The Department of Dance presented postmodern
choreographer and dancer Trisha Brown’s “Sololos,”
directed by Prof. Abigail Yager, in its summer production
in May.
It is the second time that Prof. Yager has worked with
TNUA’s Department of Dance since they staged Brown’s
“Set and Reset” in 2005.
Brown founder her dance company in 1970 and since
then has continued to experiment and create, and is considered
one of the most influential dancers from the US.
She has been invited regularly to perform in Europe.
Prof. Yager from the US was a dancer with the Trisha
Brown Dance Company between 1992 and 2002. In 1996,
she and her husband Yang Ming-long came to Taiwan
with the Trisha Brown Dance Company and presented
Brown’s “M.O” at the National Theater in Taipei.
Since leaving the Trisha Brown Dance Company, she
has joined the dance faculty of the Ohio State University
and has assisted several restagings of Brown’s choreog-raphy including, “Newark” at the Lyon Opera Ballet and
“L’Orfee” at La Monnaie National Opera of Belgium.
Commenting on the restaging of “Sololos” in Taipei,
Prof. Yager said it is a work reflecting the “multiple personality”
of the choreographer. “Sololos,” premiered in
1976, is part of “Line Up,” the collection of works created
out of Brown’s structured improvisation.
“Sololos” is only 12 minutes long, but each performance
may be different because of the design of a “Caller.”
The Caller will give out orders to other dancers, telling
them to skip to any part of the dance or even reverse the
movements, Prof. Yager explained. Therefore, the dance
will be different each time it is performed because of a
different Caller.
It is very demanding on the dancers, but the Caller’s
role is very important in that he or she has to improvise
in a way that will still keep the structure and fluidity of
the dance, she said.