‘Ohana is a gallery of different kinds of dance music, music for all different kinds of movement. A lot of ‘ohana’s music is club music, dancefloor music, often some sort of trance-like picture, painted on top of a Chicago house groove.
But besides club music, ‘Ohana makes music for concert dance --- music, almost visual, for original choreography. Hardly any of these choreographed tracks are club tracks; they’re classical, folk, world, or some sort of abstract landscape. But all of this music is movement music, and it’s music for all different kinds of movement.
‘Ohana’s music is made by artists who each have their own story to tell. They write, play, sing, produce, choreograph, program, design, dance, spin records, or whatever it is that each of them does. But in addition to all of their own projects, at one time or another each of them finds some time to work with Chicago producer John Nevin, and bring some part of what they do to be part of what ‘ohana does --- paint music, sculpt music, play music, sing music, make music for people to move to.
Thodos Dance Chicago’s 2009 Fall Concert is being presented at two venues, and the first performance, at The North Shore Center For The Performing Arts was a don’t-miss performance. The Centre East main theatre was packed for an exceptionally well-presented show, and the second installment, at the Harris Theatre for Music and Dance, is Saturday, November 28 at 8:00 PM. For tickets, phone the Harris Theater at 312 334-777 or go to www.harristheaterchicago.org.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to what you can expect:
The most revealing line in Chicago choreographer Lizzie MacKenzie’s biography as Artistic Director of Extensions Dance Company may be this one: “Lizzie spends most of her free time teaching and choreographing." The realization that this is what Lizzie MacKenzie would describe as “free time” does a lot to explain her astonishingly broad range of accomplishments.
Many successful choreographers have had accomplished careers as dancers, and many company artistic directors are also accomplished choreographers. Lizzie MacKenzie, however, is at least unusual, and may be unique, in that she continues to be a successful and highly-respected dancer with one of Chicago’s leading companies (River North Chicago Dance Company), while also working as a leading choreographer. In 2008, she won the prestigious Choreographer of the Year award from Dance Chicago, presented by the Cliff Dwellers Foundation, to follow up on her 2006 New Voice Outstanding Choreographer award.
Her choreography is always graceful and fluid, and one of its most compelling attributes is a remarkable sense of dynamic architecture. In fact, whenever possible, it’s good to see her works at least once from a balcony, because there is a moving structure to what she does that becomes really apparent when seen with a full view of the stage.
Interestingly, this ability to master overall structure may be more the result of a focus on detail than on preconceived design; her designs actually seem to result from the careful composition of individual movements. Watching her in rehearsal with Extensions Dance Company, I heard her make an observation that does a lot to explain the coherence, but also the fullness, of her choreography. “Everything has a reason.” And when you add all of those reasons together, the result is inspired choreography.
Lizzie MacKenzie’s newest piece, “Time Now” is an eight-minute piece set to an original composition by Chicago group ‘ohana. It’s currently in rehearsal with her own Extensions Dance Company, and will premiere this fall.
I spent a really enjoyable -- and enlightening -- Sunday afternoon at Extensions Dance Company, getting to know the company who will be performing Lizzie MacKenzie’s new work TIME NOW, set to the original ‘ohana score that she and Dan Agosto and I have been working on for the past few months. (http://extensionsdance.com/index.html)
Extensions is a remarkable company; I walked in about fifteen minutes early, and that gave me the chance to watch Lizzie working with the dancers on the first section of “Time Now”. It was an impressive display of focus and commitment; Lizzie MacKenzie’s choreography is passionate in its detail, and these are fast-paced, dynamic details, uncompromising in their demand for technique and co-operation. So it wasn’t surprising to see a company that Lizzie founded displaying the same intense focus that she herself is known for. It also wasn’t surprising because I’ve seen Extensions perform several times, and their performances always have a graceful fire that I find unique.
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Welcome to part 2 of the first AOTPR podcast. In the second of three sections composers Johnny Nevin and Dan Agosto go further into the story of writing music for choreographer Lizzie Mackenzie.
For part 1 click here.
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Welcome to the first episode of the AOTPR podcast. In this section, the first of three, 'ohana Dreamdance producers Dan Agosto and Johnny Nevin talk about composing the original score for Lizzie Mackenzie's new choreography Time Now. The work will be performed by Extensions Dance Company throughout their new season.
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“Time Now” is ‘Ohana’s original score for Lizzie MacKenzie’s newest choreographic work “Time Now”, which she is currently rehearsing with Extensions Dance Company in Chicago. The eight minute score is actually a collage of two new ‘ohana tracks. The first and third sections of the work are from the track “Time Now”, and the middle section is a collaboration between ‘ohana producers Dan Agosto and Johnny Nevin called “Some Time”. This is Section I, a two-minute-thirty-second arrangement in 3/4 time for two grand pianos and string orchestra.
Composing original music for dance is always an exciting challenge; it requires a complex collaboration between two different artistic visions -- that of the choreographer and that of the composer --- and those visions are not always easy to communicate. The choreographer may have an idea of general direction and mood, or she may have a more specific sense of a work she can visualize. But to communicate that to someone who is not a dancer is a start-and-stop process requiring as much courage as patience. The composer may have an idea of tempo, arrangement, and mood, or he may already have the beginning of a musical idea. But to communicate that to someone who is not a musician is a stop-and-start process requiring as much open-mindedness as optimism. (more)
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‘ohana’s new release “Hidden” is an instrumental narrative of beautiful worlds lost, and then found. This is the score for Mollie Mock and Jeremy Blair's new choreographic work REFLECT, premiering July 17, 18, and 19 at ThodosDanceChicago's NEW DANCES 2009. The track begins with a desperately dark soundscape of deep orchestral strings and woodwinds, before beginning the full story, told by dance-driving percussion and orchestra, until, by the time the story is over, time itself seems to have changed.
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In the contemporary dance work ANASA, ThodosDanceChicago celebrates the richness of Greek heritage, inspired by the women of the ancient world. Composed for the final section of that work, "Breathe Again" is at first slow and mysterious, then driving and powerful, like a soundtrack for when determination leaves defeat in the past.
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Claire Massey wrote the lyrics to this strangely compelling 'ohana track, and she sings it hard and true, like somebody's favorite record from another world. This is the original, four-minute radio mix, the one that won't let you go home until you've heard the whole story.
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Composed for Jillian Chu's original contemporary dance work entitled 'Unraveling the Myth', this is a soft, sad soundtrack for a difficult journey. Josie Falbo, one of Chicago's most respected singers, brings a haunting beauty to the wordless vocal, telling some sort of relentless story; perhaps a different story each time you hear this.
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It doesn't seem like a track moving this fast could be this chill. Maybe it's because a quiet but persistent momentum takes this song through a series of gentle changes, until it falls off into a dream of a breakdown, and then comes back again. This is How-To-Chill-a-House-Track; this is six minutes of Just-Close-Your-Eyes.
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Let It All Down is a quiet song that tells a beautiful story. Mostly piano and cello, it winds its way through a series of gentle lyrical changes, speaking without any words, like a beginning that often changes, but never ends. Originally composed for a solo dancer, Let It All Down is an individual story, but it tells of a much broader experience. Here there is a much wider landscape, as if just one dancer could tell a story about everyone, everywhere, all at once.
