The Fall ’01 Agnieszka Laska Dancers & Las Pléyades Danza Contemporánea
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 Guantánamo: Karla Rabling and Pablo Lopez in The Fall ’01 IMAGE: Armando Arias |
[November 7th, 2007]
When Portland composer Jack Gabel received a 2005 Oregon Arts Commission fellowship to create a dance score for the dance company headed by his wife, Agnieszka Laska, the daily news was filled with reports about the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. His outrage further fueled by his discovery of the Patriot Act’s demolition of fundamental civil rights, Gabel knew he had the subject for what became The Fall ’01 , a multimedia dance drama whose U.S. premiere lands on Veterans Day at Imago Theatre.
“I set out to create a work that’s not a protest polemic or a poster piece for the peace movement,” Gabel explains, “but rather an artistic documentation of an empire at the precipice of its fall. It’s the most important thing happening in this time, and to not do something to document it artistically is to really have your head in the sand.”
Inspired in part by Benjamin Britten’s 1962 War Requiem , which set the antiwar poetry of Wilfred Owen to music, Gabel devised a powerful score accessible to listeners far beyond the core classical music audience. But in this visual age, he wanted to use imagery rather than words to tell the story of our government’s “torture gulag.” He began collecting video images freely available on the Internet, drew up a storyboard, and enlisted Portland video artist Takafumi Uehara to create a video montage.
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Last summer, Gabel’s score was performed in concert by some of Portland’s finest classical musicians, directed by Oregon Symphony resident conductor Gregory Vajda, and Laska and her Mexican colleague Luis Arreguín completed the choreography. After several U.S. venues declined to stage it, Arreguín’s company, Las Pléyades Danza Contemporánea, premiered The Fall ’01 in Mexico on the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11.
The Fall ’01 uses familiar imagery (flag-draped coffins, “Mission Accomplished,” camo-clad dancers) and gripping music to portray the brutal results of a deceitful government’s manipulation of a national tragedy. Even for those all too aware of the events that inspired it, this creative collaboration reaches us in a way that newspapers, books and congressional testimony can’t.
Big thanks to Brett for this strong preview, Chris’ comment, and to everyone who attended this US live stage premiere - dancers were gratified playing to an enthusiastic close-to-full house - and, a special thanks to all the vets in attendance. Your sacrifice is greater than most will ever realize, especially in light of the regime’s futile mission. We hope our efforts somehow serve to honor you.
Las Pleyades is looking forward to their upcoming Encuentros Terminales show, again at Imago this coming weekend Nov. 16-17-18 (7:30 pm) (tickets at www.artixpdx.com/encuentros/encuent...) and also to their Seattle performances (Nov. 30 - Dec, 1) at the Beyond The Threshold Festival.
As for THE FALL '01, feedback from anyone is appreciated - even if you didn't like it - we want to know - especially since most reviewers and presenters in these parts seem more moved by the hi-jinx of furry half-humans over the fury of mercenary non-humans and the fate of their victims.
We will keep pitching it around for touring options...some say it's too soon for such a piece to gain traction...who knows? We'll just have to see. Many are encouraging us, saying it’s a piece that needs to be seen by a lot of people...well, I’m the last person to suggest what anyone needs, but what we’ve all got coming is gaining in clarity by the day.
Anyone inclined to host a screening of the DVD from the world premiere of THE FALL ‘01, please look into it at thefall01.bravenewtheaters.com:80/
The FALL '01 is an astounding achievement. Jack Gabel's music is powerful enough to stand on its own, yet when paired with Agnieszka Laska and Luiz Arreguin's seamless choreography and Takafumi Uehara's video montage, each element combines perfectly to bear witness to the profoundly disturbing events on and after 9/11/01. This piece is artistically satisfying on all levels, and even more so because its creators did not shy away from presenting things that most people frankly don't want to see. Yet within the horror, there is a sad beauty. Just watching the Agneiszka Laska dancers and the dancers from Las Pleyades take on this subject matter with such forceful grace is worth the discomfort we feel when watching the truth. If you have a chance to go see Las Pleyades and the Agnieszka Laska Dancers at Imago this weekend, GO. I know I'll be there.
Excellent review on a fabulous production! Lesser reviewers may find it easy to ignore or avoid this production as it touches several nerves.
As Brett mentions, this work employs the top tier of Portland and Mexico's dance talent, along with the cream of Oregon Symphony players and others.
This work will make you angry (if you're not already). It will make you cry -- due both to its brutal beauty and its spotlight on human cruelty.
It's poetry in sound and motion. This US premier is for one show only. Don't miss it -- seating is quite limited.