The March of Mark Morris
Mark Morris is singing along robustly as 10 dancers rehearse "Gloria," one of his earliest dances, in a spacious studio at his company's Brooklyn headquarters. As the rich, fervent Vivaldi score plays, Morris urges his dancers to pay strict attention to musical details.
Morris' hair, flecked with grey, is no longer long and wild-though it remains unruly-and he turns 50 later this year. Always more fleshy than the average dancer, he has now essentially left the stage and his body has thickened into a comfortable earthiness. An outfit of baggy shorts and a down vest over a blue shirt makes a lumpy, non-dancerly impression.
But when he gets up to move, his amazingly lush, detailed capacity for inhabiting the musical phrase remains unmatched. Morris has always had an extremely deep and wide-ranging knowledge of music, and his choreography makes a persuasive case for the idiosyncratic way he hears a score. From Baroque choral works to the spare, Eastern-flavored contemporary scores of Lou Harrison, from Bartok to country-western songs-Morris synthesizes them all into movement that is delightfully original and unpredictable, and ultimately persuasive and illuminating.
The leading-one could say dominant-choreographer of his generation, Morris is no longer seen as the obtuse, strong-willed renegade of the dance world, as he was during his early years on the scene. The iconoclast is now a revered master, a leading light of his field. In addition to the steady, unpredictable stream of work for his own troupe, he regularly choreographs for top ballet companies: In the middle of the BAM season, the Boston Ballet offers the world premiere of his "Up and Down," set to Glazunov's saxophone quartet.
Morris dances are everything from rambunctious to mystical, romantic to harsh. Humor is often an important element, but he is just as capable of creating a spare, riveting work of ritualistic power. His company members exude a robust camaraderie and honest performance manner devoid of mannerisms. The movement defies easy categorization, incorporating elements of diverse dance styles
The middle program of the BAM season (March 15?18) will feature his two original versions of two contrasting one-act operas: "Dido and Aeneas," his 1989 production of Purcell's tragic 1689 work, and "Four Saints in Three Acts," the rarely-performed 1928 opera with jaunty, invigorating music by Virgil Thomson and an offbeat libretto by Gertrude Stein. For the first time, Morris will not be performing his tour de force dual role as both Queen Dido and the Sorceress. Instead, the role is split for a new generation of dancers: Amber Darragh portrays Dido and Bradon McDonald is the Sorceress.
The depth and intelligence of Morris' musical understanding is the foundation of all his projects. He gets inside a score, gleams its structure and applies that to his choreography. Thus the luminous "V," choreographed in 2001 to Schumann's sweeping Quintet for Piano and Strings in E-flat Major, is both stunning for its sheer beauty, but also reveals an intricate byplay with the score. It will be performed March 8?11, along with another masterwork, the profound and ritualistic "Grand Duo" and "Gloria."
When asked about "Gloria" now, he says it strikes him as being "in the ancient style."
"Although the construction of it is perfectly of today; it's more complex than many of my dances now," he said. "It's one of the first dances where I choreographed for the dancers according to the soprano, alto, tenor and bass in the chorus."
Morris also debuts as a conductor and will be in the pit, leading the musical forces-the MMDG Music Ensemble, the Juilliard Choral Union and two soloists-as he takes his longstanding knowledge of Vivaldi's score to a new level.
"It's fun and terrifying," he admitted, referring to his new place in the theater.
The extensive celebration at BAM, which includes "The Month of Mark" at the BAMcafe-live performances of "music that moves Mark," ranging form a gamelan to a country swing band-and a film series, "Morris & The Movies," at the BAMRose Cinema along with photo exhibitions around town.
Exuberant, surprising, distinctive and-to use one of his favorite words, fabulous-Morris' achievements over the past 25 years certainly deserve celebrating.