Works of Wonder
Ronald K. Brown’s challenge was to turn Stevie Wonder songs into dance.
When Stevie Wonder requested that his songs be incorporated into a dance piece, Music Center director of programming Renae Williams Niles immediately suggested Ronald K. Brown. After hearing this, choreographer Brown could hardly believe his good fortune.
The singer-songwriter has never asked a choreographer to make a dance piece to his music before. “I had to think of someone who would be willing to take on the weight of such a challenge,” Niles recalls. “It wouldn’t be an easy task to animate [Wonder’s] music. Ron was the first choreographer who came to mind. I saw their creative connection. They both appeal across generations and across cultural lines. They’re both very spiritual.”
Brown considers Wonder a genius. During a recent rehearsal of his troupe, Evidence: A Dance Company, in Brooklyn, he says, “I had to work on not being overwhelmed by his gigantic talent.”
Over the course of four years, he created a full evening’s work, “On Earth Together,” to five of Wonder’s songs, including “You and I” and “Living for the City” and “Jesus Children of America.” (Wonder declined to comment for this article.)
“On Earth Together” will have its West Coast premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre this weekend. The program also includes “Ebony Magazine: To a Village,” and “Grace,” to the music of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Duke Ellington and Jennifer Holliday.
On a day in January, eyes shining, a smile on his face, limber in gray sweat pants and sweat shirt, Brown, 46, rehearses with his dancers, his grace only more mesmerizing as he has gotten older. He has a lot to smile about.
Although other troupes have seen their touring schedules greatly reduced during the recession, Evidence still fills its calendar, drawing sold-out crowds wherever it performs. Brown also choreographed the new Broadway revival of “Porgy and Bess” and is in discussions with producers about working on more shows. Then there’s the request that thrilled him from Niles. But no matter the accolades — and he’s had plenty since Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater premiered his “Grace” in 1999, giving him his first national exposure — he stays humble.
“I feel blessed to be able to make dances,” he says. “It allows me to communicate heart to heart and soul to soul.”
Although he has employed all kinds of music in his works, including traditional West African, hip-hop and jazz, Brown has never used only one composer for a dance, preferring to create a collage of different genres. “I like choreographing to different types of music,” he says, “in the same way I like to use different kinds of movement. It’s to show the connections between diverse elements, for instance, between contemporary American moves and dances from West Africa. This is my way of showing how similar we all are, no matter where we come from or what kinds of music and movements we may have grown up with.”
This made the Wonder project all the more challenging. “At first, I thought it would be difficult to use just one composer,” Brown says, “but finally, really, no — because Stevie uses so many different rhythms and musical ideas that it’s like working with more than one composer.” The dancers start a section that moves far more slowly than is customary in a Brown piece, enabling one to see each fluid movement from start to finish and the quiet to envelope them.
“Stevie is a perfect fit for Ron because he tells stories with his songs just like Ron tells stories through his work,” says Arcell Cabuag, the company’s associate artistic director. A member of Evidence for 14 years, he knows Brown inside out.
“He’s like a brother or uncle,” he says. “He really takes care of us. He became a massage therapist and works on us when we are hurting. He brings in muscle pads and essentials oils or snacks to keep us going. It’s a special experience here. He also always lets us in on what he’s trying to do.
“He tells us what stories he’s trying to tell and gives us time to prepare.”
Brown went about choreographing “Porgy and Bess” the same way he creates works for Evidence. From the start, he made clear to his artistic partners that he wanted the whole cast to dance, not just a few designated dancers. And so they do, imbuing the musical with vibrancy. He already felt connected to the story because he recently had traveled to Sea Island, Ga., because of his fascination with the Gullah culture there, which preserves the heritage of the original slaves from Sierra Leone.
As he does with his company’s dancers, Brown gave the cast information that would help them understand the story, in the case of “Porgy and Bess,” suggesting they familiarize themselves with films of the play, a video of a ring dance from Sea Island, and books of photographs with text on the Gullah people. He also taught them a mourning dance from the Ivory Coast that he used for inspiration for the musical’s funeral. Over the years, he has spent a great deal of time in Africa teaching, performing and studying.
At the rehearsal, Brown and the group begin dancing to Wonder’s “Blame It on the Sun,” establishing a lively mood and then abruptly changing it, sudden leaps after lengthily held balances. It’s Brown’s way of giving texture and depth to his dances and filling them with surprises and a variety of emotions. Clarice Young, the rehearsal director, picks up Brown and gently carries him a few steps, before putting him down on the floor. He then rises and lifts her, walking with her until they both sink to their knees and embrace.
“I’m not surprised to hear how he approached ‘Porgy and Bess,’” Young says after the rehearsal. “He brings all different elements together.
“He knows how to explain himself and will do things over and over again until you understand. The process allows you to become more open as a person, and open more to the audience. Being a member of Evidence is nothing but fun. I have to remember to use the word ‘work’ when I refer to rehearsing and dancing with Ron.”
Brown has been making dances since he was a boy growing up in Brooklyn. Seeing him dance around the house and in the street, his mother enrolled him in classes at the Police Athletic League Dance Program.
By his teens, he’d earned roles in his high school’s musicals, and Arthur Mitchell, founder of Dance Theater of Harlem, had become his hero. In 1985, at only 19, after a brief stint with Jennifer Muller’s company, he formed Evidence. He gave it that name because he wanted his troupe to embody spiritual faith in physical movement and to relate stories of the African diaspora that showed the people’s suffering, resilience and joy.
“I don’t really feel any differently now than I did when I started making dances,” he says. “I want audiences to feel liberated and free when they leave our performances.”
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