More from the Booth: Valerie Green and the GreenSpace
One of the more interesting pieces in today’s concert is Valerie Green’s "Naked Heart." It utilizes a different kind of movement vocabulary and accompaniment than most of the other pieces in the concert. Valerie, who graduated from the program just before I joined it, has a "choreographic work and teaching style influenced by her apprenticeship with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company"
I read this after we teched her solo, and I can definitely see it. I think I pleased her when I mentioned that her word seemed more based on "feeling" than beats and measures, and there are moments when she’s actually motionless on the stage but exuding a frequency of tension that is palpable even up here in the booth. I kept expecting there to be a mention of butoh training in her bio, or something Asian, due to the timing and the way she keeps a lot of energy low to the ground during the solo, but there’s nothing there. However, in the particular solo, I found out that it was a collaboration between her and Montreal artist Mariko Tanabe:
""This work grew out of my wish to delve into movement, which comes from the inner depths of my experiences. This also includes my desire to undertake the intimate process of having my personal boundaries challenged. Having felt Mariko’s past work resonate within me, I was inspired to have her work with me, and trusted her to direct me on this adventure. Facilitating this collaboration is our shared dance heritage and interest in how various cultures can influence our art". – Valerie Green"
Her company, Dance Entropy, has its own space, though: Greenspace . After the tech rehearsal she was telling me about what she hopes to accomplish with a recent festival called "Greenspace Blooms." That is, an annual festival that nurtures new works and gives them a place in Queens where they can try out their legs before the Big Apple chews them up. I’m seriously considering dusting off my own performative legs and coming up with a piece to perform there. I think there’s a trio performance art piece brewing in my head…
Oh, and one more thing, before I’m off to the banquet: she didn’t want to have to deal with the fire marshals in the area…so she became one herself. How smart is that?
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