On September 12th and 13th I saw The Painted Bird Trilogy by Palissimo at the Wexner Center of the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. I’ve been putting off writing about it because I couldn’t figure out how to sound objective and unbiased, and I probably still didn’t manage it. This is a little long, and not as coherent as it should be, but a lot of you should still read it because it featured some people I bet you like, such as one of my new favourite people Luke Murphy and my forever actual favourite person Nicholas Bruder.
To preface, what was really striking to me about this project was the geographic scope of its progression and completion. It was co-comissioned by the Wexner Center (Ohio), La Mama, the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Performance Space 122 (NYC), Stanica Zilina (Slovakia), and Grotowski Institute (Poland), and funded by so many organizations I’m not even going to bother mentioning them all here because who has time for that? The three parts were created, developed, and performed independent of one another over a fairly expansive amount of time, and it speaks to the talent and vision of choreographer Pavel Zustiak that the trilogy is as beautifully coherent and cohesive as it turned out to be. I probably won’t be able to sustain the same tone throughout this blog entry, let alone a trilogy of blog entries over a 2 year period.
The trilogy was inspired by Jerzy Kosinski’s novel The Painted Bird. That’s not an easy book to read, and it’s not the kind of book you’ll like. It’s not meant to be liked. But it’s about a fundamental human need, shelter, the emotions we project on to that need that create the concept of home, and how that concept changes based on circumstances. Everything seemed to come together to reflect that concept, to challenge it and question it, but never to provide answers. I like that. Boo answers.
The first part of the trilogy, Bastard, is mostly a solo performed by Jaroslav Vinarsky, and it’s as close to one of those Liza at the Palace tour-de-force performances I’ve ever seen in dance form. It was endlessly engaging and did a beautiful job of introducing the themes as both ideas and as concrete movements that were to be further explored in the following parts. I was really, really, really nervous about what to expect from myself as a non-dance-type audience member, but the piece was so accessible and multidisciplinary, with such a variety of entry points to access from that I found I had no problem engaging in the piece at all. Really, really well done in that respect.
The second part, Amidst, was somehow simulatenously both in and out of my comfort zone. Walking around a room while Nicholas Bruder dances? Yeah, no worries, I got this. It's taken care of. Walking around a room while not wearing a mask while Nicholas Bruder, a person that I think is so talented that every time I see him I can’t form actual words so mostly I just pretend like he’s doesn’t exist because it’s easier than stress vomiting all over the place, dances in the middle of a random city in Ohio? EVERYBODY PANIC.
Honestly though, once the initial strangeness of seeing someone out of the environment you're used to seeing them in was over, I really relaxed and felt excited instead of nervous. And I am so, so glad I did because the entire 60 minutes of this were perfect. There’s really nothing I would suggest, nothing I would question, nothing I would change, that could improve upon it. I loved it in a way I didn’t anticipate I would. Maybe because it’s the one I saw twice, but it’s the one I remember most clearly and most fondly. It was more abstract than the other parts, but also featured some of the most overtly literal moments, and it seemed to possess a completely different feeling from the others. It was performed in a different space, while the other two took place in the same theatre with a different seating configuration. The lighting was a wash of cool grays and blacks and whites and extensive projection and photography, while the other two had a warmer lighting design and less extensive use of multimedia. It elaborated on many of the ideas and movements displayed in Part I, expanding upon them both in terms of length and scale, thanks to the fact that there were now 3 dancers instead of just 1. And it really just felt different in a way I can’t quite pin down – not wrong, not out of place, but, bad play on words about to happen, amidst, maybe, and somehow oddly displaced from time and space. I wish I could say talk more about the other dancers, Lindsey Dietz Marchant and Pavel Zustiak, who were both wonderful, but let’s be real, we all know who my focus was on.
I could say so much about specific moments or particular movements, but it somehow seems wrong or even impossible. Dance expresses something indescribable, so I won't torment myself trying to find the right words. I won’t try to describe my favourite moments, or how I had chills the entire time, or how I spent the entire day wishing time would stop because I knew once it started I would never get to see it again. But I will say this: my kind of pathetic and probably mildly concerning appreciation for Nicholas Bruder’s talent is so so so so well-deserved, because he is really, really, really talented and I have really, really, really great taste.
Part III, Strange Cargo, started out slowly for me. I was totally a little bit Mopey McGee because Part II was over. But as things progressed, I kind of really started to warm up to this Luke Murphy guy. I don’t know why I hadn’t before. Maybe it’s because he’s not really what I think of when I think ‘dancer’. And he doesn’t really fit in to the aesthetic that I like in actors or models or anybody who has a job obligation to look a certain way. He looks too healthy and has too many muscles, dammit. Or maybe it’s because so many of my friends already think he’s the best thing since Shawn Hunter and I like to be different and a special snowflake. But whatever was holding me back from being on Team Luke Murphy before completely disappeared when I saw this, because he is absolutely unreal, and does all sorts of unbelievable things, and also runs faster than any human being I’ve ever seen. Part III grew in size to 5 dancers, including Lindsay Dietz Marchant, Denisa Musilova, Jeremy Xido, and Giulia Carotenuto. They were all so distinctive from one another that I found my attention was pretty effortlessly drawn to the right people and right places at the right times, which is something that rarely ever happens. Many, many kudos to everyone for that feat. It really was such a great Return of the Jedi end to the trilogy, in the sense that I think Admist was the strongest, The Empire Strikes Back of the three, but Strange Cargo pulled everything together with a strong sense of closure.
The performances all featured live music by composer and musician Christian Frederickson, who was a founding member of Rachel’s. If you haven’t listened to them, go do it now. Spotify that shit. The photography and visual elements by Robert Flynt were the bee’s knees and I am obsessed with his work, google him, check out his website, he’s brilliant. And, surprise, I was all about the lighting design by Joe Levasseur, particularly the most stylistic design of Admist. It’s kind of to die for. There are just so many good things here beyond the performances and I wish I could list them all but I can’t find my program and am trying to remember everybody and failing miserably.
To quickly summarize, in my totally un-expert opinion, this was a really strong contemporary dance theatre piece thing-y, and I think it’s something that is accessible to a larger audience than just the regular dance audience. It’s not alienating, it’s not impossible to understand, it resonates on a really fundamental level, and it’s just beautifully designed and performed. I am so, so grateful to have had the opportunity to see it, and when it’s re-staged somewhere else you all have to go see it too or else we can’t be friends.
The moment at 00:38. Watch it. Then multiply that by like 100 and then shoot yourself because you will never be that amazing and then you'll understand how I felt last night.
I had the opportunity to see Part I (Bastard) and Part II (Amidst) of The Painted Bird Trilogy live last night in Columbus, Ohio. I'll write a real summary of this performance and this trip when it's over, but in the mean time, I had to take a minute to share this and express how much I loved it. I've been feeling very numb lately with this overwhelming sense of disconnect from everything. I don't feel disconnected anymore. I feel very, very connected to the whole Universe and everything in it. And I feel excited. And inspired. And motivated. And proud. That's how I know I just saw something really, really good. And this whole thing? Is good. Really good.
What always frustrated me about dance was that so much of it seemed indescribable. It makes me feel things I can't explain or identify with words, and that always made me feel incompetent. But I'm starting to realize that there is no method of creation that can express everything. Whatever our outlet and wherever our talents lay, they are all just pieces of a bigger puzzle. And maybe none of us are ever going to put that puzzle together, but I'm happy that we're trying.
I am seeing Part II and Part III (Strange Cargo) tonight, but wish I could stay until Sunday to see the entire trilogy in full. It's absolutely deserving of repeat viewings, and I hope it continues to be staged and performed in the future because I would literally drag every single one of you with me to go see it. ACTUAL KIDNAPPING.
