The Ostinato and The Furniture or Stiffen

The Ostinato and the Furniture or Stiffen is a mixed genre piece about the resistance to hybrid work, especially as seen in Pina Bausch's dance-theater but also across genres and disciplines. Much of the thematic material is based on Bausch's choreography and Tanztheater Wuppertal performances. There are forays into literature, art, film and psychology that include Sigmund Freud, Gaston Bachelard, Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, Louise Bourgeois, Stéphane Mallarmé, others. I always think essays about hybrid or interdisciplinary work should walk the walk, be hybrid.I've created a work that is itself primarily a fusion of poetry and essay. The piece is the culmination of a longtime involvement with mixed genre work. The "Ostinato" addresses resistance to hybrid impulses across the arts. My attraction to Tanztheater Wuppertal was a mystery. Why did dance theater thrill me and so non-plus New York critics? Having worked with images and text for decades, I'm now fascinated with how images, when added to a page, rearrange words and assume a bigger role in how the two interact and appear. Inserting a curved line is like constructing a highway through the page. Meaning and sensibility change. Bubbles inserted suddenly create a constellation of words, a new map. Interrupting linear flow and expected presentation creates new associations and multiple readings. The piece has three introductions. Recurrent motifs include rain, spiders, chairs, and emotions. There are conceptual headings, formal devices, that repeat, such as "Pina Probes," "Captures," and "Postscripts." There's quite a focus on photography and dance, how motion is conveyed in imagery. My introduction to Pina Bausch was through images not performances. Stein wanted to create a play like a landscape that could be comprehended at once. To present the "Ostinato" as a dancy mosaic to be grasped all at once would be ideal.