As I rushed from Chemistry recitation over to Rathus Hall, which was incredibly hard for me to find, I wondered what Ralph would look like up close, and I was even more curious as to what he had to say regarding his own piece.  Running down the stairs, I was stopped in the hallway because of a few people blocking the hallway.  But, wait!  They weren’t just any ordinary person!  It was Ralph Lemon himself, as well as two of his dancers and Professor Profetta.  I acted as though he was a true, famous celebrity and I felt my heart racing as I followed him into the dance studio, 101A.

When he took his shoes off, as well as the other dancers, I wondered if I was supposed to take mine off too, but I figured that it was just some weird dancer routine that I was unaware of, so I kept mine on.  One of the first questions that came to my mind was, why is Professor Profetta not letting him speak?  I was so eager to hear from Lemon himself.  His piece left me in a “what the ****” state of mind, and I thought I would just leave it alone, but the piece wouldn’t leave me alone.  I needed to understand what Lemon was attempting to show me, and I hoped to find that during the talk-session with him.

In the beginning of the talk, I noticed that many of my classmates were shuffling around a little, and that is probably because Professor Profetta, the dancers, and Ralph Lemon were all basically restating what we had already known from previous discussions on the piece.  This made me want to get up and leave, but I didn’t want to be rude.  I thought that I was giving up my free hour, where I could be eating and finishing up my chemistry labs just to restate the obvious.  I thought that it wouldn’t be beneficial and it was just a waste of my time being there.  But, my mind quickly changed.

When the audience sitting around Lemon and the others were asked to propose any questions, no matter the topic, to Lemon or his dancers, the talk became really interesting, in my opinion.

There were two professors in the audience and one of them continuously referred to Lemon’s piece as an “experiment,” which Lemon gladly accepted.  His piece was indeed an experiment, an experiment between form and non form, the human body and its movements, as well as the possibilities and limits to which he could take this piece.  Lemon really wanted to show what he was feeling, his grief, and this moment in his life.  This piece was based on everything Lemon had been experimenting on in the past few years, and he thought it would be a good idea to put it together.  Lemon even chuckled at the idea of calling “How Can You Stay in the House…” a piece because he felt as though it was unfinished and his experiment wasn’t really over.  He even laughed at the idea of making his dancers do this nonstop because he still didn’t really achieve his goal.

One of the girls in our class mentioned that the dance was made without a structure.  Okwui quickly responded to her comment by making it known that their dance, or whatever you wanna call it, was indeed structured.  The dancers knew their timing: how long they must spin, how much time should elapse before they jump, when they had to “meet up” with each other again.  So, the dance was indeed structured even though we thought that the majority of it was just improvised.

Another question that was brought up, which seemed to stunt our class’s minds, was:  why put animals on the screen?  I expected a really long response from Lemon with very intricate and detailed descriptions, but his answer was extremely simple.  “The animals showed grace.”  One question that I really was burning to ask is, why did he choose those animals in particular, but I felt that maybe I would be a little too repetitive.  This idea of a moment of grace was really my favorite portion of the talk because he revealed something that I would have never thought about.  The animals were indeed very graceful, after looking at chaos and listening to eight minutes of crying, they were peaceful.

Okwui also spoke about her crying book, and told us more about what it included like letters from Lemon’s deceased partner, news clippings, images, and poems.  I found it to be amazing that she could just look at sad images and cry for eight minutes.  She said that when she thought about crying, it was impossible for her to actually do it, but when she focused on the book itself and its contents, she found that place inside of her that helped her to let it all out.

One last thing that I found to be interesting was that Lemon mentioned that the dancers’ performances did not depend upon the audience’s reactions.  The audience could have loved it, liked it, or hated it, but the performers weren’t trying to make them feel any sort of way so all of their responses were valid.

Ralph Lemon was extremely down to earth and he was really fun to talk to.  The talk helped me to really get into Lemon’s mind and understand the meaning behind his work.  I am extremely happy that I was able to meet Lemon in person, and I really hope that he uses children in his next piece.  I finally understand…sorta.

I really did not want to be spending my Wednesday free hour spending more time talking about Ralph Lemmon’s “How can you sit in the house all day and not go anywhere?” BAM dance piece.  But that’s exactly what I found myself doing.

When I saw the BAM piece, as I wrote in my blog, I really didn’t like it and just wanted to forget it and put it behind me.  But of course that didn’t happen- first we had a discussion with Katherine Profetta, the dramaturge, and just when I thought it was over I found out we had another one with the great Ralph Lemmon himself!

Well, I was shocked when I walked into that dance studio.  I saw Ralph, Katherine and two of the dancers sitting in chairs across from us, not up far away on a stage.  It was an intimate gathering, there weren’t many people there, and it seemed pretty informal.  Especially because since it was a dance studio they had to take their shoes off, so it was funny that Ralph and everyone was there barefoot.

Anyway, enough about that.  Now for the actual content of the talk.  At first it was boring, like same old, same old, talking about how the goal was nonform and dance in a different way instead of something we’re used to, etc. which we knew already but they had to talk about for the other people there who hadn’t seen the show or didn’t know.

After that I picked out some interesting tidbits.  First of all, I thought it was so interesting when a student asked a question and mentioned unstructured dance or something like that, and Okwui the dancer answered and was saying that it was a false impression- it was a VERY structured piece with exact timing and reasons behind everything.  Contrary to what I, and I think a lot of other people, thought, the dancers didn’t just get up on stage and start randomly flailing.   Okwui said nothing they did was random- for example, she would spin for 25 seconds, then improvise for 1 minute, then she had an “appointment” to bang into another dancer on stage, so everything was very structured.

Another thing I liked was when someone asked a question about what the animals on screen were all about and Ralph Lemmon said that it was his attempt at showing grace, because it was just a peaceful moment among all the fast-paced craziness, and that the animals were the perfect representation because they just are what they are.  I don’t really know how to put it into words, but when he explained it I really liked that idea.  In general, I just really appreciated that nothing was random and that everything had a reason or thought behind it.

I also found it interesting when they were talking about their relationship to the audience and Ralph was saying that it’s not like a typical Broadway show where they want the audience’s approval.  He said its less like they were performing FOR the audience, it was more like they were performing and ALLOWED the audience to watch.

It is also really impressive that they managed to pull off the performance because the dancers were saying that it was so hard to do because they couldn’t rehearse and learn everything straight through, they would do it for a week, then take a few months off, do it for two weeks, take more time off… and it was all very scattered.  So I’m impressed that they were able to do it so well and keep moving forward instead of relearning the same thing every time they got together, which, from what I gathered, wasn’t too often.

Overall I have to say that the more I hear about and talk about the Ralph Lemmon show, the more I can appreciate the kind of performance they put on and what they’ve done.  But that doesn’t mean I would want to sit through it again LOL.

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.

After initially watching Ralph Lemon’s performance I wondered why on earth would he chose to produce something that would want to make the people he was performing for want to get up and just leave? After listening to what Ralph Lemon, Katherine Profeta, and the dancers David and Okwui had to say, I was finally able to realize that the piece wasn’t supposed to be about whether or not we liked it, it was about the process. We as the audience have to figure out how to watch this performance.

Normally when I watch something I try to figure out what the storyline is and why things are occurring. So naturally when I sat down to watch this performance I immediately tried to figure out what the story was. For this reason I think I left the theater very unsatisfied that night because I wasn’t able to figure out this story. But that’s exactly what Lemon wanted. “How Can You Stay In The House All Day And Not Go Anywhere” can be thought of as an “experiment”. Ralph Lemon didn’t want the piece to be about us, rather for it to be about the bigger questions, such as, is it acceptable to go to a performance and watch dancers just be? What is it now that is done on stage? What is dance, and what are its boundaries? How far can something go before it doesn’t belong in theater?

I guess another reason why when sat through this performance I didn’t enjoy it is because it wasn’t anything I was used to seeing. I was very disappointed when I walked in thinking I was going to see a dance, and then all of a sudden I saw a large screen on stage, and then when the dancing started it wasn’t the dancing that I had been expecting to see. “We’re not trying to do something that you recognize”. ……oooo, now I get it! I wish I had known that going into the piece. Now everything makes so much more sense. We weren’t supposed to know what was to come next, we weren’t supposed to recognize their movements. This is why their dancing appeared to have no form. It was child-like, which is what Ralph Lemon wanted to accomplish.

Something that Okwui pointed out which changed my view on the dancing was that she mentioned that the dance actually did have some form to it. Because it was a performance for an audience, it couldn’t just be 20 minutes of complete randomness, there had to be some structure to it. So although to me the whole thing just seemed like completely random movements, and during the performance I had no idea how something like that could possibly be planned, and that it just had to be completely made up on the spot, but after speaking to the dancers I now understand that there were moments where the dancers met, and these moments were prepared and very structured. So although there was no form to the dancing, it was still a very structured piece.

Through this piece, Ralph Lemon takes the opportunity to share a very personal experience with the audience, and through the performance he creates moments of wrongness and tension and in these moments of wrongness he sets the stage for a discussion. So now I finally realize that this Ralph Lemon performance wasn’t about the entertainment aspect, rather it was about how you view this piece, and what you are personally able to get out of it.

I love his voice. Hearing Ralph Lemon speak today brought me back to the performance at BAM when he read the film talk. He has this thoughtful tone to his voice, and his diction makes him seem like he is reciting poetry.

But his voice is just the cherry on top.  I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue between Ralph, Katherine and the dancers. Actually, Okwui is not even a dancer; she is an actress, which I also loved. I have too much love to give.

Sometimes I get too passionate. Like, I will have all these ideas in my head after listening to people explore their own ideas or after reading a really great thought provoking essay, and I feel like I’m going to explode from all the connections and new thoughts that they have helped generate in my head.

This kind of explosion of excitement began, when they started talking about non-form, of trying to break the patterns of dance and create their own language. This semester in my philosophy class, my teacher keeps trying to get my class to think for ourselves. To realize, as Socrates says, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” We are brought up with fixed categories, but instead of questioning these stereotypes and brandings, we accept them as truth.

Professor Rosenberg would love Ralph Lemon, for he also tried to break the norms and protocols. With this production, he wanted to find realms beyond his consciousness. Beyond what is fixed right and fixed wrong. Beyond what is beautiful and what is ugly. To see, “what happens when you get lost in your body?”

I could probably answer this question of what happens when you get lost in your own body. I’m not really a great dancer. I have rhythm; I am just not the greatest multi-tasker. My feet and hands just are not capable doing two different things at the same time. Yet, I know the feeling of when a really great song comes on and you feel it travel through your veins, all over your body, until it is not possible for you to sit still. Then you just get up, and start moving. Jumping. Prancing. Shaking. And it’s the most freeing and exhilarating thing. To others watching this may look very wrong. VERY WRONG.

Ralph Lemon spoke of this “wrongness”. Not mine, but his production.  How it was full of moments that expose a tension from this wrongness. How it was suppose to create a debate as to what we now do onstage. This again, goes back to the idea of a set framework. Where do the borders end? How far can you push until the frame breaks? Maybe I want to break the frame.

This reminded me of a painting I analyzed for a formal analysis paper in Art History. It was Van Gogh called Oleanders. In the painting, the composition is really interesting. It is of a book and vase of flowers on a table. Yet the book is all the way on the left, half off the table, and the vase is towards the right back corner of the table. When you look at it, you feel a tension emanating from the painting, for things are not, “where they belong.”

The idea of things not being where they belong, or how they are “suppose to be,” connects to the idea Ralph was speaking of at the end of the session. (I promise this is my last point)

At the end he spoke about this performance as memory and memorial, him, “Coming to terms with my own life.” It was like a catharsis. Most people see sadness and grief as something terrible, and wish it would just be absent from their lives. Someone commented that she really appreciated him stepping into his own sadness and sorrows and fully taking them in and creating something from them. I could not agree more. I think there is something simply beautiful about contemplating life and sadness. Sorrow and loss can create a sense what of it means to be alive and a human being. In this piece, Ralph Lemon took his grief and tried to get to elements of joy and grace and ecstasy. In the film at the beginning of the BAM production Ralph declares, after his partner dies, “I will ennoble this loss…the remarkable and confounding absence.” I believe he did exactly that.