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Choreography is key to American utopia, David Byrne’s high-octane but minimalist theatrical performance. Byrne leads a group of 11 musicians through nearly two hours of dancing (they carry their instruments rather than being tied to them) against a bare white set, set back only with a chain curtain. The effect is an intense showcase of incessant human movement.
“David rejects the messy platforms of the rock show: the cables, the technology, the water bottles,” says Annie-B Parson, the US choreographer behind American utopia, a live adaptation of Byrne’s 2018 solo album of the same name. “He cleans the whole stage, he cleans it. Except for bodies in space. ”
The show was a phenomenal success last year at Broadway’s Hudson Theater after a nine-month world tour, and now the subject of a Spike Lee film. It will return to Broadway in September 2021. How specific was Byrne about what he wanted? “Not at all,” says Parson, an elegant figure with perfect posture, speaking to the FT from his home in Brooklyn. “He gave me the task from start to finish. He just said, here you go. My job is to understand on a dimensional level where it is. “
The effect is surprising, not least because Byrne, 68, and most of his cast are untrained dancers. But Parson is fearless to persuade amateurs to a tough physical performance. He has worked with art-rock musicians including David Bowie and St Vincent, and once choreographed 1,000 singers performing an opera by minimalist composer David Lang. “I built muscle working with amateurs.”
Parson founded the Big Dance Theater company in New York with her husband Paul Lazar in 1991. She is known for ambitious productions with seemingly incongruent references, and Parson is often described as a postmodern choreographer. He doesn’t wince at the label.
David Byrne’s “American Utopia”, choreographed by Parson © Getty Images
“I have no problems with it. All those ideas about decentralizing space, it’s very postmodern to take the important thing out of the center of the room. “He points to the” democracy “of American utopia, with Byrne guiding his musicians on the go rather than occupying the “required rock star spot” of solo superstar.
Another example is his staging for the 2014-16 St Vincent world tour. “I didn’t take her to the center of the downstage until song number eight. This gave the audience time to observe her in different spaces, then they earned the right to finally have her in that central space under the stage.
“It’s a postmodern concept, as John Cage says that every seat in the house is perfect even if the view is blocked, and Merce Cunningham takes the hierarchy off center stage. Those ideas were in the drinking water of my education. ”
A fan of Byrne since her days in Connecticut dance college in the early 1980s (when she first saw Byrne on the Talking Heads tour Stop making sense, also shot for theatrical release), Parson is a longtime collaborator. Lee’s film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September, is “98% faithful” to the stage production, says Parson. Her role was mainly to advise the director and his director of photography Ellen Kuras. “They both have choreographic minds,” he says. “I think [Lee] he could choreograph if he wished – and he is definitely a dancer. His dance Malcolm X it’s off the charts. ”
But Lee also develops Byrne and Parson’s vision of relentless energy, with a moment of deep reflection and stillness. Lee includes family members of people killed by US police violence, against Byrne’s cover of Janelle Monáe’s protest song “Hell You Talmbout”. Each holds a photograph of their deceased loved one.
“[Lee] he just asked them to stay there. And he is working calmly and with time. There’s a certain patience and honor in that lack of movement, ”says Parson.
This week, work again with inexperienced dancers as he returns to Dance Umbrella, the 42nd edition of London’s international choreography festival. Parson worked on his virtual residence for three weeks. One of three in a series called Homemade, the project sees her teaching 16 volunteer dancers from countries including Chile, Barbados, the US and the UK on Zoom to create a short film, which will be shown online this Thursday (November 26). It’s a virtual work out of necessity, but the project offered some of the thrill of a live performance.
“I’m not sure we’re replacing that shared energy cycle we get with a live audience. But there is certainly a sharing of ideas in teaching which is exactly what you hope to have. ”
Emma Gladstone, the festival’s artistic director, says she wanted Parson because “it’s one of the most intellectual choreographies, but her work is still appealing to the public.
“And moving from contemporary dance to commercial work with such success is an indication of her ability to collaborate and respond. Generally anyone performs well when they know how to be on stage, and this reflects her clarity of thought as a choreographer and the confidence she instills in her artists. “
St Vincent on stage in 2014 in a show staged by Annie-B Parson © Redferns / Getty Images
Remote coaching was “a struggle” for Parson, but she focused on composing and working with, rather than against, the limitations of technology and the home settings of her volunteers, “using a kitchen as a [Bauhaus choreographer] Oskar Schlemmer would use a diagonal costume ”.
“One student was always in his kitchen, one in his bedroom, one near what looked like a staircase, one in a courtyard. I started with the notions of weight, concentration and kinesphere. The small scale, which I thought was appropriate for Zoom. And it turned out to be very moving. “
Byrne, says Parson, is “a goldmine of ideas for dance” and American utopiaThere were many choreographic references: Japanese bunraku puppets, Indian street dance, dada, Chris Marker’s films. But his group Dance Umbrella tapped into a very different energy.
The group met on November 2, the day before the US election, and she says the final work will reflect a collective anxiety its members felt at the time. “The world will always create a lens around whatever you do. Within the domestic spaces we were experiencing this huge and suspenseful transformation. “
What does Parson hope the audience will get out of it? “Dance as an important kinesthetic statement. A fundamental part of art. “
Dance Umbrella Digital will run until November 27th danceumbrella.co.uk
The film “American Utopia” will be available for download in the UK from 14 December
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