Cennarium Backstage Issue 3 - Promenade Festival Special Edition | Page 24

clues to the story. Graham, without the
camera, often worked in a very cinematic
way. She would have most of the onstage
cast freeze in a tableau while one dancer
revealed his or her inner monologue
through dance, very much like the use of
close-up and voice-over in film. She does
this several times in Appalachian Spring

The achievement of any 90th birthday is always to be celebrated,
but when the honoree is The Martha Graham Dance Company, rejoicing
begins. From June 8 through June 11, the company noted this milestone
by performing on the stage of Spain’s leading opera house, Madrid’s
Teatro Real, for the first time. And it was during those four days that Janet
Eilber, the company’s artistic director since 2005, shared her thoughts
on how the work of the legendary choreographer translates to the
screen—or, more accurately, on line, since you can watch a performance
on Cennarium. Does dance change when you see it in two dimensions?
What can a camera do for dance that a seat in the audience cannot?
Yes and yes! Using technology on dances
that were specifically and carefully designed
for the proscenium stage is a huge change.
I was in the cast of several TV shows in
the 1970s that recorded Graham’s classic
works. Martha directed these shoots and
was absolutely thrilled by the many new
tools added to her creative tool box—
such as the use of close-ups, different
camera angles, new lines of force for the
movements, etc. She was fascinated with
how she could create a more intimate
and powerful journey for the audience—
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That said, how can shooting a
work then improve it?
The camera customizes the journey for
the audience. It helps them focus, making
sure they don’t miss an emotional moment,
any small but important reactions, and
that she had more control over how they
experienced her dance. She directed us
from the control room, making changes and
adjustments to the choreography in order
to take advantage of all that the camera
had to offer. These same opportunities
provided by the camera are effective
even 40 years after they inspired Martha.
The multi-camera shoot with effective
editing can give the audience a much more
personal and potent experience of a dance.
Thinking of Martha Graham not just as timeless
art but as a business, what are the audience-
development and fundraising rationales for
capturing and streaming your work? What
metrics do you use to identify success?
Starting in the 1970s, when dance became
more and more available on TV, there
was a fear in the dance world that the TV
exposure would cannibalize the audience
for live theater. In fact, it proved to be quite
the opposite. The additional opportunities
for viewing and understanding dance built a
huge new audience. I believe this continues
to be true with all of the new ways we can
watch dance, from dance competition
shows on TV to YouTube, Instagram and
Cennarium. Audience members who
If you had unlimited resources, how else might
you marry technology and dance—either in
general, or specifically for Martha Graham?
Performing artists mostly think about their
work live, on a stage, for live audiences.
Does adding technology—cameras—change
how you or the dancers think of their work,
or how the audience experiences it?
discover and familiarize themselves with
our work in film, photos or video are
more likely to come to a live show when
we are in their area. We use the metrics
available to us from social media outlets
and audience surveys. More anecdotally,
we monitor our bookings, touring
dates, and ticket sales to understand
the growing interest in our work.
Oh, there are so many things we would like
to try! Like dancing with holograms onstage
or recording a dance with body cameras
on every dancer, or creating a worldwide
festival in which we could collaborate with
other dancers and musicians virtually,
creating art with partners in real time but
in different places while anyone in the
world could tune in, join in, or view live.
Is it possible to project dance in the sky,
yet? Like the optics of a rainbow—so a
whole city could see it at the same time?
#streamthearts #streamarts
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