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Friday, April 13, 2007

Sometimes life provides extraordinary moments that are shared by only a few. Moments of rare beauty and grace such as a sunrise in a remote part of the world, or a critical moment in time. Wednesday night I had the honor to see an advance performance of this weekends performance of Ballet Creole "Contemporary Voices" during a final technical run through. Hundreds of very small but integral moves all choreographed in perfect order and precision, were being trimmed and tailored into perfection. Make no mistake when watching dancers perform, dance is an art both complicated and often very hard physical work that most would never be able to do.

Besides being able to see the actual performance I was even more amazed to listen to the sage coaching of guest choreographer Milton Myers whom I have followed since his days with Joyce Trisler and Alvin Ailey in the late 70's. Aside from his technical comments was his philosophical advise which was something that I or anyone could take with them through life.... "Think about who you are when you are dancing, what has happened in your life, how you got to this moment, who you know in your life, what culture you come from, etc..." The essence being that your life and everything you have done contributes to the performance and level of passion in your dance. I seemed to me that this same advice holds true for those of us who do not dance! What ever you do you can do it with passion! And again my dance photography is meant to not only illustrate the beauty of dance but that we ALL in our own way dance through life.

Susan Walker Dance writer for the Toronto Star writes:

"Milton Myers' latest contribution to the Ballet Creole repertoire gives the company a clean new look. In Contemporary Voices, Philadanco's resident choreographer seamlessly merges traditional West African jump-up dance with lean, contemporary moves.

The broad black-and-white stripe motif in the costumes accentuates the long lines of the dancers' outstretched limbs. The music of Famoudou Konaté is an infectious mix of complex West African rhythms. In some sections of the dance the music sounds like drumming on the streets of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. This apprehension is a clue to the fusion of old and new world styles that continues to enhance contemporary music and dance. Particularly eye-catching was a duet between South African Mafa Makhubalo and Natassia Parson."

"Book-ending the show is Patrick Parson's Ritual, from 1997, in this instance dedicated to the memory of Katherine Dunham. Ritual is described as "a spiritual journey of the transformation of one's being into an African deity." That much was clear from Parson's invocation of Ogoun, god of fire, iron, hunting and war, as he joined the musicians onstage.

The Caribbean percussionists sit or stand to the side, as if at a feast or a wedding. The dancers perform in dazzling white traditional skirts and pants, the men shirtless. From a slow ritualistic beginning and the rising up of a female dancer lying under a white sheet, the piece grows in speed and volume. By the end it looks like the scene of a well-rehearsed outdoor carnival dance. A viewer could go into a trance just watching Ritual."

"The men, by contrast are looking very fine. Byron Beckford, Sean Smith, Kevin Ormsby and Mafa Makhubalo keep one's attention on the stage with some outstanding leaps into the air and vigorous, articulated moves. Beckford seemed to be flying at one point. Makhubalo has a smile that projects to the rear of the auditorium; Smith stole the show in the last part of Ritual, and Ormsby appears to turn his willowy arms and hands in two different directions at once."

As always this performance of Ballet Creole should not be missed and you can get tickets by calling the Premier Dance Theater, at the Harbourfront Center in Toronto, 416-973-4000

Special thanks to Patrick Parson for giving me permission to come shoot and Kevin Ormsby for making the connection!

Ballet Creole exists to create, preserve, and present accessible and relevant contemporary dance works by Patrick Parson and by other notable choreographers. The Company endeavors to create a dance legacy in Canada through education, and archival projects.

To see more images go to my Dance Blog

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

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The Dance Through Life Project

Photograph project dedicated to capture the Art of Dance within the parameters of everyday life. The project hopes to capture the innate relationships between dance and everyday life. Images of dance performed in non-traditional locales hopefully demystifying dance as being inaccessible and drawing the obvious metaphor that while all can not express life with such movement and physicality, we all love with our own signature grace. Therefore we all dance.

Order your copy today by clicking on the books above!

Through New Eyes: The Photography of Christopher Cushman by Rinaldo Walcott

The Black male body remains an enigma despite its over representation in the public sphere. The dominance of hip hop culture globally, driven in part, but not exclusively by the innovative sounds of rap music have made Black men a standard by which Black men and other men judge themselves in contemporary culture. However, there is a paradox, because despite the prevalence of hip-hop’s popular global impact, Black men are also still some of the most despised men in Western culture. Stereotypes of criminality, disease and danger still abound and organize Black men’s lives, even within hip hop culture. Thus representations of Black men tend to be much more restricted, than open-ended. The struggle to bring Black men into complex open-ended representations has been an on-going historical struggle. One of the most potent forms of representation in the last one hundred and fifty years has been the photograph. Photography has offered the promise to represent the real in a manner that has both seduce its viewers and baffled them with its artifice. Black male photographic representations in the last half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first have promised to rescue Black men from the confines of mis-representation and stereotype. One of the most difficult and complicated circumstances of Black male representations has been in the realm of representing their sexuality. Black men’s sexuality is still over-burdened by a perceived threat and danger, especially now in the hyped-up era of the downlow. Then along comes Cushman. I first hear of Christopher Cushman’s photography from my boyfriend. He told me of a guy who was taking photographs of black nudes based upon how they wanted themselves to be seen, not how he posed them as his models. When I met Cushman he confirmed that he did indeed work from the models’ suggested posed and not impose his own. The idea is a great one because it allows the models agency in choosing what they believe to be an adequate representation of who they are. While it is now true that in contemporary culture subjects have learned to play for the camera, offering us artifice on command, this artifice can be understood as exposing inner senses of self and being. Cushman’s photography captures and reveals those inner desires. Look at me, many of the models seems to say. But look at me anew, is also what they seem to project and insist on. Cushman’s eye lavishes these Black male bodies with glimmers of light revealing their nuance personalities. While most of the men are naked their individuality comes clearly through. And yet, their eyes too reveal that they belong to a community, a family and possess desires, fantasies and needs. In these photographs, as viewers we are given new eyes to see beyond our inner voyeur. Cushman channels, Robert Mapplethorpe, Rotimi Fani-Kayode and many other artists, commercial and amateur photographers who seek to rescue the Black male body from the disastrous depths of mis-representation, and who almost always fall short. The conversations that his models create between his work and others whether unconscious or not reveal the profound influence of the image in our time. However, in Cushman’s eyes the Black male body is not being rescued, instead it stands on a self-made pedestal, not arrogantly announcing its existence but coolly (its signature) singing its own praisesong as swathes of light and behind the camera love washes over it. In each moment a small but significant revelation is made. Each revelation offers us the opportunity of an Epiphany – to think a thought about a Black man that we have not thought before. Professor Rinaldo Walcott is a cultural critic and Canada Research Chair of Social Justice and Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto. He lives and writes in Toronto.

FIERCE! Being Black, Being Gay in America

"What Chris has done with this important collection of images, Fierce: Being Black, Being Gay in America, A Photographic Essay, is to seek, lift, and affirm the identity and visibility of men-who love-men and express it in many ways. His photographs display Midwest American men from the outlandish and flamboyant, to the subdued and subtle. You’d think these were “ladies who lunch;” muscular men dressed for the “Park” in lace, and floppy hats to give effect for all to see. Brothers connecting in places we know are safe, such as our nightclubs, the discos, and special events targeting our interests.

The importance of Fierce is paramount: all men are created equal, and share a space on earth. These portraits of men have to be recognized as God’s beauty and not His damnation. Time will thank those who were strong and dared enough to express themselves for all to see and appreciate in a manner that’s loving and creative. Time will also thank us for not living in a paranoid state of mind, and afraid of our own shadows. Remember, this cluster of work isn’t Robert Mappelthope’s approach to black imagery, but the approach of documenting men as they wanted to be seen: with and without sexual stimulation, for shock value."

Curtis A. Lipscomb
Executive Director Kick – The Agency for L-G-B-T African-Americans
Detroit Michigan / 2005
www.e-kick.com