INTERVIEW: Gabrielle Lamb’s dancers are all tied up in ‘knots’
Photo: Giovanna Gamna and Patrick O’Brien perform for Pigeonwing Dance. Photo courtesy of Charles Roussel / Provided by Michelle Tabnick PR with permission.
Choreographer Gabrielle Lamb is set to premiere her latest work, Plexus: a work in knots, at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College in New York City. The Feb. 7 event is presented by the CUNY Dance Initiative and John Jay College, in collaboration with Lamb’s company, Pigeonwing Dance.
The work, a challenging piece for seven dancers to bring to life, looks at the theme of interdependence, according to press notes. The performers build a “mysterious network of fluctuating loyalties built upon an unsteady balance of power.” James Budinich’s electroacoustic score provides musical accompaniment.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Lamb, a winner of the Princess Grace Award. The native of Savannah, Georgia, was a longtime soloist at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, according to her official biography. Her choreographic work has been presented by some of the best companies in the world, including Royal Winnipeg Ballet, BalletX and Ballet Austin, among others. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What can audience members expect from PLEXUS: a work in knots?
PLEXUS: a work in knots is driven by my curiosity about how humans can work together to solve problems and create structures. In anatomy, a ‘plexus’ is a network of interlacing vessels or nerves. More generally the word is used to describe any complex, intricate structure. Early in our process I drew inspiration from the delicate webs of ecosystems that connect species of different sizes and lifespans. Later, I focused on human societies and governments.
This may sound like very serious subject matter, but I think the piece has a lot of wonder and play, as well as plenty of vivid color. I’m inspired by puzzles and games, so during the process we talked about crosswords, sudoku, hopscotch, duck-duck-goose and a new one for me: ‘keys to the castle.’ The movement has a creature quality that evokes the plant and insect world. The Pigeonwing dancers all have strong technique, so you will see a lot of dancing. But they also have strong personalities, which blend with James’ music to create a sense of mystery and drama.
How difficult is the piece for the dancers of Pigeonwing?
The challenge, as in most of my choreography, lies in the intricacy and detail. I’d say it’s medium-difficult in terms of stamina. It’s certainly technical, but I try to structure my choreography so that every dancer has time to breathe and recuperate. We work with a couple of different kinds of cable as props, and smooth handling of the cable takes a lot of rehearsal. But I think the biggest challenge for the dancers may have been the music. James’ score poses some interesting challenges. There are usually several sound layers or patterns happening simultaneously. Each dancer tends [to] focus on different things in the music, and so we have a lot of discussions about how to count it and which cues to listen for.
How much did James Budinich’s score influence your choreography?
James’s score has shaped every moment of this piece. Some of it is rhythmic and propulsive. It drives the choreography harder than music I’ve chosen in the past, and that’s a good thing. Other parts of the score are gauzy and lush. James says: ‘Plexus finds paths through freedom and rigidity, alternating between loose washes of color and strict grids.’ The choreography takes on that dynamic, too — a sense of improvisatory abandon counterbalanced by meticulous calculation.
From a process point of view, I’m intrigued by the range of sounds he can pull out of a single source. For example, from a set of wind chimes, he has created sounds that resemble modems, trains and airplanes. I learned recently that Act II has among its sound sources a Beethoven string quartet and medieval chant. You don’t have to know any of that to enjoy the piece, but it’s fun as a backstory.
Do you feel that the theme of interdependence is largely missing from today’s society? Seems our focus is more on individuality.
Yes, western and American culture glorifies the individual. We love the idea of freedom, defined as ‘doing whatever I want, whenever I want.’ And we love to think we succeeded all on our own, with nobody’s help. But I have read that Homo sapiens’ one great advantage as a species is our ability to communicate and collaborate. None of the freedoms we now enjoy would be possible had generations before us not cooperated to build structures and systems larger than themselves. Though my starting point had to do with ecosystems in nature, later in the process I came to realize that this work is really about how people build complex structures together — as well as how we react to change or disruption in our structures. What if the old structure no longer works? If we can’t reconstruct the puzzle, what next?
Growing up, did Savannah, Georgia, have a strong dance scene? Did you feel supported in your hometown?
When I was a child, there was a professional ballet company in my hometown, the Savannah Ballet. It was directed by Karena Brock, a former ABT principal. Nowadays towns of that size no longer have professional companies. I was lucky to have been bedazzled and inspired by early teachers,who were working professional dancers — Suzanne Braddy and Shannon Kelly, as well as Karena herself.
Sadly Savannah Ballet folded when I was 7. But until age 13, I went to a Montessori school with a strong performing arts focus, and it was a huge source of support and inspiration. It is a long-term goal of mine to take Pigeonwing Dance to Savannah for an annual residency. In the meantime, I’m very excited that my choreography will be performed there for the first time next month! Ballet Collective, directed by New York City Ballet soloist Troy Schumacher, will present my 2017 work Orange at the Savannah Music Festival on March 31.
What was the motivation for founding Pigeonwing in 2016?
My motivation for continuing to push for Pigeonwing opportunities is simple: I like the continuity of returning to work with people who know me. The collaborative experience with a dancer is always richer the second time around, and it keeps getting better with time. I never intended to have a company. More accurately, I never imagined that I could. I named it Pigeonwing in 2016, but it grew organically from my 2011 hire of one lovely and patient dancer, Giorgia Bovo. She approached me about dancing my choreography, which seemed surprising at the time, but soon I had a space grant at Gibney Dance. And I knew I’d rather not create only on myself. So I thought, hmmmm, how about that one dancer who said she wanted to work with me?
When I needed more people for a 2014 New York City Center Choreography Fellowship project, Giorgia introduced me to several more good dancers. I met more through my connection with SUNY Purchase. Several from that 2014 cast are still working with me, and I’ve met the rest of my dancers through teaching and choreographing around the city. Though the motivation is simple, the reality of the work is not. In addition to creating the choreography, I’m doing much of the grant-writing, fundraising, studio booking, ticketing, social media, eblasts, prop-building and outreach, as well as all the laundry. I’m grateful that I’ve recently started to get more help (though not yet with the laundry).
And lastly I’d like to mention that the CUNY Dance Initiative, directed by Alyssa Alpine, is a godsend to emerging companies like Pigeonwing.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Plexus: a work in knots, choreographed by Gabrielle Lamb, will be presented Friday, Feb. 7 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College in New York City. The event is presented by the CUNY Dance Initiative and John Jay College, in collaboration with Lamb’s company, Pigeonwing Dance. Click here for more information and tickets.
