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Wednesday, November 12, 2014

In Context: Birds With Skymirrors

Birds With Skymirrors. Photo: Sebastian Bolesch

Lemi Ponifasio's Birds with Skymirrors runs at BAM from November 19—22. Context is everything, so get even closer to the show with this curated selection of articles, interviews, and videos related to the production. Once you've seen it, help us keep the conversation going by telling us what you thought below.


Program Notes


Read

Website
MAU 
Visit the homepage of Lemi Ponifasio's company.

Article
Birds With Skymirrors—The Last Dance on Earth (BAM blog)
For Ponifasio, Birds With Skymirrors answers the question: what would the last dance on earth look like?

Interview
"The Silent Zone of the World: An Interview with Lemi Ponifasio" (VisitingArts.co.uk)
Ponifasio situates his work within the cultural context of the South Pacific.

Interview
Interview with Lemi Ponifasio (The Scotsman)
"In a typical Samoan house you have one room and everything is open. Births, deaths, love-making, [...it all ] takes place in one space so you must learn negotiation. I like this. As opposed to the theatre which is a space of mystery."

Article
Don't call Ponifasio's work dance. But do call it karanga, "'a genealogical prayer, a ceremony, a poetic space" in which the audience, by virtue of its presence, participates."'

Interview
"The Last Dance on Earth" (RealTimeArts.net)
"The theatre is not for mirroring life," says Lemi Ponifasio. "It’s to shatter the mirror that we’ve created for ourselves. [...] The invitation of the theatre is an invitation to be."

Article
"Besieged by the rising tides of climate change, Kiribati buys land in Fiji" (The Guardian)
The inhabitants of the South Pacific island—which was a partial inspiration for Birds with Skymirrors—are eyeing a new home.

Article
"Drowning Kiribati" (Business Week)
Scientists predict that the ocean will swallow the island entirely in a matter of decades.


Watch

Video
Kiribati: A Climate Change Reality (YouTube)
A United Nations report on the dire situation facing the Pacific island.


Worthwhile Words

There’s a difference between ceremony and ritual. I’m not interested in ritual. People always say ‘ritual,’ but a ceremony is when we come to engage, because there is a reason why we gather, an important step in one’s life, whether it’s a funeral or a birth. In ceremony we elevate ourselves into another sort of sense of ourselves. And I think the point of the theatre is to remind the soul of its higher self, a higher space.
My performers are not necessarily trying to express anything. They are there to serve the ceremony, to serve the space. Their bodies are ceremonial bodies—that’s how I prepare them. Of course, they have to do what they need to do well, but their presence, their activation of the space, it’s the whole point of going to the theatre, performing for it. —Lemi Ponifasio

Now your turn...

So how did you enjoy the show? Likes? Dislikes? Surprises? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below.

23 comments:

  1. I found the unrelenting sound to be unbearable, the white lighting irritating...

    The dancer's strength and precision was however magical.

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  2. Very unique experience....really gave me pause to reflect! Nice!

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  3. A unique experience- best viewed from the middle of the theatre- not in front of the side speakers. It was a bit harsh at times, sometimes a bit boring. The dancers animated movements were very interesting.

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  4. fascinating - like nothing BAM has presented before, evocative - a voice seldom heard

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  5. Just got home from Thursday's show... and I was spellbound, hypnotized, enthralled, seduced... what other words?... by the show. This is one of those really special, magical shows at BAM. The dancers were the "real deal" ... the choreography was like nothing I'd seen before (just watch the solo male performer and what he does with his chest/stomach/abdomen at the beginning of the show and how he 'dances' with his back later on in the show)... The hand movements are special, the synchronized movements are special, the show is special. This troupe trumps some of the better know troupes that perform at BAM. The first person's comments above about unrelenting sound and irritating white lighting are a very skewed personalized viewpoint and you should not let those comments dissuade you or influence you -- very yukky comments for such a beautiful unique sensual show.

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  6. As the low lying atolls of the Moana are our canary in the coal mine of climate change, so are Ponifasio and MAU our fierce conscience of contemporary dance. Rippling with meaning, resonating with authority. Bravo to BAM and the sponsors for bringing this powerful voice to our shores. Thank you!

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  7. I found the performance to be absolutely riveting. The white noise, the grinding sounds added to the urgency and power of the storyline. And I deeply appreciated the pacing, deadly slow for some, but perfect by my standards. You had time and space to feel and merge with what was happening.
    Brilliant movement and voices! I loved it.

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  8. Each of us has undoubtedly napped during a performance, but this is the first time I chose to go to sleep. Yes, interesting things went on onstage, but I wish I had seen them in short bursts on YouTube instead.

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  9. We found the show very disappointing. Promotion is misleading (video AND images). A huge gap between the director's statement and the real deal. Exhausting experience for us, possibly a meditative experience for whoever is onto it. We love most shows at BAM, but wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

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  10. As a whole highly recommended. Lighting, sounds, set are dark, minimalist and intriguing. The dances are perfectly sync and yet completely fluid. The dancers at times transform their bodies into abstract mounds of flesh. A bit too repetitive and boring at times,which seems to be the curse of everything wanting to be intellectual and contemporary. I arrived 5 minutes late so I was on the Balcony instead of 3rd row, and actually that was a blessing, incredible view from the top.

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  11. I saw this last night and absolutely loved everything about it. It's certainly not for everybody, but I looked around once or twice and saw that most of the audience was completely spellbound. I can't say enough about the choreography, the precision of the dancers, the music and sound, the chanting, the use of the set, the silence, the white noise, the stillness. I decided I have to go again tonight. Loved it. My thanks to Lemi Ponifasio, MAU and BAM.

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  12. Last night's show was like being trapped in the corner of a boring Halloween party. Just when you think something compelling is going to happen, it doesn't. The sound and light design were very impressive and thoughtful, but the choreography offers nothing. And it is so long. If one were to piece together the highlights of the entire show, it might be possible to salvage one 10 minute piece. I am scratching my head thinking of all the talent out there and how this work was chosen.

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  13. Mixed reaction: loved some of the oddities such as how do those men move so smoothly across the stage that they look like they're on wheels? How do they flutter their fingers continuously? The commitment of the performers is impressive. Beautiful lighting; sometimes sound and singing too loud. I would not like to see B w SM last any longer than an hour and a half and it could have been shorter. (I checked my watch at 8:30.)

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  14. I thought the piece was terrific; beautiful and important. I loved not being pandered to. I loved experiencing a ritual-performance piece made and filled with such commitment and skill. But, the experience of going to BAM is more and more precious. Where were the young, where was the real Brooklyn audience? Where were the people who don't check their watches and complain about loudness, and who can't give themselves to anything unfamiliar. Where is the connection to the community of people who are engaged in climate issues here? BAM is the disappointment not Leni Ponifaso, who is a major creator.

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  15. Visually striking, musically powerful.
    Very ready to love it for about a half hour...the film of the dying bird and the singing and dancing --all emotional and breathtaking. But then...it flattened and seemed to have several endings. Evidentially "All the movements one sees during Birds with skymirrors are based on what those dancers are taught traditionally: the moves they grow up with on the islands in the South Pacific, because dancing is part of their culture, their heritage" (from an interview I found). That information should have been in the program I believe. The performers deserve that credit!

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  16. BAM makes me so sad. I want Brooklyn to have a big important theater venue that shows great new stuff, but I'm afraid that we don't have a venue like that. It seems like every time I walk out of BAM after a performance, I have to hold my toung, because I want to immediately start making fun of the tedious show that I just partially slept through.

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  17. What an amazing performance! I wish I had seeing it even more than once to enjoy the uniqueness of the show. The performers have a great precision in their timing and movement and an organic body language that reminded me of sandpipers and loud seagulls.
    Darkness, light and reflections are beautifully explored. The sounds, in shape of chanting, background music and loud screaming are absolutely entrancing.
    Congrats to BAM for having staged this show, and for including on the BAM Bill translations of the songs/text.

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  18. absolutely brilliant...it's refreshing to know that good work is still being made these days...more like this please!

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  19. I thought the dance and the movements were nothing short than beautiful. Although I liked a few of the light tricks, i did not enjoy the persistent darkness, or at least I could not put it into any context. Sound to me was way too experimental and I guess the "noise" was unnecessary at times. I also did not understand the large trunk in the middle of the stage. It definitely impacted some of the choreograph of the male dancers and it was not only blocking them, but blocking me of seeing them, which was interesting given that I was in the middle.
    The movements and the chants made it clear that what was being depicted was not just a dance, and I loved it when I was able to connect with that. Yet sound (and at times the stage design as well as the lights) disrupt me in a negative way.

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  20. The new wave theatrical/dance play of Birds with Sky Mirrors was definitely a unique interpretation of the life of the birds in the end of times. It also had a sexual and haunting interpretation of the life of birds on the last days on Earth through sensual and erotic dances and movement interpretations of the birds' physical, animal behaviors and movements. I noticed that there was a lot of Polynesian dance and song incorporated into this theatrical/opera dance performance. However, I was neutral about this theatrical/opera dance and play. It was neither good or bad for me. I thought the theatrical, opera play was rather short and left me up in the air about it in the ending. The reason why the theatrical/opera play was rather short for me is because the producer of the play spent about 15 to 20 minutes on this one scene of play where the birds (male and female) are spending too much in lethargic, bodily movements just to put a powdery substance all over the stage with the prop objects in their hands. I thought that this one scene could have been shorten by 10 minutes and that the producer could have incorporated a more colorful and upbeat scene of remembrance of the birds' happier lives in a time when the earth was much more plentiful and rigorous in a natural environment full with an abundance of natural resources. That is all I have to comment.

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  21. Important message. Hard to watch at times. Birds with Skymirrors can get a little repetitive and the ping sound becomes irritating at times. However, with perseverance, this show is a wonder to behold. I felt it gave voice to the natural world which -- if it could speak -- would sound as distressed (my interpretation) as Mr. Pontifasio has portrayed it. Bewildering to imagine why we choose to be as we are. Nature our greatest gift is being neglected and destroyed.

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  22. I was extremely disappointed. I was delighted to get an orchestra seat when normally they are too expensive and I sit up in the balcony section with a pair of binoculars. But when I arrived 8 minutes late I was refused entrance. The house manager insisted that I forego my seat in row F on the aisle, which would have been easy to get to without disturbing anyone. She didn't even think or look at the ticket, just blindly insisted on policy, that holding for 5 minutes was some big sacrifice. What with trains coming form Manhattan having changes in service, breakdowns, necessary unexpected transfers, no matter how much one anticipates the delays one cannot guarantee anything. Then with the new station with Barklays Center making a confusion in direction and the necessity to cross two huge avenues and wait for lights to change there seems to be no thought given to the audience members who encounter these problems. It all felt very regimented and mean spirited. I have been in so many shows where we as performers were told we were holding for audience members who might be late, and it has not phased any of us actors in the least. If it is such an absolute issue with the staff at BAM, why not bring back the shuttle bus service that existed for the Mahabarata? It could start from Grand Central and make a stop at Astor Place and Canal before crossing to Brooklyn. This is no small issue. There were at least 200 people made to sit in the mezzanine. As I didn't expect to be sitting up there I didn't bring my binoculars, and therefore all I could see at that distance was a blur. It seemed like a powerful performance, so I was deeply let down by the insensitivity of the BAM staff.

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  23. Very harsh, lacking any kind of emotional response to the horrors of the subject. Wanted to leave as the screaming was off putting. Visual though-somewhat interesting.
    Not what I was expecting.

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