Maida Withers, Guest Artist and Teacher
“Isadora” International Dance Festival
Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia
April 10 – 17, 2005

Photos : Lenin Museum Site Specific Event, April 15, 2005

Siberia holds a special fascination for Americans and Russian alike. Siberia has remained a mystery because tourists were not allowed to travel there until after perestroika. Thousands of noted artists, writers, politicians, and many other Russians of no special distinction were exiled to Siberia, displaced from their homes, families, and work. Curiously, I have only met two Russians who have traveled to the region of Siberia and live there. It was exciting for me to go to Siberia.

I arrived on April 11, 2005 at 6 am after a five-hour night flight from Moscow on KrasAir, the exclusive airline to the capital city of the Krasnoyarsk region. This city, three time zones from Moscow, is in the center of Russia. When we arrived, it was dark, there was a light cover of snow on the ground, and all but two passengers were men. Krasnoyarsk is an industrial town, home to one of the largest aluminum plants in the world. Many men come to this city for business purposes. I was met by my host, Elena Slobodchikova, director and founder of the “Isadora” festival, and her husband, Sasha, owner of a Russian dancewear company. I was taken to a three-star hotel, located next to one of the two bridges over the Yenisei River that connect the separate parts of Krasnoyarsk.

Modern dance is relatively new to Russia. It was introduced in Russia following perestroika. Prior to that time, ballet was the primary dance art form. Each day began with teaching a modern dance technique class to adults and teenagers and a few pre-teens who came and went during the class. I taught principles of using the floor and moving through space. The Russian dancers are very determined to learn and move in new ways. Their passion is palpable.

The second class, conducted daily, involved a group of Russian women, dance teachers and teenagers, interested in performing in the site-specific event planned for the Lenin Museum on Thursday, April 15, 2005. We spent the first two days in the studio, a rectangular room with a carpet on cement that was covered with linoleum. During these workshops we established the content for the site performance. We designed structures based on photo copies of Soviet propaganda poster art brought from the USA. Lenin understood the important role and power of images in bringing about change in Russia – images were used in poster art and film. An astonishing and distinctive style was developed in the Soviet Union by Russian artists during that period.

Use of Russian propaganda poster art as a motivation in developing structures was immediately successful, since Russians were familiar with posters and, of course, the slogans describing the goal of the poster. Because I do not speak Russian, and only a few of them spoke English, the poster art provided an instant connection of ideas to explore. The poster art developed into distinctive scripts for improvisation (see below).

The third day, we met at the Lenin Museum and began to adapt our “scripts” to the three “red halls” where the performance would take place. The Lenin Museum, a large building located on the Yenisei River, is about 25 years old, and quite high-tech. The Krasnoyarsk Museum is one of the few Lenin museums to survive. After perestroika, most of the Lenin Museums were dismantled. and the materials were sent to Moscow for safekeeping. The museum was a source of many ideas and possibilities for performance.

Blue suspended stairs led to various places in the museum. The three “red halls” were laid out in three pie-shaped configurations connected by large glass panes making it possible to see between the three sections. The walls were covered with large versions of propaganda poster art - several we had worked on in class in the studio. Letters and writings were exhibited on movable glass structures throughout the museum. A large white statue of Lenin was at the far end of the central “red hall.” The Lenin Library included books about or by Lenin that were written in several languages.

On the fourth day, we met at the Lenin Museum and rehearsed the dance and text improvisations in the space. In addition to the twelve Russian dancers and myself, the cast included Nikolai Schetnev, of Arkhangelsk, Russia, and two Americans - Megan Thompson, a dancer from Maryland, and Jack Gallagher, a dancer residing in The Netherlands who was teaching at the festival. These dancers provided a very absurd/abstract element, since we were reacting mostly to the architecture, acoustics, each other, and overall feeling in the Museum. This mixed with the specific structures of the festival that dancers made for a very exciting performance.

Approximately 100 people attended the performance in the Lenin Museum. The patrons walked freely from room to room, following the various dancers as they moved through the space. The event began with the early Soviet national anthem, followed by continuous playing of Russian proletariat music that I had brought with me from the USA. The volume of the music varied according to the events occurring in the space.

The scripts for the Russian dancers could be performed more than once by a varied number of dancers in any space selected by one or more dancers. The scripts are listed at the conclusion of the report. The audience moved freely through the museum. They seemed to enjoy the performance and were deeply touched at the same time. Several people in the audience had tears during the performance. The administrators of the museum were very interested and open to our performance in their space. It was a great delight and honor to work with them. The local television station taped the event and interviews with the artists following the performance.

Two nights of the festival were devoted to adjudication of Russian groups performing jazz or modern dance choreography. The adjudicators included Olga Pona and Ott, her husband, Maida Withers, Megan Thompson, Nejla Yatkin, and Jack Gallagher. We selected specific groups for various awards that were given at the conclusion of the gala concert.

On Saturday, the gala concert was presented in the Opera and Ballet House, a modern theatre seating about 1200 people. The performance, consisting of children and adults, was sold out. Nejla Yatkin, of Washington, DC, performed a dramatic solo. Nikolai Schetnev performed a solo that was followed by an improvised trio by Maida Withers, Nikolai Schetnev, and Jack Gallagher. Mixing improvisation with serious modern dance choreography and youthful dances adjudicated and invited to be on the gala concert created an unusual performance enjoyed by all. I am always amazed at the radical approach I feel I can take as a performing artist outside of America.

The young Russian dancers are passionate and engaged in a way that is very rare. I am sure it is related somewhat to the newness of the dance form that allows and encourages them to express their lives and their experiences. This brings freshness to the performances. The Russians are very physical and disciplined. Their lives are hard and they must work to find success. This attitude is also present and observable in their dancing.

Participation in the “Isadora” International Dance Festival provided such great insight for me regarding my planned work, Thresholds Crossed. I am so grateful to the people and dancers of Krasnoyarsk who opened their hearts and welcomed me there. My love and respect for the Russian people continue to grow with each visit there.

Content of Lenin Museum Performance
Performance Scripts - Russian Dancers:

Script #1 – No poster. The Lenin Museum had several large blue staircases to various parts of the museum. Patrons to the “red rooms” could choose to enter by two stairways. Russian dancers stood, reclined, or sat on the stairs. As patrons would come to enter and walk up the stairs, Russian dancers moved to a new position on the stairs, interacting with the patrons by repositioning themselves. The audience truly became part of the performance from the first moment they came to the space.

Script #2 – Poster: *(1) Alexei Radakov: Literacy – Learn to Read. “He who is illiterate is like a blind man. Failure and misfortune lie in wait for him.” **(2) Anonymous. “Knowledge to all!” 1920. Literacy was an important part of the campaign during the lives of Lenin and Stalin. Each dancer selected a book from the Lenin Library and danced with the book throughout the museum. Movements varied from walking with the book balanced on the head, moving slowly and freezing while holding the book and turning the pages, and irreverently dancing while reading aloud from the book. A woman working for the museum sat on a chair reading a book throughout our rehearsal and performance. She became the centerpiece of this segment. Several posters promoting the importance of literacy for all Russians were the stimulus for this script. *(http://www.funet.fi/pub/culture/russian/html_pages/images/lef1.jpg); **(http://www.International poster.com)

Script #3 – Statues of Lenin throughout the former Soviet Union provided the movement impetus for one segment. Each dancer selected five or more postures from photos of over 40 statues of Lenin throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The characteristics of the statues ranged from arm gestures, standing and sitting postures, facial expressions, and even statues pulled to the ground and beheaded. The dancers related their postures to each other to create various tableaus. Two dancers moved as free agents among the dancers who were holding shapes and making gestures. The two dancers improvised relating to the postures to change the content and meaning of the gestures/postures. Occasionally the dancers spoke mottos, slogans, or factoids about Lenin. The Russian dancers had great conviction while being Lenin. (http://www.socrates.berkeley.edu and other sources)

Script #4 – No poster. Several stations were located throughout the museum where visitors could lift stacked glass plates to read letters and other items by or about Lenin. Dancers would stand at the station and read aloud from the letters and memorabilia. There were strong “special” lights shining down on the walls by these locations. Dancers would improvise under these lights in between reading and reciting from the memorabilia. It would feel somewhat shocking to walk around a corner and suddenly be confronted by a dancer reading from Lenin’s letters. These voices reverberated throughout the museum.

Script #5 - Poster: “Toward a prosperous cultured life.” On the poster, five Russian women are marching, carrying various items (animal, wheat, etc.) wearing peasant attire with elbows touching. During our performance, one or more women could join elbows and in determined fashion walk aggressively through the public and the museum.

Script #6 – *Poster: anonymous “Krestianka idi v kolkhoz.” “Peasant woman come join us in the collective farm.” In the poster, a large peasant Russian woman walks proudly, dragging four or five dancers who are hanging on her skirt and petticoats. During the early Soviet era, Russian women were told to bring all the Russians to the collective (alcoholic, priest, housewife, farmer, etc). The Russian woman in our performance wore black leather boots with pointed toes, tight black skirt with see-through black blouse, and a red bandana with white polka dots. Her beautiful strong face revealed the true emancipated state of Russian women. *http://www.socrates.berkeley.edu.

Script #7 – *Poster: Anonymous “Among the waves of the revolution.” 1918. We referred to this poster as the “talking heads,” since four heads were sitting in four pools of water - no bodies. Each dancer selected one historic slogan from the Lenin period. The first slogans were: (1) power to the Soviet; (2) factories for the farmers; (3) peace in the world; (4) bread to those who need it. These were significant slogans during the early part of the revolution. Each dancer also decided on a slogan from a later Soviet period and two or more slogans representative of themselves and/or Russia today. Dancers would lie flat on their backs with legs open and arms on chest or to the side. When dancers spoke the slogan, they lifted their heads and recited the line. They would also stand up or move to another position and state the slogan. The American dancers were speaking in English and spouting American slogans past and present (i.e. God bless America; a wireless computer system in every home; marriage is for a man and a woman; no smoking allowed here, etc). This was a powerful dimension in the performance as it blended with the proletariat music in the background. *http://www.internationalposter.com

Script #8 – Two posters performed in sequence: (1) Vera Korableva “Idi, Tovarishch, k nam v kolkhoz!” (Come, comrade join us in the collective farm.) 1930. (2) Nikolai Kogout, “Oruzhiem my dobili vraga.” (We slaughtered the enemy with weapons), 1920. Dancers marched in a line one behind the other, right arm raised with index fingers pointed high to the side, and left hand to the side of the open mouth as if shouting. Dancers stop and, in unison, each picks up an imagined hammer and swings over the top to the opposite side as if building a society with their brute strength. Dancers make a deep sound when the gavel/hammer hits. The swing over the top from side to side was repeated a total of three times before dancers dispersed. There are many posters showing men and women side by side pounding metal and building an industrial society. *(http://www.socrates.berkeley.edu; ** http://www.internationalposter.com.

Script #9 Poster: Several posters showing dead soldiers of the Soviet Union and/or of the enemy. One or more dancers a wearing military coat or camouflage jacket and boots are discovered lying motionless in odd situations, alone or together, throughout the museum - partially out from under furniture or in the middle of the space or along a wall.

Script #10 – Poster: Literacy and communication were important issues to Lenin. Dancers made white paper airplanes from 8 ½ x 11 sheets of white paper. Slogans from propaganda art were written on the wings of the paper airplanes. Planes were thrown in the audience for the audience to read or thrown back at the dancers. Dancers held the planes and pretended to fly the plane through the audience speaking the slogan before throwing the airplane. Airplanes strewn on the floor were found by dancers and/or the audience and sometimes read aloud.

Script #11 – Monument - statue: Vera Mukhina, Rabochii i kolkhoznitsa – (Worker and Collective Farm Woman), 1937. Male and female worker and farmer stand side by side, each with one arm thrust into the air in a determined gesture of defiance and cooperation. The man holds the hammer and the woman holds the sickle, symbols of the Soviet era. This was the theme for a male and female duet expressing equality and importance of their cooperation in the transformation of Russia.

Script #12 – Poster: “Deserter thinks ‘Let me run off, maybe they won’t find me. I’ll hide somehow. I’m sick of war.” 1920. Dancer could move through the museum hiding behind audience members, behind other dancers, in secretive places such as the sliding glass door to secure memorabilia, or sliding glass plates. It is an interesting challenge to be hiding while, in reality, the person is completely exposed. (http://www.internationalposter.com)

Script #13 – Poster: *Lenin on his deathbed surrounded by friends and family. Lenin has been on view in the Mausoleum in Red Square. Stalin kept the image of Lenin alive for his own benefit – grandfather Russia. One dancer, representing Lenin in the position of the repose of death, was carried by all the other women above their heads throughout the museum. The Lenin figure would be brought down to standing position, only to be raised to the horizontal position, again, above the dancers with outstretched arms, and carried throughout the museum. *http://www.funet.fi/pub/culture/Russian/html_pages/images/lenin7.jpg

Script #14 – Poster: “Electrification for all!” Large wall poster in the Lenin Museum had several hands facing out in the lower left-hand corner. Individuals or groups would form a close group with elbows bent and hands facing out. Dancers continuously moved hands between themselves or up and down. One dancer would emerge from the group and begin to create a version of hand/arm exploration in dance. The group, unable to accept this independent behavior, would immediately surround the dissident and bring her/him back into uniformity of group movements with the hands. Maida and Nikolai improvised at length in front of the large wall poster where they actually did duets with the poster moving toward and away from the hands on the wall poster.

Performance - Maida Withers, Jack Gallagher, Megan Thompson, USA, and Nikolai Schetnev, Arkhangelsk, Russia:

Four dancers moved freely throughout the museum, responding to each other, the architecture, the events performed by the workshop dancers, the audience, and the proletariat music playing in the background. The dancers were, relative to the scripted dancers, free to be abstract, absurd, and use a broader vocabulary of dance and pedestrian movements.

Megan Thompson, USA, dancer, wore a large bright red taffeta dress with a stiff white petticoat underneath. She represented the poster: *anonymous “Rossiia – za Pravdu” (Russia for truth) 1914-17. She also drew movement from the monument of “Mother Russia” in Volgograd. This statue has her mouth open as she reaches her hand out to Russia, while the other arm is raised above her head, holding a sword. Megan stayed in the center “red hall,” sitting on the floor or standing on the small stairs intersecting with dancers almost continuously. Her movements were minimal. She displayed the mother Russia gesture of reaching out with her hand as she called to her people, while the other arm was raised, holding a sword. She was touched lovingly and supported by the Russian women. She reached her “call to Russia” to the Stalin statue. She intersected with Jack, who was wearing a military jacket and boots. She rocked back and forth on her knees and walked slowly on her knees with her dark silken hair often covering her face and eyes. She was the one constant in the performance. *http://www.socrates.berkeley.edu

Nikolai Schetnev, Russia, and Maida Withers, USA, wore contemporary camouflage jackets and continued to represent the dimensions of military life in various ways: lying as if dead, taking drunken postures near the Lenin statue, partnering with others physically and dramatically, dancing on and around a large table, and having dialogue with the poster with hands, “Electrification for all!” Maida developed a mumbling segment with her hand over her mouth while confronting the audience by pointing her fingers at them in an accusatory way. Poster: “Kukryn – novgorod” (Fascists Leave Novgorod). Falling and being motionless were effective aspects of the performance event.

Jack Gallagher, USA, was a very strong physical presence, a large man, 6’ 4” tall, who moved with very broad sweeping movements. He started by splaying himself over two stacked ottomans in front of a large poster art of Russians in protest (1920). As a large and open moving American, he took the space freely, marched to the rhythms of the music, ran up and down the stairs in rhythm, and intercepted Nikolai, Megan and others in a highly charged physical way. Jack worked passionately and physically during the entire event, bringing a distinctly liberal movement vocabulary to the performance. He took the paper airplane and improvised the following letter: “Dear Mom. Things are not as bad as they seem – although I have been running a lot, you’d be surprised how positive the body can feel when you just let it do its job. I hope my brother and sister are following in your footsteps, Mom, because to tell you the truth, I am here. I am not sure, but I keep going. Yours truly, Your Son!” Jack put his Russian army coat on Mother Russia. He kicked a militant rhythm as he moved the stairs. He never tired.