A powerfully energetic mood hangs in the air in the 50,000-square-foot space of Mana Contemporary's Glass Gallery in Jersey City where the exhibition "Making Art Dance: Backdrops and Costumes Celebrating 30 Years of the Armitage Foundation" recently opened.
The colourful batik-like prints of the shirts, skirts and shorts designed by Donna Karan's creative director Peter Speliopoulos perfectly match with a backdrop that looks like a mix of Dutch wax fabrics and Matisse cut-outs by Philip Taaffe for Armitage's production of "Itutu" (2009); costumes by David Salle and Jeff Koons for the 1989 production of "Contempt" dynamically stand in a chorus line formation with an orange red graffiti-ed backdrop, complemented by Koons' grotesque inflatable pig; Pulcinella costumes and props by Alba Clemente are arranged in front of an exotic panel by Karen Kilimnik for the "Made in Naples" (2009) ballet.
Cute tutus by Christian Lacroix recreate the choreography for "The Tarnished Angels" (1987) on a backdrop by Salle, while costumes characterised by wood prints and matched with bizarre headdresses (one of them anticipating Disney's Maleficent's...) remind us of the magic Jean Paul Gaultier has injected in his designs for the stage while clearly and cleverly highlighting the main theme of this retrospective exhibition, that perfect marriage between different arts that Karole Armitage looked for throughout her career.
Born in Kansas in 1955, Armitage studied ballet from a very young age with a former New York City Ballet dancer, and joined the Geneva Ballet when she moved abroad with her family. Her thirst for a more rebellious form of dance prompted her to go back to New York where she worked with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company while developing at the same time her own choreographies.
Poise, speed and a raw energy characterised her early pieces such as "Vertige" (1980), performed with musician Rhys Chatham, and "Drastic Classicism" (1981), that fused together classical ballet with a live punk band and influenced British dancer and choreographer Michael Clarke.
Dubbed by critics as the "punk ballerina" for her attitude that pushed her to tear apart the ballet canon and reinvent it in a modernly vigorous way, Armitage developed a special passion for the visual arts that remained a steady constant in her works.
The backdrops and costumes of her pieces, quite often created by famous artists and designers, allowed her to experiment in her choreographies with different dimensions.
Spike heels and block-stilts turned for example a pas de deux into a sadistic number in "The Watteau Duets" (1984), while the décors and costumes designed by collaborator David Salle mirrored her passion for combining opposites, dissonant and dichotomic forces, such as the elegant and the grotesque, beauty and ugliness, order and chaos, classical ballet and hip hop, highly refined movements and kitsch moods.
Art turned therefore in Armitage's works into a key to develop more complex shapes and movements, at times borrowed from fractal geometry - we shouldn't forget indeed that Armitage has worked not just with artists but also with string-theory physicist Brian Greene.
The exhibition focuses on three distinct, chronological periods of her aesthetic life: Punk, Picture, and Poetry - each section includes several backdrops and matching costumes. Among the highlights there are the costumes from Armitage's first work, "Ne" (1978), designed by Christian Marclay, while he was still a student at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and for "The Mollino Room" (1985), premiered by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Leslie Browne, and Ricardo Bustamante, and inspired by Turin-based architect and designer Carlo Mollino with backdrops and costumes by Salle (with cups and teapots that often obscured the choreography...), but also the area dedicated to the sketches by Speliopoulos, who has turned in more recent years into Armitage's most prolific collaborator.
Armitage directed the Ballet of Florence (1995-99) and the Biennale of Contemporary Dance in Venice (2004), served as resident choreographer for the Ballet de Lorraine in France (1999-2004) and has created works and choreographed productions for many companies, including The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the New York Philharmonic, plus videos for Madonna and Michael Jackson, yet this retrospective is not focused on her past achievements, but should be considered as a celebration of several arts (including the "live performance as art" since the dance company Armitage Gone! Dance, has a permanent residency at Mana Contemporary, and viewers can see directly into the rehearsal space and witness the professional dancers in action).
While exhibitions about dance can at times be tedious for non-connoisseurs as they may focus on the history of certain works or on technical aspects such as choreographies or costumes boringly locked in glass displays and therefore losing their dynamic appeal, "Making Art Dance", curated by gallerist and former MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch, has the power of drawing audiences in, just like Armitage's choreographies.
"Choreographer Karole Armitage has long been celebrated for her extraordinary collaborations with visual artists," Deitch states in a press release. "The sets and costumes that Karole created with Jeff Koons, David Salle, and other artists have become important contributions to the history of contemporary art, as well as essential contributions to the history of contemporary dance."
"Making Art Dance: Backdrops and Costumes Celebrating 30 Years of Collaboration by The Armitage Foundation" is at Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, until 13th March 2015.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments