NYC, OCTOBER, 2000 WITH THE
LI CHIAO PING DANCE COMPANY
"Lost Residues" Production
The small pictures on the sidebars are from our first rehearsal and all together in NY. It's in a little studio hidden on Wooster St.--quite a suprise, actually. You go up a narrow stairway, into what seems to be a spacious studio apartment with a very nice couple, the Warshaws, living there with their two incredibly cute sons. At first, I thought they were going to push their couch out of the way and have us rehearse on their floor!
But instead, they took us through a door into this magnificent studio. Although the windows you see are looking right at the building next to us, the angle of sunlight made the studio just glow. The floors were sprung, the air was fresh, and there was a cool little grocery right down the block that had great vegetarian fare. Lori's opinion, delivered nonchalantly: "I could handle a space like this."
Lori (vertical) and Yunchen (horizontal) rehearsing Satori
This was the first time we've all been together as a company in NY--AJ and I basically took notes with Doug as to the
AJ pondering notes
changes that had been made in the choreography, and possible video and slide projections that would go on during the show.
The space itself--St. Mark's Church--is beautiful. These little pictures don't do it justice, but can give you an idea of the scope of the place.
St. Mark's Church
It's kind of funny--it looks, in this picture, as if we have lots of space around the building--but in reality, it's surrounded by skyscrapers and very busy streets. It's a very old building--pre-dates the U.S., in fact, and it turns out that the Governor of New Amsterdam, Petrus Stuyvesant, is buried here, along with the first or second vice-president of the U.S. There is beautiful sculpture in the yards, as well as marvelous stained glass windows all along the building, which let light it all day long--much to the dismay of Matt, our lighting designer!
AJ in front of one of the windows--nice detail, huh?
The space itself is marvelous--a long, dancespace with sprung floors (underneath the marley that the dancers laid, bless their souls).
laying the marley
Doug is making use of the architecture of the space to turn this into a very site-specific work. The altar has some very high arches and inset areas that we can layer the projections on, and it produces a very non-traditional effect.
Now, though, it's time for me to have some breakfast--so I'll take more pictures, and put them up, later on. Email me! I'm lonely!
