Austin McCormick (photo by Cristina Ramirez)

I can count on one hand the men whose talent leave me dazzled – and while they all strike a chord for different reasons they all  have one thing in common: the ability to amaze me in a way that I’ve never experienced before.  Like the first time I heard a Sondheim phrase and had to stand still, or the first time I saw Philip Seymour Hoffman perform live (in True West) and couldn’t remember to breath – that’s how I felt when I saw choreographer Austin McCormick’s Company XIV performing Le Cirque Feerique.  So dazzled was I that I went twice – and am thrilled that – just in time for Halloween – Austin will be bringing another new, dazzling  show that audiences can experience: Dénouement—A Murderous Masquerade.  I had a chance to talk with Austin McCormick about how he swirls magic together time and time again to create pure beauty.

Austin, you’re like no other choreographer I’ve ever seen. You’re the most exciting new talent I’ve had the opportunity to experience! It’s an honor to be able to interview you.  I’ve only seen one of your shows so far, Le Cirque Feerique, but my fellow THM reviewer, Dianna Martin saw Le Serpent Rouge and she was equally dazzled by your choreography, and the entire Company XIV.

At the end of the day, what compels you? What inspires you? What sparks your creativity?

Austin McCormick (photo by Cristina Ramirez)

A.M.: I am ultimately drawn to reimagining classical stories and twisting and contorting them to embody all the things I am interested in. My artistic mission is to unite music, dance, acting, and design to give audiences an incredible and involved theatrical experience. I like blurring genres, mixing and matching, it feels like our world- eclectic and messy. Art has the power to transport us to another time and place while at the same time making old stories brand new and relevant for a new generation of theatre patrons.

How do you go about bringing one of your lavish productions to life? What’s the first step that gets the production rolling?

I spend a lot of time researching for a production…. I like to come into rehearsal with a lot of ideas and jumping off points. I am always astounded at how many ideas it takes to make a compelling show. I have a fabulous design team – Zane Pihlstrom (scenery, costumes) and Gina Scherr (lighting) are great collaborators. There is a lot of coffee in planning the shows. There is also something that happens when you get the cast together in the space that is really exciting. No matter how much you conceptualize a show, it inevitably changes. It is a living, breathing thing that evolves into something that is hopefully larger and more amazing than you could have planned.

Besides amazing talent, all your dancers have a sparkling quality, a sense of mischief combined with a sense of elegance. They are all astonishing. How do you pick your dancers? What is that one quality you look for?

When I audition performers, I look for watch-ability…something that draws me to them. I don’t care about perfect technique or classical lines. I am interested in who they are and what they bring to the table. I am very interested in incorporating their strengths as performers into the productions while also pushing them in exciting new directions. I also like variety in body type…I am not necessarily interested in performers who look like traditional “dancers.”

Do you have a signature move that’s become the hallmark of every production?

I would say my signature is combining a Baroque aesthetic with contemporary movements…and let’s not forget heels and corsets, they are in most of my shows.

Being a Brooklyn gal myself – born and raised – I love that your company is based in Brooklyn. Why did you choose the location on Bond Street?

When I was still a student at Juilliard I looked around New York for the perfect headquarters to hatch this crazy company. The space in Brooklyn allows me flexibility in terms of rehearsal and performance configurations. It was really important to me that Company XIV have a consistent home in which to collaborate and create. The local community in Carroll Gardens has been extremely supportive of Company XIV especially our family friendly works. It is a wonderful place to come to work everyday. We have recently expanded and now have a costume and scenery shop down the street so, Bond Street is bustling with preparations for our upcoming productions.

When you were younger and dreamed of your future, was this how it looked to you?

I always knew that I wanted to choreograph and direct, even as I trained in classical ballet and baroque dance, I knew that I wanted to be on the other side of the spotlight. I have been extremely lucky to have the opportunity to do what I love. It’s a difficult profession and can be quite grueling. Self-producing is not the most glamorous or financially rewarding endeavor in the world but making theatre, opera, dance is what I love to do. My parents are to blame for all of this, they provided the costume box filled with capes, feather boas, and accessories that I used to make shows as a child…Company XIV is what happens when you let a kid run wild with his imagination…Thank you mom and dad.

What is the one story you’re hoping to tell that’s never been told through dance before?

This is the hardest question ever!!!!! I have a million answers…I have been working on an imagined portrait of A Day in the Life of Louis XIV…It is going to be an extravaganza of Baroque dance, opera, theatre and so much more…I am currently making a show for the DUO theatre in Manhattan opening in December that is a Baroque-Burlesque mash-up of The Nutcracker and Little Red Riding Hood for ADULTS.

I just made a Baroque murder mystery masquerade that opens just in time for Halloween at Bond St. I am dying to do a piece inspired by Dangerous Liaisons told through movement. Also, I am developing a solo show for Laura Careless (Company XIV dancer/actress) based on the archetypes in Charles Bukowski’s poetry…I better get to work…

~~~

Don’t forget to catch The Halloween Plays, a co-production of Brave New World Repertory Theatre and Company XIV, which will feature Dénouement—A Murderous Masquerade, a Neo-Baroque murder mystery extravaganza that asks: Who will be the last character left alive?! Choreographed, conceived and directed by Austin McCormick, Company XIV founder.

Related Posts:

• The Halloween Plays – Three Bursts Of Fire, Fear And Fantasy
• Not Your Father’s Circus: Le Cirque Feerique (The Fairy Circus)
• Let’s Keep Dancing … At The Company XIV Workshop
• Company XIV – The Workshop You’ve All Been Waiting For …
• The Fairest Of Them All: Company XIV – Snow White

Ballet Verite

You know you’re standing next to a writer when: their stance is unassuming, their posture is hunched, and when they move it’s only after hours of being in one spot either typing furiously, day dreaming earnestly, or working out that writer’s block by playing yet another game of computer solitaire. (Hey … don’t put it on the computer it you don’t want me to play it!)

You know you’re standing next to a dancer when: their stance is elegant, their posture is perfect, and when they move it’s by way of a grand jeté, or pas de bourrée. Even when they’re waiting to move, they somehow seem to be shimmering.

Sigh. By definition if you’re reading this then I must be writing it … so I fall into the first category. I was born with a writer’s build: short and squat; good for hunkering down for hours (days if necessary) crammed into a small spot, moving as little as possible and living off my own God-given insulation … goodness knows I could hole myself away and write the great American novel and never starve, just give me some chilled beverages (caffeinated if possible, please) and I’m good to go. Maybe that’s why dancers fascinate me. To see what a body can be when it’s in its most perfect state, and then to further that … to see that perfect body used for artistic expression is to see glory magnified one hundred fold.

Dancers inspire phrases of poetry and music; they are lithe and limber, they flutter and float, they’re graceful yet powerful, muscular yet ethereal. They leap and fall, tumble and stumble intentionally, no movement unnamed: cabriole, entrechat, pirouette, arabesque. Yet a dancer without a choreographer is like a violin without a bow; although the possibility of beauty is there, it takes one to awaken that beauty and bring it forth in the other. Without the choreographer bringing the dance to life, there would be no progression in the art of it, no influence of one dancer upon another, no innovation of movement, of interpretation, no distinction of what it means to be a Dancer versus someone who dances. Certainly, the joy of the human spirit can move the body. But only the choreographer can move many bodies as one. Choreography gives structure to the innate birthright of movement itself.

Aside from a Swing Dance class I took one winter around ten years ago, the closest I ever got to a real dance studio was through Debbie Allen (And here’s where you start paying … in SWEAT!) … and half the time that FAME dance class was only the backdrop for some juicy exchange of gossip, or the set up for some mean-girl type stunt. In real life, girls like me don’t get to climb those stairs and enter that room; If we want to know that world, we have to buy a ticket to A Chorus Line and marvel at it from the orchestra section. We don’t get to blur the lines and step onto that hardwood floor and feel it vibrate as gravity defying leaps give way to synchronous landings.

Well, last night, that all changed.  Last night I got to do something I never thought possible; I got to sit next to choreographer Seth Gertsacov as he led his corps de ballet through a rehearsal of his new piece entitled Ballet Verite which will be showing at the Baryshnikov Arts Center on March 9 and 10.  He was kind enough to let me come and sit in on one of his rehearsals to see first hand all the hard work that goes into bringing a vision like this to life.  Mr. Gertsacov started out many years ago as a professional ballet dancer and now is using his talents as a choreographer to continue his artistic vision; every step aligned with every note, every note metered out to a part of his story, and all of it the culmination of years of hard work, results of chances taken, decisions made based on a strong belief in his gift.

Entering the dance studio was intimidating to me — was there a protocol?  Should I take my shoes off?  Is there a secret handshake?   I had nothing to fear, however, for within moments, the man himself immediately broke from directing his dancers and took a moment to introduce himself, find me a good place to sit where I could see all the action, and made sure I was settled in before returning to rehearsal.  I introduced myself to pianist LeRoy Johnson who was accompanying the dancers for some of the pieces for the show.  For the first half hour I just sat back and took it all in.  Even to my untrained eye the framework of it all quickly became obvious and I watched different collaborative pairings; if the dancers felt a phrase of music was faster than they’d rehearsed it before, they discussed slowing it back down; dancers huddled together reviewing certain steps, they conferred as to which arm movements went with a certain phrase of music; and the movements had names, french names, that sounded beautiful and looked elegant and to my eye looked virtually the same but to them made a world of difference … the way, to me, a semi colon and a comma impart two totally different emotions.  I was in awe.

I watched the dancers rehearse several pieces, all set to different styles of music, all conveying different emotions and meant to bring a different story to life, yet all coming together under the collective style of Mr. Gertsacov who reminded me of an orchestra conductor and theatre director wrapped up in one.  I watched a dance between a Princess and her slave girls set to Aaron Copland’s El Salon Mexico followed by Mephisto Waltz by Franz Liszt and then the mood took a departure … a lively, fun dance set to Pete Seeger’s Little Boxes followed by a stirring ensemble piece to Seeger’s We Shall Overcome.  When the dancers took a break I was able to chat with Seth for a bit about how this show came to be, and what he hoped to bring to the audience.

Seth began by explaining how he’d come to call his piece Ballet Verite; how the name suggested the idea of trying to find the truth of human identity within the ballet form, using classical ballet steps woven into music that isn’t normally found in ballet.  “Pete Seeger stands for what I stand for, ” he said thoughtfully, “and I wanted to introduce that to the audience.”  He told me more about Mephisto Waltz, how it was about regret.  “Regret,” he repeated, nodding his head, trying to make sure I understood, “You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced it.  I want to show through this dance, the two lovers, the great love they have for each other, but they have to separate and they die alone.  The dance is about not knowing what you had till you lose it …” his hand moved through the air in front of him as if echoing the path of something just out of reach, and I was reminded that this was a man more comfortable using movement to convey his thoughts, as I’d seen him just moments before, giving dancers the movements to speak for him; to tell his story.  It was all very powerful.

We talked about his life, for of course you can’t choreograph a ballet about truth, regret, and loss unless you’ve had a few miles of road behind you.  It was almost philosophical, and of course, that’s the beauty of telling a story without words, the movements are up for interpretation and can transcend all ages, all races, all colors and classes.  Dance is the art form that relies on the one thing we all use to communicate at our basest level.  Seth told me how knowing he could reach people as deeply as they were willing to be reached made it important for him to imbue every step with the echo of the joy he found in doing what he love most in the world.  “When you have a real passion for something,” Seth said to me, “it’s a waste not to pursue that.  In my life I’ve learned that money doesn’t equal the joy of doing what I love.  And that’s what I want to show the audience.  I want to give a fun evening to people that also transcends our differences.  I want to bring back the connection between the dancers and the audience”.

Soon Mr. Gertsacov had to get back, but now he invited me to sit next to him up front by the mirror to get the best view of the dancers.  Sitting there, watching a show take shape before me, but watching so much more too … watching a man doing what he loved to do, and doing it with joy was an amazing moment.  I was allowed a glimpse of a choreographer’s vision, from his vantage point.  I got to be part of his process.

All too soon it was over, and for the dancers it was just another exhausting rehearsal that had come to an end.  But for me … well, I got to see the truth of it all for just one night.  And really, isn’t that what it’s all about? The truth?

For more information about Ballet Verite visit www.balletverite.com.
Tickets are $25; two performances only: Monday, March 9 at 8pm; Tuesday, March 10 at 8pm.

Related Posts:

• Ye Elizabeths: Living Vicariously Because … (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Austin McCormick – Dancing Through Life
• Stinky Flowers, Sweet Thoughts
• New Forms Of Something Different: A Review Of “Three Sisters Come And Go”
• Two Turns Adaptation Of Henry James’ Novella Successfully Merges Theatre & Philanthropy