Critical Correspondence

Melanie Rí­os Glaser in conversation with Jmy Leary

Jmy Leary, who moved from New York City to Los Angeles in Fall 2009, talks with Melanie Rí­os Glaser about her work as the Executive & Artistic Director of The Wooden Floor.

Interview:  4.26.10

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I moved to Los Angeles from New York City for no real reason. This interview is the first in a series of interviews of interesting people, programs, events, and work in the Los Angeles area. I first saw The Wooden Floor at REDCAT, one of the few experimental dance (as well as other types of performance) venues here and was blown away by the performances of these young people and the type of work they were doing (pieces by Nami Yamamoto, Mark Haim and Melanie Rí­os Glaser). Growing up a bunhead, encouraged to fit into the narrow, restrictive and submissive stereotype of ballet, these students of dance, the work they are exposed to and the people they are encouraged to be (themselves) was refreshing, inspiring and unusual. For one month while the regular rehearsal assistant was on a residency, I assisted Melanie in working on her piece “True or False: I was Born in the Nederlands” for 48 young people of The Wooden Floor. I totally love these kids, they are amazing, and this program allows for hope in not just their world but mine. I have never known such a successful program where I feel the true potential of success, not just a justification of your lack of consciousness and caring in a money-driven world.  —Jmy Leary, October 2009

Jmy Leary: You became the Artistic Director of The Wooden Floor in 2005. In 2008, you became the Executive and Artistic Director. Why?

Melanie Rí­os Glaser: Beth Burns, our founder, had put together an Executive and Artistic Director team who reported to the Board way before she retired. When she stepped down, there was a transition period that can be called “creative disruption.” Eventually we consolidated the positions and I stepped into the role because it seemed appropriate. I hired a General Manager/Chief Financial Officer to complete the structure and we went back to having a single leadership structure. The buck stops with me. I have a lot more work and responsibility that is not artistically related. Now I’m trying to bring back the artist.

Jmy: How did you get involved with The Wooden Floor?

Melanie: I met Beth Burns at Jacob’s Pillow in 1997, where we were roommates. She liked my work and, a few years later, she asked me to be the first outside choreographer to work with the youth at The Wooden Floor.

Jmy: I read a bit about the work that Beth made on the kids, working with Mayan culture. She had the kids do drawings which would be part of the set and the costumes. Or another piece, Unearthing, the kids talk about their personal stories and histories.

Melanie: One of Beth’s unique talents is that she has an eye for the whole theater – sets, lights, and costumes. Her work is theatrical. Because she came from an Anglo background, she felt the need to make sure she respected the youths’ culture and heritage in the work. I think there was some surprise when I began to make work here. I am a Guatemalan, and my work did not necessarily reflect that. My argument was that as a Hispanic female, I wanted to have a right to contribute to a contemporary art movement without having to bring in ethnicity or, folklore inspired dance. (For one I am not Mayan and have no such dance tradition in my background.)

I had been working in France, and found that there was an expectation that artists from Latin America or Africa bring some sort of “fusion” of traditional dance in a contemporary framework.

The work was accepted regardless of its depth of inquiry only because it was acknowledged that these cultures had been through hell and therefore could make any kind of art they wanted to. You were expected to make art that fit their idea of what art from your country should look like. I’ve heard it called the Frida Kahlo Syndrome.

Jmy: What did your work look like?

Melanie: In those days it could be labeled “very abstract.” It did not have any conscious references to culture albeit there must have been subtle ones. It was more generally about humanity and the kids doing things they had not done before. It was about physical risk taking. Beth went on to produce this very abstract piece. She gave me a piece of hers done with Mariachi music and Mariachi skirts to re-choreograph my way. We influenced each other.

Jmy: There seems to be some parallels with her original pieces, in getting the kids to not pretend, not strive to be anything other than who they are and to research their histories. Beth taught the kids ballet, which was her primary vocabulary, is that correct?

Melanie: She didn’t choreograph within the ballet language, and she didn’t want to. She was attracted to choreographers outside of ballet and wanted herself to expand.

Jmy: The kids are in ballet classes but the choreography is all over the place and filled with different references. What do you teach the kids now?

Melanie: The curriculum is based on ballet, modern, improvisation, and somatic studies. We are still playing with the somatics curriculum and how to fit it in. We have outgrown our space. What makes us unique is our striving to pair the kids with interesting artists that are contributing to shaping the genre of contemporary dance today. The kids are here long term, so that by the time that they graduate they will have been involved with this collaborative art making process for years. They know that they are not “pretending” to make art, they are doing the real deal in collaboration with these fabulous artists like Sally Silvers, Nami Yamamoto, Susan Rethorst, and Mark Haim to name a few.

Jmy: You can see how experienced the older kids are in making pieces and being creative whereas in other schools of dance, you get the director’s vision and the kids are submissive to that. The older kids feel like professional dancers. They are able to articulate to the younger kids how to approach movement, space, behavior.

Melanie: Here they learn things that kids learn in college dance programs. They may not be as strong in ballet, but they come out with other dance and life skills.

Jmy: What is the somatic work that they do?

Melanie: We have two somatics teachers. Lisa Pettigrew’s approach is based on the work of Anna Halprin. Mary Herzog’s background is in contact improv and child psychology. She has made it her life’s work to mix improvisation with an awareness of children’s issues.

Jmy: Can you talk about the kids that come into the program?

Melanie: The only requisite to entrance is that you are extremely low income and have a desire and some ease with movement. Most of them are Latino, first generation or not even. Most have Spanish speaking parents and are two grade levels behind in school. A typical family at The Wooden Floor is a household of five living on $29,978 a year in Orange County, which is not Kansas.

Jmy: In the piece you are making with the kids, these issues come up and you allow them to come out on stage.

Melanie: When you see our kids on stage, they look so composed, together and fulfilling their potential for how wonderful they will become. You could almost romanticize who they are and what their background is. I have done that. It is not that I don’t want to make them look good. I wanted to bring their everyday issues and struggles into the work. I want them to talk about the issues in their lives, some of the stereotypes that they face.

Jmy: The piece is and is not about identity. Some colleges emphasize this cultural identity that people are supposed to find and make pieces about. There is something that feels false about that to me. The piece you are making is about cultural identity but it doesn’t feel false. These are the issues that you seem to be exploring, how do you present something without exploiting it, how to not romanticize it. You are also teaching kids about activism, sit-ins, rebellion, ideas they have not grown up with.

Melanie: You were with me that day when we asked them what a sit-in was and none of them knew. I never really know what I am doing until I am done and then work speaks back to me. Latina women are one of the least empowered groups so one of the attempts was to get them to feel that they have power. I take it as a compliment that it doesn’t feel forced. It might be that we are looking for authenticity.

Jmy: I was struck by how the kids were asked to be themselves, while in most theater and dance programs, you are asked to be other, something you may not want to be and you don’t feel like you have a choice.

Melanie: The piece came from what they were saying, venting, and doing. This piece has had several incarnations. I created a piece in the summer that was more accessible, romantic, inspiring. I dismantled it and reassembled it for REDCAT. Then I disassembled it again and added more kids.

Jmy: Their authenticity feels timeless. There is something about the issues they are dealing with that feels classic and timeless – responsibility, sex, drugs, growing up.

Melanie: I remember you saying that these issues were what you dealt with growing up. The struggles are timeless.

Jmy: The developments, needs, and desires to be close to others, to understand others, to be understood are the same no matter where you are growing up.

Melanie: To have credibility and authority is a big one for them. We still strive for this as adults.

Jmy: It never ends. You also bring in other choreographers like Mark Haim, Nami Yamamoto, and Sean Curran.

Melanie: Mark is talented with this group.

Jmy: His movement is fantastic for the kids.

Melanie: I also brought Scott Wells. We also collaborated with the Cunningham Dance Company to create a showing called MinEvent with excerpts from Roaratorio. Bill Viola gave us a video work to use as part of the collaboration. The great artists and production team are not here for the pay. They believe in what we are doing. The philosophy is, why shouldn’t these kids work with the best? Sally Silvers is another choreographer I brought in. Three of the artists have said they don’t have such great production values anywhere else. The Founder valued excellence, excellence, excellence. These kids get shortchanged everywhere in their lives. We are not going to shortchange them here.

Jmy: You bring unique people to work with the kids. You are not bringing the people that everyone else thinks are amazing. You bring independent people.

Melanie: Cunningham, Streb, and Limon have been here in residence. I have to remind my audience that the people who they may have not heard of, who are not so rich and famous are doing interesting work. They also have to want to work with the kids and get wonderful art out of the process.

Jmy: These are people that should be more valued, but there is not often money or support for this kind of work. Would a program like The Wooden Floor even exist in Europe?

Melanie: I have worked in Europe. I haven’t done a lot of research to know if this exists or not. They have many more subsidies, but I don’t think the model of ten years immersion is common. I have never known of another place where it actually exists.

Jmy: I have noticed that kids at The Wooden Floor are appreciative of what they are getting and how much harder it is when you don’t have any special attention or an outlet or a place to go after school. Can you talk about the program that is coming up?

Melanie: We have performances at the Irvine Barclay Theater on the UC Irvine campus. John Heginbotham, who has danced with Mark Morris for over a decade is creating a new piece for over 100 dancers. They will be performing Clapping Music by Steve Reich. Susan Rethorst just started her residency this week and she will be working with the older students. I will restage True or False: I was born in the Nederlands, which is inspired on the way the kids talk, walk and are influenced by pop culture.

Jmy: All pieces seem to allow the kids to use their imagination. This is such an important skill and there is not a place for it within western education. There does not seem to be a place for it outside the education where kids used to be allowed to run free, talk to trees, and have their own world. This space makes them feel calm and safe. What they learn here is how to deal with the stress of their lives. The parents also talked about how the kids were open and excited about their dance classes.

Melanie: You are right about all the pieces being imaginative. You walk into a dance studio and you don’t have anything. In that space with nothing, you will do something. All you have is you, space, and other people. The Wooden Floor levels the playing field. You have to use your imagination here.

Jmy: You can do something you don’t have to explain, which is not valued in our culture. We may not have the language to describe certain feelings and actions. You may not know what they are. There is not always language to describe what happens in a dance piece. It is a secret, other world that the kids enjoy being a part of.

Melanie: We make it different than school.

Jmy: What do you believe in these days?

Melanie: I believe in the arts as the end all, be all. I don’t believe in organized religion. The arts are a pathway to access our inner life and our deeper selves. I have not been very interested in “music” in the last couple years, but I am interested in contemporary visual art, performance art. Matthew Barney’s melting, linoleum white substance, stuff. I believe I need a sabbatical. I feel very strongly about people having the time to clear the deck.  With clarity comes enthusiasm and optimism. As a leader, I am often asked to have a clear vision. People in this country love to plan, which is helpful if you want to get from A to B. My last piece before this one was called Living with Murky. It was about the ability to be in an ambivalent, ambiguous, less clear place and not strive for clarity all the time, letting things happen in a more haphazard way. I advocate for some messiness, mixed feelings. That search for clarity often ends up in simplistic forms of thinking. Maybe it is less efficient. We are all about being efficient in the United States.