The Mile High Makeout: Ballet Nouveau Colorado turns to local singer-songwriter for inspiration
By Eryc Eyl | April 22nd, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Ballet Nouveau Colorado's artistic director, Garrett Ammon, photographed by Ann Sartori.
“You can’t replace the feeling of your body experiencing live music.”
Garrett Ammon, artistic director of Ballet Nouveau Colorado, knows what he’s talking about. The dance company — noted for its inventive work — continues to push the boundaries of its art by incorporating unexpected elements and collaborations. This year, BNC is collaborating with local musicians for three of its four shows, including this weekend’s indie-centric “Rarities & Oddities” performances, which are built, in part, around music from local singer-songwriter Jesse Manley‘s new album.
The unlikely collaboration between Ballet Nouveau Colorado and Manley began when Ammon first heard an unmastered copy of “Devil’s Red,” the dark Americana folk album that Manley will release officially on Apr 29 at the Walnut Room. Manley’s wife, Julia Wilkinson Manley, is the director of BNC’s dance school, and she had the album on her desk. Ammon snatched it up and was inspired on first listen.
“I was blown away by what a wonderful album he’d put together,” recalls Ammon. “Immediately, my mind started having these really vivid images come through.”
As a choreographer, Ammon is accustomed to beginning with a moving piece of music, but he was surprised by the visceral reaction he had to “Devil’s Red.”
“Jesse’s work is very contemplative and haunting,” he observes. “He brings something new and contemporary to his songs, but they feel like they’ve existed in the world for a long time.” It was the haunting and historical elements of Manley’s sound that Ammon wanted to bring to life through dance.
“For some reason, I see the dancers wearing mining helmets and lighting each other with the helmets, creating this dark and enclosed world,” Ammon explains of his vision. “We’ve designed these mining helmets with LED lights that are really bright, and we’re using the helmets as a lighting source for shadow puppets.” As it turns out, BNC’s costume designer, Catherine Strecker, trained as a puppeteer at CalArts, and was able to help Ammon realize a long-time desire to meld the worlds of dance and puppetry, all choreographed to Jesse Manley’s dark, bluesy mountain music.
This isn’t Ammon’s first time working with local musicians. Earlier this year, he worked with Paper Bird to create “Carry On,” a piece based on all new music that the band created while collaborating with the choreographers and dancers of Ballet Nouveau Colorado. He has also worked with writers and visual artists to craft unique dance experiences that build bridges between different artistic worlds.
“I found that so many possibilities grow out of working with other people who explore their world through their particular art form,” he says with an almost giddy enthusiasm. “It creates this environment where you can take these new journeys and new paths that weren’t there before.”
Denver singer-songwriter Jesse Manley photographed by Serge Olivier.
Though Manley came to the process with most of his hard work (the album) completed, he also found the process of collaborating with Ammon and the dancers inspirational.
“It was great for me to see how people react to the music and what they take away from it,” says Manley. “To see the music transcribed into another art form is really exciting.”
Since Manley has been working on many of the songs on “Devil’s Red” for several years, the collaboration also gave him a chance to reconnect with them before he finally releases them into the wild.
“I’ve really jumped back into these songs and relearned what I liked about them,” he confesses. “It’s been kind of fun to re-familiarize myself, get into the details and try to perfect how I’m presenting them.”
Though it might not work for Manley to bring Ammon’s work into the Walnut Room for his CD release, both artists are excited about the possibilities for bridging the worlds of live indie music and contemporary dance.
“I’d love to talk all the dancers into getting up on stage with me, but I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Manley says. “They’re too good.”
For his part, Ammon isn’t ruling out that kind of collaboration for the future.
“We’re always looking at bringing performances to new spaces,” he says. “We love the idea of bringing that experience and that art form to people in new and unexpected ways.”
Ballet Nouveau Colorado’s “Rarities & Oddities” show runs Apr 22 through Apr 24 at the Performing Arts Complex at PCS, 1001 W. 84th Avenue, Denver, CO 80260. Friday and Saturday performances are at 8 p.m., while Sunday’s is at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15-$44. Visit BNC’s website for more information.
Jesse Manley’s CD release party is Apr 29 at the Walnut Room, with Rachael Pollard and Radical Knitting Circle opening. Tickets are $7. Visit the Walnut Room’s site for more information.
Eryc Eyl is a veteran music journalist, critic and Colorado native who has been neck-deep in local music for many years. Check out Steal This Track every Monday for local music you can HEAR, and the Mile High Makeout every Friday. Against his mother’s advice, Eryc has also been known to tweet. You can also follow Steal This Track on Twitter. Sorry, Mom.
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