new genre of modern dance.

Sperling showed us videos and it becomes obvious that Fuller has left her mark. From personal experience, she explained the difficult and tiring mechanics necessary perform routines. There was definitely something different about Sperling’s dance and Fuller’s. It seemed that as a modern dance, evolution is important. Sperling emphasized how she incoporates Fuller’s technique by using the sheets of fabric in her dances. As we watch, we can see familiarity in the lighting and its effect on the dancer as it enshrouds her completely. But dedication and hard work pulled through to recreate the Serpentine dance literally in new light. With the advancement in technology, the creation of different types of light and light angles along with smoke machines can do wonders.

Sperling showed us how added props can do so much to imagery. She did this by showing us a video of a dance without the large amounts of fabric and then another video with the fabric on. Without the fabric, the stage became empty whereas the incorporation of fabric filled up the stage like a peacock showing off its colorful tail feathers. The dance was imbued with life.

Her work as a dancer has led her to the creation of Time Lapse Dance. She expressed passion for dancing and explained how managing a company can be difficult, especially when it first starts up. She explained to us how funding is difficult and a lot of it in the beginning is out of pocket. She works closely with other dancers who do a variety of dances and acrobatics.

Jody Sperling is definitely a great role model. Her numerous achievements and experiences have left an amazing impression on me. Seeing her follow her passion for dancing to the fullest extent showed me how living your life while doing what you love is quite possible as long as you put the time into it.

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Annyeonghaseyo , je ileum-eun Nancy ibnida

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Nancy Zhu

Annie and I coincidentally spotted each other the day the Korean Student Associations’ first general interest meeting poster was tacked in the sea of other flyers. Caught up with the student media trends, their flyer showcased the signature dance move of Psy, made famous by his recent song and music video, Gangnam Style. Although printed in black and white, Psy’s silhouette stood out of the motley chaos of student textbook advertisements and club meetings flyers. Note that the flyer had said somewhere along the lines of “Everyone is invited to come – does not have to speak Korean.” It immediately sparked our interests. As big fans of the current Korean media, the both of us flew over and asked one another in unison whether or not the other could accompany in attending this meeting. It was a mess of murmurs to any stranger passing by, but we understood each other perfectly.

“Welcome to Korean Students Association. Nae ileum-eun gim syalon ibnida. Wa jusyeoseo gamsahabnida….” The lady in front of the room thanked us for coming and shared with us her Korean name.

At first it all sounded like English to me, because I have been so used to hearing Korean from watching Korean dramas (with subtitles). I was able to catch a few words here and there, but nothing made sense to me.

I looked and Annie. Annie looked at me.

I whispered to her, “don’t you wish a line of subtitles were playing across the room?” She replied, “Exactly what I was thinking!! I hope we aren’t the only ones who don’t understand.”

We looked around; everyone there looked Korean, and of course understanding every word, they smiled and nodded. Two seats down sat an African American young man. We smiled, thinking, “good, we’re not the only ones.”

Sure enough, after all the members of the E-Board introduced themselves in completely Korean, they asked us each to stand up to introduce ourselves. We only knew that was what they had asked of us when they pointed at a gentleman in one corner, and asked him to stand up and he said his name. Phew, only name. I can do that. These elementary lines are often used in Korean dramas.

“Annyeonghaseyo, je ileum-eun Nancy ibnida,” which means “Hi, my name is Nancy.” – I quickly recited in my head.

The president then announced in English as well, “When you introduce yourselves, please tell us your name, your age, your major, and hobbies! Thank you!” And the gentleman continued in Korean.

Annie and I exchanged surprised looks. “You want to just run for it? The door is right there.”

Too scared to rudely interrupt the meeting, and still interested in what the club had to offer, we watched the dominos fall onto us as it was up to our turn to speak. She spoke first, blushing, she says, “annyeonghaseyo, je ileum-eun Annie ibnida. I am Chinese, so I’ll speak in English. My hobby is listening to Korean music and watching Korean dramas, therefore this club interested me.” She sits down.

It was my turn now. All the eyes were on me. I was glad I wasn’t the first between us to speak, but I was still extremely nervous. I stood up.
“Hi, my name is Nancy.”
I paused. “Ugh, why didn’t I say that in Korean? I haven’t been listening to the others’ introductions so I can recite it in my head.” I thought to myself.

I continued the rest in English, similarly to Annie, explaining myself that I am Chinese and I also have interest in Korean culture. I felt my face reddening with every “uhm” I said.

Two other people presented themselves in Korean, and it was up to the African American’s turn. To our surprise, and everyone’s surprise, he spoke in fluent Korean – no uhms, no blushing, no nail biting, no signs of nervousness. Our jaws dropped in awe, and everyone applauded.

It was amazing how he subtly shocked everyone. With the diversity in our age and place of New York City, one just really can’t judge a book by its cover.

After all the introductions, the vice president came over to warmly welcome us in English, expressing that he was glad we still decided to sit through it respectfully and invited us to attend their upcoming party KSA was hosting. Embarrassed, we smiled, and thanked him for his offer.

Club Hours was over soon enough; it was time for class, and our humiliation was over. We exited the room to re-enter into a realm of English speaking students with English side conversations that we could perfectly understand if we wanted to eavesdrop. But of course, that’s none of our business. We were just simply glad and sighed a breath of relief. Life was back to normal.

 


Psy’s infamous Gangnam Style
http://openclipart.org/people/jeeeyul/gangnam-style.svg

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“How about this?”

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Nancy Zhu

…Her Managing Editor, Elizabeth Aldrich, had wrote across a post-it note stuck onto a picture of Loie Fuller, all atop Jody Sperling’s desktop when she was working as the Illustrations Editor for the International Encyclopedia of Dance. Loie Fuller was a free-dance practitioner and became famous for her choreography with significantly outsized silk costumes illuminated by her unique use of the vibrant colors of theatrical lighting, Sperling introduces with a slideshow of Loie Fuller. She adds, at first she relented, but was encouraged that it would be a fun and unforgettable gig to choreograph and perform Loie Fuller’s butterfly dance in a “15-feet pink wings”.

Jody Sperling elegantly slicing the air with her 15-feet pink wings http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rfTHfsLr5BI/TVIhxyZj7PI/AAAAAAAAAls/pw-sGvTD4jI/s1600/GhostsParadeDavidGonsier.jpg

In her presentation of how and why she became the founder of a modern dance company in New York City, Jody Sperling explains that it was Loie Fuller’s confidence and passion for dancing and her unique use of theatrical lighting in the 19th century that deeply inspired Sperling to follow her own dreams as a dancer and choreographer to start her own dance company, Time Lapse Dance. (http://www.timelapsedance.com/) Heavily influenced by Fuller’s colorful swirls, Sperling’s choreographed performances at Time Lapse Dance mesmerized a great number of friends, family and dance lovers to help keep the twelve-year-old non-profit company running and well-funded. Jody Sperling’s slideshow transitions over to show photographs and videos of herself and her dance group performing a “re-imagined” Fuller’s Serpentine Dance by smoothly blending colors with graceful movements of silk and using mirrors to challenge the idea of symmetry. One does not have to see the dance in action to witness the flow in her choreography and her effective manipulation of the space around her, but the photographs clearly show the elegance with her every step.


Elegance, Symmetry, Balance http://www.timelapsedance.com/files/images/Elements_Web_txt.header.jpg


Usage of Mirrors
http://www.timelapsedance.com/files/images/about.header.jpg

One might assume it is simply a dance of waving fabric around, but Jody Sperling explains it is in actuality a difficult form and requires a lot of patience, coordination and practice. Although it is of silk material, the costume is heavy, especially to be propped up at 5-feet further from her regular wingspan, Sperling continues, backing up with physics concepts of torque. It is a beautiful concept of dance form, integrating all principles of visual art: movement, unity, harmony, variety, balance, contrast, proportion, and rhythm/pattern. To create a harmonious colorful-themed Loie Fuller inspired choreography for numerous dancers on stage to be performed to music is a talent Jody Sperling has, and she shared with us a glimpse of exactly that.


Look what I found at the 23rd St R/N/Q Train Station later that day!

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Fluid Passion

Posted on October 18, 2012 by navtejahuja

As Ms Jody Sperling began her presentation to the group of thirty or so freshman, there was certain inquisitiveness as to what she would be describing and how she would “show” the audience what was being described.

Of course, there was the initial introduction. She described her educational background (BA from Wesleyan ‘92 and MA from NYU ’96. She described her interest in dance, choreography, and art history. There was the description of the dances she has been a part of, choreographed, and studied. However, it was shocking to see that the main point of her discussion was not her career or her awards, but rather her interest in one of the greats in dance history, Loie Fuller.

When it came to Fuller, the audience could observe the passion and the knowledge Jody Sperling spoke. The knowledge was expected. The passion however was above and beyond what was expected. She provided a full biography of Loie Fuller, along with a slideshow of her life. To show the audience the prominence of dancers such as Loie Fuller, Ms Sperling asked a question that definitely sparked some interest. She asked whether or anyone watched Friends, the popular sitcom. After most of the class raised its hands, she went on to explain how one of the rooms in the show had a poster of Loie Fuller in it. This shows how artistic culture has permeated today’s pop culture,

At one point, there was a picture which showed Fuller dressed as a man, during her childhood. According to Ms Sperling, Loie Fuller had to constantly contend with gender discrimination and performance houses not meeting her requests as a performer. The discovery of the serpentine dance was “revolutionary”. She commented on how different this performance type was than what Fuller did later in her career and spoke about Fuller with extreme reverence, at one point calling her a “fearless innovator” and revealing performing the serpentine dance was a great moment for her, professionally and personally. Here is one of her renditions of the dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-igiPhmpSl0 (Courtesy Joyce Theater)

Ms Sperling went into great detail into the time transcending “Serpentine Dance” originally performed by Fuller. She described the dance as “vibrant” and “multi-layered”. Some of the (what seemed like) ancient images she showed were mesmerizing, as the movements, even when still, had a certain fluidity not seen in many other dance forms. The Serpentine Dance, as described, is performed with many layers of skirt clothing and constant movement. A fact that definitely captured attention was when she mentioned the amount of upper body strength needed to perform this dance. She spoke of how the elbows never come below the shoulders, and how people need to be pretty strong to do this.This proved how much talent and strength this beautiful form of dance really requires.

It must be ensured that these types of arts have to be preserved. In a shocking statement, Ms Sperling stated that Believe it or not, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs actually gives out millions more than the National Endowment for the Arts. She said the NYFA provides at times millions more than the NEA. Even though New York City is one of the most culturally and artistically prominent places in the world, there is no reason it should be outdoing the government of a country that stands for diversity and acceptance of different cultures. Companies such as Time Lapse Dance Company, founded by Sperling in 2000, have trouble competing with others for these funds. Even though it may not be economically feasible at this time for the government at this time, it must go higher on the priority list. Sure, science and technology are extremely important in their own regards, but this type of dance can be considered both an art and a science, making it that much more advantageous for today’s youth to learn about. Loie Fuller clearly influenced many talented dancers and choreographers such as Jody Sperling, and they need support from people like us and required funding in order to continue past traditions of cultural advancement.

A Still From Sperling's Own Serpentine Dance

Credit: Time Lapse Dance Company and Julie Lemberger

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What Do You Mean You Don’t Know Perfect English?

Posted on October 18, 2012 by navtejahuja

My family usually travels to India every year to year and a half. Every time we go, it is amazing to see how much the country changes in terms of development. There are new malls, an ever expanding metro line, and of course, the most traffic you’ll see anywhere (for those of you who think driving in NYC is bad). The biggest reason for us going so often is to see our family. My grandparents from my mother’s side and my dad’s brother’s family live there. Seeing my cousins and how they are growing up compared to my sister and I have been very interesting to me over the last couple of visits. Every time I think about our differences in growing up, the concept of language always comes up.

 

When I was 12, we went for one of our annual summer visits. Before heading to a family dinner out one night, my dad asked my cousin to call the restaurant in advance to make sure that they would have space for a large party of ten people. My cousin called while I was in the same room watching TV. The conversation was only a few seconds in length.

 

Cousin: “Hello, yes, I have a party of 10, will there be room for us tonight?”

Waiter: (I assume this is what he said) When will you be arriving?

Cousin: We will probably RETCH in 20-25 minutes.

 

I remember I just started laughing at this. For me, English had become second nature, and I could catch minor mistakes quite easily.

 

“Don’t you mean “reaching”? I remember saying.

“Yes, I made a mistake, so what’s the problem? I’m sure you had difficulty learning the language as well.”

 

I never thought hat my cousin would, at this point in MY life, be learning English. I had been under the foolish assumption that because I knew English it was obvious that the rest of the world would know it as well.

 

Now when I think back to that conversation, I relate it back to my current situation. I live in the most diverse city in the world. Surely not everyone can speak English perfectly. We have to realize that even though we may have understood a certain culture, culture is something that is constantly being adapted by people everywhere.

 

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Presa_de_decissions.png
Credit: Martorell

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Culture of the Southpaws

Posted on October 18, 2012 by wesleyyun

I scribbled words across my notebook and then suddenly, a new friend I just met at Baruch blurted out in surprise, “YOU’RE A LEFTY?!”

So I’m a lefty. I did my research and apparently I am not the 99% but instead I am the 10%. Give or take. Being a lefty isn’t really a big deal but as I think back on it, my left handedness was an issue that definitely irked my grandpa. My grandpa was a man who grew up with the Chinese mindset that the correct hand to use was the right hand. At the dinner table, he would stare me down until I remembered that he wanted me to move my spoon to my right hand.

As a child, I never fully understood why being left handed was wrong. In school, my friend wrote with his right hand but did everything else with his left hand. He told me that when he was younger, his grandma forced him to make the switch when it came to writing. This sounded awkwardly familiar and then I remembered my failure to convert to being a righty.

That night, I did some research and found out that the left hand is considered dirty and evil. Various cultures associate the left hand with demons, the devil, and bad luck. It was also just annoying for people since the world is a right handed world. Many times I’d end up poking a family member with a chopstick because our arms fought for table space.

But with all the negative stuff thrown aside, being a lefty is also considered quite good. Apparently some people say that being left handed has ties to increase intelligence and creativity. That’s because the left hand is controlled with the right side of the brain which is known for creativity and languages. So even though I’m not using my right hand, I’m definitely in my right mind.

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Loie Fuller and Jody Sperling: Innovator and Artist

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Rishi Ajmera

As I squeezed into class, unfortunately a few minutes late, I took a seat in the back and had to take a second to realize what was going on. I was still out of breath from my run from the vertical campus to the 23rd street building. I looked to the front of the classroom and saw a woman facing the rest of us and while sharing a story with clear passion.

“America’s first modern dance…” These are the words Jody Sperling used to describe the legacy that Loie Fuller left behind. Sperling is a dancer, a historian, an entrepreneur, but most of all, she is an artist. Loie Fuller was a dancer, a visionary, but most of all, an inventor. Fuller was able to create new forms of art that affected generations to come, generations like those of Jody Sperling.

Sperling’s appreciation for dance and for Fuller was heard throughout the entire presentation and clearly showed the impact that Fuller had on Sperling’s career. Sperling traced Fuller’s life from the tavern she was born in, to the endless career travels, to her unfortunate death in the late 1920’s. The anger in her voice grabbed my attention when she discussed the producers and “husband” that wronged Loie Fuller. Sperling made it clear to the class as a whole, that many largely popular dance forms of the 20th century had traces that eventually led back to Loie Fuller. It was as if Sperling were protecting her own kin.

credits to http://www.myspace.com/braziliangirls/photos/38641348

Fuller herself was an incredible woman who went on to accomplish incredible things. From the moment she was born in the back of a tavern, her life was already interesting. Originally a successful burlesque dancer, Fuller knew that her passion lied elsewhere. She created the Serpentine Dance and immediately started climbing the ladder. She vibrantly used extensive yards of silk fabric, making it seem as if she “had a million folds [for] every one yard.” Her career eventually led her to Paris and many obstacles had her traveling back and forth, between the states and Europe. Her success attracted the attention of copycats and placed a big problem. But Fuller decided to push the envelope further by developing patented techniques to use light from different angles of the theatre and phase it into her dance. She served as the prime example of someone who could fight with great obstacles and still accomplish great feats.

credits to www.victoriangothic.org

Today Jody Sperling does a great job of shedding light on Fuller’s career and its modern day impact. Sperling herself has gone on to found the Time Lapse Dance Company, produce dance shows, and wear all the hats of a contemporary artist. She discusses the effort required to raise funds for productions and all the means that one must consider, from fundraisers, to grants, to simple email lists. The presentation culminated on a note where Sperling made it evident that the arts industry was difficult and challenging, yet one where true passion, dedication and commitment would yield positive results.

Fuller is a great source of inspiration for Sperling, to the point that Sperling performed one of Fuller’s butterfly pieces in the Library of Congress. Sperling lightly joked of the difficulty in hoisting up two remarkably long poles on her arms and then swaying them as to convey the same beauty that Loie Fuller discovered. The presentation had me wishing I was alive in the era to see the beauty of Loie Fuller’s dances and her innovative use of fabric and light.

Source: Jody Sperling Publications

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Shifting Forms

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Melody Mark

Many choreographers look at the past when they are searching for inspiration; Loie Fuller became Jody Sperling’s inspiration. This was surprising because the Serpentine Dance, developed by Loie Fuller, is a very modern form of dance. This was a learning experience for me because I have never heard of this form of dance. She had presented Fuller’s background and the development of the dance with a sense of excitement and familiarity.

She was able to describe various aspects of Fuller’s performance, from costume to effects. It turns out that the skirts worn by Fuller were made from layers upon layers of silk. Though burdened by the weight of the cloth, she was able to move swiftly to the rhythm of the music. Not only is the Serpentine Dance innovative, the colors projected onto her skirt were constantly changing. This creates an additional effect on top of the spiraling patterns from the movement of the skirt. Sperling explained that filmmakers had to paint each shot when they broadcasted Fuller’s performances during the black-and-white film era.

Jody Sperling

Sperling’s passion for dancing the Serpentine Dance was even more evident when she played recordings of her performances. Her explanations of each setting proved that she is experienced in this field. In one of her videos, she explained that she had to stand on a platform with various-colored light inside, so that the same effect can be replicated. From her videos, one can observe that Sperling has incorporated the basic elements of Fuller’s Serpentine Dance into her own, creating a new style. In the video’s shown, Fuller’s original version of the dance was paced quicker, while Sperling’s choreography were more elegant. Nonetheless, this presentation has taught me that it can be difficult for this form of dancing to gain the audience’s approval.

Not only is Sperling a choreographer and dancer, but she is also an entrepreneur. As the owner of Time Lapse Dance, she has various fundraising plans to earn money for performances of this form of dance, such as wine-tasting events. As she explained during her presentation, many dancers want to own a company and perform, but it is difficult to maintain and continuously apply for dance funds. From Jody Sperling, I learned that with passion came dedication and determination.

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Immigrant Bonds

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Nastassia

Each year, thousands of people immigrate to the United States. Regardless of what country they come from, they all carry the same luggage: a unique culture, a religion, and a way of thinking.  Some people safely store these three things as their carry on items, but others lets their bags be placed with the rest of the heavy luggage in the storage compartment of the plane.  Sure, JKF tends to loose bags every now and then, but the majority of these bags slowly disappear once the immigrants settle in. Some traditional values fade away, but the fact that they aren’t innately American stays with them forever. It is this social identity that unites all immigrants, regardless of what country they come from.

Photograph provided by http://www.seiu.org

My mother, an immigrant from Belarus, recently had a very heart warming encounter with a patient from India. The woman came into the office utterly distressed. She had given birth and her entire mouth mysteriously ached. She didn’t have any dental problems, yet multiple doctors told her to have all fillings replaced. Two things were for certain. First, the procedure would be costly. Second, it was an obvious scheme for dentists to profit from a naïve but otherwise healthy patient. As my mom discerned, there was no need for the dental work.

The woman, at a loss for what to do, told my mother about her difficult pregnancy. She admitted that life after the delivery wasn’t any easier. She had a body that hurt and a baby that she didn’t love.

Carefully contemplating the information, my mother told her that all those symptoms derived from stress. The magic remedy to fix her problems? No, not an operation, but instead, more rest.

The woman returned to my mother’s office a few months later, smiling and fully recovered. She thanked my mother for her non-traditional advice. Encountering a dentist, one who had a foreign culture and mindset, treated the woman in the most unexpected of ways. Perhaps, the woman was even more willing to listen because my mother was an immigrant like herself.

Whether it was the common distrust of capitalistic American dentists, or a need to be heard, the two immigrant women created a bond.

 

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Jody Sperling: Revivalist of a Golden Age of Dance

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Nastassia

Jody Sperling’s time-lapse dance is sensationally redolent of the golden age of dance. With costumes that extend the physiological boundaries of a human body, time-lapse dancers create the illusion of incessant metamorphosis in imitation of nature’s ever changing forces. Just as passionate and remarkable as her choreography, Jody Sperling stands out as a unique artist in New York City.

My Arts in New York class recently had the pleasure of meeting Jody Sperling. With a humble air, she presented the origins of her creative art form.  Standing before the classroom, Sperling looked no different from us, with the exception of maturity. We could not have imagined just how brilliant this woman was, yet it was evident that she was someone special. Her quick body moved about the room with a confidence and satisfaction that can only be derived from the fulfillment of a life-long passion.

As Sperling began to speak, her love for dance became more and more apparent. With gleaming eyes, she informed us that time-lapse dance grew from the seeds of serpentine dance, which were sowed by Loie Fuller in the late 19th century. Taking ideas from skirt dancing, Loie Fuller made her costumes more elaborate by adding hundreds of feet of white fabric. In dance, her body would become completely enshrouded by her moving dress. According to Sperling, Fuller’s costume would become a blank canvas onto which vibrant colors and patterns were projected with a magic lantern. These colors would become alive upon Fuller’s dancing body. Still amazed at this concept, Sperling described how Fuller would contort her long sleeved dress to resemble the fluttering wings of a butterfly. Besides admiring Fuller’s ingenuity, Sperling commented on the pure nature of the dance. Unlike the popular Vaudeville performances of the time, serpentine dance was acceptable for all age groups to enjoy. First achieving fame in France, Loie Fuller mesmerized her Parisian audience with her angelic form of dance. Her ideas have spun, leaped, and twirled through the century, finding a home today within the work of Jody Sperling.

Enthralled by the impact of the serpentine dance in the past, Jody Sperling has revitalized this dance form by fitting it into a modern context. Writing in the Dance Magazine to describe Fuller’s work and compare it to her own, Sperling states “In a full circle of technology, my recreation of Ballet of Light uses projections to simulate the effects that Fuller created, more magically, with lanterns. If you look between the pixels, maybe you’ll find Fuller’s ghost”. It was essential for Sperling to keep Fuller’s technique. Adding elements of experimental dance and modern technology, Sperling created her own form of art that appeals to the present-day audience.

To describe the dance is one thing, but to witness it is another. Jody Sperling and her dancers beautifully spin, with their arms in motion, creating marvelous patterns of fabric in the air.  Keen on perfecting her work, Sperling admits that the hardest part of dance is for the dancers to synchronize their movements. However, once the dancers all establish pace, they gain a uniform elegance. Spinning for minutes on end isn’t difficult, she says, because it’s a natural movement.  Just as we feel still on the revolving Earth, the dancers find balance in their spinning.

Jody Sperling has a contagious enthusiasm for her work. Not only does the harmonizing of music, dance, fabrics, and lighting all create an ethereal spectacle for her audience, it also creates a sense of balance within herself. Sperling is an artist, but more importantly, a revivalist of history.

Jody Sperling in time-lapse dance. Photograph provided by www.theconstructioncompany.org

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Choreographer, Dancer, & Historian

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Luke O'Dowd

Jody Sperling is a dancer, choreographer, and historian. She attended the renowned Joffery Ballet School in New York as a child. She went on to receive her Bachelors from Wesleyan College in ’92 and her Masters in Performance Studies from New York University in ’96. She was fascinated with avant-garde style as well as the social history of dance.

Loie Fuller and skirt dancing is Jody Sperling’s source of inspiration. She describes Fuller as a “fearless innovator, both technological and scientific”. She is “one of the mother’s of modern dance”. She goes on to explain how Fuller was born next to the fire in a tavern and how as a child, she ironically gave talks in the Temperance movement.

Kate Vaugn developed the concept of “skirt dancing” in London. Loie Fuller, according to most historians, learned the “skirt dance” in London at the Gaiety Theater. Fuller adapted the generic “skirt dance” into her own form called the “serpentine dance”. Unlike the 1880’s Burlesque style, the serpentine dance focused on the shape of the movement, not the body. In skirt dancing, the body was obscured by the ruffles and folds of the fabric. Loie Fuller had her 1st success performing her “serpentine dance” in New York. Unfortunately her art had no legal protection and therefore many imitators began to copy her unique style. Fuller left the United States for Paris, where her performance was viewed as revolutionary. She used cutouts within the stage to allow light from below to illuminate the stage and the dancer. She was the first to project images on herself and her costume. She also made her own set and scenery. Unfortunately, the photography of the time was unable to capture Fuller’s innovations.
Jody Sperling took much of her inspiration from Loie Fuller, herself. She employs the mixing of colors and shades to create something new. She describes using a green light from the west and a blue light from the east to create a blending of color on the skirt’s fabric. The folds are illuminated in blends of blue and green. In describing her use of Loie Fuller as a model, Sperling states, “People sometimes say what I do is “reconstruction” and that is wrong. I use the word “re-imagination”

One of Sperling’s dances, she named, “Turbulence”. She explains how the fabric shows the movement and body’s wake. More specifically, she tells of how as we move we displace the air around us just as we would if we were in water. The fabric captures the displacement of the air that our movement creates.
Just as in Sufism, Sperling explains how in spinning we find a calmness and stillness. The constant movement becomes a “new normal” for us, and we learn to take comfort in its steadfastness.
Sperling’s newest piece is called “Ghost”. In one of the sections she recounts, “I wear a bodysuit with LEDs on it that I can trigger manually in performance. It was quite a feat to rig this up, but it’s fun to improvise the lights in relation to the pauses in the music. This concept was inspired by an act from 1893.”
In summary, Jody Sperling, as a multi-faceted artist and historian, continues to innovate in the fields of dance, lighting, technology, and costumes.

Sources: (Youtube & http://www.foxresidential.com/img/agents/264.jpg)

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A Well Choreographed Presentation

Posted on October 17, 2012 by chriswoo

Jody Sperling is a dancer, choreographer, and dance historian. She is the founder of the Time Lapse Dance Company and has produced her own shows. She also proved to be an expert on Loie Fuller by giving a presentation on her, showing the historian element in her repertoire of talents. As she came to give her presentation, her passion for the dance was very evident. She was excited, and delivered the media presentation with enthusiasm for her work. Though the topic of modern dance, its evolution and Loie Fuller may seem distant from the crowd of college students she was presenting to, she tried to relate to us. She shared the fact that a poster advertising a dance that Fuller was in was used as a prop in “Friends,” a show many of us have seen. It was creative information that I found enjoyable because I had that “a-ha!” moment of realization when I knew what poster she was talking about.

Her presentation on Fuller was very informative. Fuller had a huge part in creating modern dance and she revolutionized the skirt dance. She made the focus more about the dress and fabric rather than the body of the dancer. She performed in white dresses with long sleeves of silk and held long sticks to extend the sleeves. This way when the dancers turned and moved, the extra fabric would turn around the dancer, creating an eye catching silk vortex. Fuller also developed the Serpentine Dance. This new dance was like an evolved form of the older skirt dance, but with stage light cast onto the skirts and fabrics at different angles. At first, the dance was not appreciated, but Fuller moved to France where she was able to impress crowds with her new technique. The combination of the spinning fabric and lights around a dancer attracted audiences and the dance became popular.

Photo Credits to Wikipedia

Jody Sperling went on to show us a portion of one of her own dances, Dance of the Elements. She did both the choreography and the dancing for this dance, which represents the elements like water and fire. Her spinning movements created a sense of timelessness that mesmerized me and probably any other viewer. Her motions and the colored lights that matched the elemental dance (a blue-ish glow for water for example) made it so that time was still and all you could focus on were the shapes and patterns that the spinning fabrics made. The changing piano music in the background I thought complimented her elemental movements and the feel of the dance perfectly.

Photo Credit to Joyce Soho/Copyright Nan Melville

Fundraising is key to any performance. Sperling shared with us that in order to get her company out there and known, she produced shows. But in order to do that, she needed to fundraise. She reached out to many different people, especially family and friends, for money that would help put on her first production. The American system makes it very hard for dancers and other artists because everyone is competing for a limited amount of public funds. Corporate funds have dwindled and this discourages people from the arts. However, there was hope. She told us that the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs gave more money to arts and productions than the national program did. In our economic times, it was reassuring to hear that NYC still supported the arts, since they are usually the first programs to be cut. I know that back in my high school and in my sister’s school, cutting back on dance and arts residencies was the first thing the schools did when their budgets were cut. But I appreciated those programs when I had them and it is uplifting to see the city still supporting them. It is even better to see that Jody Sperling and her company continue to fundraise and work with their budget, producing great works that many viewers, including myself enjoy.

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Jody Sperling and Loie Fuller

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Joseph Maugeri

Back in the 1800’s the technology to create a moving picture was still in the primitive form. The frame rate was slow and there was no color. To counter this, certain people would take footage and literally hand paint each frame to give color. Apparently, the Lumière Brothers were one of the groups who did this. And of course they would only take important motion pictures to work on. Supposedly one of the colorings that they did was of Loie Fuller in 1896.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIrnFrDXjlk

However some historians have doubts about the true identities of the dancers. Jody Sperling is one of these historians who has an extensive knowledge on dances like these. Sperling is also a choreographer and a dancer; she is passionate about her work on stage and off. She formed her own dance company aptly named “Time Lapse Dance” due to the heavy influence from past dancers and magnificent styles. Here is a link to their website http://www.timelapsedance.com. It is a non-profit organization so one can imagine how tough it is to maintain. Much of money that keeps the company running is from donations. Donations can be hard to come by in this day in age, so a certain strategy is used by Sperling and fellow members of the company is to use a network. Sperling asks people she knows for donations, and then those people ask more people… so on and so forth. Using a network like this is savvy and practical, which is one of the reasons she has managed to maintain and operate her entity.

Now, onto the art of the dance.

By: Cliff

Loie Fuller is famous for the dance called the ‘Serpentine Dance.’ Fuller developed this type of art due to the receptiveness of the audience. She uses copious amounts of fabric to spin around. After more development in the art, she used colored lights to point at herself to give awesome illusions of movement and stillness as Jody Sperling described. She is very knowledgeable about the art because she performs it herself. She was even asked to perform at the Library of Congress, which is a huge accomplishment.

Sperling uses certain props and a number of dancers in her version of the art. She showed us a certain video in which the dancers used mirrors and spectacular lights to portray an amazing sense of movement and the flow of choreography and ribboning fabric. Fuller developed a system of lighting that, while effective, was still primitive technology. Sperling has the advantage of using 21st century technology in her art, which elevates it to a new level.

The appreciation for real art is lacking in the world today. So much of the world today is caught up in the mundane reality of the Internet and mindless behaviors. The youth of today is staying in and wasting away on the Internet and other technologies of our age rather than going out and experiencing the world that surrounds them. Hopefully the inspiration that Jody Sperling found with the art of Loie Fuller can be shared with the youth of today to keep art alive in America. Even if people do not particularly get involved in the art of the ‘Serpentine Dance,’ just learning about it can spark an idea. And all Loie Fuller started out with was an idea; and now, she’s a legend.

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Language Barrier

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Melody Mark

Over the summer, I traveled to the west coast for the first time. Before I boarded the plane, I had my worries. Are people going to be nice to tourists? Will hotel rooms be comfortable? Am I going to have fun during my stay? All of these questions crossed my mind at one point or another. Except I never thought that I would have to ask myself this question: Will there be a language barrier?

Growing up in New York City, I didn’t think that I have an accent because everyone around me spoke the same way. My friends and I understand each other even though we come from different parts of NYC. However, when I held conversations with local people in California, I immediately sensed a difference in our cultures.

I was walking down a street in Downtown L.A. when I saw a group of teenage girls walking towards me.

“Hey. Excuse? Where’d you guys get your bubble tea?” I asked them. (This may have sounded like: Where’dju guys getjour bubble tea?)

They looked around, thinking that I was speaking to a group of men behind them. I realized that I had used “you guys” when I was referring to a group of girls (something very common in New York), and quickly changed my question. “Sorry. I meant to ask, where can I get bubble tea?”

One of the finally asked, “What’s bubble tea?”

At this point, I was very confused. “What you’re drinking,” I said, pointing at his drink.

“This isn’t bubble tea. Its called Boba!” she chuckled, pointing me to the shop.

I felt my face burning on the spot. Throughout the entire trip, I had tried to avoid acting like a tourist. This 2-minute conversation had ruined that. After that day, I realized that “bubble tea” was a term used solely by New Yorkers. Terms that I used often, like “you guys” (referring to a group of people) and “whatjuwannado” (fast way to say “what do you want to do?”), are, in reality, esoteric. Needless to say, I was glad to be back in New York after my brief vacation in California because people can understand me here.

There is no language barrier between New Yorkers because we’re all experiencing the same culture. However, this culture had formulated an English accent, one that only New York residents would understand. The combining of words into one word and casual terms used to describe groups of people all formed the New York accent. Stepping out of the city, I was a tourist who spoke English with this accent.

Here is a link to more terms New Yorkers use.

http://www.askanewyorker.com/febstreetsmart.html

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Jody Sperling: Dancing the History

Posted on October 17, 2012 by rubinsammy

Jody Sperling is a dancer, choreographer, and art historian. She has performed all over the world. As someone who is knowledgeable in all dances, she decided to talk to us about serpentine dance and a certain Loie Fuller.

I looked around the class and everyone had confusion painted on their face. This discussion was going downhill until Ms. Sperling brought in pop culture.

“How many of you watch Friends?” Sperling asked.

The entire class woke up. Everyone who is anyone has seen Friends. Even though it ended eight years ago, people (including me) still watch reruns and enjoy them. Apparently there was a poster of Loie Fuller in the rooms of one of the characters. I was shocked; so much so that when I came home, I tried to find the episode with the poster.

http://www.chasingprops.com/images/friends-tv-fuller-poster-pic.jpg

Look at the poster all the way to the right!

Sperling gave us a brief biography of Loie Fuller. Loie was born in a tavern because it was the only place in the entire village with heat. Through the use of pictures, the audience sees how she changed. Eventually, Loie moved to Europe to pursue her career in performing arts.

It has been rumored that Loie discovered serpentine dancing accidentally. During one performance in Quack M.D., Loie saw that the audience liked the way skirt moved with the light. From there on, she kept developing this style. One way was that she made the skirts bigger and bigger. Another way was that she synchronized her movements with lighting, which was harder back then because humans operated it.

Jody Sperling doesn’t speak of serpentine dance as a historian, but instead as a fellow dancer. She told us that for a celebration at the Library of Congress, she performed a serpentine dance piece. She told us how difficult it was. It’s not easy to carry the skirt around. I thought that one needs to carry the skirt with their hands, but really they are holding on to the poles that make the skirt move. There must be a balance of weight when the poles are being held. If one hand is lower, the dance can’t be done properly.

At first, it was difficult to picture serpentine dancing in my mind. When Jody Sperling showed us a video of a 1890s dancer performing the dance, it was just a lady twirling her skirt around and no sound. It’s not Jody Sperling’s fault considering that movies back then didn’t have any sound. It wasn’t until Sperling showed her performance at Library of Congress that I saw how music and light plays a vital role. Without it, all you have a woman swinging her skirt around. Another disappointing thing is that there are no videos of Loie Fuller dancing! There are only pictures of her. It would’ve been nice to see dancing and comparing her movements to other dancers who performed the serpentine dance. Maybe that is why Loie Fuller has mesmerized the dancing community. Today, no primary sources exist of Loie’s performances. This mystery teases art historians and makes them want to learn more about her. It is not just in arts, but also all throughout human nature. We are all attracted to mysteries whether it is the Bermuda Triangle or D.B. Cooper.

Jody Sperling ends on a political note. She compares the American Arts programs to that of Europe. In Europe, the state subsidizes a lot of it, while in America, as she says, “makes it unfair for all.” An interesting fact that she pointed out is that the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs gave out more money than the National Endowment for the Arts. How one city can give more money to its art programs than an entire nation is astonishing. To know that NYC can find funding for art programs is remarkable. Especially with this mood in Washington where politicians are screaming for spending cuts and art/music programs tend to be the first programs to be cut. Overall, Jody Sperling talking to us was a lively and enjoyable experience.

Jody Sperling

 

 

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A Woman of Many “Elements”

Posted on October 17, 2012 by John Scanlon

Jody Sperling has been managing her own dance company for just over a decade now.  While this may not seem like such a long period of time, Sperling has still managed to compile quite a resume.  As a scholar of dance, she has earned various dance degrees and has been recognized recently as a dance historian.  In 2000, Sperling founded her own dance company, “Time Lapse Dance.” By creating her own company, Jody has now found a way to continue pursuing her passions as a dancer and a choreographer.  When viewing these accomplishments and feats of Sperling, one might begin to wonder what sparked this fire within her.

Photo Credit: Alexandre Fuchs/Time Lapse Dance

When asked about her inspiration, Jody Sperling points to one of the most influential dancers in history: Loie Fuller.  Born in 1862, she began dancing at a very young age.  Fuller is credited with “spawning” modern dance today with her uniquely developed dances.  As a young woman, she performed in white dresses with long sleeves made of silk.  With long sticks holding her sleeves up, Loie would then spin and twirl to make her dress appear to be changing form.  Her unorthodox style of dance was known as the “Skirt Dance,” or the “Butterfly Dance.” Loie Fuller revolutionized dance during her time because she placed emphasis on the dress, not on the body.

At first take, Fuller was not the most successful at marketing her unique style of dance.  She did not achieve public renown until she took her talents to France.  While in France, her technique of skirt dancing was stolen, and she tried to file a lawsuit.  Although she did not win her suit, she was fortunate enough to upstage the imposters who stole her original dance.  From here, Fuller’s career took flight, and she set the foundation for skirt dancing today.

Jody took her inspiration’s work and added her own little twist to it.  She spent the early part of her choreographing career further developing the “Serpentine Dance” of Loie Fuller.  In addition, she shed light on Fuller’s work by adding mirrors and colored lights, which provided the base for Jody’s “Dance of the Elements.”  For her dance, she conceived a spinning technique that keeps the fabric going for an extended period of time.  Jody stated how the elongated spinning “produces a new stillness,” one that peeks the curiosity of the audience.  As her career continued to flourish, Jody was invited to perform her dance in the Library of Congress.

Photo Credit: Julie Lemberger/Time Lapse Dance

But with all great success comes a sense of determination to overcome challenges along the way.  Jody Sperling founded her own company and produced her own shows, but how did she get her companies’ name out in the open?  A woman of many professions, she considers herself an “entrepreneur.”  Fundraising is essential to obtain the necessary money for shows.  Jody describes the difficulty in finding public funding, and she says, “Corporate funding has almost disappeared.”  Despite her economic struggles, Sperling persevered, and her company survived thanks to donations from family and friends.  While listening to her presentation, one can feel her passion for dancing through the struggles she encountered as an aspiring choreographer.  She leaves people with this idea that they, too, should find their own passion and run with it regardless of life’s obstacles.

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“I Don’t Want Any Trouble”

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Joseph Maugeri

My father had worked as a Corrections Officer at Rikers Island for 20 years of his life. So from all of the stories that I heard, I had a pretty good idea of what an inmate is. There are some that are very bad people. People like murderers, rapists, so on and so forth. People that are not always meant for the outside world. But, there is another type of inmate. Some are normal people who made bad decisions in their life and now are paying the price by spending some time in prison. Then, they get out.

What do inmates do when they get out? Especially if they have no money, no job, no home, or no family. Well I had another experience on the subway. With an ex-felon. Now, I know it sounds pretty bad but here’s what happened.

A couple of days ago, I was taking the subway to Times Square for the first time (it seems like every time I am on the subway something interesting happens, but maybe it’s normal.)  During the ride, a man gets on. When the doors shut, he spoke (actually almost yelled) the following in a rather forceful voice: “*Ahem* Hi everyone, let me have your attention for a second. I was recently released from prison. I don’t have a home, I don’t have food, I smell. My life is terrible. If anyone has any change, or any food. I’ll be glad to take it. I have a few felonies on me, but I don’t want any trouble.” He then proceeded to walk around the train taking any offerings from the people. He actually got a pretty decent amount of money from the looks of it, which I found interesting. It seemed that people were more scared of him rather than genuinely willing to help, but that’s just my guess.

I, of course, did not give the man any money. I mean please… I’m a New Yorker.

This encounter was interesting because it gave me a glimpse into the world of what prison can do to a person. It seemed to have ruined this particular man’s life and I, for one, did not want to walk down that road. I don’t get very scared easily; but once I pictured myself in that man’s situation, I was pretty frightened.

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Posted on October 15, 2012 by rubinsammy

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“Nobody is built like you”

Posted on October 11, 2012 by John Scanlon

“Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Brooklyn, we go hard.”  These lyrics to Jay-Z’s hit song “Brooklyn We Go Hard” echoed throughout the newly finished Barclays Center last Saturday night.  Lights were flashing, the crowd was roaring, and speakers were blasting.  All of the commotion gave us the illusion that the arena, itself, was shaking.  Standing in the upper section, my friends and I seemed lost among the 19,000 that gathered to watch one of the greatest rappers of our generation.  Before I recap this experience, let me get to how we got here to start.

Right before summer’s end, my friends and I were planning ways to keep in touch during college.  We knew we would all see each other during Thanksgiving and Christmas break, but that wasn’t enough for us.   One of the ways we decided to stay close was to go see a concert, but we had to decide whom to see.  My friend Matt brought up that Jay-Z was doing multiple concerts in September, but none of us had ever been to a rap concert.  We decided that it could be pretty cool since we all listened to Jay-Z, and it would be a way for us to reunite during the fall semester.

The night of the concert, we all met outside the Barclays Center an hour before the concert started because we wanted to check out the brand new arena.  Everything inside was state of the art, and cleanliness was not a question.  With every slight turn of the head, all that could be seen was Nets jerseys and fitted caps.  People of various backgrounds came from all over to see Jay-Z perform.  For a while, we seemed to be lost in the extravagance of the place.  It wasn’t long before the concert started, and we found our seats.

Jay-Z opened the concert with two of his classics: “Brooklyn We Go Hard” and “Where I’m From.”  He had the crowd going wild, but we were very intimidated at first.  It had been some time since any of us were at a concert, so we were not used to the speakers blowing out our eardrums.  We were quick to learn a Rap concert was very different from the typical Alternative Rock concert.  As the concert progressed, we loosened up a bit, and the concert became one of the best nights in a long time.

At the conclusion of the concert, Jay-Z addressed the diverse audience with a quote from his song “A Dream.”  He said, “Remind yourself, nobody is built like you, you design yourself.”  These words had me thinking for the few days.  Yes, we are heavily influenced by our biological and ethnic backgrounds, but who we are as individuals is ultimately decided by us.  Our culture can only go so far as to impact who we will become.  Music allows us to recognize our own cultural backgrounds and to open our minds to other cultures waiting to be explored.

The Barclays Center

Posted in Cultural Encounters | 4 Comments

Occupy Wall Street

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Rishi Ajmera

Cultural encounters may not only be of different nationalities, but also of different ideas.

On a long weekend, my friends and I decided to celebrate by heading into the city. We were so excited to leave school and enjoy ourselves, that we realized we had no idea where we were going. We were still debating in the subway when I said ” Let’s check out what’s going down on Wall street with the Occupy Wall Street movement.”

At the time, Occupy Wall Street was still a growing effort and we had only heard of it. My friends were very reluctant at first, but I managed to get them to give in. It ended up being a great time. Although we didn’t really agree with the movement’s goals and ideas, it was incredibly interesting to see the passion they all were gathering with. The weather was frigid and yet most of the movement remained intact. I would hear random people stop and stir up a debate with any random protestor.

However, I found it difficult to understand what they were protesting. There seemed to be talk of everything from job creation to a four-hour workday. I tried to empathize with their cause but continuously found myself becoming more skeptical of what they were really doing. At the end of the day, the movement gained all the attention from creating a public scene and mass audience like my friends and I.

Later we left with a sign saying “We are the 99%,” to remember the day.

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A Random Conversation about Baruch

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Yeuk San Shen

Today, I was in a study room with my friend. We were both reading something for our classes, when she asked a question out of nowhere, “Do you have any idea how many Asians are there in Baruch?”

Since the question was SO random, I thought she wanted to answer the question herself, so I said, “No, do you?”

Surprisingly, she didn’t know either. This question, however, got stuck in our heads (you know, like when you are thinking about lyrics, and you just can’t remember the next line—yea, that kind of stuck), and eventually “cost” us the rest of our study time. We started by recalling the people we encounter daily to get a sense of the percentage of each ethnicity in our school, and we ended up realizing just how many of them are Asians!

Credited to http://web.ysu.edu/gen/ysu_generated_bin/images/image_slideshow//hands.jpg

My friend there, still struggling to do her homework while caught up in this conversation, said while looking down at her paper, “Just from what I remembered, I think at least 60% of the school are Asians. You know, including South and East Asians, and out of that, maybe about 40% of them speak some kind of Chinese? The other half, well… Half of them can understand it anyway. I don’t even know, but I think there might be more. So yea, the school is flooded with Asians.”

I, on the other hand, had completely given up my homework, spinning around in my chair, and said, “Well, just think about the hallway in the Vertical Building. There was one time, when I was done with my anthropology class, that the hallway was full of students. As I struggled to get to the escalator as soon as possible, before I realized it, people “split” into two groups: on my left side are the ones who spoke Chinese (different kinds of Chinese); and on my right side are the ones who spoke English. Just think about the number of Chinese speaking Chinese the school has to make that happen!”

To say it was a conversation, it was more like a “Sentence Popcorn”. A two-sentence conversation doesn’t count for anything, but the information we got was fascinating. My words exactly—just think about how many Asians there are in Baruch!

Posted in Cultural Encounters | 1 Comment

A Pair of Jeans

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Gen Hua Tan

A familiar topic for many of you might be jeans. As for me, I really didn’t start wearing them until last year when Uniqlo opened a new store in 34th street. They had an opening sale, selling skinny jeans for $10 a pair. I bought two because my friend persuaded me to. I, however, was really reluctant to wear them. It was a culture very distant to me, one that I never thought I would step into.

I was overweight and looked obese. Back in 6th grade, my friends laughed and joke about how fat I was (they were all skinny) and the triple chin that I had. Then one day, my cousins gave me a few pair of jeans that they didn’t use anymore but I could barely fit in them. And honestly, I felt that I looked hideous wearing them. The tightness of it only made it more obvious how fat I was. So I resorted to wearing baggy pants throughout middle school and most of high school. From time to time in middle school, my friends would ask why I was not wearing jeans or why I didn’t wear them. “Because they make me feel even fatter than I already am” was what I wanted to say but could never bring myself to. I felt like jeans separated skinny and obese people. It was two very different societies, split because of a pair of jeans.

The situation only worsened in high school. It was almost like a social status or a given that boys should wear jeans. Everyone seems to be wearing jeans while I was wearing pants all year round. People probably wondered but not one cared until I became more acquainted with newly made friends. They couldn’t help but confront me with the question, “Why don’t you ever wear jeans?” I felt ashamed to answer, so I had always avoided the question. They even suggested going with me to get one in a store together. But I didn’t want to. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to feel like I did in middle school, remembering again how fat I was to not able to fit in regular jeans. It would kill me if my friends were to witness that.

So on the day I went to school with my Uniqlo jeans, they were literally shocked. One of my friends couldn’t stop talking to me and his friends about it. I was amazed at how amazed he was just because I broke out of baggy pants to jeans. I couldn’t stop laughing every time I saw that brilliant smile on his face when he saw me wearing jeans the days afterward. Wearing or not wearing jeans seemed to mean a lot more than just clothing or fashion. It was like a religion that he believed in. It was what it meant to belong.

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The One Who Waved Back

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Alessandra Rao

They say New York is a lonely city. Yeah, I could definitely relate. As a native New Yorker, I notice too, the people on the streets looking out for themselves, never looking away from their straight path, the nonchalant brushing of bags and people rarely saying “excuse me” or “sorry”. It seems like none of the natives take a second to crack a smile at a street dancer or spark small talk on the train. I could be like that too a lot of times.

I was on the x1 bus on my way back home. It was a little past nine and I was on the phone with a friend to pass the time. He told me to hold on one second. I quickly glanced outside. Double take–next to my bus was another bus bustling with excited tourists looking right at me. The seating arrangement was not the usual—they sat facing the window, like a mini movie theater. It was like they were watching a live movie through the glass, and I happened to be right in the frame. The moment they caught my eye, I was greeted by a sea of hands all waving at me. Enthused looks. Some fingers pointed to acknowledge that I was looking. I’ve never seen a cluster of people so excited to see me. So, I’m not a big fan of tourists (especially ones who ask me where the “yellow line” is) but I decided to be a good sport and I waved back, flashed a smile and a thumbs up! They mirrored my thumbs up all together.

What the hell–life is short and this is the greatest city in the world. At that very moment in their live movie, I was the face of New York City. I hoped, in this small “act”, that I would at least be one example to prove that ”lonely city” paradigm wrong. And even though to them I’m just a “real live New Yorker” and even though they don’t know a thing about me, it still generated a great feeling–being acknowledged, amidst the crazy hazy blur of this 8-million people city. Maybe they’ll go home with this cultural encounter that they experienced, from the outside looking in, laughing about that New Yorker who actually waved back.

http://bookitnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/tourimages.jpg

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A Holy Place Destroyed.

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Luke O'Dowd

After Business Recitation on Friday, I decided to attend the short 12:30 daily mass held in the small church next to my dorm. Located on 96th and Lexington Avenue, the small neighborhood chapel is one of the few places that seem familiar. The wooden pews, stone altar, golden tabernacle, and flickering candles are common to all Catholic churches throughout the world. For me, the building has been a sanctuary, allowing me to step away from the chaos outside in the streets. It is a time for me to sit and pray or maybe just think; it helps me put things in perspective.
On this certain Friday, I arrived at 12:35, a few minutes late. I walked up the side aisle, genuflected and sat myself down on the far right side of the wooden pew. I asked God for comfort, for strength, for patience; nothing too out of the ordinary. In deep thought, I closed my eyes periodically, listening to the mass but also meditating on my own life. During Communion, Catholics kneel while the Eucharist is being consecrated. It is a time for deep prayer and I often close my eyes in order to concentrate more deeply.
After the prayers had been said and the consecration had taken place, Communion is distributed and everyone forms a line and receives the Eucharist distributed by the priest at the front of the Church. This was all very routine for me, but the familiarity brought comfort. Because all the pews look identical, it is often hard to determine which pew you were sitting in. On returning, I looked for my backpack as a marker for where I had been sitting. However, even after checking multiple times I was unable to locate it. I spent the last few minutes of the mass, frantic.
I assumed at that moment it was probably stolen. I feverishly searched each set of pews to no avail. I expected that because my backpack didn’t contain anything valuable, it wouldn’t be taken. It only contained a few folders and notebooks full of notes, a black umbrella, and a plastic “Polish Spring” water bottle. However, the entire experience was a little bit traumatic. My place of peace had been permeated by the outside. Not even a church was immune to outside influences, and this was extremely hard to take in.

The Church (St. Francis de Sales)

(http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/10589588.jpg)

Posted in Cultural Encounters | 3 Comments

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Professor Bernstein

Notes for Thursday, October 11th

Be prepared to talk about Carmen.  Try to find a surprising detail about the libretto, the music, the opera’s history.

Final reviews of The Train Driver should be uploaded before class tomorrow  (make sure they are properly tagged in Critic’s Corner).

In the Spotlight post on Jody Sperling is due October 18th. Let me remind you that it is often good to take notes when a guest visits so that you can weave in direct quotes into your story. Add photos, too.

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Notes on Visual Composition

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Ben Miller

In my webtravels, I stumbled across a link to this

image from http://kalidraws.tumblr.com/

instructional comic: http://kalidraws.tumblr.com/post/32953413185/today-i-gave-my-students-a-quick-presentation-on.

Essentially, it’s a short slide show dealing with positioning, shapes and lines, cropping, and proportions, with quick-sketch illustrations of each point. It’s designed for drawing, not photography, but I think a number of the rules apply, so you might find it useful in thinking about your street photography, collage projects, and maybe even Snapshot Day, which is Thursday 10/11. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Can Collecting

Posted on October 8, 2012 by chriswoo

I always saw elderly Asian people digging through garbage for cans and bottles when I walked around my neighborhood, Flushing and Chinatown. I always wondered what would drive a person to dig through so much trash just for bottles. Then I realized that each bottle was 5 cents at a supermarket and that a cartload of bottles would be a decent amount of money. But to me, digging through garbage wasn’t the way to earn money, and I thought that my family felt the same way.

One day in middle school, I was walking to the train and I saw my grandpa on the street. It was a chilly fall day so for him to be out with his two walking canes and vest, I was surprised. He should’ve been home in his chair, warm and watching TV as always. Instead, he was slowly walking; cane after cane, with a bag of cans tied around one of them. It was like an art form; he would use both his canes like chopsticks to pick the can off the ground and lift it to somewhere he could grab it. He would then put it in his bag and move on. He could barely walk, what was he doing out here getting cans? I didn’t get it, he lived well, ate well, and his son (my dad) could support him if he needed it. Why was he out in the cold, struggling to walk and collecting cans?

I talked to my dad that night about it. My dad explained it the best way he could to me. His family was a poor immigrant family growing up. They didn’t have much so they did their best to survive like many immigrant families did. To the Chinese, throwing away bottles was throwing away money. Why would you just throw away 5 cents like that? They saw these bottles as an opportunity for free cash. All they had to do was dig a little and after time they could have close to $30 in groceries. The Asian immigrant mentality was to not waste anything, especially not anything worth money.

Then it hit me that I was living such a good life. I didn’t need to search for cans to survive because my grandpa had done it for me. He struggled so that I wouldn’t have to. And for me, this was an eye-opening experience. That mentality of not wasting anything and seeing money in strange objects that people saw as garbage was new to me. It made me much more grateful for what I have. At first I was upset that my grandpa was doing this, but now I have taken some of that mentality of not wasting and working hard to strive for better.

From Article at http://gawker.com/5535474/hobo-can-collectors-are-the-new-us-treasury

From Article at http://gawker.com/5535474/hobo-can-collectors-are-the-new-us-treasury

Posted in Cultural Encounters | 5 Comments

The Struggle Continues

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Luke O'Dowd

(from offBroadway.com)
Athol Fugard’s The Train Driver traces the life of Roelf after the “accident”. It explores his emotions and his psychological journey as he attempts to cope with his predicament. The setting of the play is in a makeshift graveyard in South Africa. The stage is littered with empty bottles, plastic bags, and aluminum hubcaps. A huge wrecked car looms above the characters near stage right. Sand covers the stage and bits of glass and other debris are scattered haphazardly.

The play was performed at the Pershing Square Signature Center, a small theater with only a few hundred seats. The venue gave the play a very intimate touch, and the characters voices were crystal clear, although hard to understand at times due to a heavy accent.

The play begins with Simon, a black South African who acts as narrator of the story. His role is unique in that he has an active position in the production, but he also plays the part of the omniscient storyteller. His facial expression is very believable, and his diction is clear and authentic. He wore a light brown work suit that appeared dirty and old. Underneath the work suit, a stretched-out ratty t-shirt could be spotted. He was barefoot, and his face, chest, feet, and lower legs were covered in dirt. He seemed aged and his facial wrinkles appeared accentuated. He moved around the stage slowly and with much effort. His actions all seemed forced, and they gave the impression of a weary man, worn out by life’s hardships. Leon Addison Brown, who plays Simon, fit the part perfectly.

The protagonist of the play was Roelf, played by Ritchie Coster. A white South African train driver, Roelf must “come to grips” with the event that changed his life. His character emanates tones of anger and discontentment. He wears a dark red short sleeve polo shirt with tan pants. His sneakers look out of place. In contrast to Simon, he speaks much more aggressively and louder, and his words are spat, as if his words are venom. Often times, Roelf gets so worked up in his tirades that the audience is able to see spittle spray from his mouth as he shouts. Roelf’s anger is directed at the “Red Doek”, who the audience understands to be the cause of his anguish. Simon is often the target for Roelf’s rage as he is the only other character in the play.

The sound effects are subtle throughout much of the play. The howling of dogs can be heard at night as can the whistling of the wind. The most dramatic effect occurs towards the end of the play, as Reolf attempts to bury the figuratively the native woman and her child. The sound of a freight train rushes through the theater, and the blaring of the train’s horn is haunting. The audience feels the harrowing effect of the collision through the sounds, and the actual collision is not depicted on stage.
The plays’ ending is certainly a little twist. The audience expects some type of closure; that Roelf and Simon will grow to understand each other. The ending seems to symbolize the ongoing struggle of South Africans in growing as a people. It suggests that much work still is needed to overcome the remnants of apartheid.


(by Luke O’Dowd)

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The Train Driver Review

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Alessandra Rao

When we hear a TV broadcaster say “suicide by train,” we suddenly tune in to get the details. The reporter goes on to tell the facts about the victim. We find out the victim’s name, possibly why he or she decided to jump into the tracks, and maybe some words from friends or family. Did you ever hear what the train driver has to say about it?

Playwright Athol Fugard pries into a subject as sensitive as suicide in The Train Driver, but turns the victim’s seat so that we observe a point of view that is not widely discussed: that of the white train driver in the era of apartheid.  He plays the role of a journalist, extracting the basis of his story from a newspaper article: a black woman carrying her three children (in the play, she only has one child) steps into the track where a train is approaching and the white driver kills her. Fugard hands us a magnifying glass, allowing us to observe the aftermath from Roelf’s (Ritchie Coster) perspective. So no, we don’t actually see the accident, for those of you who are into gore. We encounter the two characters, Roelf and gravedigger, Simon (Leon Addison Brown) in an eerie graveyard setting—a small, dimly lit field of sand sprinkled with pieces of shiny rock, empty plastic bottles, shards of glass, hubcaps, abandoned wires and other miscellaneous items that are meant to represent graves in this poor squatter village.  A half-view of Simon’s shabby hut barely stands upright and a junkyard car on the left completes the scene. The set, which remains stagnant for the entirety of the play, is not only tragically beautiful, but mirrors the yearning, lonesome voices of both characters.

The audience is introduced to Roelf with a thick Afrikaans accent, thick enough to make you lean your ear further in, trying to guess what he just said.  The character was wonderfully realistic, but at a cost—it left me trying to fill in the blanks. To some, it may be a foolish sacrifice because his words are crucial to understanding the underlying change in the train driver’s psyche. However, Coster’s breadth of emotions, from ragingly aggressive, to painfully vexed, to unpredictably skittish, to hopeless, gives us a multi-faceted look into his dynamic psyche. His first dialogue with Simon consists of Roelf frantically demanding Simon to find the woman’s grave. He exerts his rage onto the dead woman for ruining his life, but his attitude towards her changes gradually. While Roelf is the firework, Simon is the glass of water. Although we meet Simon first, singing a sad jazz tune in his native tongue, he is dominated by Roelf’s boldness. Also bearing a thick, coarse accent (and a rather realistic limp), his character reads “frazzled, impartial grave digger.” Unfortunately, because too much of the play relies on dialogue, it may fail to capture the interest of young children or people who do not understand English very well.

Although Fugard successfully brings up issues about this racially sensitive topic, he is not so successful in how he decides to end the story. It is a rather abrupt, unnecessary attempt to bring the play to a final close.

The Train Driver played at the Signature Theater until September 23rd.

Posted in The Train Driver | 1 Comment

Eating in a Different Style

Posted on October 4, 2012 by navtejahuja

Sometimes what is old news to you may be the strangest thing to someone very close to you. This can range from speaking habits, cultures, or even food. Food is treated differently in different parts of the world. Not only is it prepared differently, it may even be eaten differently, which my friend found out as I decided to take him to an Indian Restaurant. We took the 6 train down to 33rd street and started exploring. We found a neat little plce near 40th and 2nd called the Indigo Indian Bistro. I handled the ordering, and we ended up ordering chicken makhani (chicken in a butter tomato sauce, one of my personal favorites) and naan (Indian bread heated and made crispy in a clay oven). However, it was not the food that surprised my friend, but the method to the eating. I immediately started putting chicken on both our plates and took a piece of naan.

 

He started staring at me.

 

Me: What’s wrong? I asked.

Tom: Well… why are you eating like that?

Me: Whadyumean? (With a mouth full of food).

Tom: Why are you eating with your hands? Use the damn fork and knife!

Me: Hahahaha man that’s how we eat Indian food, I mean it’s ok to use forks and knives but traditionally most of us use our hands.

Tom: Dude I’ve never seen anyone eat like that… not gonna lie it’s kinda weird.

Me: Look around…

 

And sure enough, there were people eating with their hands, knives and forks left unused and sparkling on the side. Of course there were a few people using knives and forks, but where’s the fun in that?

 

And without another word, Tom started eating… with a knife and fork however.

 

I had not even thought that my friend would find my eating habits odd, but I guess that’s just one of those things you don’t think about until they happen. This was a cultural encounter for both my friend and I, as he learned something about Indian eating culture, and I learned that I needed to consider other people more if I am introducing them to something that they may not be familiar with.  Even though Tom learned about Indian eating habits, he still used his preference. I didn’t mind that, because I could tell that at least now he understood why I was eating the way I was.

 

Credit: (cheeseyesplease.com)

Posted in Cultural Encounters | 4 Comments

“Train Driver” Review

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Melody Mark

“There are no white people sleeping here,” Simon Hanabe (Leon Addison Brown) exclaims, “Only black people.” Athol Fugard, the playwright and director of The Train Driver plays with a notion of redemption and has the audience anticipating every word of the dialogue.

When I first stepped into the theater at Pershing Square Signature Center, the play’s setting amazed me. Knowing the story behind the play, I did not picture the set to be covered with sand. It looked like a combination of a landfill and a desert. The seats are also situated in a way where the audience can almost touch the grains of sand in front of us. “How is this setting related to the story?” I wondered to myself. Similar questions continued to cross my mind before the lights in the room were dimmed.

There are only two characters. Each representing a culture that is fated to collide with each other.  Roelf Visagie (Ritchie Coster), a South African man who comes from a culture where the deceased have crosses on their labeled graves, and Simon Hanabe, another African man whose people steal wooden crosses from the graves with no name to make fire. Fugard juxtaposes the two characters to portray the disparities between the mindsets and imbalanced privileges of one African man from another; Apartheid had segregated the colored from the white men in the 1950s. Sleeping in a hut, Simon is wearing a thin set of clothes with multiple holes, whereas Roelf has a t-shirt, jacket and a pair of pants to keep him warm from the cold winters. There are multiple effects during this part of the play. The lights grow dimmer to reveal a shift from day to night and sounds of whirling winds can be heard. I shivered from the cold air, as if I was also in the frayed hut with Roelf and Simon.

This was not the only instance when my emotions changed along with the actors’. When Roelf cursed about the struggles he had to go through, I, too, wanted to curse with him. His voice grows louder when he recounts the conversations he had with his wife; his wife had told him that the accident was not his fault. His voice lowers to an almost inaudible volume when he expresses his regret for being behind the train when it ran over the woman and her two children. The audience can hear the frustration behind his accent even if his words were incomprehensible. Fugard is amplifying the differences between the human mind and conscience with the rise and fall of the actors’ voices. This enhances the captivating qualities of The Train Driver.

Sitting in the theater, I felt as if I was the one searching for a way to redeem myself. I had almost wanted to shout with Roelf,  “I’m not looking for white people. It is black people I am looking for.” Throughout this play, Fugard utilizes the audience’s various senses so that we can experience the South African man’s journey to redemption and the colored African’s living condition. The encountering of the two different cultures reveals the conflicted feelings that many of Simon’s people may have felt during the Apartheid era. It also reveals the perspective of South African men who may have benefited from the Apartheid, but felt guilty about the privileges that were given to them. Whether Roelf was able to redeem himself in the end is questionable because the ending left many questions unanswered. However, this may represent the South African men’s unredeemable sense of guilt from the Apartheid era. The unresolved ending has convinced me to want to watch other versions of the same play; I may be able to find clues to answer the various questions.

Signature Theater

Posted in The Train Driver | Tagged | 2 Comments

Driven to Interpret

Posted on October 4, 2012 by isabelzhao

Athol Fugard sets us off in The Train Driver with a sullen song. What are we about to see? Well, we meet one of the characters, who briefly introduces us to the background information. Although there are two sides to the story, Fugard chooses to write the play is told through the perspective of the train driver.

Based on a true story, Roelf, a train driver, is a middle-aged white man. His life falls apart when he is consumed by his own guilt. A mother and her three children had jumped in front of his incoming train to kill themselves. Of course, Roelf does not have the option to successfully stop the train before he comes in contact with the mother and children. After the accident, he is infuriated. Roelf was in search of the woman’s grave when he encounters Simon, a black man who makes a living by burying unnamed bodies. He places rubbish on the heap of sand to mark the grave that is already taken.

The stage was dimly lit, scattered with heaps of sand. Stones, tin cans, bottles, and other garbage topped the sand, giving the audience an impression of a graveyard with no graves. A shack was mounted in the center of the stage with an old and broken down car on the right. The appearance of the stage set the mood for the play; there was a tone of seriousness and desperation. This very suitably represented the influence of the apartheid. The sound effects and temperature of the theater were very noteworthy. When it became night, the lights dimmed, and the crisp wind can be heard whistling in the air. Not only that, but the air felt significantly cooler, as if you were there in the scene with the characters.

The overall setting and physicalities of the play was very simple. This let the audience focus more on what the characters are saying, giving them the opportunity to really understand how each one is feeling, specifically the train driver.

There were no unwelcome pauses between Ritchie Coster (as Roelf) and Leon Addison Brown (as Simon). Both actors knew their lines by heart and did not hesitate even once in the 90-minute play. There was passion in their acting, which helped place the audience in the shoes of the characters. Roelf started off so hysterical and infuriated that his voice shook. Although he spoke with a thick accent, his actions, the profanity, and tone of his voice was more than necessary to understand how he was feeling. “I’m fucked up in here,” he says, pointing to his head. He paced around the stage and was very distraught, as if his thoughts were scattered all over the stage. Simon, the soft-spoken character of the two, very clearly presented his very gentle and caring nature. However, his lines were very brief and sometimes so abrupt that they were surprising, but nonetheless entertaining like, “I sleep now.” Very little is revealed about Simon, compared to Roelf because of this.

The play was full of dialogue, and quite frankly, a little too much dialogue. There was not much action which led to some of the audience slipping their attention away. Now, even though there was so much dialogue, the audience is still left hanging with a few questions. What did the train driver expect when he arrived at the graveyard? What would he have done if he could locate the woman’s body? Why did the woman jump in front of the train? What was she thinking at the time? Even with the information already given to the audience, there is room for them to interpret what has not been answered.

The play The Train Driver was meant to portray the influence of the apartheid and it very well did; the audience left the theater feeling shaken and despair. It showed the interracial relationship as well as how both sides felt about the accident. In the end, however, no matter what race, we’re really all the same.

Credit: Signature Theatre

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The Train Driver…Driven to Insanity

Posted on October 4, 2012 by rubinsammy

What does an emotionally disturbed man, a graveyard, and a train have in common? It is not a question many of us face on a daily basis, but the answer is the source of Athol Fugard’s new play, The Train Driver.

The audience first meets Simon (Leon Addison Brown). We learn that Simon is a gravedigger. As Simon is working, a loud ruckus comes and we meet Roelf (Ritchie Coster). Roelf asks Simon to direct him to any new grave of a woman and her baby. According to Roelf, a woman with her baby jumped in front of his moving train and he couldn’t do anything about. Afterwards, Roelf experienced visions of him pulverizing the woman. Ultimately, causing him to lose his job, his family, and his sanity. Throughout the performance, Roelf keeps trying to find the grave in order to scream at her for all the pain he caused her.

The play wasn’t just a story about a man confronting his emotions; its sole purpose was to teach the audience that blacks still face poverty in South Africa today. Athol Fugard showed this with his use of innuendos. The set is one huge innuendo and it deserves credit. At first, it didn’t look like a graveyard. Instead it looked like a junkyard with the amount of scrap metal around and even a defunct car. As the play progressed, the audience is allowed to zoom on more innuendos. Simon’s living conditions are one of them. Simon lived in a small hut with no electricity. He only had a candle for light and he still used it very efficiently. The last two were because of the set design, but the final one was revealed in dialogue. It was less subtle, but more effective. Roelf shows Simon the news article that talked about how Roelf’s train ran over the woman. As Simon was going to grab the article, Roelf says that he doubts that Simon even knows how to read and Roelf is right. As Roelf starts reading the article, the audience learns that the setting is around 2010. To know that blacks live in terrible conditions even today, it was a bit exaggerated, but it served its purpose of informing the audience.

One scene that Athol Fugard doesn’t show is the reason why Roelf is in disarray. The audience knows how Roelf feels about the woman and how she had a profound effect on him. It would have been interesting to see why the woman jumped with her baby. What was she thinking? Did she want to make a statement? Why take her baby with her too? This wasn’t a major issue because of how well both characters were portrayed. Here, the clothes didn’t make the men, but the men made the clothes. The rags worn by Simon or the baggy sweatpants worn by Roelf didn’t feel like an article of clothing. Instead, it felt like an extension of their respective characters.

The Train Driver is filled with turns and epiphanies. On the outside, the play looks like a man versus self theme, but if one is willing to look past this façade, he or she will see something different. Athol Fugard does a good job at implying apartheid isn’t over yet and that many South African blacks face terrible life conditions.

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A Flawless Performance

Posted on October 4, 2012 by navtejahuja

From the entry of Simon with his beautiful song to the unnecessary profanities of the train driver (Roelf Visagie, played by Ritchie Coster), The Train Driver appeals to many emotions that convey to the viewer the dynamics of a rather depressing situation. Simon (played by Leon Addison Brown), unable to get a decent job due to the color of his skin, digs graves for black people near the railroad; the ones who are named in one pile and the unknown ones in another. Conversational exchanges between Coster and Brown show the delicate balance of racial relationships in South African society. The way the train driver treats Simon in the beginning, with the pushy dialogue and the subtle race related remarks, is also proof of this. Both actors demonstrated to an excellent extent the authenticity of apartheid and how it affected interracial interactions. Fugard’s experience with plays relating to racial tensions can be perceived effectively through the way Simon is protecting the train driver from the groups of black people that raid some nights, hiding him in his shed, even giving him his food. Even after they become friends, there is still a hesitance between them that is due to the difference in their complexions. The two characters each have their own little quirks, providing uniqueness to otherwise basic Caucasian and black males. For example, Simon’s laugh is enough to cause an audience to smirk a little itself, while the off color swearing by the train driver depicts his anger and confused state of mind. These characters fit the general role of black and white males in apartheid filled South Africa, but these interesting characteristics are what set them apart from the expected caricatures. From the authentic accents and the genuine conditions of a poverty stricken black South African man to the train driver’s rain jacket and Simon’s large, uncomfortable overcoat, one can clearly see that South Africa’s apartheid culture was well represented in this performance.

 

Technically very sound, the performance’s sound effects of trains, people, and even dogs were used to great results in order to create a sense of fear and anticipation when the two main characters could not provide the spark. Even the lighting of the fire in Simon’s shed had an ominous feel to it, sending a dreary shudder through the audience. Dimly lit with a dark backdrop, there was actual gravel on the stage floor. The morose atmosphere of the stage was extremely somber, well suited to the play’s needs. With every description of the scene in which the lady and her baby were killed, an image forms of a struggle of a man trying to stop a train and then a sudden thud. The train driver’s agony is reflected through these memories and flashbacks. Many questions arise in the audience’s mind.  Who was this lady? What was going through her mind? Was it an accident? Suicide? Why the baby as well? The ending of the play is the complex unraveling of the racial tension between Simon and the train driver along with the self- deprecating attitude of the train driver reaching a breaking point. The train driver’s search for personal peace is what guides him to do what he does, but attaining this peace proves to be rather difficult.

 

 

This play deals with an inner struggle of a man who has experienced a life-changing event. However, the underlying theme of the prominence of racial differences is felt in every swear, every song, and every gesture made by the two men. The one complaint about this play, if anything would be that Fugard may have not necessarily taken the knowledge level of all audiences into account. It can be clearly be seen that there are racial undertones to the plot, but it would have been better if there was some more direct racial conflict. The audience should definitely do their research before viewing any performance of The Train Driver.

 

Why would a man care so deeply for a woman he didn’t know? What causes benevolence even in times of prejudice and hatred between two completely opposite men? Hope, and therefore the lack of hope inspire and plague the characters of this play, as internal and external struggles shape their lives and decisions. One of the smoothest, most well rehearsed performances in recent memory, this is a must watch for any theater lover.

 

Credit: Navtej S. Ahuja (Photographer), James Houghton and Erika Mallin (Directors), and The Perishing Square Signature Center (SignatureTheater)

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Another World

Posted on October 4, 2012 by wesleyyun

Fugard’s The Train Driver is a performance made unique and memorable by the way it was told. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that this is a two person play that creatively makes use of the power of memory through story telling. The plot is driven through listening to Roelf (Ritchie Coster) tell his story. But the play becomes mind-blowing when one realizes that this is actually a story within a story since the play is in actuality a memory being told to us by Simon (Leon Addison Brown). Even if the play tanks, Fugard deserves credit for the ingenius way the play is presented. The plays meta qualities show how memory is a central theme this play.

Credits to Richard Termine/Boneau/Bryan-Brown via Bloomberg

Ritchie Coster and Leon Addison Brown made no noticeable mistakes in their lines. Coster portrays his character well but he does not come without a few grievances. He is able to effectively deliver the raw rage and desparation that initially consumes his character Roelf. Although his accent is initially thick and rough, his tone of voice is more than enough to adequately show his frustration. Once I was adjusted to his thick accent, the myriad of profanity spewed constantly from his mouth. At first what seemed like disgruntlement quickly became repetitive almost to a point where it plain vulgar.

Leon Addison Brown’s role as Simon is largely overshadowed by Coster’s role as Roelf. His humbleness, soft-spoken lines make him easily forgettable. However, this is not to say that he is unnecessary. His gentleness and innocent nature makes him incredibly likeable and is essential in Roelf’s mental transformation. Simon’s laid back attitude at times also provided tidbits of humor and comic relief that was necessary after tense moments filled with intense emotion.

The two demonstrated good teamwork in this two-man ninety production. There was no clashing between the actors. However, that is not necessarily a good thing. Without any big clashes between the characters, at times it was almost as if Brown’s character was part of the audience watching Coster play Roelf.

The setting was almost a whole achievement in itself. The broken down car, junk, litter, and sand scattered all over the place created a wonderful set that was pleasing to the eye and set aside the tradition wooden stages. Perhaps one of the most amazing things about the set was that there was interaction with the junk scattered around. The setting also effectively paralleled the desparation in Roelf. Here we see a man who is angry and largely confused wandering desperately in search of answers. Yet he ends up in a desolate and depressing graveyard. Who can answer his questions when everyone is dead here?

Credit to Signature Theatre

The play went undisturbed and flowed nicely. This was largely due to both the lighting and sound effects. The lights subtly changes from dark to bright and then back to dark to mimic the sun passing throughout the day. It happens a few times throughout the play. The sound effects also secretly combine with the lighting by creating sounds of wind to show the cool air of the night. What was amazing was that during the transition to night, waves of cool air actually passed through the theatre to convey a realistic feeling.

As a play with a social theme, The Train Driver does indeed show the results and aspects of apartheid in South Africa. Its ending offers a wake-up call with shocking realism about the fragility of life and how in the end we’re all just skin and bones.

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Prepare to Embrace the Impact

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Gen Hua Tan

BAM! The train rams into the black woman and her kid – is what we have expected to be The Train Driver’s sensational opener. Instead, we are welcomed by a wasteland of rusted metals and sand, and a run-down, decaying car sits silently on stage that sets up an eerie and increasingly edgy mood. It is the home of Simon Hanabe (Leon Addison Brown) the black gravedigger, and the resting ground for the nameless. And so we witness Athol Fugard’s The Train Driver, the after-tale based on a true story where a black woman and her four children jumped in front of a train and died.

In this story about the despair brought forth by the apartheid, Fugard chooses to tell it in the perspective of the white Train Driver, Roelf Visagie (Ritchie Coster). Not only do Africans feel despair, so much that they are willing to commit suicide, the whites who live among them also do. They can suffer severe traumas that can lead to insanity, resentment, and devastation of their lives. That is well portrayed by the great dramatic acting of Coster. He enters the stage in misery after the train incident, roaring at Simon to locate the nameless black woman that he has killed. He walks in circles, scratches and pulls his hair, wipes his sweat, spits while shouting, kicks the sand, and throws metal parts and stones to illustrate his anxiety, anger, frustration, and ultimately, despair. He has lost everything: his job, his family, his mind and his hopes. Pointing to his head, Roelf says to Simon, “It means I’m fucked up in here.”

Hope is something that separates the white men from the black men in Africa. But Fugard effective shows us that once hope is lost people become equals regardless of their skin colors. The exceptional lines that Roelf, in all his wrath and insanity, repeatedly concludes reveal that “It’s all about hope.” After the train driver realizes this, he wants to bury himself in the same graveyard as the black woman who died. The climax, however, is the abrupt death of Roelf, masterfully enhanced by the thundering noise soundtrack of an incoming train. Hopelessness and death then become the ultimate equalizers for people living in apartheid.

 

(Photo Credits to Signature Theater, taken by Richard Termine)

The uniqueness of this stage in Signature Theater lies in its efficiency. The unused tires and rubbles on the broken car acts like a staircase for Roelf’s grand entrance, day and night is easily altered by the powerful lights, and Simon’s metal box home can turn to reveal and conceal its inner chamber. You wouldn’t think that a seemingly barren stage can employ so many subtleties to add life to the play.

 

(Photos Credit to Signature Theater, taken by Richard Termine)

For this 90 minutes two-man show, to keep the audience captivated and excited throughout is an incredible feat, especially when both characters are played with a thick accent. But with the vigor, anger, and desperation portrayed by the casts, Coster and Brown, The Train Driver accomplished just that. Not only has Coster and Brown perfectly memorize their lines, the spirited emotions quickly circulate through the audiences as Roelf explodes in anger and frustration, pointing, cursing and ordering Simon with a condescending tone.

Roelf’s costume, however, reveals that he has no social status other than the fact that he is white. Dressed in bagged pants, dirty green jacket and a pair of old sneakers, Roelf looks pitiful. It was disappointing that Simon almost looks better than Roelf with his unwrinkled overcoat. Fortunately, Simon’s inner garment, untidy dress-up and baggy prison-like overall, indicates that he is in no better position than Roelf.

(Photos Credit to Signature Theater, taken by Richard Termine)

The Train Driver gives us a deep insight into the apartheid existing in South Africa, and it is masterfully scripted and performed. It provides a powerful account on the aftermath of a terrible tragedy caused by apartheid with a strong emphasis on hopelessness. Without a doubt, this play certainly is a masterpiece of its genre.

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