INTERVIEW: ‘On the Road’ inspires new dance piece
Photo: Dancers with ZviDance will bring their interpretation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road to Joe’s Pub. Photo courtesy of Mena Brunette of xmbphotography / Provided by press agent with permission.
Jack Kerouac’s On the Road continues to influence generations of readers. It’s almost a rite of passage to pick up the novel and learn about life, relationships, the United States and the open road. His poetry and prose are legendary, a living reminder of the creativity of the Beat Generation.
Now that seminal work has influenced a new dance piece by ZviDance. The company’s On the Road is playing this weekend as part of the Dance Now festival at Joe’s Pub in New York City. Performances run April 25-27.
At the helm of ZviDance is Zvi Gotheiner, a choreographer who has taken the social rebellion of Kerouac’s work and morphed the theme into a variety of movements. Jukka Rintamäki provides an original composition for the work, and seven dancers bring Gotheiner’s choreography to life.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Gotheiner about the new project and the road trip that helped shape the piece. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What was it about On the Road the novel that inspired this piece?
I read Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, just about the time I arrived as a student to New York. I was about 24. The book had a profound impact on me, suggesting new lifestyle possibilities for young people, by far more experimental and spontaneous than my own upbringing.
How technically demanding is this dance?
Highly technical, but in an unassuming way. The dancers are more like people you know than circus acrobats.
How was the piece developed, and how did the coast-to-coast road trip influence the movements?
For the initiation of the creative process I invited four dancers — Ying-Ying Shiau, Chelsea Ainsworth, Doron Perk and Isaies Perez Santamaria — to join me on a two-week artistic research cross-county trip from New York to San Francisco. I also invited media artist Josh Higgason to document the trip and artist Kyle Netzeband to be our driver/tour manager and photographer.
We retraced Kerouac’s first trip to the West, as described in On The Road, driving from New York to Pittsburgh, Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha City, Denver, Salt Lake City, Reno and San Francisco.
On occasion we would stop the car and dance/improvise on the road or in random locations near the road, videoing the process. This multimedia work was constructed from the material we collected during this unforgettable trip. It is not a retelling of Kerouac’s trip, but a series of snapshots inspired by the sites and our experiences along Kerouac’s road
When did you first fall in love with dance?
I was about [a] 17-year-old when I saw the Batsheva Dance Company performing in Israel. It was the first time I saw a professional dance company in the theater. I had an experience seated in my chair and knew [I] had to dance.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
ZviDance presents On the Road as part of Dance Now at Joe’s Pub in New York City. Performances run April 25-27. Click here for more information and tickets.
