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Saturday, May 05, 2012

Slideshow & poetry reading




In today's post we present a slideshow of archival photos of "Indian Minis", which was in the regular repertory of Marta Renzi & the Project Co. for many years.  It was first performed by me and Peter Stathas in 1983 at Dance Theater Workshop, accompanied by a reading of the poem by Daniel Wolff (below), heard on tape spoken first by a man and then by a woman.  

Over a decade it was performed by many different couples: on quilts laid on the sand at Art on the Beach, Battery Park; at the Joyce Theater, in Munich at the Theater im Marstall in Munich, on the Inside/Out stage at Jacob's Pillow.  In 1991 there was a memorable version with two couples - Marta Miller with Tom Grunewald and Marta Renzi with Robert Sorrentino - splash-dancing through the two fountains at Union Station, Washington D.C. 

One of my favorite performances of Indian Miniatures was the one in the slideshow above, danced by Matthew Cazier and Marta Miller.  That hot summer day in 1987, with the backdrop of hazy Hudson overlooks at Wave Hill, the only accompaniment was the droning of bees and the occasional airplane overhead. For this online version, the music is by Steve Elson. The photos were taken, and transformed, by Robert Flynt. 

ON LOOKING THROUGH A BOOK OF INDIAN MINIATURES

We lie in a room still soaking wet
Half on the Asian craze of a carpet
And half on the dark, discarded pallet 
Of our own American clothes.


A moment ago these walls were crimson
The shade blood takes when it mixes with air.
We were holding them there by moving together.
We were keeping the world a wall away.


Then just when we thought we could make it last
When our movements began to feel final and fixed
The view out the window shuddered, trembled
and came crashing slowly in.


Now, as the world roars through this room
And our blood sinks back into pale blue veins
We roll off each other and the ceiling comes up.
It's as white and untouched as a page.


                                     Daniel Wolff

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