"Slow Dancing." The FIRST EVER Blog Interview. With David Michalek.

Rounding the corner by Avery Fisher Hall as you approach the plaza at Lincoln Center has been known to take people's breath away. The plaza itself is such a New York City landmark with the incredible history housed within the three theaters that surround the fountain, and at night it remains one of the most beautiful New York locations. Yet what is happening right now at Lincoln Center is sure to take your breath away like never before. In years past, the salsa bands have beckoned dancers to strut their stuff under the clear summer skies, but as you approach Lincoln Center as it is now, you will see dancers of a size and speed you might never have imagined.

David Michalek's brilliant "Slow Dancing" film installation towers over the plaza on three 50-foot high screens covering the face of the State Theater. Each screen hosts one dancer at a time who goes through a 5-second movement pattern that Michalek has stretched out to a length of roughly 10 minutes using state of the art high definition video equipment. There may be hundreds of dancers samba-ing on the plaza below but it is these projections that will keep your attention.

After reading several articles about Michalek's work I was anxious to head up to Lincoln Center to view some of the 43 dancers captured by his camera. It was with eager eyes that I got off the subway a few weeks ago and braved the crowd for a chance to see some of the world's finest dancers from almost every discipline imaginable. The dance community is a notoriously small world, and between Michalek and his wife, New York City Ballet principal dancer Wendy Whelan, they were able to gather the diverse group used for the project with only one to two degrees of separation. Michalek grew up watching dance and was a fan during his schooling at UCLA but it wasn't until his marriage to Whelan that he became fully immersed in the dance world. On my second visit I worked up the courage to approach Whelan, who I have admired immensely in the years I've watched her at City Ballet, and Michalek who I noticed standing on the side of the crowd. They were both incredibly kind and Michalek was nice enough to do a phone interview with me.

"I really like something about every single one of them," Michalek admits of his subjects. "Some of them are less easy to watch in that there’s not a kind of virtuosic movement, the Asian disciplines working with small hand gestures and limited movement, which requires more patience. Even those have extraordinary moments."

While one screen may be projecting a traditional Japanese dancer, the screen next to it will contain someone like Dana Caspersen (The Forsythe Company), Herman Cornejo (ABT), or Janie Taylor (NYCB) who stretch out every limb in a constant barrage of (slow) movement. Each night the projections are displayed randomly and the combinations seem almost endless. Part of what I enjoyed so much was being able to take one screen at a time or view the interaction between the three screens. Even though they were created separately in their 10X10 foot space, they take on a new life together.

Even Michalek, who is more familiar with each projection than anyone else, admits his fascination. "It's still a very exciting show night to night," he says. "Even for me the fact that we start the play heads in different positions makes it a randomized effect with juxtapositions that happen on any given night that are new and exciting."

The juxtapositions are just one of the many things I found fascinating about "Slow Dancing." The first time I arrived I was overwhelmed by the amount of people in the plaza for "Midsummer Night's Swing," although it was exciting to see them shaking their hips only to slow down one minute as the images on screen above them caught their attention. How often does dance attract such a diverse crowd as this? Of course for something as stark and beautiful as Michalek's images, sometimes I found the Samba dancing distracting. "In all honesty," he confesses, "from a visual standpoint I at times wished that the Midsummer Set hadn’t been there. From a conceptual standpoint I appreciated the juxtaposition. If we hear a statistic that only 8 percent of the United States will see a live performance in their lifetime, while that might be true and it might suggest a lack of interest in dance, it doesn’t relate to social dancing, which is alive and well." Even if just one of the social dancers was moved enough to stop and take notice of the ghost like dancers looming above, it's worth it...and I assure you many people were stopping to take notice.

The images evoke a sense of wonder and it's no surprise as dance is rarely seen like this. Dance is usually an interactive process between the music, the dancer and the audience but dance on film is notoriously difficult. Taking it a step further, Michalek uses silent images of the world's greatest dancers to stunning effect. The crowd becomes the music and it changes every night. I become afraid when watching a video of myself dancing at regular speed, I might go into a coma were I to see it slow down to 1000 frames per second. It seems as I am not the only one, as Michalek admitted that the dancers were "more or less freaked out when they saw it the first time."

The creation of this installation was a very interactive process that took almost a year to come to its present state. Of course there was much planning before that even if it was just in his head. "It was an idea that I had been carrying around for a long time. For something on this scale to arise, you need the financial support, the institutional support and the cultural support on many levels." Fortunately, he got it.

Filming was done during November, December, January and March in four day cycles each of those months. Even though the film used for each dancer was barely over 5-seconds long, it took roughly three hours per dancer to get the desired result. "The dancers and myself could see the footage," he remarks of the time filming. "I could put in my two cents about how things might be able to be improved slightly by turning things on an angle."

Needless to say, the dancers put a lot of trust in this talented artist and his project. When I was talking with Michalek it became obvious what a labor of love this was to him. "It felt the project had really good karma from the start," he says. "Some projects are struggles, but if you’re going to work in this way and take on the responsibilities of the project life you have to think of it as a small business. It’s incredibly complex in the sense that I start of with a flow chart. There are so many people to get involved and it’s a difficult process of finding the right things. With this project, I really felt the flow from the beginning. "

My second viewing of "Slow Dancing," was on a perfect summer night last Sunday. Joined by friends and fellow bloggers, I was again fascinated by each of the dancers and their moment in the spotlight. Without the sound of the big band of "Midsummer," it felt more than ever like a meditation on the creation of movement. The subjects are surrounded by darkness and often you can't tell where the floor is. The only time that this bothered me was with tap dancer Roxanne Butterfly because of tap dancing’s requirement of the floor. Oddly enough I didn't miss the sound, but I would like to have seen what she was in contact with.

Michalek had little to do with what movement was executed, he simply requested that they practice in a 10X10 space and realized that even the five seconds could have some framing. "We experimented and found that the films that had the most trajectory of something happening had a beginning middle and end, which became more interesting." But even within the confines of filming what is essentially a live art, nothing ever seems stifled by its place behind a lens. Instead he captures the essence of his subjects, something he aims for as a portrait artist.

So what does the future hold for Michalek and "Slow Dancing"? He tells me he looks forward to working with dancers again, which should be welcome news to the dance community that needs all the exposure it can get. "Slow Dancing" itself will have more exposure as Michalek hopes to tour it around the country. It will undoubtedly play differently in different spaces, and when asked whether he was intent on it staying as public art, Michalek notes, "I would really like to take it around and I think when I can show it in public I will, however I don’t want to limit the viewing possibilities by enforcing any parameters on it. If a small Midwestern gallery wants to show it, that would be great. Different, but great."

Sometimes it is the different things that end up becoming great, which is exactly how I felt leaving my second viewing of the film. While it only has a few more days left, I urge anyone with the time to go to Lincoln Center between the hours of 9pm and 1am every night until Sunday the 29th.

Comments

[Nick McCarvel]

Incredible interview and great read. I'd love for this tour to come to Seattle!

[Philip aka Oberon]

Wonderful story, and great that you connected with David for his additional insights.

You have so aptly described the meditative quality of the films.

I have suggested that SLOW DANCING should travel to Saratoga and - perhaps most significantly - to Jacob's Pillow. It might be a bit of a trick to get it set up at the Pillow, but if there is a sacred place for dance in this country, Jacob's Pillow is it. How lovely it would be for Berkshire audiences to view these films in the silence of a summer evening up in the mountains. And of course, Jacob's Pillow is home to all types of dance making the variety of genres explored by Michalek especially fitting.

[Anonymous]

I totally forgot this was happening!! I'm not sure I can make it up there at those times before it ends! But I'm glad you reminded me, now I can make an effort to try and see this very unique idea!- N

[Anonymous]

Hi!
A friend sent my a link, which you like already have: http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/michalek/
It included information about "Slow Dancing" and a video of Herman Cornejo. Thus, I was hoping you would post about seeing this. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and going that extra step with an insightful interview. For those of us who will likely never see this installation, your words are the next best thing.
Thanks!

[Larry]

Haven't seen this yet; maybe I will this Saturday depending on how late I decide to stay in the city.

Is there a roster of all 43 dancers somewhere?

[Art]

Wow what a great interview! Can't wait to see this when it comes to LA in September.

[susan]

larry - here's a link that provides the roster of all the performers: http://www.slowdancingfilms.com/performers.html

this project is fascinating. thanks for the interview, m! i'm looking forward to seeing the exhibit when it comes to los angeles. it'll be neat to see the differences in display.

[Larry]

Thanks, Susan.

[tonya]

The dance world is huge, not small. Michalek by no accounts captured the entire diversity of dance, nor I'm sure would he profess to. He was interested in a certain thing and he did it very well. He's a really nice man.

By the way, PHilip mentioned YOU on his blog.

[Anonymous]

As a dancer, I agree with Matt.

The dance world is a small community where everyone knows about everyone. Maybe someone from the outside looking in... would think its large but let us tell you... it is not.

Matt, I thought you did an amazing job and you should be told so. Its so nice to have your blog in the dance world, educating us (even dancers) and giving us further insight into a world that clearly a lot of people could learn from.

BRAVO!