Melange

GHDT ‘Casket Girls’ dance again

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By John Lyle Belden

Though shrouded in myth, the story of the “Casket Girls” is true*. In the 1720s, by order of King Louis IV of France at the urging of the Church, young women were sent to new Gulf Coast colonies to be wives to the men there in hopes of keeping them civilized and Christian.

These filles a la cassette (girls with suitcases) were eventually referred to with the word casquette, which conjured the more popular term. They were pale and delicate, it was said, sensitive to the sun and, perhaps, the magical spirit of New Orleans.

Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre has revived its production that tells the legend with “modern gothic vampire” flair, featuring original music by Cory Gabel. Choreography and costumes are again by Gregory Glade Hancock, with lighting by Ryan Koharchik.

This modern-dance ballet centers on the character of Catherine (Abigail Lessaris), a Casket Girl who lives with the Sisters of St. Ursula until she finds her beau, Jean (guest dancer Cody Miley). But supernatural forces strike, changing her forever.

The second act brings the undead Catherine back to New Orleans a century later, finding an ally in voodoo priestess Mother Ava May (Olivia Payton) and love with sweet Saraphine (Josie Moody). But evil Lucien (Thomas Mason) wants to rule the city, and if Catherine doesn’t join him, he knows the Casket Girl now has something to lose.

Dancers also include Nathalie Boyle, David Elser, Fiadh Flynn, Sophie Jones, Zoe Maish, Vivien Mickels, Hazel Moore, Audrey Springer, Josie Steinmetz, and Lucy Grontkowski of The Conservatory of Dance at Granger, Ind., with guest vocalist Tessa Gibbons.

Stunning and beautiful throughout, the music and movement embrace a dark atmosphere evoking the works of Anne Rice and the goth-punk aesthetic of the World of Darkness roleplaying games. Gabel, in close collaboration with Hancock, brings a Nine-Inch-Nails-esque percussion to the score, giving a relentless beat to the characters’ stilled and breaking hearts.

A unique danse macabre for this spooky season, “The Casket Girls” have just one performance remaining, 5 p.m. today (Oct. 25) as I post this, at The Tarkington in the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel. Watch for this production to likely return in coming years.

With this, GHDT opens its 28th season. Next up is its next improvised collaboration in the “Melange” series on Nov. 15-16 as Mickels dances while vocalist Jessica Hawkins sings and Madhuchhanda Mandal creates a visual work of art. The full company celebrates the Holidays with Winterfest on Dec. 4-7 and 11-14. These performances will be at The Florence performance space at The Academy of Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre, 329 Gradle Dr., Carmel.

Full information and tickets at gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org.

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(*History and legend of the Casket Girls at NewOrleans.com)

‘Spring’ anticipates more artistry from GHDT

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By John Lyle Belden

Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre had a beautiful two-day run of its program, “Spring Equinox,” on April 4 and 5 at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel. Circumstances led to us seeing it on the second day.

I’m usually not comfortable writing up something you who read this cannot also enjoy. However, Gregory Glade Hancock’s company has much more planned in the coming weeks and months.

In “Spring Equinox,” which he said was themed around “beauty in unexpected places,” Hancock mostly brought back works he choreographed for a past generation, including “The Western Wall,” as dancers represented prayers flying up from the old Jewish Temple wall  in Jerusalem, using colorful costumes from the 1998 premiere; and “Contusion,” an abstract dance set to the percussion music of Australia, originally premiered in 1999 but now with updated costumes to better reflect Aboriginal culture. This latter piece, even with less of a storytelling element, was still a crowd-pleaser with its energy and rhythms that the audience spontaneously picked up, clapping to encourage the dancers.

This season’s company – Abigail Lessaris, Sophie Jones, Josie Moody, Cordelia Newton, Olivia Payton, Audrey Springer, and Thomas Mason – had solo opportunities in 1998’s “God’s Island,” with its country-folk soundtrack, and for Mason, an excerpt from the recent production, “There’s No Place Like Home.”

This program also presented a beautiful new work by Hancock, “The Lady of Krakow,” inspired by his recent visit to Poland during a tour of Eastern Europe. There, he saw a street performer singing, observing not only her but also how other people reacted, stopped to listen, or just walked on by. “And I thought to myself,” Hancock said in his pre-show talk, “what if they just started dancing?”

In this performance, acclaimed local vocalist Ashley Nicole Soprano stood center stage as The Lady, treating us all to sacred operatic arias as the GHDT dancers walked around and by, then one or two or more at a time, stopped, and swaying to her vocal spell, became the music visually.  Hancock student dancers Arina Bolotina, Magnolia Donaghey, Penelope Lomax, Isabella Webb, and Brittney Zhang joined the company in this wonderful spectacle. It had the feel of a street scene being elevated to a moment in a ballet or classic silver-screen musical.

Soprano will return to collaborate with GHDT in its next “Melange,” May 17-18 at The Florence performance space in The Academy of GHDT, 329 Gradle Drive in Carmel. In this show, as in past Melanges, our vocalist will be the only one with a planned program, but no rehearsal. She will be joined by Hancock company dancer Springer, who will interpret as the singing and music moves her, and visual artist Gaby Mojica, who will observe and create an original work in acrylic paint inspired by it all.

The company as a whole will return to The Tarkington stage at the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel for “Summer Solstice” on June 6-7 with another program of new and revived dances.

For information, and tickets to “Melange,” see gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org; tickets to “Solstice” are also available at thecenterpresents.org.

A swingin’, showtune singin’ GHDT ‘Melange’

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By John Lyle Belden

If you are reading this before 3 p.m. Sunday, March 16 (I’m posting it only hours before), do consider heading over to Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre’s office and studio on Carmel’s Gradle Drive, in the big black box of The Florence, to see the latest collaboration of “Melange.” For the $20 ticket, you get 16 hit tunes sung by the fabulous Tim Hunt, along with the grace and energy of dancer Abigail Lessaris, during on-the-spot creation of art by painter Lily Kessler.

If, as most will, you read this late Sunday or after, read on to get the feel for this unique production that had excellent performances by other eclectic trios last year and should return in future months.

The concept is simple and challenging. Gregory Glade Hancock assembles a vocalist, a visual artist, and one of his company dancers for a weekend of three performances. The person singing and/or speaking arranges a one-hour program without collaborating with the others – they might not even meet until the first show date. So, for the dancer and artist the work is entirely improvised, drawing inspiration from everything in the moment. The results are each unique, coming together nicely due to the dedication and professionalism of the participants. The artwork is shown to the audience at the end – taking a photo of it is ok – and it is donated to GHDT and immediately auctioned.

Each vocal artist brings their own flair, naturally, and you may know Hunt from his recent “sweet” turn as Frank in Indy’s “Rocky Horror” – but he’s not doing that character here. He sings popular bits from other shows he’s done, ones he just liked the sound of, and one he would really like to do. He also displays his love for the songbook of Rat Pack-style jazz and Harry Connick, Jr., with a number of swinging and sentimental songs. He’ll also give us a little Don McLean (“Not that song,” he says before, “or that other one, either”). The delivery is pure joy; it would be worth the ticket and more if this were just his cabaret.

However, there is also Ms. Lessaris, an instructor and the assistant director for GHDT, and frequently a featured dancer in their shows. Her flowing modern and ballet style matched the beat leaving her glowing with energy (and sweat) and enjoying every minute. Styles ranged from gentle grace to the opportunity for a quick hillbilly jig. The songs having instrumental breaks even gave her “solos” to show off. One wouldn’t know there was no prior collaboration.

Abstract painter Kessler, an adjunct professor at Butler University and creator of “The Art of Living Yoga” book series, literally let the energy of the hour guide her into her work. The resulting in-balance beauty I’ll not elaborate on as today’s creation won’t necessarily be the same as it, however this original – her fastest work, she confessed – was worth more than its multiple bids.

See gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org for information on this and future performances, including the dance programs “Spring Equinox” on April 4-5 and “Summer Solstice” June 6-7, both at The Tarkington at the Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel. The Academy at GHDT is at 329 Gradle Drive.

Words, dance and visual art flow into GHDT ‘Melange’

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By John Lyle Belden

On the weekend of January 11-12, Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre presented its fourth iteration of “Melange,” a largely-improvised blending of artistic disciplines by three individuals who had not only not rehearsed, but met one another on the first performance day. At the center is a performer who sings or speaks – the only element that is prepared – while a GHDT dancer interprets the goings-on in dance and a local artist captures an impression on a canvas.

Actor Jean Arnold was at the center of the space, delivering a program of spoken word, poetry and song. At the start she gave a rhythmic recitation of the folk song “The Unicorn” to set the mood of wonder and introspection with a touch of humor.

Compiled and arranged by Arnold, these pieces include a mother’s reflections on children, one she called “Fearless and Fierce,” a passage relating inner peace to world peace, one on “The Dancer,” and one “on Loving.”

The source material, she said, was literally all around us as the big box of a performance space – The Florence at the Academy at Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre – before its recent renovation had various quotes, sayings, poetry, and scripture passages of numerous faiths written below the floorboards and behind the wall surfaces, under the guidance of founder and artistic director Gregory Glade Hancock. Arnold had seen these, she said, and included some in her performance – quoting sources ranging from the Bible to Jimi Hendrix.

GHDT principal dancer Thomas James Mason was a flowing force that moved throughout the performance. He ranged from pure interpretation to moments of interplay with Arnold, when she would, with a mischievous grin, join him for a step or two. At moments, an old-time microphone stand would swirl in and out by Mason at her beckoning.

The dancer seeming to be all over the stage was captured in a number of dynamic poses by portraitist Robert Maurice Smith. In his drawing Saturday evening, Smith also captured Arnold’s energy, including, in a moment of late inspiration, the pages of the script binder that she occasionally held appearing to flow out to merge with Mason’s outstretched limbs. At the end of the performance, host (and GHDT assistant director) Abigail Lesaris auctioned the impromptu artwork with proceeds going to the dance company.  

“I am many things, but I am not quiet,” Arnold said smiling during the performance. Afterward, she noted this was unlike anything she had done on stage and enjoyed the challenge. “I wanted to leave people with something,” she said of her inspired approach.

As with the previous Melange productions, there was an almost polished feel to the unrehearsed proceedings, a confident reflection of artistic professionals. All present understood that this was, like all live theatre, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

As this posts, there is still today’s performance, 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12, at The Florence, 329 Gradle Drive, Carmel. See gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org for details and tickets, as well as info on their next show, “Down on the Bayou,” three weekends, Feb. 8-23, at The Florence.

‘Melange:’ Gregory Hancock blends art forms on Carmel stage

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By John Lyle Belden and Wendy Carson

Mélange (n) (French): a mixture or blend

Gregory Glade Hancock, founder and artistic director of Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre, has shown us his innovative style and imagination time and time again, expressed primarily in movement. Of course, there is also music and costumes, but dance is the primary focus.

With his Mélange series, Hancock widens the view, presenting us with a visionary concept of art in its many facets. In each performance, he brings together a dancer, a visual artist, and a singer to combine their talents, each artist influenced by the others. To make the result more spontaneous and organic, there is no rehearsal, and the visual artist arrives with a blank canvas, forcing improvisation and the participants’ concentration to make their collaboration work.

This past weekend was the second presentation of the concept. The grouping consisted of painter Madhuchhanda Mandal, dancer Olivia Payton (of GHDT), and vocalist Cynthia Collins (who brought along accompanist Brent Marty). The empty black-box stage of The Florence rehearsal and performance space in Carmel held just the piano, the artist’s easel and paints, a microphone and a chair.

This talented combo gave us a delightful exhibition of their combined talents, especially since some of them met for the first time just prior to the show. Collins set the tone by choosing to showcase a collection of songs by the incomparable Kander and Ebb (of Broadway hits including “Cabaret,” Chicago,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman”). A polished theatre pro, she added some entertaining patter to help set up the songs and relate what they mean to her – and even indulged in a Streisand hit and a rousing performance of “New York, New York.”

Payton’s sultry style perfectly complemented every song. She noted later that it helped that most of them were widely familiar. She seemed to feel her way through the various moods evoked by Collins’ vocals, giving her own flair so we get the novelty of a Fosse-free “All That Jazz.”

Mandal was tasked with creating a piece of artwork reflective of the performance and brought forth a delightful painting – impressionist and abstract, yet evocative of city lights and changing seasons – that was then auctioned to support the GHDT. To provide the event’s climax, we only see her face and hands at work throughout, with the canvas’s back to the audience; at the end the art is revealed to make the “mélange” complete.

Afterward, Collins noted that this was more than just a blending of disciplines. With Mandal, Payton from Hancock Dance, her from Actors Theatre of Indiana, and Marty from Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre working together, a sampling of Carmel’s varied arts scene.

Hancock plans another Melange in the coming months, with a different set of varied artists. For information on the date and participants, follow Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre on social media or visit gregoryhancockdancetheatre.org.