About the piece
Graft is a dance about human substance, boundaries between bodies, connection between minds, natural symmetry, replication, and recycling of matter.
All of the music for Graft is made up of covers, remixes, samples, and original tracks from Björk's 2007 Volta album. Volta is widely considered Björk's weakest and most underdeveloped work. After being recontextualized, recycled, and rebirthed, most of the songs revealed strong, compelling material. I commissioned an arrangement of "The Dull Flame of Desire" from Juliet Gordon of The Classical.
Graft premiered January 29 & 31, 2015, in the Groovin' Greenhouse showcase hosted by Polaris Dance Theatre as part of the Fertile Ground Festival in Portland, Oregon.
Length: 20 minutes
Choreographer: Kate Rafter
Cast: Ross Calhoun, Paris Cannon, Sara Himmelman, Ella Matweyou, Kate Rafter, Lauren Vermilion
Press
The second half of the evening sees experimental dance company Automal being, well, pretty experimental with a big blob of white Silly Putty. Called Graft, this work in progress is choreographed by company founder Kate Rafter and explores life cycles, love and how we all can mirror each other. Most of the movement brings to mind childhood, as the dancers roll and knead the putty in their hands, wrap it around their necks or arms, or spin in circles while rolling the putty out in the air like a jump rope. Yet the tone is sweet and serious - in part due to the often soft and sentimental music, all acoustic Björk covers and remixes from her 2007 album, Volta. It's also thanks to the the slow, thoughtful movements, full of tight footwork and circular kicks that stay close to the dancer's center. Each of the performers chooses their steps with care, from the lively, almost jig-like jumps to the symmetrical line they form during the final song, a poignant story of finding yourself in your love for someone else. As dancers roll down the line in a wave or curl their arms around each other like a rope, almost in time to a breath, they reach a near-yogic level of calm.
– Katie Todd for Willamette Week, January 2015 (* WW Headout Pick)
– Katie Todd for Willamette Week, January 2015 (* WW Headout Pick)
This ritual-based inquiry into our human interconnectedness was demonstrated conceptually and physically using white Silly Putty to show connection, elasticity, recycling and replication, to name just a few concepts. The dancers began by repeatedly dropping the putty from one hand to another. They let gravity take over, allowing the putty to stretch out and fall behind their backs. They wrapped it around their necks and arms, covered each other's faces with it and poked holes in
it. There was a sense of risk here as the putty was unpredictable, but the dancers handled it with calm, and the Silly Putty cooperated . . .
The dancers – dressed in high-waisted, straight, full-length, stretchy skirts and crop tops in beige, off-white and black – moved around solemnly, quietly, and systematically, like high priestesses preparing for a ceremony. There were great moments of explosion when the group moved together, jumping and falling, stretching and pulling the skirts, making interesting and unusual shapes as they moved. I particularly liked the movement choices of Sara Himmelman and Ella Matweyou, because they approached the movement unadorned, without extra gestures or emotions, gliding seamlessly through the choreography with an internal focus that seemed fitting. In the end the Silly Putty was transformed into a larger form of a white cloth that slowly enveloped everyone on stage to the line “dull flame of desire” by Bjork, and the lights went out. Cosmic.
