Dreaming Awake (2008)

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In this week’s post, we look back at the third collaborative project with NY-based dancer and choreographer, Molissa Fenley.

Peggy writes: I was extremely excited to be working with Molissa Fenley again when we set out on the development of Dreaming Awake with a premiere expected early in 2007. I had always taken a huge amount of pleasure in the circuitous choreographic pathways of her dances and the ways in which she connects with musical landmarks, with the dancer navigating the architecture of the sound rather than the phrasing of beats. Dance adrift on an ocean of music.

For Dreaming Awake Molissa had chosen a piano work of the same name by Phillip Glass and used the music – which cycles in repeating loops – twice in a row. It was an interesting coincidence because I had chosen to do the very same thing the previous year with Karen Tanaka’s score for Krishna’s Mouth and I fully appreciated Mo’s desire to double it up.

Choreographically, Molissa set out a series of complicated phrases in what proved to be a first iteration, because before long the phrases were fragmented and rearranged many times over, sometimes doubling back to places on the stage and within the choreographic language that were maddeningly familiar. It felt something like being inside of an architectural construct by Escher and it was quite disorienting. In an early studio showing I became hopelessly lost when I discovered myself at the same intersection in the dance several times in a row, an experience I found completely unnerving.

While I was rehearsing Dreaming Awake I developed chronic pain in the third metatarsal of my right foot. It eventually proved to be a stress fracture, and I learned that it wasn’t going to get better unless I could stop altogether for many weeks. On the other hand, it had been hurting me for months without interfering with what I needed to accomplish, so I decided to go ahead with my planned 5-city tour (titled “3”) thinking that once it was finished I would take time off. Then, just days before leaving for Montreal, doing a simple transfer of weight to my right foot – (you’ve probably seen this coming) – I felt the bone snap and there was no longer any question about when I would stop so that the healing could begin.

Embarking on tour a year later, my foot was up to the physical challenge, but the complexities of finding my way through the labyrinth of steps in this gorgeous dance continued to threaten me with catastrophe. I finally premiered Dreaming Awake in Calgary, but that foot injury marked the beginning of slow shift in my thinking and eventually in my dance practice, one that led me to the role of choreographer of ensemble works.

Inner Enchantments (1991)

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This week we arrive in 1991, and look at the first of three solos that Peggy commissioned from dancer and choreographer, Molissa Fenley.

“Like all of the solos I commissioned from her, Molissa Fenley’s Inner Enchantments is a dance she made with the intention that both she and I would have it in our repertoires. Mo stayed at least one rehearsal ahead choreographically so she could work at her own pace and then teach me the material she had formalized, always dancing with me. I loved that, because her impulses were very different from mine and emulating her gave me a way of getting closer to her style.

Inner Enchantments is danced to Music in Twelve Parts: Part 1 by Philip Glass and it uses landmarks in the music as entry or completion points for choreographic sequences that unfurl over a minute or longer. The movement phrasing remains open, so as Mo and I danced together we would fall in and out of sync.

When I arrived at rehearsal the first day after she had completed the dance, Mo told me in a kind of off-hand way that Phil was coming to watch me do a run-through. I immediately began to panic. I barely knew the choreography and the thought of dancing alone for Philip Glass - to his music! - was terrifying, so Molissa agreed to dance with me. It was still terrifying, but also sensational! Phil loved seeing us dance together, our offset timing, the concentric circles of our floor patterns, the contrast in our physiques and physicalities. His response inspired me to invite Molissa to dance the premiere in Toronto as a duet, and upon seeing that duet, Cathy Levy invited us to dance together at the Canada Dance Festival. From that point on, Molissa and I each performed Inner Enchantments as a solo, though in my own performances the choreographer and the composer never failed to be present as a kind of afterglow.” - PB

Of this first commissioned solo, Molissa writes “Inner Enchantments is composed of two distinct movement/spatial phrasings: phrases that take place close in and around the body (an inner world) and expansive phrases that take place along the wide perimeter of the circle enclosing that inner space. The phrases are of pure movement and yet danced by Peggy with her very exact physical execution merged with her emotionality and spirit of generosity, a dance of possible mystery and magic is created. She immerses herself in the underlying internal and expresses to us that appearance in a joyful realization.”

Find out more about Molissa Fenley’s childhood and career in Dance Icons here.
Read more about Philip Glass’ bond with dance in Dance Magazine here.

The Windows (1988)

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Acclaimed dancer and choreographer Christopher House created The Windows on Peggy back in 1988. He is our guest writer for this Creation Catalogue blog entry:

The Windows is an eight-minute solo I made for Peggy Baker, set to Philip Glass’s gorgeous String Quartet #2. I can’t remember where the title came from, but I think it was Peggy’s idea. Watching a VHS recording of the piece, the first time I’d seen it in thirty years, I was blown away by her performance.

Making a solo for another dancer is an intimate act. In sharing your kinetic impulses with just one other artist, you often make them a surrogate for the dancer you imagine in your dreams. You always learn from this experience and when you work with a singular artist like Peggy, your habits and assumptions can be transformed.

Rediscovering The Windows, I was reminded that watching Peggy dance is a master class in space and phrasing. She carves, sculpts and extends the space around her with uncanny skill, using her hands, feet, limbs, torso and head with legato mastery. Every surface of her body participates in every gesture. The clarity of her trajectories leaves afterimages and her innate sense of time makes her body sing. When confronted with more challenging passages of fast footwork and percussive changes of direction, she unleashes her inner warrior, holding nothing back. Her presence resonates with her ardent commitment to each passing moment.

My favourite moment in this solo comes at the end of the third movement as she turns slowly to the floor and melts into a series of knee crawls on an upstage diagonal. Facing away from us, her expressive back compels us to join her on her mysterious, touching journey.

I love Peggy as a friend and as an artist. Working with her on this solo was a rare privilege. - C. H.

“Mr. House is superbly served by a dancer who more than completes every sharp, slicing gesture. A fast dance of enigmatic tension involving kicks, pounces and clenched fists, it plays up to Ms. Baker’s grace and power and goes beyond the traditional psychological study.” Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times, 1989.
Full review here.

For more about Christopher House visit CBC Gem here.