ANDY DRACHENBERG: What about The Gershwins’ PORGY AND BESS as a work captivated you as something you wanted to work on?
RON K. BROWN: I think it was at breakfast with Diane Paulus and Diedre Murray, when they were talking about re-imagining this piece. I was fascinated by how to get the story in the characters bodies in a way that was different than how it would be portrayed in opera.
In opera, the genre is heightened – the singing tells the story, and, in a way, the drama is also heightened. With this production, there was an opportunity to make the singing and acting and the speaking tell the story, but the physicality can be on an even playing field with them. It’s been great to have an even emphasis on dance and physicality, and to explore how they could be integral to how the characters acted out their journeys in PORGY AND BESS.
AD: How did you start to build and define the movement vocabulary you used for the show?
RKB: I would talk with Diane about where dance should be in the piece, asking ourselves what were people feeling in each scene. Then, the challenge was solving how I express that through movement. For example, something as basic as the first idea for “Summertime” was that the women would be there to support this young mother. How would they feel in their body? And, what is that for this young mother who may not know how to deal with that.
Or, look at the funeral scene, where I simply spoke with the cast. You have a tragedy, and there is the response to that. There is the despair, and pain, and weight. But, ultimately there is celebration in it, so inside of that community the celebration would be a really important part of it. So for the funeral, we went through all of those moments, and you can see it in their movement.
AD: Have there been certain resources in your research that you have found helped inspire movement(s) for you?
RKB: As fate would have it, I went to the Sea Islands near Charleston, SC two or three times since 2001. That was another reason I was excited when we first started talking about this project. I knew some of the region’s history, so I was able to share that with the cast. It was amazing that the research I had done purely out of curiosity about life there became so useful. I shared with them a film called “God’s Gonna Trouble the Water,” and talked about the culture and their ability to hold onto this way of life during the turn of the century. I had also studied a lot of mourning dances and grief dances of West Africa. Having had those resources available to help physicalize grief in dance was really important. The movements existed. I just had to teach them and help everyone understand how to find them.
AD: Has the experience been different for you than working with a dance company?
RKB: I work with everyone the same way. I think with dancers, there’s sometimes the assumption “I can do this.” And then you have this frustration of “Why can’t I do it?” With actors it was like “Oh, I can’t do that!” So, I just have to say “You can and this is how. Its simple.” I feel like the access to it is different.
AD: Your biography states that you make ‘dance stories in response to the human condition…’ – can you tell me how The Gershwins’ PORGY AND BESS fits into this?
RKB: When I first started my company 26 years ago, there was an idea that we would represent our families and our ancestors, our teachers, and that we do that with a sense of accountability and responsibility — a sort of evidence of what we’ve gone through. For this production, it was just a matter of talking to the team about what was going on. “What have you gone through? Where are you trying to go?” and then, “How do you feel?” Then, I think the audience witnesses what you feel… how your body moves… There has to be a range that expresses the human condition.
AD: How do the various elements of this production intertwine and harmonize with your work in storytelling through movement (music, character, setting, etc.)?
RKB: I guess I have to put myself in the character’s place. When I worked with Norm Lewis, he had a cane and I had a cane. We started talking about the journey of discovery on the way… He’d say, “Lets go down the stairs.” So, we went down the stairs, and that’s how we would understand how he would get around. And then, we just kept working on different scenarios. I remember one day Norm said to me “Oh my goodness! I’m walking down the street and I am noticing all of these people who are differently-abled.” And that’s how we would talk about Porgy. Porgy was not beat-down, he is a “smooth guy” and he just happens to be differently-abled.
AD: How do you describe the experience of The Gershwins’ PORGY AND BESS?
RKB: In all my work, I hope people feel lifted up. In PORGY AND BESS, I hope they feel the liberation that Porgy and, on some level, all the characters discover. At the end of this story I think there’s this kind of openness. When people leave at the end of the performance, I want them to feel that kind of liberation. Over the past couple of weeks, working on this production has felt like the sky is opening up and the sun is bright. I’m humbled by the perspective. The fact that I got to work with Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis and David Alan Grier and this cast, is amazing. And so, it was a humbling and incredible experience.
Ronald K. Brown(Choreographer) founded Evidence, A Dance Company 1985. He has worked with Mary Anthony Dance Theater, Jennifer Muller/The Works and other choreographers and artists. Brown has set works on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Cleo Parker Robinson Ensemble, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Jeune Ballet d’Afrique Noire, Ko-Thi Dance Company, Philadanco, Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago and Ballet Hispanico. He choreographed Regina Taylor’s award-winning play, Crowns and won an AUDELCO Award for his work on that production. Brown has received two Black Theater Alliance Awards. Brown has received: John Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Choreographers Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, United States Artists Rose Fellow and The Ailey Apex Award for teaching. Brown is a member of Stage Directors & Choreographers Society.