Pat Graney Company: Seattle-based Pat Graney once again takes visual
art as a point of departure. In “the Vivian girls,” a New York premiere, she is
inspired by the gorgeous, yet disturbing paintings by reclusive Chicago artist
Henry Darger (1892-1973), many of which are projected as part of the
performance. Discovered after his death, Darger’s 15,000-page book, “The Story
of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal,” is filled with
his beautiful watercolor collages illustrating the often violent adventures of the
girls. Drawing directly from these images, the choreographer creates a
movement vocabulary specific to the subject and costumes her five dancers as
Darger characters; they emulate the Vivian girls with brunette wigs and white
dresses, and appear en pointe wearing colorful butterfly-like wings, as another
crowd of creatures from Darger’s imagination. Taking place amid a clutter of
giant books, the work is accompanied by an original score for accordion and
fiddle by Amy Denio and Martin Hayes.
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Graney is intensely visual, and says her attraction to Darger's paintings was immediate. When a friend showed her a catalog from a gallery retrospective, Graney says she thought to herself, "I don't know what this is, but I have to use it." She found inspiration in Darger's stilted forms, their strangely limited movement and visceral formalism.
Pat Graney brings her company of dancers and performers from Seattle to present Vivian Girls.
At the Byron Carlyle Theater on Friday, Seattle choreographer Pat Graney sprung those sweeties from the idylls and turmoil of Darger's folios in the Vivian girls. The evening-long dance drama, amazingly enough, avoided sensationalism despite the frequent display of the characters' hermaphrodite nature (sewed-on in white fabric). A doll-like innocence prevailed among the five dancers, who hinted at hopscotch and other childhood activities as they scurried on and around stacks of huge books. Pitter-pattering or palsied, to plaintive voice, fiddle, and accordion, the black-wigged girls animated Darger's art, projected as background.
Choreographer Pat Graney stands in front of a vividly colored projection of a painting featuring curly-haired children who look like they stepped down from an early Campbell's Soup can or a Morton Salt label. These innocent-appearing kids are the subject of outsider artist Henry Darger's obsessive paintings and collages, and the inspiration for Graney's dance-theater piece, the Vivian girls, which will be performed at the Florida Dance Festival next weekend.
In an eerily beautiful fusion of visual art and theatrical performance, the premiere of Pat Graney's "the Vivian girls" at the Moore last weekend brought to life the obsessive paintings and collages of reclusive artist Henry Darger.
Choreographer Pat Graney stands in front of a vividly colored projection of a painting featuring curly-haired children that look like they stepped down from an early Campbell's Soup can or a Morton Salt label. These innocent-appearing kids are the subject of outsider artist Henry Darger's obsessive paintings and collages and the inspiration for Graney's new dance-theater piece, "the Vivian girls," which premieres at the Moore Theatre tonight.
Graney, 49, her red hair swept into a long ponytail, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet during an open rehearsal last week, looked a little like one of the Vivian girls herself.
Choreographer Pat Graney stands in front of a vividly colored projection of a painting featuring curly-haired children that look like they stepped down from an early Campbell's Soup can or a Morton Salt label. These innocent-appearing kids are the subject of outsider artist Henry Darger's obsessive paintings and collages and the inspiration for Graney's new dance-theater piece, "the Vivian girls," which premieres at the Moore Theatre tonight.
"Beautiful is the sun, which because of its wonderful splendor and radiance, was adored as a divine being by so many pagan nations. But more beautiful is the form of the Vivian Girls."
Seattle's most ingenious contemporary-dance choreographer presents her first major new work in four years, "The Vivian Girls." It's a riff on the visionary and disturbing artworks ofHenry Darger, with an original score by Amy Denio and Martin Hayes. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle; $24-$34 (206-292-ARTS or www.ticketmaster.com; information, www.themoore.com).