From Impulse to Stage - Backhausdance

from impulse to stage Backhausdance written by Philip Szporer Movement starts from an impulse.

But the development of an intrinsically personal expression into a fleshed-out dance work is a meticulous undertaking. On the surface such a process may seem ephemeral, but more often than not, there is a structured and concentrated construction of ideas and feelings at work.

The activity of a new generation of choreographer spawns many questions, and dealing with a choreographer’s motivations and approach to contemporary dance-making means probing ideas that inform the work: about physicality, the exploration of gesture, their inspirations and concerns, the stance of the dance vis-à-vis montage and music, daily realities, as well as the emotional and formal ap-

Jennifer Backhaus IRVINE BARCLAY THEATRE

proaches to dance – all are incredibly pertinent to their creative process.

The Orange County-based Backhausdance, founded in 2003, is at the forefront of the Southern California renaissance in dance. Artistic director and choreographer Jennifer Backhaus brings together a love for dance – a cocktail of modern and ballet traditions, that has critics raving about the “energy and speed” of the work, and the discipline the “full-bore” dancers bring to the performance. The acclaimed company has emerged as a powerful and entertaining voice in the dance landscape. The repertory is engaging, accessible and innovative, performed by dancers who are dynamic, technical and stunning to watch.

For Backhaus, the creative process in developing the rich movement vocabulary begins in a very collaborative manner. Ideas, images, and thoughts pertaining to a singular choreographic question or thematic concept are direct source material that percolates for her, a means of exposing herself as an artist to new ideas and sensibilities.

What moves the work forward is a fluid exchange of ideas between the choreographer and her appealing dancers as they engage in improvisation and task-based movement generation. She regales her troupe with tightly choreographed sections; the dances have

incredible logic and design, as well as possess a bold musicality and wit.

Emergence as a choreographer can occur at different stages in a artistic life: when you are in your 20s, and just finding your feet; as a dancer who shifts focus to making dances, but not necessarily performing in them; or as someone emerging from their environment and locale and making noise beyond their borders.

Backhaus, a resident of Newport Beach and Lakewood, represents a new generation of dancemaker, with a unique background, both in terms of what compels her to create and her training. But Backhaus is no breakout artist. This dancer and choreographer has always felt her place within the dance world; she’s been working steadily and consistently, creating dances that have a precision in addition to a trademark exuberance and flair, and gradually garnering acclaim for her work and her company.

A self-described “Southern California girl,” she was born and raised in Pasadena, before moving to Arcadia. She graduated from Chapman University with a double major in communications and dance. After graduating, Backhaus worked with Donna Sternberg and Dancers, starting in 1994. But she left in 2002 to choreograph on her own, but continued working on small projects WWW.THEBARCLAY.ORG

with other dance artists. She received her MFA in choreography form Hollins University and the American Dance Festival in 2012. Backhaus is currently a member of the full-time dance faculty at her alma mater at Chapman.

As a choreographer in quest of movement that she’s described as “athletic, layered and dynamic,” she’s breaking through the margins, and getting known at a national level. The breadth of vision in Backhaus’s work is such that you’ll forever be discovering hidden nuances, and more delights.

Her company’s youthful unencumbered energy, humor, a vivid theatricality and rigorous technical dancing fuel her choreography.

Backhaus is also known for taking dance out of traditional theaters and studios and embarking on site-specific performance art. These choreographic works physically involve the world around her, using buildings and doors, beams and pillars, trees and fountains.

As she described to KCET’s Artbound on-line journal, “We want to take dance out of theaters, and put it where people could just happen upon it, or encounter it…to have dances and movement where people might happen to already be....”

Musically, Backhausdance is sound-inclusive, and the choreographer doesn’t have particular, rigid ideas about music or the music she uses for

her work. The compositions the choreographer chooses for her process propel her pieces in a synthesis of styles and idioms. Backhaus often likes to employ contemporary composers to create original scores for her dances.

Sometimes inspiration comes from a musical piece she hears. Other times, she searches, then edits and compiles, choreographing the soundscape to fit a specific concept. In general, she does not use music that has been overused and may have too many mental attachments for an audience.

For the Barclay concert, Backhausdance is presenting two stage works: the critically acclaimed, conceptually-driven piece, Elasticity of the Almost (2013), which explores humanity’s ability to negotiate structure and chaos in a constantly changing environment. This athletic, seemingly effortless piece follows eight dancers, who eventually share the stage with thousands of bright red balls. The sound score for Elasticity features original compositions by Erik Leckrone and Ryan Dennee, created specifically for this dance. Musically, Backhaus further curates a fusion/collage using samples in sections by the other artists (German experimental composer and master of prepared piano, Hauschka, the American record producer, rapper and songwriter Diplo, who made his name as an underground club DJ, and the Malian

Backhausdance Elasticity of the Almost world premiere of

Drift

January 30, 2016 Sponsor

An anonymous fund of the

Orange County Community Foundation

desert-blues quartet Terakaft-Alghalem). The result is a charged, urgent dance with a soundtrack filled with multi-cultural rhythms and textures, and lyrical references in a techno electronica soundtrack.

The second half of the program features the world premiere of Drift, a full company piece, for nine dancers, exploring the concepts of journey, risk and the re-imagination of self. Set to pulsing beat-driven original score by the Highland Park-based electro-pop band, Fol Chen, dubbed by LA Weekly as an “art-rock sextet,” and noted by KCRW for its “lo-fi dance sounds and cryptic identities.”

Backhaus’s wholly original, articulate, quick-witted approach sets her team of dancers and design and music collaborators apart, processing complex movement structures and ideas.

The dancing is physically dynamic and demands an acute alertness. Apropos, the rhythms, stances and experiential possibilities she presents invoke a visceral response in the viewer. And that’s what it’s all about in dance – triggering the audience and creating a visually compelling work that’s not to be missed.

Philip Szporer is a Montreal-based lecturer, writer and filmmaker.

A MOVEMENTUM PUBLICATION © Irvine Barclay Theatre and Philip Szporer

2016