Search Results for: label/mennello

Magnifique!

Posted on by Thor

Magnifique! A Voci Dance Nighttime Glowing Fairy Fundraiser will be held at the Mennello Museum of American Art (900 East Princeton Street Orlando, FL) on Saturday, November 20th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Admission is just $15.

As dusk falls, the audience will gather beneath Orlando’s oldest oak tree for an evening walking tour of the grounds of the Mennello Musuem of Art. Refreshments, wine and a raffle will accompany the performance. All funds go to Voci Dance to support their many performances, workshops and community outreach programs they present throughout the year.

Since I was going to be on assignment in Miami that weekend, I called Genevieve Bernard, the choreographer and founder of Voci Dance and I asked to sketch a rehearsal. She filled me in on the entire rehearsal schedule. When I arrived at the Mennello Museum, I found Genevieve in the parking lot talking to two dancers. Rakia Mikhailenko had just flown in from Seattle for this performance and she was on her cell talking to her children. Leah Marke is the center pin of the performance and she was at every rehearsal whereas other dancers might have conflicts with work schedules. Genevieve explained that there would be seven fairies, including a pregnant fairy, on performance night, but for this rehearsal there were but two. Actress, Sarah Lockhard, showed up, and her roll was as an honorary fairy, helping illuminate the lead dancers.

The hatchback of Genevieve’s car was open and inside were lights, costumes and fairy wings. Leah’s sister Tamara had designed the wings which are made of a light translucent fabric. Leah secured her wings by tying a knot just below her chest and then tying two more shoulder straps in place. Genevieve had made a Walmart run the night before, to get small LED lights which will be used on performance night. With everyone’s wings in place, the dancers walked out to a huge Live Oak tree whose branches gracefully bowed out, touching the ground, then branching back up. The late afternoon sun illuminated this magical secluded cove with patches of warm light.

Leah lead the performance. Her movements were graceful and light. She danced using the tree’s huge branches as a natural staging area. Rakia picked up her moves by following Leah’s lead. Sarah followed the dancers, crouching low and using an LED flashlight to illuminate the movements. The fairy’s approached the main tree trunk, perhaps 20 feet in circumference and they worshipfully raised their arms and arched their backs, their arched fingertips reaching toward the stars. They were a delight to watch. On performance night their wings will glow, adding a haunting element to the already surreal choreography. Genevieve explained to me that she was inspired in part when imagining Magnifique, by the amazing, unexpected work of Henry Darger. Doug Rhodehamel will fill the mysterious cove with glowing mushrooms and DJ Nigel will supply the music. Tell your Facebook friends, this is one evening you do not want to miss!

DRIP – The Pollock Project

Posted on by Thor

Beth Marshall is presenting a theatrical collaboration with DRIP to bring Jackson Pollock’s turbulent and brilliant life to the Mennello Museum of American Art. The Pollock Project will be part visual art, part performance, part history, part dance and part music. This collaboration will explore the marriage of Jackson Pollock’s art and the human condition. This Mennello Museum is now displaying “Auspicious Vision” which features works from Edward Wales Root’s personal collection of American art. Jackson Pollock’s work is on exhibit along with paintings by William de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Edward Hopper among other artists through May 23rd.
I went to the DRIP warehouse to watch a rehearsal for this multimedia project. In the center of the huge space was a large yellow wooden platform which had a large Plexiglas “canvas” mounted on top. The dancers were high up on ladders and Jessica Mariko turned on the recording of music performed by Phillipp Vandre and the Turfan Ensemble. I remembered this high pitched, plunking, haunting modern music from a video I had watched about Pollock when I researched his painting methods for a Halloween costume I made which I called “Jack the Dripper“.
The dance begins with the dancers struggling against gravity as they slowly climb the ladders. Upon reaching the heights, the dancers begin painting with wooden stirring sticks in unison with fluid motions. The dance surged with the electric energy of the music. Watching Pollock work is much like watching a ballet. He would lay his large canvas on the floor and walk around and on the painting as if dancing on its surface. He would bend at the waist as he waved his arm like a farmer sewing seeds onto his field. He was essentially drawing with paint, the lines fluid without describing a specific form. His work was about expressing feelings rather than illustrating them.
After the dancers finished the painting on Plexiglas, I wandered over to look up at they had created. The paint was a bit too thin so it just pooled upon the plastic like mercury, not retaining any linear forms. Jessica decided next time they would have to use thicker paint. There was also some concern as to how they would clean up once the piece was done. It would be impossible to transport the huge sheet of Plexiglas outside to hose it down. I suggested they stretch a thin plastic film onto the frame and then they could poke a hole in the center when they were done and drain the paint into a paint can. I will be curious to see how they resolve this in the end.
I am very excited to see how this artistic collaboration turns out. There are only two performances of “The Pollock Project”: Saturday March 27th at 7 PM and Sunday March 28th at 2 PM.