Thursday, February 19, 1998
‘Fault’ motions are now an art form
DANCE: Movements of earth, dancers brought together to flow as
one
By Jammie Salagubang
Daily Bruin Contributor
There’s a whole lot of shaking going on – both metaphorically
and physically – in "Fault," the new work by the Margaret Jenkins
Dance Company which shows at the Wiltern Theater Friday and
Saturday.
"’Fault’ resonates not only geologically, but politically and
historically as well," says Margaret Jenkins, the director and
founder of the company. "I was interested in making a work in
collaboration with my company and other associates that would
investigate the different ways in which that metaphor resonates
under the ground and above the ground."
Jenkins was first hit by the idea when a repertory dance company
in Salt Lake City commissioned her to do a work about the Great
Basin. She did extensive research and discovered the themes that
would shape her work.
"Looking into the nature of the land felt very poignant because
I think there are so many things about how the land forms and
disrupts and splits and displaces and ruptures and resists that are
of course parallel to the nature of the human being," Jenkins
comments. "I think that it is critical that artists be aware of the
social and historical fault lines that we all have to
negotiate."
She describes the first half of the piece as having a dense
texture, a sort of "underground" feel, very rich and colored with
activity. The second half seems sparse and quiet in comparison.
"The first half is like looking at the exterior of the
landscape, at lots of rocks. The second half is then breaking that
rock open and looking inside," Jenkins says.
Helping her convey the seismic metaphors are myriad people.
Dancers, musicians, composers and a poet worked together on
"Fault."
"It’s a natural part of how she makes her work, to collaborate
intensively with all the media required to make a dance," says Paul
Dresher, whose ensemble performs the live music for "Fault" at the
UCLA and Chicago performances. "The process that you use to
collaborate, the nature of how you define how decisions are made
really determine a great deal about the work itself."
David Lang is one of the two composers of the score for "Fault"
and wrote the music for the Paul Dresher Ensemble. Lang’s work is
primarily instrumental while the other composer, Alvin Curran,
focuses on the ordinary sounds of life, like wood breaking or
billiard balls colliding.
"There’s two different composers so there’s a question of how
the music from my world is rubbing up against his world," Lang
says. "I think what (Jenkins) was trying to do was get people with
different backgrounds who would each bring something different and
then you would get a little friction, a fault line, from that
too."
Lang describes his work at times propulsive, even maniacal,
while still providing a counterbalance to the dance. For example,
while the dancers perform with tremendous activity onstage, the
music moves along at a slower pace.
"I felt that the tensions between the two different speeds the
information came to you, both visually and through what you hear,
would allow the music to retain its integrity and make a comment on
what was happening onstage, but not dominate it or get in its way,"
Lang comments. "The way I interpreted my role in this was to be an
intelligent listener."
Jenkins’ dancers played not only important physical roles, but
choreographic roles as well. Hired on a project-by-project basis,
the nine dancers designed all the moves. Many of them trained in
distinctly different dance backgrounds, contributing to the fault
notion as well.
"The dance vocabulary, the movement that you’ll see in ‘Fault,’
(was) originally made by the dancers in the company and edited and
directed by me," Jenkins says. "They are dancers who come from all
different kinds of dancing, so the piece reflects that as
well."
Jenkins says "Fault" is not a linear story. She and her
colleagues were more interested in providing an environment on
stage that allowed the audience to make up its own story.
"It’s not really necessary to see all of these oppositions and
frictions resolved or to come to an explosion or climax," Lang
explains. "All that’s necessary is to have the feeling that there’s
this internal life of struggle."
DANCE: "Fault" will be performed Friday and Saturday at the
Veterans Wadsworth Theater at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30, $27 and $9
with UCLA student I.D. For more information, call (310)
825-2101.
UCLA Center for the Performing Arts
The Margaret Jenkins Dance Company performs in "Fault."