(Repost) 9/10/20 O&A NYC DANCE: Clive Thompson- The Graham Years (Part Two)

By Walter Rutledge

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The life of a bank clerk at the Government Savings Bank in Kingston, Jamaica was not going be Clive Thompson’s fate; he had been a performer for most of his life. Clive and his sister Norma had been childhood favorites in the local talent shows and were part of the “opening act” in Children’s Corner Club at the Saturday matinees. After seeing the Katherine Dunham Dance Company perform and a chance encounter with modern dance teacher Ivy Baxter he began formal dance classes.

Clive Thompson: The Graham Years (Part Two)

Then the aspiring dancer saw the Martha Graham film A Dancer’s World, and he was determined to go to New York and study at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. During the summer of 1960 Clive had the opportunity to represent Jamaica at dance festivals in Cuba and Trinidad; and it was shortly after returning he decided to use his accumulated vacation time to visit New York City. He had no idea that this trip would be his “escape” from the confines of this mundane banking job, and the next great chapter in his artistic journey.

Clive arrived in New York City on August 17, 1960, and was met at the airport met by his Aunt Hazel and Uncle Boysie De Mercado.  Hazel, a registered nurse, and Boysie, an electrical engineer, had immigrated many years earlier in pursuit of the American dream.  The couple lived on Pacific Street in Brooklyn; and was eager to help their nephew navigate the city, and make a new life in the America’s most celebrated metropolis.

They not only provided him shelter, but also kept a protective and watchful eye of the young Jamaican transplant.  “I had to be home by ten clock. If I was late my Aunt Hazel would lock the door and I had to knock to get in”, chuckled Clive. There was a warm look in his eyes as he recalled those times.

Boysie accompanied him to the Graham School, paid his ten-dollar registration fee and bought him a ten-class card for twenty dollars. During his second week of classes a small, diminutive women can into class and sat in the back of the room. The class suddenly exploded with energy and a surprising vigor. A bewildered Clive said to myself, “ What’s the matter with these Americans? They’re crazy! One minute they’re groaning and the next they are working like mad.” Before the end of the class the woman approached Clive and announced, “I am Martha Graham may I speak to you?”

Clive had only seen Graham in the film where her magnetic presence made her a cinematic giant. When Clive stood up he immediately towered over modern dance’s high priestess. Unbeknownst to Clive an introduction and scholarship request from the United States Information Agency (U.S.I.A.) in Jamaica had alerted Graham to his New York visit and desire to study dance. Her mission that day was to observe him and access his potential.

Graham summoned him to her office and told him, “Clive I must have you on scholarship”. By day’s end Clive’s Visit Visa was changed to a Green Card, allowing him to work twenty hours a week. His class schedule also increased he was now taking two Graham classes, a ballet class and a choreography class with Louis Horst daily. He rose to the challenge of his hectic schedule and quickly adapted to his new environment.

“I was filled with excitement at the energy and wonder of New York City, with its Skyscrapers and never ending activities. I jumped right into the fray. It was as if my entire life in Jamaica was a preparation for my new life, which was about to be born.  I wanted to see everything relating to dance and meet everybody in dance that I could only see in the books that I have read”, recalls Thompson.

The exuberance quickly led to fatigue. On his afternoon break he would find a spot outdoors and take a nap on a bed of newspaper. Soon the hot “Dog Days” of August became a cool autumnal September, and Clive found refuge in a cinema on Second Avenue. “After my first class, I had between twelve and two free and I’d go to a movie theater on Second Avenue to sleep. Two sweet little white headed ladies who ran it would wake me up at a certain time and after a while I didn’t I didn’t even have to pay to get in.”

He finally did adjusted to his daily schedule and it soon changed from rigorous to routine. It took him less than six months to go from beginner classes to the advanced class. One day Graham came into the studio and said, “ I need a boy”. She smiled and said to Clive “Oh there you are, come.” He joined her in studio three, “Lift Helen” she requested. “She just wanted a strong boy to lift Helen McGehee, who was playing the Goddess”, laughed Clive. Graham, Helen McGehee, Clive and the pianist worked for only twenty minutes, and were able to create the entire section in that first rehearsal.

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By the time One More Gaudy Night, debuted in the 1961 season Clive’s role had been expanded and developed from Helen’s strong man into The God. Clive had also gone from a student in the school to a soloist in the company. He not only performed in classic Graham works such as Clytemnestra, Acrobats of God, Errand Into the Maze and Canticle For Innocent, she also created roles for him in Secular Games, Circe and Cortege of Eagles.

Abrobats of God- Clive Thompson Excerpts

This was a very significant time in his development; and Graham became a major influence in the young dancer’s professional and personal life. “Martha, for me, became a mother, because I was very young, naïve and fresh from the islands. And I learned so much. When she was doing Phaedra she didn’t retell the entire tale handed down through the ages, but used one moment, trying to find out why Phaedra acted as she did to her stepson.”

“She works on that in her imagination, speculating on the reason why, and this is a wonderful approach to dance and theater, because you get involved in character. The characters unfold and become real individuals. From the moment the curtain goes up you are telling, reliving the story right until the curtain comes down. It all unfolds with you, by you, on the stage.”

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It was during this time Clive met Elizabeth Jane Lauter a dancer, choreographer and teacher. They were married on March 21st 1963. Three years later their son Christopher Eric Thompson was born and Martha Graham became his Godmother. This was an exciting and fulfilling time for Clive. In the off-season Clive became a “gypsy” dancing in the companies of Talley Beatty, Katherine Durham, Geoffrey Holder, Pearl Lang, Walter Nicks, Pearl Primus, YURIKO and the Toronto Dance Theater.

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By 1970 Clive wanted an artistic change and decided it was time to leave the Graham Company. “I remember after my difficult decision walking despondently across Sixty-third Street and running into Dudley Williams, who had been with Graham, and left long ago. He said Kelvin Rotardier was injured and Alvin Ailey needed somebody. “I’d worked with Alvin in the off-season, but now I had five days to learn an entire new repertoire, and that’s when I became exclusively Ailey’s.”

Look for Part 3: Alvin Ailey coming soon

 In Photo: 1&2) Clive Thompson (2. in Clymenestra) 3) A birthday party for Louis Horst at M.G’s. L to R – Louis Horst, Liz Thompson, Clive Thompson,  Martha Graham and Jose Limon. Seated back to camera Helen McGehee..4) Liz, Clive and Christopher Thompson

Photo Credit: 1) Jack Mitchell 2) OLEAGA  3) Martha Swope-NYC 4) Herb Migdoll

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The World According To Sidra Bell

By Walter Rutledge

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Sidra Bell Dance New York presented the New York premiere of garment Thursday May 15 at the Baruch College Performance Arts Center.  The work by choreographer Sidra Bell had a running time of 60 minutes without an intermission. In many situations a protracted work of this length would have been an intolerable dirge, whose only redeeming quality was that it allowed the audience a short early evening nap. But this was the world according to Sidra Bell, and in her environmental fantasy fest we were on a non-stop roll coaster ride of subliminal and metaphoric imagery. Continue reading

Vivian Reed is Back!

By Walter Rutledge

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The multi-award-winning singer, actress and dancer Vivian Reed is back. After a self-imposed hiatus from performing to care for her ailing mother, Reed is back to the business of entertaining. On Tuesday May 20 she is not only back on stage, but also back at 54 Below, 254 W 54th Street, for one performance at 9:30pm. Continue reading

Dudley Williams: The Consummate Artist

By Walter Rutledge

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In 2004 I had the first opportunity to work with Dudley Williams. It was shortly before he retired from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater after his 40-year association with the company, which included being a muse to founder Alvin Ailey. Now ten years later I have worked with him every time an opportunity presented itself.  This spring season I have the distinct honor to work with Dudley on two different projects. Continue reading

Sidra Bell Dance New York Will Premiere garment This Week

By Walter Rutledge

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Sidra Bell Dance New York will premiere garment during the second week of their New York season Thursday, May 15 through Sunday, May 18 at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Ave at 25th Street. This is the second New York premiere by choreographer and Artistic Director Sidra Bell during the company’s New York season. Tickets are $25 and are available at baruch.cuny.edu.

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On Monday, May 12, we sat down with Sidra to discuss a wide range of topics. These included a conversation about her new work garment, her choreographic process, and her artistic vision. If you haven’t experienced the art of Sidra Bell and the artistry of Sidra Bell Dance New York this week will be an excellent opportunity. For our readership outside of New York Out and About NYC Magazine will stream the performance live on Sunday, May 18 at 7pm.

 

 

 

NEWSTEPS a choreographer’s series at Chen Dance Center

By Walter Rutledge

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The Chen Dance Center presented NEWSTEPS a choreographer’s series for three performances Thursday, May 8 through Saturday, May 10. Fives emerging choreographers were selected to present new works; each choreographer was given rehearsal space and feedback from the selection panel. The extremely audience friendly one-hour performance was presented in the center’s intimate theater; which provided an ideal environment for the budding dance makers to present their work. Continue reading

Ballet Hispanico Brings Machismo To The Joyce

By Walter Rutledge

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The first thing that becomes strikingly evident is the company’s strong roster of male dancers and their dominant role in the present repertoire. There is bravura and an unabashed machismo that exudes from the male performers; and to the credit of Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro, the persona doesn’t come across as a theatrical facade. Instead the dancers exude a confidence and comfort in the choreography.

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Umbral by choreographer Edgar Zendejas draws the audience into the ethereal world surrounding the beloved Mexican celebration Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died.  Although Dia de los Muertos coincides with the Catholic holiday called All Soul’s and All Saint’s Day, the indigenous people have combined this with their own ancient beliefs of honoring their deceased loved ones.

Jamal Callender and Joshua Winzler open the work, they share the stage with a motionless group of dancers, who sit with their backs turned. The encounter is more of a shared experience than a traditional duet. The imagery shifts from comforting and supportively sharing body weight, to haunting and surreal as Winzler muffles Callender’s silent screams.

As the dance moves from duet to octet the quality shifts to weighted movement working through deep second position plies and lunges. The sound of heels dropping to the floor in unison produce a heart-stopping thud. Joshua Preston striking lighting creates a cavernous eerie subterranean world. The ideal place to be introduced to the white faced skeletal figure of death performed with great intensity by Mario Ismael Espinoza.

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Espinoza’s long thick curly hair, high/lifted upper torso deportment and commanding presence were reminiscent of former Bejart principal dancer Jorge Donn. The treatment of the abstract narrative, combined with the rich use of symbolism and imagery presented a decidedly European esthetic. Two such sections are a movement for six men, and a section for the female ensemble.

A ring cell phone interrupted Espinoza’s solo. He walked to the edge of the stage and shushed the “offender”, as the ringing continued the audience also became annoyed and a few people vocally supported Espinoza. When a group of five male dancers joined him on stage to assist in chastising the person it became clear the audience had been duped. The section that followed was a fluid and lyric section with the male ensemble moving Espinoza in a series of lifts and supported movements.

When the ensemble women danced with Espinoza they stripped to the waist, dancing in place with their backs to the audience. Eventually they began to move across the stage; and strategically placed hands or arms kept them covered and chaste. The section had a cleverly designed enticing “peek-a-boo” effect.

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Sombrerisimo by choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa was a delightful up-tempo dance for five men, capturing the company’s credo of empowered male dancing. Christopher Bloom, Jamal Rashann Callender, Alexander Duval, Mario Ismael Espinoza and Johan Rivera Mendez expressed a bravado and unabashed male bonding through the guise of their hats. The ensuing dance featuring acrobatic tableaus, group lifts and partnering, and individual movement statements sprinkled with Latin social dance. With to a copulation of music by various artists including Banda Ionica featuring Macaco el Mono Loco and Titi Robin Sombrerisimo moves with an ease of an uptown ballroom.

Inspired by the surreal Belgian artist René François Ghislain Magritte, who famous images of men in bowler hats began with his 1926 painting The Musings of a Solitary Walker. In Magritte’s work the symbolism of the hat in many of his work is shared identity. Ochoa uses the hats to create unity while establishing to dancers individuality.

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The world premiere of El Beso by Spanish choreographer Gustavo Ramirez Sansano closed the program. The work was dedicated the many variations of a kiss, and he approached the task with a combination of charm, passion and humor. After an orchestral fanfare Johan Rivera Mendez opened the work with a simple walk down stage, his ensuing solo responded to the pizzicato music with quick, crisp, tight movement that resonated through his entire body.  Sansano used this section to establish the work’s pacing and introduce the style for the group sections that would be reintroduced in the latter part of the ballet.

The opening encountered featured an aggressive Kimberly Van Woesik and a restrained Mendez. Mendez fended off Woesik’s overt advance with considerable gentlemanly diplomacy and the dismissive kiss was affectionate but clearly platonic. The encounters that followed ran the osculatory gamut.

The centerpiece of the work was an unexpected encounter between  Christopher Bloom  and Jamal Callender. The interlude began upstage of a giant fringed shawl. The triangle corner of the shawl fell behind the proscenium, and the fringe cleverly divided the stage into two rooms creating the illusion of a bearded curtain.  Callender and Winzeler eventually moved from the upstage room to the space in front of the fringe/curtain choreographically changing their encounter for the audience from mysterious to personal.

With a fixed intensity Callender walked downstage on the diagonal and literally “lip locked” Bloom. Sansano was able to make this an artistic and passionate moment that was more titillating than salacious. Callender, an artist of considerable depth, and Winzeler also deserve credit for their interpretation, which could have easily slipped into melodrama or camp.

Sansano returned to his original movement impetus for a rousing finale the economically capturing the energy of the coda. Mendez also repeated his opening promenade signaling the end of the work. In the hands of a less experienced choreographer this would have been predictable and, therefore, anti-climatic; here it was a welcomed and appropriate concluding moment.

It is worth repeating that over the last three seasons, under Vilaro’s stewardship, the company has moved in an exciting new direction. This Ballet Hispanico has become an ambassador of the Latino experience, focusing more on the culture and heritage of people of Spanish decent from the Western hemisphere. The company now is a technically proficient modern dance ensemble with strong balletic undertones, giving them the prowess to speak in many choreographic dialects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O & A NYC: Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center Presents PEEKS works-in-progress

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The Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center began their spring performance season with PEEKS works-in-process on May 1 at the Actors Fund Arts Center, 160 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn. Two choreographers Ranardo-Domeico Grays and William Isaac were each given thirty-minutes each to present works in progress. Both choreographers shared their developing dances and creative process with an enthusiastic and supportive audience. Continue reading

O & A NYC: Conversation with Clive Thompson Part one- The Early Years ( Reposted)

By Walter Rutledge

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This is the first part of a series of interviews with dancer and choreographer Clive Thompson. In this installment Thompson discusses growing up in Jamaica and his early dance training and career.The series will chronicle his amazing career and life in the arts.  Continue reading

Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center begins Spring Season May 1

By Walter Rutledge

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The Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center (THPAC) will begin their spring season with PEEKS Works In Progress on Thursday, May 1, 7:30pm at the Actors Fund Arts Center, 160 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn. The hour-long presentation will showcase works in development by Ranardo-Domeico Grays and William Isaac. Continue reading