by Sharon O'brien
Thursday, October 20, 2016
New Entrance, New Era for Marigny Opera House
Since 1847 when architect Theodore Giraud designed the former
Holy Trinity Church, generations of New Orleanians have passed through its
iconic doors on St. Ferdinand Street.
From baptism at the beginning of life through the funeral mass at the
end, the structure was a familiar, well-loved portal in the spiritual life of
Marigny and Bywater until its deconsecration in 1997.
When word got out that the Marigny Opera House (MOH) was
changing its entrance from St. Ferdinand Street to Dauphine, there was some
regret that the original doorway would lose its importance.
Founder Scott R. King understands. Like other alterations to
the structure, fabrication of the elegant new seven ft. portal on Dauphine
Street is the latest iteration in mandated requirements to improve safety and
access for participants and audiences. “Obviously, you’re going to need an
impressive entrance to the theatre -- an architectural statement that signals
that you’re entering a beautiful theatre.”
The commanding bronze arch echoes the shape of all of the
arches in the building, with Marigny Opera House in large metal letters on one
side of the gate and Soli Deo Gloria on the other. (Bach ended all of his
religious works and some of his secular ones with SDG – to the glory of God
alone.)
Creation the new entrance was inspired by a design by New
Orleans architect Rick Fifield with input from San Francisco designer Jeff
Marcus who created the MOH logo as well as Steven M. Donnelly of Metal One
Studios on Royal Street who fabricated the gate.
Crafting the gate became a true collaboration, very much in
the spirit of the nineteenth century German crafts people who lived near the
church. “I have tremendous admiration
for craftsmen, people who actually build things,” King says. “Rick recommended
Steve to us, but what happened when Steve was studying the design was that he
brought new insight and ideas on how to make the gate more beautiful, less
heavy and less expensive to build.“
Relocation of the entrance has a number of benefits, all of
which enhance the comfort and convenience of audiences, performers and
staff. The initial Church layout was
designed around a procession moving towards the altar table, with pews at one
end and the altar at the other. “Working
with the original configuration meant that the first thing audiences entering
the building saw was the back of the risers,” King explains.
He and co-founder Dave Hurlbert have been transforming the
building into a “church of the arts” for the past five years, working through ravages
caused by hurricanes and years of neglect. “The first thing we did was to save
it from the elements. Water was coming in when it rained and there termites,
raccoons and other vermin. Cats Claw vines and other vegetation had to be
fought back.”
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Maya Taylor
OVER COFFEE
by Sharon O'Brien
Early afternoon at Café Fatoush in The Healing Center on St. Claude. This is a Turkish coffee shop/restaurant with an air of the mildly exotic about it. It is a good place to meet because it’s usually quiet. Even on weekends when it’s packed with chess players hovering over chess boards, it’s quiet.
Another woman mistakes me for the person she’s meeting with that day.
When Maya Taylor enters, you know without having to ask that it’s Maya, rehearsal director and resident choreographer extraordinaire for the Marigny Opera Ballet.
BEGINNING SEASON THREE
After four months off, Taylor is charged and ready to get started. “It’s really beautiful season – there’s something for everyone to come and see. And something for all the dancers, too.“ She’s spent months pouring over videos of dance hall footage from the twenties and thirties. Envisioning how composer Tucker Fuller will transmute Tin Pan Alley ditties and other music of the period into the score for Giselle Desponds, a full length contemporary ballet that world premieres at Marigny Opera House on November 17.
Her process involves listening to the music over and over, setting aside time to parse the score and get the structure down. Taylor’s been working with Executive Director David Hurlbert’s scenario and Fuller for some time now, but she’s clearly eager to begin working with her dancers.
The Marigny Opera Ballet Company of eight dancers includes several members from last season as well as newcomers. “They’re super talented, hardworking, and open to anything I throw at them during our rehearsals.”
Dancers spend an hour five days a week in class, followed by three hours of rehearsal. Learning each other as well as the dance. In addition to being classically trained in ballet, the dancers are fluent in modern, jazz, and improvisation. They will be learning and playing with the Charleston and Black Bottom for the dance hall scene.
While Balanchine famously compared dancers to instruments that the choreographer plays, Taylor’s work tends to be more collaborative. She believes that the element of play is essential to training and rehearsing. Sometimes, even an incorrect dance move gets kept in because it works. With a story as dark as Giselle’s, there is room for laugher and light, especially in Act I where dancers are responding to music’s that’s very fast, powerful and dramatic.
THE RETURN OF ORFEO
While her own contemporary dance ensemble Maya Taylor Dance continues on a project basis, Taylor’s main focus is the Marigny Opera Ballet which she joined in 2014, creating such works as Selcouth Liaisons, Summer from The Four Seasons, and a group version of Under a Glass Bell.
In 2014, Marigny Opera Ballet commissioned Taylor to choreograph Orfeo, her first full-length contemporary ballet. Based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, reviewer Chris Waddington applauded “choreographer Maya Taylor's ardent, articulate gloss on the oft-treated legend of doomed lovers.” Audiences agreed, responding with sold out houses.
When the decision was made to close the current season with a reprise of Orfeo, Taylor was delighted. With four dancers new to the ballet, she looks forward to tweaking the elements that will help make the ballet even stronger.
DANCING IN CHURCH
Writing in the Huffington Post, Hallie Sekof describes the use of location by contemporary choreographers in such a way that the space becomes as much a part of the performance as the bodies of the dancers. Indeed, by rejecting the confines of the concert stage choreographers like Taylor are disrupting conventional notions of performance and responding to the architecture and history of (in this case) an historic structure.
“The beautiful space at the Marigny is a major part of why I love working there," Taylor acknowledges. “It is so beautiful, vast, and provides a lot of time to contemplate where I want to go with movement and with the dancers. I think everyone that steps into the space falls in love with it."
"Collaborating with Dave and Tucker has also been a dream as they have a very clear vision and I am so thrilled to create the choreography to add to this original version of Giselle."
by Sharon O'Brien
Early afternoon at Café Fatoush in The Healing Center on St. Claude. This is a Turkish coffee shop/restaurant with an air of the mildly exotic about it. It is a good place to meet because it’s usually quiet. Even on weekends when it’s packed with chess players hovering over chess boards, it’s quiet.
Another woman mistakes me for the person she’s meeting with that day.
When Maya Taylor enters, you know without having to ask that it’s Maya, rehearsal director and resident choreographer extraordinaire for the Marigny Opera Ballet.
BEGINNING SEASON THREE
After four months off, Taylor is charged and ready to get started. “It’s really beautiful season – there’s something for everyone to come and see. And something for all the dancers, too.“ She’s spent months pouring over videos of dance hall footage from the twenties and thirties. Envisioning how composer Tucker Fuller will transmute Tin Pan Alley ditties and other music of the period into the score for Giselle Desponds, a full length contemporary ballet that world premieres at Marigny Opera House on November 17.
Her process involves listening to the music over and over, setting aside time to parse the score and get the structure down. Taylor’s been working with Executive Director David Hurlbert’s scenario and Fuller for some time now, but she’s clearly eager to begin working with her dancers.
The Marigny Opera Ballet Company of eight dancers includes several members from last season as well as newcomers. “They’re super talented, hardworking, and open to anything I throw at them during our rehearsals.”
Dancers spend an hour five days a week in class, followed by three hours of rehearsal. Learning each other as well as the dance. In addition to being classically trained in ballet, the dancers are fluent in modern, jazz, and improvisation. They will be learning and playing with the Charleston and Black Bottom for the dance hall scene.
While Balanchine famously compared dancers to instruments that the choreographer plays, Taylor’s work tends to be more collaborative. She believes that the element of play is essential to training and rehearsing. Sometimes, even an incorrect dance move gets kept in because it works. With a story as dark as Giselle’s, there is room for laugher and light, especially in Act I where dancers are responding to music’s that’s very fast, powerful and dramatic.
THE RETURN OF ORFEO
While her own contemporary dance ensemble Maya Taylor Dance continues on a project basis, Taylor’s main focus is the Marigny Opera Ballet which she joined in 2014, creating such works as Selcouth Liaisons, Summer from The Four Seasons, and a group version of Under a Glass Bell.
In 2014, Marigny Opera Ballet commissioned Taylor to choreograph Orfeo, her first full-length contemporary ballet. Based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, reviewer Chris Waddington applauded “choreographer Maya Taylor's ardent, articulate gloss on the oft-treated legend of doomed lovers.” Audiences agreed, responding with sold out houses.
When the decision was made to close the current season with a reprise of Orfeo, Taylor was delighted. With four dancers new to the ballet, she looks forward to tweaking the elements that will help make the ballet even stronger.
DANCING IN CHURCH
Writing in the Huffington Post, Hallie Sekof describes the use of location by contemporary choreographers in such a way that the space becomes as much a part of the performance as the bodies of the dancers. Indeed, by rejecting the confines of the concert stage choreographers like Taylor are disrupting conventional notions of performance and responding to the architecture and history of (in this case) an historic structure.
“The beautiful space at the Marigny is a major part of why I love working there," Taylor acknowledges. “It is so beautiful, vast, and provides a lot of time to contemplate where I want to go with movement and with the dancers. I think everyone that steps into the space falls in love with it."
"Collaborating with Dave and Tucker has also been a dream as they have a very clear vision and I am so thrilled to create the choreography to add to this original version of Giselle."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)