Drum Roll Please…..He’s coming, he’s coming!
Last week, when I blogged about the Ralph Lemmon Dance, I discussed my inability to comprehend the piece, but more importantly, I focused on the ways in which Dr. Profetta helped us to understand it. Just when I thought I finally understood the piece to the best of my ability, I received an email that Ralph Lemmon himself would be coming to Queens College. I jumped at the opportunity to better grasp the meaning of the piece.
Wednesday afternoon, Ralph Lemmon, Dr. Katherine Profetta, two dancers from the Ralph Lemmon Dance, and approximately 40 students, gathered into a dance studio to listen to Ralph Lemmon speak about his piece. To be honest, I was expecting to be sitting in the audience of an auditorium, needing a pair of binoculars to see Ralph Lemmon, who I imagined would be sitting on stage. I was more than excited to find that I was sitting less than ten feet away from him, which elicited a friendlier atmosphere for the lecture.
Mr. Lemmon began the session by discussing his opinions about the piece, as well as his goals in creating it. He believes that, with regards to dance, the possibilities are endless. Ralph wanted to fill the stage with other ideas and concepts, not generally associated with the dance we know. He originally created the film shown in the beginning for an artist conference, and it created a “spring board” for the piece we witnessed at BAM.
During the lecture, one member of the audience requested permission from Ralph Lemmon to refer to the production as an experiment, and Mr. Lemmon eagerly welcomed this term. In our class discussion with Professor Profetta, the readings about the performance as well as a student in our class suggested that the piece was a conglomeration of many different ideas that did not seem to be connected, but all worked together to formulate a masterpiece. We couldn’t come up with a good reason for the display of the animals on the screen, but in response to a question asked, Ralph Lemmon explained that the animals were incorporated as a “moment of grace.” The dance is filled with exhaustive movements and intense crying, and the animals moved across the stage in a calm, soothing manner.
Much of the session was spent discussing the 20 minutes of straight dancing in the middle of the show. Many of the audience members were curious as to how the dancers were able to move continuously for 20 minutes keeping their energy levels high until the very end. One dancer explained that each time he goes onto the stage for this portion of the piece, he imagines that it will be his last opportunity to dance, and therefore puts all of his effort into the dance. The dancers also dispelled any beliefs that the dance section had no structure – many aspects of the piece were carefully planned and timed. Okwe spins for a certain length time, and at a specific point during her crying, she picks up the tambourine. Although an audience may not realize it while watching the show, the dance is not “random” – each movement made by each dancer has a purpose. Additionally, during the improvisation, there are specific markers and meetups – planned times when the dancers all come together on the stage, which allow for a resurgence of energy.
The last aspect of the performance we discussed was the relationship between the performers and the audience. Ralph Lemmon and the dancers were unsure what the audience expected from them, and the audience members often are unsure what to expect from the production. Different members of the audience have different reactions to the piece – some hate it, some love it, and some erupt in tears. Regardless of their reaction, I believe that the dance is unlike any production any member of the audience has ever seen, and I am glad that our class had the opportunity to learn more about the piece from both the dramaturge and the writer themselves.
