For the head of a dance troupe celebrating
its 25th anniversary, Mark Morris sounds pretty blase.
"I guess it just happened," the choreographer says
during an exclusive telephone interview with GO Brooklyn.
"I don’t really feel any different, except I’m a lot older
now," he says with a laugh. "Our company’s been running
well for a long time. I’m very happy, but I never thought I’d
have this kind of notoriety. It’s turned into a whole giant thing
that’s pretty amazing."
Amazing indeed. In addition to top-notch worldwide appearances
for the past quarter-century, the Mark Morris Dance Group has
made Brooklyn its permanent home base since 2001, when the Mark
Morris Dance Center opened in Fort Greene, across the street
from the Brooklyn Academy of Music Opera House, which has hosted
Morris’s troupe since 1984.
The Brooklyn connection runs deep, says Morris.
"Most of our dancers live in Brooklyn, and in the short
time we’ve made it our home, there’s always so much happening
around the neighborhood," he explains. "Our association
with BAM is even longer. Pretty much every year we dance there,
and [the Howard Gilman Opera House] is a great theater: a wonderfully
well-proportioned house that’s terrific for dance."
The schedule for the month-long silver-anniversary celebration
at that "well-proportioned house" includes three evening-length
programs, supplemented by a Morris-curated series at the BAM
Rose Cinemas, Morris-related performances at the BAMCafe, and
shorter dance works at the Mark Morris Dance Center.
The BAM dance programs – running March 8-25 – are a career overview.
"I tried to make these programs as varied as I could,"
Morris explains. "These are big blow-out dances. For program
A (March 8-11), all the dances are basically ’closers,’ or finales."
("V," from 2001, is set to Schumann’s music; 1993’s
"Grand Duo" to Lou Harrison’s; and 1981’s "Gloria"
to Vivaldi’s.)
Morris has an ace up his sleeve for program A’s finale.
"During ’Gloria,’ I’ll be conducting for the first time!"
he enthuses. "One of the first dances I choreographed, we’ve
done ’Gloria’ off and on these past 25 years. Frankly, I’ve run
out of enthusiasm rehearsing it over and over. So, in order to
stay actively stimulated, I decided to conduct!
"It might be foolish, but I don’t think so. My one terror
is that the dancers will be watching me and giving me the eye
during the performance, but I’m not scared of them," he
laughs.
Program B (March 15, 17, 18) is made up of two "dance operas":
Virgil Thomson’s "Four Saints in Three Acts" and Henry
Purcell’s "Dido and Aeneas." For program C (March 22,
23, 25), Morris is unveiling two New York premieres: "Cargo,"
to Darius Milhaud’s music, and "Candleflowerdance,"
to Stravinsky’s.
Morris explains his works’ genesis.
"It’s always because of the music I want to set my dances
to," he says. "For ’Cargo,’ I was commissioned by Tanglewood
Music Center [in western Massachusetts]. I know that the musicians
there are extremely dedicated and that they over-practice, so
I chose a piece of music that’s very difficult to play.
"Milhaud’s music calls for 17 soloists, so it’s hard to
put a group like that together and have enough rehearsal time,
so it’s a challenge for us. Also, I get to hear Milhaud’s music,
which I love."
"Morris & the Movies" presents five films chosen
by Morris (March 23-27): "Greed," "Cabin in the
Sky," "Nashville," "The 5000 Fingers of Dr.
T" and "Martin."
"We wanted it to be a full immersion – for good or ill –
of my taste," Morris says. "It’s five films I love,
though they don’t have anything to do with dancing – I re-watch
them constantly, and ’Nashville’ is my favorite movie ever."
BAMCafe’s "The Month of Mark" presents musical ensembles
chosen by Morris, on Fridays and Saturdays throughout March.
"I didn’t make up that title," he laughingly points
out. "I just told them about music I love to hear. My ensemble
is playing [March 17], and I’m even running a karaoke night [on
March 4]!"
Morris has also curated a program for his own Mark Morris Dance
Center.
"We’re doing mostly short works from over the years,"
he says. "Most are pretty old, and most have a smaller scale,
so they don’t need to be done in the opera house. I haven’t seen
some of these works in years, so it was fun to return to them."
Choreographing ballet and opera nearly everywhere for the past
quarter-century is but a prelude to Morris’s directing debut
next season at the Metropolitan Opera House, where he’ll helm
a new production of Gluck’s "Orpheus and Eurydice."
Naturally, Morris is elated with the new direction of the stodgy
old Met.
"Well, if the Met is going in the direction of me, I’m all
for it!" said Morris. "It’s going to be wholly different,
so it should be a blast."
That also goes for everything Morris presents in Brooklyn in
March.
The Mark Morris Dance Group performs
at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland
Place in Fort Greene, March 8-25, and at the Mark Morris Dance
Center, 3 Lafayette Ave. at Flatbush Avenue, March 11, 18 and
25; "Morris & the Movies" runs at the BAMCinematek,
30 Lafayette Ave., March 23-27; and "The Month of Mark"
runs at the BAMCafe, at 30 Lafayette Ave., March 3-31. For tickets
and information, visit www.bam.org
or www.mmdg.org.
