Visiting Artist | February 1- 13, 2017
New Work for Goldberg Variations (working title)
Pam Tanowitz came to MANCC with collaborator Simone Dinnerstein to continue development of New Work for Goldberg Variations. This evening-length piece for piano and a sextet of dancers was co-commissioned by FSU’s Opening Nights and will premiere in Fall 2017. Inspired by and set to a live performance of Bach’s iconic score, this work marks an important collaboration between Tanowitz and pianist, Simone Dinnerstein, who is one of the foremost interpreters of the Goldberg Variations in recent years. Dinnerstein, who will perform with Tanowitz’ dancers, brings her nuanced understanding of the demanding score.
Tanowitz’s residency focused on developing movement for New Work for Goldberg Variations. As a fully post-modern experimentalist, Tanowitz deconstructs classical movement vocabulary to highlight tension and emotion in new ways. Exploring performing rituals while mining codified techniques in an unusually layered contemporary collage that is imbued with rich, mysterious undertones, the work plays with narrative and abstraction, and formality and immediacy. A progression of images is created that dissolve and reappear throughout the work’s path. Tanowitz frequently works with live music by bringing in musicians towards the end of the project, however, this residency enabled Tanowitz to work with Dinnerstein at a much earlier stage in the development of the piece. Rather than Tanowitz directing the musical performers within her work, Tanowitz and Dinnerstein embarked collaboratively in this project.
Dinnerstein will also perform alongside the dancers, and introducing them at this stage allowed their on-stage dynamic to begin to flourish. Often freelance performers are required to work on multiple choreographic projects simultaneously. This residency allowed for focused time for Tanowitz and Dinnerstein to work with the dancers one-on-one.
Two FSU School of Dance students, Jacqueline Cannon (Senior BFA) and Sarah Rose (First-year MFA), were selected to work with Tanowitz and her dancers as understudies during the residency. This also allowed Tanowitz to experiment with eight dancers, instead of six, for the piece.
The residency concluded with an informal work-in-progress showing. FSU undergraduates from Professor Doug Corbin’s Rhythmic Analysis class attended.
This residency was funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Collaborators in Residence: Simone Dinnerstein [Pianist], Maile Okamura, Maggie Cloud, Lindsey Jones, Jason Collins, Christine Flores, Sienna Blaw [Dancers]
Maggie Allesee
