Menagerie Part 1: What does willpower look like?
Written by Leilani Tian
From the first day in the studio, Ballet Austin apprentices knew this was not going to be a typical ballet rehearsal week. Guest choreographer Joshua Manculich, with the aid of assistant Kody Jauron from NW Dance Project and our own Ballet Austin II rehearsal assistant Alexa Capareda, created a space of movement exploration through various phrases and improvisation, encouraging an expressiveness and individuality unlike the rigid specificity that ballet dancers are so accustomed to. The end result: a nine-minute contemporary piece called Menagerie.
Through haunting and guttural Norwegian music, featuring set staging that includes mirror-like shards on the floor and complex dance partnering techniques, Menagerie is a reflection of willpower — where it comes from and how easy it is to lose.
Ballet Austin Apprentice Leilani Tian talked with Manculich about the creative process and concept behind Menagerie:
Tian: Can you speak about the thought process behind this piece and how that has changed — if it has — once you began creating in the studio with Ballet Austin apprentices?
Manculich: I always start with music, so I had several different sets of music I wanted to use. But the concept was about fragility and willpower — how a good habit takes forever to form but is so easy to break. A relationship takes so much to form but is so easy to break. So how does that translate into dance movement? Starting with you all — watching you improvise, seeing how my movement language could be amplified through the dancers in the room — that’s when I wanted to go towards more of a vocal arrangement (of music) after day one. The concept stayed the same, but I switched the music day two based on what I saw in the studio.
My model for choreography is to over-prepare and then go with the flow. I try to show up around 9 a.m., move around, and have little movement phrases for you all. That helps me jump off from there to choreograph and see how you all deal with my movement — make it better, make it more interesting. I was researching The Glass Menagerie. I love that book! It’s really depressing but really beautiful. And the music I have is very depressing but beautiful. But I like a little bit of a haunting feel to the work.
Tian: Dancing this piece feels very vulnerable, and I know in rehearsals you talk a lot about willpower and where it comes from. For instance, what does it take to hold on to that yoga pose or move on from a breakup? Can you talk a little about that?
Manculich: I think sometimes, as a performer, there is anxiety about what you look like or who’s watching you. Sometimes, just holding something and telling yourself you can stay in it, that takes willpower — physical willpower and the mental willpower of going someplace emotionally. I think dancers have willpower, but for me personally, I want to make some changes in my life — little changes that matter. And by me talking about that with you all, this is like the remnants of that discussion with myself.
It’s more than anything about my self-talk. To me, you all represent parts of one person that has to be fragmented sometimes. Like right now, as I’m talking to you, you’re talking to yourself in your head. Your body hears that voice that you’re talking to yourself with. I want my voice to build myself up in 2019; I don’t want it to tear me down. I’m not gettin’ any younger! So, I think willpower comes from reflection. It comes from pushing past what you think you can do. Two steps back, three steps forward. It’s not pretty. That’s why I want this piece to be somewhat strange, which is why I like the heartbeats — it comes out of nowhere. The Norwegian language is also very guttural. It makes me feel historical.
Tian: What do you hope the audience will experience by watching Menagerie?
Manculich: I want them to experience how beautiful something is but how easily it can be broken, how beautiful you all are but how easily you can just (snaps). Whether it’s you losing someone you love, or you having a bad day — it doesn’t take much to really hurt somebody. We have a responsibility to be awesome.
Maybe someone in the audience needs to feel their little heart chakra open. The way that you’re moving your body and that empathy gene will get some people to loosen up and be real. I’m hoping it will cause them to have a moment of inward reflection, through you all. Even if they don’t know it. You know how some people listen to a really deep song and you ask them why they like it? And you know it has a meaning but they just like it? That’s what I like my dances to do.
And with the title Menagerie, to me, it’s like that glass case of animals, like in the book. She collects these, and it’s a little world she creates. And I love that. With Steven Myers (Ballet Austin operations stage manager) helping us make this little world, and through costumes, it’s like you’re in this little glass container — all these little figurines. Is it broken? Are you all different? I don’t know.
There’s so much interpretation that I think this piece can have, for me and for the audience. Some people are visually entertained. Some people love costumes. I think a good choreographer tries to collect all these things and put them together to have a thread. I think we’re doing that.
Stay tuned for Menagerie Part 2: An Honest Talk Between Manculich and Ballet Austin Apprentices, in which we discuss the artistic future of Ballet Austin apprentice dancers and the societal significance of artists and works like Menagerie.
Menagerie will be performed at the annual Ballet Austin II-Butler Fellow Spring Performance, which showcases works by several choreographers, as well as portions of the 19th-century classical ballet Paquita. The invitation-only performance, March 1–2, is open to Ballet Austin season tickets holders and special guests.
