Critical Correspondence
Marissa Perel in conversation with Katy Pyle, Jules Skloot, Cassie Mey, Francis Weiss Rabkin, Sam Greenleaf Miller, Effie Bowen, and Lindsay Reuter
In February 2012, artist/writer/curator Marissa Perel spoke with dancer/choreographer Katy Pyle about her queered ballet form, Ballez, and the early stages of her latest piece, “The Firebird,” which was presented at Danspace Project, May 16-18. Here, members of the cast of “The Firebird” join Perel and Pyle to discuss motivations for the piece, each performer's experience of Ballez, and alternative approaches to the idea of failure in queer performance.
William Forsythe in conversation with Zachary Whittenburg
In the second of two wide-ranging interviews exclusive to Critical Correspondence, choreographer William Forsythe discusses his movement language, cataloged in a 1999 toolkit called Improvisation Technologies, and how he defines and organizes dance geometries and architectures, both temporal and spatial.
Jillian Peña in conversation with Marissa Perel on The Guiding Light
Jillian Pena investigates “light” as a concept, belief and pop symbol with CC co-editor, Marissa Perel. Pena’s new work, The Guiding Light, premiers at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, [BAX] on Friday, April 27 and runs through Sunday, April 29 2012. “My mom was agnostic. She was like, ‘Just hide when they all pray. Just hide.’ They would tell us that our bodies were vessels for Jesus…I like the idea of the vessel, but when you really believe in something it’s like emptying out in order for that to fill you, which is sexy. So, I am interested in that physicality. Religiosity in a physical sense. What that means. What that looks like.”
Queering the Point(e): Katy Pyle in conversation with Marissa Perel
Katy Pyle’s, The Firebird will be presented as part of the Brink series at Dixon Place, curated by Kimberly Brandt, February 28-29th. “I like playing with people. It’s almost like a place in a person that resonates. It’s like an intersection of fear and excitement, to me, laughter. And, confusion and not knowing! There’s a lot of emotion in there. When you hit that chord, something’s actually happening. There’s a real response that’s coming out.”
Priss-pot: Regina Rocke in conversation with Marissa Perel on “Boy Troubles”
Boy Troubles runs February 23-25th, 2012 at Danspace Project in a shared evening of work entitled, “From the Streets, From the Clubs, From the Houses,” as part of the Parallels Platform curated by Ishmael Houston-Jones.
