DANCE COMPANY

Choreographer: Janet Johnson & Dancer
Music: Composed by Glen Whitehead, Cellist Jane Chan 
Costume: Susi Hubbs, The Costume Lady
Hair/Makeup: Jonathan Eberhardt
Dancer: Aoi Koenig

performance: November 15, Women of Influence
Shockley-Zalaback Concert Hall, Ent Center for the Arts
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Ormao Dance Company work, originally commissioned by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center – ‘Sashay’ event from 2015. Inspired by CSFAC exhibit of Georgia O’Keeffe’s cedar paintings series; specifically ‘Gerald’s Tree II’. I have since re-oriented this piece for any instrumentation and fixed media

In this performance, Aoi was dressed in an elaborate and fantastical dress with hair by Susi Hubbs, The Costume Lady and elaborate makeup by Jonathan Eberhardt.  The choreography follows the life of a tree, from a young sprout close to the earth, slowly rising to its highest point, then, slowly down again. From my end, these ideas expanded into a contemplation on time and movement for the oldest living things on earth such as Methuselah, a Bristlecone Pine in the White Mountains of California, Old Tjikko, a spruce in the Dalarna province of Sweden, or Llangernyw in North Wales. In an age of dramatic environmental change and upheaval looking to longevity and time-worlds that lie at the borders of our comprehension could be a profoundly musical act.  I am fascinated by the possibilities of sound awakening the imagination by time-spans which dwarf human life, that just beyond the temporal membrane of our daily time-potential there exists very different temporal planes beyond our reach. Performing this piece orients us squarely in the present while imagining a connection with the distant past and future.

Performance notes

Performers use a stopwatch and carefully follow the timeline. You may choose to be exact or to depart from strict time, like wandering from trail while keeping oriented and connected to the group. Think of the long lines as beams, driven by slowly shifting timbre being carved slowly in time. There is always sound. The transitions of pitch should be seamless and natural.  Performers may carve any line they choose to get from one note arrival to the next – glissandos, micro-bends, swimming through shifting timbres, or other, as slow and deliberate as possible. Any movement or motion must only be in the pitch areas between the present and future pitch at any given time. 

Image on score: Gerald’s Tree II, by Georgia O’keefe