Film Review: If The Dancer Dances (2019) Dir. Maia Wechsler
By: Belle McIntyre
Photo: Monument Releasing
Imagine trying to describe ancient music without notes or language without written words or an alphabet. Since there is no established notation for contemporary dance movements, the only way to pass on the choreography, apart from video, widely considered inadequate, is up close and personal. As Stephen Petronio describes it: “Passing on history skin to skin, breath to breath, body to body.” This fascinating documentary tightly focuses on the process of Petronio’s homage to the legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham which coincides with the centenary of his birth. Petronio, who founded his own eponymous dance company in 1984, has chosen as his vehicle a revival of one of Cunningham’s most seminal and difficult works. RainForest premiered in 1968 with sets by Andy Warhol, costumes by Jasper Johns, and music by David Tudor. It is a sensuous, expressive work which conjures natural elements of a rainforest, including fecundity, mystery, and exotic flora and fauna. It is a lushly gorgeous work.
After the death of Cunningham in 2009, as per his wishes, the company closed in 2012. Petronio who began as a dancer, studied with, performed with and was influenced by many of the iconic choreographers of his time. He realized that these titans of dance were dying or on the wane and he wanted to preserve their legacies before it was too late. To that end he began a series called Bloodlines designed to keep their work alive. The most authentic way to pass on this art form is not unlike oral histories among folk who did not read or write. To that end he enlisted former members of Merce’s company to teach his techniques and steps to his dancers. It was challenging on both sides, since Merce’s methods and techniques were alien to Petronio’s dancers.
The film takes us inside the process of creating and setting a dance piece on the dancers.It is the most collaborative form of the performing arts insofar as the choreographer cannot do it alone The dancers are the instrument. What is fascinatingly revealed is the esoteric knowledge and practice of technique, which are specific to each choreographer and essential to the performance of their work. Methods of information transmission are also unique to each choreographer. Some use images as metaphors, states of mind, or sensations. Cunningham used none of these. His work was taught as pure abstraction of form and movement. It is about restraint, control and the back as the source of the movement. Cunningham taught his new work without even revealing what the music might be. Curiously, the Cunningham teachers sometimes had to resort to more typical clues and methods to convey the feel of movements.
Photo: Monument Releasing
Even for those not familiar with the world of contemporary dance, it is a very intriguing inside look at the intricacies of the physicality, the intensity of the absorption, the mental focus, and the training of the muscle memory, to take it all in so completely that it can be performed with seeming abandon. The process is fascinating and it will surely enhance your appreciation of the next performance you attend. It is a beautifully filmed, appreciation of the ratified world of the dance studio and the dedicated sensitive artists who practice their craft within.
