City native returns to work with Ballet Edmonton
Dance designer Kuebler melds hard and soft to create his own ‘rite’ for Ballet Edmonton
Ugly Beauty. It’s a memorable tune by Thelonious Monk, a contradiction in terms, and something that came up in the midst of a recent rehearsal in the Ballet Edmonton studios.
Can ugly be beautiful?
Nodding to a complicated sequence of moves that included a solo dancer’s leap and fall into the arms of others, the company’s executive director Sheri Somerville told me, “there’s something you would never see in classical ballet because it’s not pretty enough.”
‘Pretty’ or not, this impressive sequence packed a moment of high drama, of danger and then resignation, reminding you of the trust that dancers place in each other when they risk moves that could result in physical injury if something goes wrong. Ballet Edmonton is a special venue for such visions because its ensemble of classically trained dancers faces a revolving door of styles and approaches.
After the rehearsal, sitting across from Shay Kuebler — the choreographer behind this new, yet-untitled work — I wondered whether the limitless boundaries of contemporary dance freed up possibilities for his vision.
“For me, contemporary dance has been very liberating because I didn’t come into it with just a ballet background, but with different things like martial arts, different styles of dance like tap and hiphop and physical theatre. For me,
contemporary dance allows you to reach out into different boxes of physical art, art that’s coming from the body.”
So where does beauty come into all this?
“What is beautiful? To a degree, beauty is subjective. For some people it’s a graceful, soft, elegant quality, but I think beauty can be when somebody is going so full-tilt at something, giving it everything they can. I also like that approach. As a creator I’m hoping to be able to reach into both of those qualities in a dancer, so they can be soft and elegant, or strong and vicious with their movements. I think that speaks to life a lot.”
Born in Edmonton, raised in Sherwood Park, and now based in Vancouver for 15 years, Kuebler is a rising star on Canada’s dance scene both for the dances he creates in his own company, Radical System Art, and for his work as a visitor to other cities and companies like Ballet Edmonton and Brian Webb Dance Company this season.
After studying movement arts in Canada, the U.S., South America and Asia, he has gone on to create works for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and American Dance Festival, among others.
Rehearsed over nearly three weeks, Kuebler’s striking new piece is matched with that of another Vancouver choreographer, Serge Bennathan, as two parts of Chapter One, the opening show of Ballet Edmonton’s new season playing this weekend.
Kuebler’s currently-untitled work lasts about 30 minutes and incorporates six melodic, classical-crossover and electronic recordings that are sometimes layered over each other, featuring Ballet Edmonton’s eight dancers.
“As a group there’s a sense of unity, but they also get to show their individuality too.”
Kuebler started karate around age four and realized he wanted to be a dancer and choreographer around 15, but he still calls martial arts his “foundation” both for the physical discipline and underlying philosophy.
“It’s very much about yin and yang. You need darkness to have light, and hardness to have soft qualities, and for me seeing someone with that range is really beautiful. With all the technical training that they have I’m trying to support them as athletes and dancers but also to see if I can push them into other arenas where they can be brutal or a little bit reckless. If you can push both sides it gives more power and strength to both qualities.”
As it turns out, Kuebler was inspired in part by themes from that notorious groundbreaking ballet Rite of Spring, and Vaslav Nijinsky’s choreography set to Igor Stravinsky’s score.
But Kuebler’s ‘rite’ takes off on different sounds and clothes.
“In the end the dancers are wearing nice clothes and dresses but also big gun boots, or army boots. I thought of this balance in a way of ugly beauty, this beautiful performer wearing rugged boots worn by time, the sense of sound and weight it creates when you wear those boots, and how it brings on a visceral, animal-like weight in the body, a counterpoint to their beautiful technique and precision.”
As Ballet Edmonton’s rehearsal director Karissa Barry notes, both choreographers in Chapter One — Kuebler and Serge Bennathan — are known for their raw approach to contemporary dance.
“It’s fascinating because they’re working towards some of the same qualities but they’re coming at it from very different places.”
Dance designer Bennathan takes a break from his own Vancouver company Les Productions Figlio to bring his new work Forets (or Woods) to the show for Ballet Edmonton.
MILE ZERO DANCE OPENS 35TH SEASON ON WEEKEND
Mile Zero Dance (MZD) is also opening its 35th season of tempting contemporary dance shows this weekend with a special new work by Japanese dancer Mari Osanai that features the dancer-choreographer. This arresting solo piece uses masks and dolls designed exclusively by visual artist Shohei Yamashita as props in the show, addressing our awareness of climate change and the natural world.
Described as “fluid like water” by MZD’S artistic director, Gerry Morita, Osanai’s approach straddles ballet, modern, folk and jazz dance, even tai chi.
It’s the opening work in MZD’S Dance Crush series, happening Friday and Saturday. For full details and ticket information check out milezerodance.com.
You need darkness to have light, and hardness to have soft qualities, and for me seeing someone with that range is really beautiful.