Understanding Exit Wounds
Chapter 4: Oliver Greene-Cramer — Dancers as Collaborators
The music begins, and Oliver Greene-Cramer moves through the studio with grace and power. His quality of movement is contagious to watch as he manipulates his body within the choreography.
Greene-Cramer’s been a member of Ballet Austin’s professional company since 2014 and has worked closely with Sarah & Ernest Family Fund Artistic Director Stephen Mills on the choreography for Mills’ new, world-premiere production, Exit Wounds.
Between rehearsals, I was able to speak with Greene-Cramer about his experience as a dancer creating new work.
Gattozzi: What is creating a new work like as a dancer?
Greene-Cramer: I personally enjoy new works the most because that means you are much more involved in the process, whether it be the choreographer giving you the steps or using the dancers to come up with some of the steps. The collaborative process means that you feel very invested in the work because often you are doing steps that you came up with and the choreographer molds and changes in a way that services the production as a whole.
When you get the opportunity to create a new work, many times there could be a beginning that involves a specific story or a particular emotion for the new work, but usually, it can start with just a few steps that move from stage left to stage right. Later on, those steps will build into something that has a more relevant feeling to the piece as a whole.
Gattozzi: What is your experience with creating Exit Wounds as a dancer?
Greene-Cramer: As I said, in many cases you don’t necessarily start with a prescribed emotion, and that was certainly the case for this work. We started workshopping movement for Exit Wounds last January. We got a studio, just four of us, and Stephen began building tons and tons of raw material that he could draw from later in the creation process. Even if we had an idea about what Exit Wounds might be about or referencing, we did not go into the room initially with a specific story or emotion we were trying to portray. That changed as we have gotten closer to the actual creation process.
I was lucky enough to have both occasions when I was with just three other guys for one of the sections, Four Mortal Men, and Stephen made material on us as well as being in a studio alone with Stephen to build a more specific movement that he wanted. Three or four times, we went into a studio when he needed a phrase of movement that could be sympathetic or filled with anguish. It has definitely run the gambit of going from raw material to having someone asking you to give me something that is sad, which is difficult, but also incredibly rewarding.
In terms of the grand scheme of it, we all have known a little bit of what Exit Wounds has been about, but nothing terribly specific until a couple of weeks ago. Working with Jordan Moser on the videos was great because he would give me little nuggets to try and provide some background for me in the videos. Jordan would want something specific because he has a very literal story to tell, so he would give us some thoughts on the scene to try to inform us better so the dancers would be more prepared for the video shoot to portray some visceral, pointed emotions.
Gattozzi: In terms of influence, what will Exit Wounds bring to the dance world and the community around us?
Greene-Cramer: One of the first things that made me interested in Ballet Austin was when a woman who has choreographed here before, Nelly van Bommel, spoke to me about Ballet Austin and showed me a piece that Stephen had choreographed which is called Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project. Obviously, in the title, you know what it is about. It is a similarly evocative piece in terms of stories and content to Exit Wounds. Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project was created in order to both indict and be indicative of the response to tragedy and courage in the face of great challenges. I believe, but I do not know, that this was the most successful of Stephen’s ballets in terms of both interest in Austin and the dance community, but also other companies performing the work. Exit Wounds seems to fill an interesting space by being both an autobiographical piece because it speaks about Stephen’s personal experiences but through a lens and context of what loss is like to a community and what it is like to stand up in the face of adversity. So, this work is very timely obviously now with subjugated, objected, and minority groups and the #MeToo movement. Exit Wounds is kind of the best side of what art can be. The dancers are telling a personal story so you can speak about it with authority because you know your story the best but because it is such a universal topic — choose courage and standing up for justice — it bonds those around you. It is not just a selfish way to just say, “Look at me, I have been through some hard stuff.” This is a way of inspiring people also to face their hardships and embrace what you can do for those around you.
Gattozzi: Have you had a chance to think about the different elements of Exit Wounds and what they mean in your life?
Greene-Cramer: It is a tricky thing because as a straight, white guy it is very hard for me to empathize with “the struggle.” In terms of losing those close to you — I lost one of my close friends a few years ago in really horrifying circumstances. Dancers are vessels that have a little of a voice, but you should never try to dominate art with how you feel about it. Just because the piece is inspired by Stephen’s experiences, Exit Wounds is not literally about those experiences but the themes of bravery and loss. So, I have tried to identify where I can address that from and where I can find honesty in the themes myself. I think that is the best way to put it. Finding virtue in my own stories that can truly portray the stories that Stephen is hoping to use to inspire. It is undoubtedly tricky because I can’t even begin to fathom some of the things that we are trying to address. The last section (Truth Rescued by Time) is the hardest for me because you want to portray the horror of it honestly, but you cannot make it self-indulgent.
Gattozzi: What do you hope for the audience as they come to see this new production?
Greene-Cramer: Several things. Specifically, as a piece of art, Exit Wounds is very different than things that Austin would see in terms of concert performance because it is told in three different vignettes as an evening-length piece with no linear narrative, and the thing that ties it all together is Stephen’s experiences. Again, it is not like a person is portraying Stephen or anyone for that matter. It is very much art meant to serve a larger narrative that is inspired by Stephen’s personal experiences. I think that many people have issues when no literal character moves from point A to point B, but I hope the audience can see the beauty in the potency of art that is not just in a classical form.
Secondly, I hope that Exit Wounds serves as a form of social justice. Every social movement has had artists involved, whether leading the way and forming the movement, or following and inspired by the movement. There is no greater or less than, but just art serving a purpose. We are at a pretty politically and socially volatile place right now, so we need art like Exit Wounds to explain, to indict, and to thrust these problems into the spotlight, as well as do justice to the stories that we are telling. Instead of just reading the newspaper every day and hearing the heartbreaking stories, we can begin to make sense of it through art and begin to process through art. You see beauty in things, even if the subject matter can be some of the hardest stuff. I hope that Exit Wounds pushes people to reexamine societal woes that are commonplace now by looking at them through the lens of something like dance, where you don’t necessarily see as a social justice art form.
EXIT WOUNDS
World Premiere commissioned by Dr. Beverly Dale
APRIL 6–8 | the Long Center
Choreography by Stephen Mills
Music by Claude Debussy, Graham Reynolds, Bryce Dessner, and Joby Talbot
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This article is written by Matthew Gattozzi (@therealgattozz) who dances as an apprentice for Ballet Austin.
