FABLES A Cautionary Tale

Fables
Fables on Global Warming, is a
‘performance art musical’ about
sustainability, based on traditional animal
fables from around the globe. The work,
for the New York City based Armitage
Gone! Dance Company is being created
for 8 dancers and 3 musicians. It explores
the connections between humans and
animals, culture and nature, science and
art. Created by the exceptional team of
famed Director/Choreographer Karole
Armitage, Visual Director Doug Fitch, and
Composer/Lyricist Corey Dargel, Fables
entwines dance, song, and visual puns
with Asian theatrical traditions. The world
premiere will take place September, 2013
in NYC.
A Cautionary Tale
Christina Lessa talks with Karole Armitage,
Doug Fitch, and Corey Dargel, the collaborative
creators of this modern dance allegory
Photo: AGD Fables on Global Warming, Edouard Getaz; Costumes: Doug Fitch
Karole Armitage’s work has been
commissioned by the likes of Nureyev,
Baryshnikov and Madonna. The sets
and costumes for her works have been
designed by such renowned artists as Jeff
Koons, David Salle, and Brice Marden.
With a career spanning four decades,
Armitage’s other accomplishments are
many and include the honor of France’s
most prestigious award, the 2009,
Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et
des Lettres. Armitage has created her
own choreographic voice through a
mastery and co-mingling of classical
and modern dance. She has a unique and
acute knowledge of the aesthetic values of
Balanchine and Cunningham, and is seen
by some critics as the true choreographic
heir to these two masters of 20th century
American dance.
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Director/designer Doug Fitch has worked
in media ranging from architecture and
food to opera and puppetry. Among his
countless global accomplishments are
his direction of the acclaimed New York
Philharmonic productions, conducted by
Music Director Alan Gilbert, of Janáček’s
The Cunning Little Vixen(2011), named
the top classical music event of the year
by New York magazine, and Ligeti’s Le
Grand Macabre (2010), hailed as “Best
Classical Performance of the Year” by The
New York Times.
Rising composer, lyricist, and singer
Corey Dargel writes songs that are
detailed, sympathetic musical portraits of
unusual characters in difficult situations.
He uses songwriting and storytelling
as a means to frame abnormal behavior
in ways that audiences can relate to
more sympathetically. The New Yorker
magazine calls him, “a baroquely
unclassifiable” [composer of] “ingenious
nouveau art songs.” The New York Times
has called his work, “almost perversely
pleasurable... with an intelligent grace that
is as moving as it is impressive.”
CHRISTINA LESSA: Ironically,
Hurricane Sandy, an event that has
pushed the climate debate to critical
mass, interrupted our originally scheduled
interview about Fables. “Fables” is a rare
artistic opportunity for the audience to
experience such a topical manifestation of
our immediate concerns. Karole, in your
many years of working as a choreographer
has this type of coexistence with a work
and a natural or political phenomenon
occurred before? Do you have a sense that
your role as an artist is cooperative with
the greater forces of the world that we live
in?
Karole Armitage: Artists
communicate what it feels like to be alive
in their time. Fables is a more explicit
way of addressing our times than is usual
for me in that it has lyrics, however
when I dressed a man in a skirt in 1981
or used pointe shoes as a weapon in
1983 to convey female sexual power and
independence, I was also expressing very
real information that was not stated in the
media, but was being felt at the time.
I have been working on the concept of
a dance about the environment for at
least five years. During this time global
warming was barely in the news at all. It
took me a long time to find an idea that
would not be didactic, but which could
convey important ideas. I stumbled on the
idea of taking ancient animal fables from
around the globe to use as a springboard
for addressing the issue of climate change.
Fables were created to teach young people
about power and how to use it wisely.
They are narrated by animals and are
deeply connected to nature. It is easy to
forget that human beings are part of nature
while living in cities where everything
functions so much removed from the
natural world.
Our production of Fables works on a
purely implicit level. We want the audience
to have an emotional experience, to find
themselves captivated by an experience.
We are not sending out a message. We
are showing the beautiful paradise of the
natural world and the complex balancing
act that makes it all work harmoniously.
The world literature of fables is filled with
metaphors about how nature works and
how power should be used wisely.
CHRISTINA LESSA: Doug, do you feel
the same way?
Doug Fitch: Well, I’ve never felt that I
was a political artist, although I’m aware
that every artistic endeavor is filtered
though one’s ethos and that has inherent
political implications. Having said that
however, I think art functions as a cultural
barometer of any given time. Artists,
sensitive like the mercury in a barometer,
(or is that a thermometer?) are hard-wired
to the shifting of current events, be they
scientific, religious, moral, political or
foot-wearable. I think my artistic view is
shaped through an anthropology of living
my life in a constantly shifting context and
finding anything and everything around
me fair game for art fodder. While I don’t
enjoy art as “edutainment”, I’m very much
aware of the popular world and I love
playing on the abstract edges that surround
current fashions.
CHRISTINA LESSA: Corey?
Corey Dargel: I believe global
warming, like gun control and mental
illness, is an issue that has been relevant
for a long time and will continue to
be relevant. Blips on the radar, like
Hurricane Sandy and the Newtown
shootings, as devastating as they are, only
temporarily emphasize the importance
and immediacy of these issues. And then,
alas, we have a tendency to return to
the status quo of rhetoric and inaction.
As an artist, my point of view has to be
somewhat aloof, distant, metaphorical,
even perhaps absurd, though, not willfully
ignorant. I have to create something that
will be relevant beyond the current and
particular manifestations of the topics I’m
addressing. I don’t assume my contribution
to “Fables” will make a difference
politically, because being an artist and
being an activist are two separate things.
I engage in both art making and activism,
but I don’t conflate the two.
CHRISTINA LESSA: Karole, you and
Doug have worked together before. Corey
is new to your collaborative experience.
Can you tell me about how you found each
other and a give us some small window
into your collaborative process together?
Karole Armitage: Once I landed
on the idea of the Fables, I began a long,
careful research project on contemporary
composers that took several months. I
listened to hundreds of hours of music
and was advised by several new music
producers. When I heard Corey’s music,
I fell in love. The music and lyrics have a
wonderful contradiction - they are easy to
enjoy but are deeply original and unusual.
They are quietly subversive as the timbres
and rhythms are odd but feel natural, the
use of contemporary vernacular is witty
and surprising and it is all deeply felt. I
felt it was important for Fables to have
both accessibility and originality so that
children, scientists and art sophisticates
would all find it appealing.
Doug Fitch does a similar job of uniting
unexpected forces – there is charm and
wit in his use of everyday materials
transformed into a high concept design.
The result is pure fun and yet also says
something about the absurdist nature of the
universe implying that we do not control
our fate.
DOUG FITCH: I have known Karole’s
work for a long time. When I started
doing visualizations for Concert Theater,
I was introduced to the lighting designer
Clifton Taylor, who has since lit many of
my productions. Coincidentally, he often
lights Karole’s pieces too. Through the
Clifton connection, I saw even more of
her work and always thought it was so
cool, sophisticated and intelligent. What
I liked about her projects was the feeling
from them as though an artistic integrity
was literally being given breath. I loved
the collaborations she put together, with
wonderful painters like David Salle and
Philip Taaffe. She engendered a realm
where each medium was given a freedom
to speak its own language. Just about the
time I was getting to know her work, I
was in Cambridge directing a series of
experimental musical productions where
design was the primary theatrical language
and words were treated as subtext. It’s that
invisible bridge between what a production
is explicitly saying in dramatic terms and
what the attending audience is processing
that invites everyone to actively imagine
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another level of meaning – a personal one,
different for each spectator. It’s sort of like
theatrical polyphony. One reason why I
think I’m so drawn to working with Karole
is she is comfortable with that polyphony,
even if it might sound discordant to others.
CHRISTINA LESSA: “Fables on Global
Warming will take a 21st-century approach
to the traditional fable, using wit, artifice,
trickster-ism, and other postmodern
devices to illustrate fundamental moral
truths about man and nature.” Corey, can
you speak to this description of “Fables” in
terms of your work/contribution?
Corey Dargel: One of
postmodernism’s claims, which I think is
true, is that we’re all overwhelmed and
jaded by endless streams of mostly-useless
information. We can’t avoid the shallow,
sentimental portrayals of human emotions
in the commercial world, and, more and
more, the art world as well. These endless
streams of phoniness make it difficult for
us to experience anything in “real life” as
truly moving or profound.
Our defenses are always up and justifiably
so.
I consider myself a postmodernist insofar
as I accept postmodernism as a challenge.
One of my tasks in “Fables” is to
transform traditional tales by incorporating
postmodern devices, by recognizing and
not necessarily impugning the artificemasquerading-as-reality that surrounds
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us. My hope is that by using these devices
subtly and subversively, I might make
it easier for 21st-century audiences to
let down their defenses. Then maybe,
eventually we can get at something
deeply human, deeply felt. Another way
of putting it: I want to engage people
emotionally without making them feel
manipulated.
I’m not sure I want to express
“fundamental moral truths” because I
don’t believe strongly enough in anything
“fundamental.” For me, it’s better to
encourage different ways of seeing
the same story, the same character, the
same problem, so that audiences might
come away with a more expansive and
empathetic point of view.
CHRISTINA LESSA: You’re recognized
as a contemporary classical composer by
some, and “a wonderfully difficult artist to
define” by others...How do you see your
work?
Corey Dargel: People call me
different things based on whom they’re
trying to persuade to listen to my music.
I compose songs for myself to sing, and
I write my own lyrics. So in that sense, I
fit into the singer-songwriter mode. But
on the other hand, almost all of my songs
are fully notated, even the ones with
synthesizers and drum machines. And
they are full of counterintuitive rhythms
and unconventional phrasings. Often
these challenges require classically trained
musicians to make the songs seem simpler
and sound more natural, but they also have
to know how to feel a groove, even if that
groove happens to be in alternating time
signatures of 5/4 and 11/8. On the other
hand, my harmonic language is pretty
similar to pop songs, and I use pop-song
forms unabashedly.
What I’ve found is that most classically
trained singers cannot do what I do
as a singer, so when I write pieces for
classically trained singers, the vocal parts
tend to be much more predictable and
squarer than the songs I write for myself.
So I guess if I were forced to categorize
my own work -- always a dangerous thing
to ask an artist to do -- I would say that, on
the surface, it might seem like compelling
background music for a party, but if you
actually try to listen to it as background
music, you will either be slightly annoyed
or antisocially captivated.
I appreciate being called a “wonderfully
difficult artist to define” because obviously
I’d rather not be easily compared to
other artists. But I also worry that “a
wonderfully difficult artist to define”
is a poisonous label for presenters and
producers who sometimes have no
idea how to promote the work of an
unclassifiable artist. We certainly need
more presenters and producers who are
willing to see that definition as a positive
thing.
CHRISTINA LESSA: Coming form
a background of so many incredible
projects with such esteemed colleagues as
Alan Gilbert, James Levine and Leonard
Slatkin, to name a few, what sets “ Fables”
apart?
DOUG FITCH: Well, first of all,
whereas the projects I did with those
great collaborators was already written,
we’re creating this project from scratch
– or rather, we are compiling it from
pre-existing stories woven together by
Corey Dargle’s songs. It is a dance
piece, so although it does share music
as a common ground with those other
pieces, dance communicates on a
different plane. The challenge for me is
to design costumes and objects that can
be worn or used by dancers to propel the
stories and action forward, all of which
must be very practical – i.e., they don’t
inhibit movement, can be washed, are
lightweight and durable. It’s amazing to
work within the inherent design challenges
of movement where dancers can cause
a world to materialize one minute then
evaporate seconds later. In a gesture,
we go from one story to another, from
moonlight to daylight; from a scale
that allows humans to be seen as ants
to one where four dancers make up a
single human. Everything is metaphor.
Several stories have trees in them so, I
have to make dancers manifest a quality
of tree-ness. Now trees are not known
for moving around so much, but Karole
has them leaping and thrashing about
wildly. Whatever design elements suggest
arboreality must also encourage a sense
of abandon. So, there’s a lot of back and
forth with the dancers and Karole and the
design. Our work together on the June
Stravinsky program with the New York
Philharmonic is also similar in this regard.
The artistic process that occurs between
artists from different media, forces one
to think outside of one’s artistic comfort
zone. This is what drives such projects into
a new place: one none of us could have
imagined on our own.
CHRISTINA LESSA: Part of our
mission at FLATT is to create a greater
understanding and appreciation for the
process behind virtuosity in the arts
whether its physical or intellectual, or
in your case the collaboration of both.
Karole, I was watching a recent live
interview where you were reminiscing
about the days when ballerinas graced
the covers of major publications. You
unabashedly, and rightfully proclaim,
although it’s the 21st Century and the arts
are booming, dance as an art form outside
of the reality /competitive television realm
has yet to capture a more broad appeal.
Why do you think that this is so?
Karole Armitage: The performing
arts are having a rough time. The culture
is in the midst of a transition, which is not
yet clear. Showing up at a specific time
and place is outside the new norm. The
performing arts are expensive. It is not
clear the culture thinks they are important
enough to maintain. I am not speaking of
competitions. I am speaking about art,
which has a very different purpose. The
mass media doesn’t give time or space to
dance because it is not popular due to the
fact that there is no mass media product
like a CD to allow people to make it part
of their daily life. When minority groups
such as African Americans or gays were
not reflected in the media - advertising,
television, movies - they knew they were
being left out. It is true that one is very
marginalized when the media does not
show your portrait.
CHRISTINA LESSA: Yet, with all the
media now available to us, I feel we are
offered a broader conversational platform.
Music certainly has become more
available than ever before in history. Do
you agree that the arts that can be digitized
are becoming more globally available
and does that insist that they be more
mainstream? Is this a valued conversation
in the lives of those who are not living in
that context?
DOUG FITCH: The first thing that
comes to mind here is that – just as
none of us knows what life is like lived
outside our own body – it is hard to
speak with conviction about what it feels
like to operate within another person’s
cultural context. I think that art is the best
connective tissue ever devised by humans.
It really works! People of all kinds are
drawn to both high art (sometimes called
“art”) and low art (sometimes called
“outsider” or vernacular) even though
no one seems to be able to explain the
reason very well. We like the fact of its
mystery and how it connects our souls.
The problem - if there is a problem
and I think there is – is that latter-day
Capitalism, by its nature, creates a culture
of insecurity, compelling people (us) to
buy things they (we) don’t need in order to
feel better about who they (we) are. The
realm of art (well, art-making) actually
functions entirely outside the realm of
Capitalism, even though it always manages
to get swept into it eventually. But the
“valued conversation” you are talking
about is probably one about enabling and
engendering more people to feel a sense
of creative confidence and I’m all for
that. Unfortunately, as arts institutions
struggle to compete with commercial
enterprises for ticket-buyers there maybe
less and less support for basic research in
the arts. Perhaps virtuosity will start to
look more and more like self-referential
entertainment. On the other hand, clever
people are always finding ways to outsmart
other clever people and awe, wonder, and
curiosity, are pretty inherent to the human
condition.
Corey Dargel: Well, it depends
on how you define “the arts” and
“mainstream.” I don’t ascribe much value
to things that are considered mainstream.
Maybe I’m challenging or contradicting
your mission, but if I ever felt that the
substance of my work was becoming truly
mainstream, I would radically change what
I do. I don’t want my music to conform
to the expectations of the general public.
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That being said, I have no desire to be
deliberately abstruse. I have no desire to
limit my work’s appeal to effete musicians
and composers and scholars. I think my
work appeals to a wide range of listeners,
but the fans I value most are those who
truly pay attention while listening. Once
you become commercially mainstream as
an artist, you become part of a “scene,”
and the craft of your work is usually not
considered or evaluated on its own terms.
Instead, the focus is on your biography,
your fans, your competitors, your “scene,”
maybe how your work has changed over
time, but certainly not on the craft itself.
That’s my belief, but take it with a grain of
salt because, frankly, I’ve always preferred
to be an outsider.
CHRISTINA LESSA: Karole, you
are definitely an artist that is not afraid
to “entertain”. I notice that you often
mention your intent to connect to and
become interesting to the audience and
if that means employing non-traditional
means to do so, bring it on. It’s very
impressive that you are able to do this
while maintaining the integrity of the
traditional dance. It’s such a contemporary
vision.
Karole Armitage: We do this
to communicate with an audience.
Entertaining is a word that has a broad
meaning to me. I seek to work on many
levels combining showmanship with
conceptual innovation. We want the
show to be a joy to watch for everyone.
However, that does not mean it needs to
be created according to any formula. On
the contrary, the performing arts must
offer something unique that you can only
experience at that time and place. If I see
something where I already understand and
know what is going to happen, I am bored.
I leave. Mystery has a fascination, not the
predictable. There is no need to be dull or
routine. Forging new dance vocabularies
that open up new ideas is important.
Dance is performed by young people who
have a natural instinct for the new. The
sheer excitement and eroticism of dance is
part of what I highlight. I also deliberately
create situations that allow the audience
to recognize themselves from intimate
moments facing one self, alone or in
relationships. Sometimes a larger cultural
context shows other meaning.
CHRISTINA LESSA: As you continue
to educate a new generation through
your aesthetics of classical and modern
techniques, you have crossed the chasm
into popular culture...do you think that this
gives you a unique opportunity to create a
new platform for arts education?
Karole Armitage: I educate mainly
by teaching dancers new ways to think
and move which means the audience is
educated to the same ideas. The audience
and dancers see and feel it. It is so hard to
push these boundaries that I focus mainly
on that aspect of education. Interestingly,
when I did Hair on Broadway and used
some pretty radical conceptual ideas taken
from 10 years of research into pure dance
they were immediately singled out by the
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theater critics for praise. In dance, those
same concepts have never been mentioned
by the dance press probably because it
undermines tradition. These things work
in complex ways and infiltrate the world in
unexpected ways.
CHRISTINA LESSA: Doug, you’ve
said, “whether you are doing Puppets, or
Scenery, or Acting...it’s about a continuum
of story telling”...with our world turning
more and more to technology to tell those
stories that reflect our current culture,
where do you see the future of live
performance heading?
DOUG FITCH: Funny thing, new
technology is only ever new to those to
whom it is new. Then it gets old. So
technology is never very interesting
unless those using it are not infatuated
by its newness but rather are swayed by
its potential utility. What is wonderful
about the new technologies available to
us in the world of telling stories is that
there are new ways to get under the skin.
I am particularly interested in pursuing
augmented reality with I-pads and e-book
apps - something I am doing with my
company Giants are Small. This allows for
stories to include a musical component and
follow the curiosity of its readers.
But more to the point, I think there is a
move to perform in humbler settings with
humbler expectations about the value of
those performances. This is great, but the
problem is that the extraordinary worlds
that humans evolved through centuries
of exploration and development – worlds
like grand opera and symphonic music and
epic poetry and pipe organs – these require
the opposite of humility to survive. They
require a kind of opulent optimism, which
requires serious funding not easily granted
in a large democratic country with a whole
lot of demographics.
Corey Dargel: I think that
Technology is just another tool for
creating and realizing a work of art. Art
doesn’t necessarily need technology,
and it is sometimes refreshing to see a
performance that relies on absolutely no
current technology. The downside of
technology is that it changes so rapidly. It
becomes obsolete within only a few years,
so a lot of us find ourselves embracing
“lo-fi” technology because learning (and
relearning) new technology would require
time and energy that would be better spent
on creating new art. So... two things in
terms of technology and the future of live
performance: I think “lo-fi” technology
will always be trendy, though the definition
of “lo-fi” will change over time. On the
other hand, I think collaborations between
artists and programmers will be much
more common, the programmers creating
custom-made technology that serves an
artist’s specific needs.
CHRISTINA LESSA: This type of work
requires not only a true visionary to
execute, but also very progressive patrons
in terms of fiscal sponsorship. Ballet
boards must be very different from the
leaders in your support system.
Karole Armitage: We have a small,
extraordinary board of visionaries. We are
not an institution, so it takes people who
have the self-confidence to see what is
there, rather than to be told what is there.
We have truly creative board members
who see they can make a real difference
in the world of dance and the arts through
their support.
My company, “Armitage Gone! Dance”,
is unique in that we use the virtuosity and
refinement of ballet, ideas from modern
dance, weird marginal practices from
downtown and the life force of street
culture from many different parts of the
world. We do it sometimes on pointe,
sometimes barefoot. We are free spirits.
There is no other company doing this kind
of work. Is it ballet? Is it modern dance?
Who knows and why should that be
important?
Our patronage has come from two main
sources – European commissions and the
generosity of visual artists. We have had
extraordinary support in New York from
painters, photographers and sculptures who
donate their work, with great generosity, to
pay dancer’s salaries.
However visual artists are hit up all the
time to donate work. We cannot keep
the company afloat without new sources
of support. We hope to find individual
patrons who want to make a difference in
the world by supporting us rather than to
support the status quo.
DOUG FITCH: The truth is, for most of
my life, I have been pretty much of an
outsider in terms of institutional support.
But it is not hard to see that the democracy
we are evolving here in the U.S. is one
that no longer believes in a government
supported arts program. As a result, a
new call to philanthropists has been heard
and all sorts of individuals have created
amazing arts organizations to support
different ideals. But now the wealth
required to enable such lofty goals is being
threatened by higher taxes and stricter
economies. I don’t know, but I have a
feeling that people will start buying fewer
cookbooks and making better food.
Corey Dargel: In the last several
years, we’ve seen Kickstarter and other
commodity-oriented services take over
artist fundraising, and this disturbs me. I
don’t think artists should have to create
products or prizes to give to those who
support their work. The more support,
the better your prize? [sigh] I worry that
this kind of capitalist exchange will lead
to contributors dictating the content (if
not the intent) of the artist’s work. And
worse, Kickstarter makes fundraising like
a game show, since you have to reach a
predetermined goal or you get nothing
at all. To understand where I’m coming
from, I recommend reading Lewis Hyde’s
book “The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in
the Modern World.”
My support comes from individuals -individuals who are already fans of my
work -- and foundations like Creative
Capital, New Music USA, the Copland
Fund, and others. I am a member of
Fractured Atlas, which is a much better
(and more helpful) organization than
Sketches by Doug Fitch
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From left to right: Corey Dargel, Karole Armitage, Doug Fitch; Sketch: Doug Fitch
Kickstarter and other fundraising platforms
like it. I want people to support my work
because they like my work, not because
they’ll get a prize. Fractured Atlas allows
donors to write off donations on their taxes
(unlike Kickstarter), and you don’t have to
reach a specific goal to get the donations
you receive.
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CHRISTINA LESSA: Your rendition
of the Armitage (Dance/Choreography)
experience has been self described as,
“ Visceral emotion without spoken
language… experiences that bring
the audience to invest in the creative,
emotional, metaphoric world. Dance
performances should penetrate the person
deep inside connecting them to life itself.”
You talk about doing this through the
physics of dance… Can you speak to these
concepts in terms of the mathematical use
of space that you seem to consider in your
work? I find it a fascinating connection in
dance between physics and art that is often
overlooked by the viewer.
Karole Armitage: Dancers trained
in ballet see geometry in the air. We know
where lines of force operate visually. We
give energy and shape to the body to give
the audience a maximum visual impact.
That makes for a maximum emotional
impact. I have been using geometry in
new ways – shapes that are curvilinear
and sinuous rather than straight. I am
inspired by fractal geometry (the shape of
mountains or clouds) rather than Euclidian
geometry. I also try to avoid unison in
favor of simultaneity of action with theme
and variation coexisting. Of course, these
formal ideas are always in the service of
excitement and beauty. The movement
may also have metaphorical content as
well that give the audience an experience
of consciousness - what it feels like to be a
thinking, feeling, experiencing, acting.
CHRISTINA LESSA: Corey, your work
is extremely provocative, the lyrics and
sounds continually painting dramatic, yet
understated visceral images. Technology
combined with “living breathing
instruments”. Can you tell us about your
musical influences and how you came to
invest yourself into the study of what you
refer to as, “Humans and Machines”?
Corey Dargel: I believe we’re at a
point in history where it makes perfect
sense to find ways to make machines
behave more like humans and humans
behave more like machines. Admittedly,
many human musicians can’t stand this,
but a few of them do appreciate the
concept, so they’re the ones I tend to work
with. Computers put up less of a fight than
humans do; you just have to find a way to
trick the computers into being less precise
than they want to be. I use technology
primarily because it feels contemporary
and relevant, but I also try to de-emphasize
its presence, for example by tricking them
into making mistakes and then setting
those mistakes in stone. Too many artists
use technology as a means of generating
ideas rather than realizing ideas. I’m not
interested in using computers to do things
that are too complex for humans to do.
I’m more interested in creating textures
that aren’t entirely acoustic or entirely
human. You mention provocation, but for
me, it’s less about shocking or disturbing
people than it is about empathy. It’s also
about my own growth as an artist and a
citizen. I begin projects by thinking of
characters I can’t relate to -- wannabe
amputees (“Removable Parts”), deathrow inmates (“Last Words from Texas”),
hypochondriacs (“Thirteen Near-Death
Experiences”) -- and then as I’m writing
the songs and researching the topics, I
begin to find these characters more and
more relatable. My hope is that audiences
go through a similar journey. At first
they may find my characters’ behaviors
bemusing or alienating, but as the piece
progresses, they find more and more
ways in which they can relate to these
characters. In “Fables,” I’m not sure how
my usual M.O. or technique will work.
Not that I can’t work without my usual
M.O., but… I don’t know… I mean, I love
most animals, but not all of them. And if,
“all of nature is one,” according to one of
our final fables, then I may need to spend
more time with ants, cicadas, snakes,
cockroaches, and rats. I may even have to
[shudder] go camping.
CHRISTINA LESSA: What are your
dream works that you have yet to
construct? Is there one that you would
consider the pinnacle of your life’s work if
you were to complete it?
Karole Armitage: I have done a lot
already so I don’t feel a burden to achieve
something but certainly have the burning
ideas of wanting to continue to explore.
I have a sort of Dante Divine Comedy in
reverse idea for the stage. I would very
much like to make a series of short dance
films for the internet that people pay $2 to
watch, finding a new way to bring dance
into the world. I would also like to make
a work for the visual art context that uses
dance in an unexpected way.
I am a big-thicket hog-nosed skunk
And if I get sick it’s because I am drunk
It’s the best way to cope
With my absence of hope
Corey Dargel: I think it’s dangerous
to have a pinnacle or dream work. If I had
those things in mind, I might be inclined to
stop making art once I realize them. But
I’m probably different from other artists in
that I almost never come up with an idea
for a project until someone asks me to.
Or to put it more succinctly
We’re performing for you extinctly
And after the curtain closes
Each of us decomposes
So while we’re still here
Let’s have another beer
DOUG FITCH: You know, I always
wanted to be a painter, but was always
afraid of that damned blank canvas. As I
get older, I find it less and less scary so I
would love to illuminate those little worlds
I imagine with paint for reasons I can’t
explain. Theatrically, I want to create
a production about a childhood hero of
mine, Edward Lear. Also, I would like to
design a house for myself to live in from
the foundation to the roof. The fact is, I
have no idea what it would look like.
“The Skunk’s Song”
Here is Carolina Parakeet
But alas she could not compete
Listen to the Passenger Pigeon squeal
Because none of us is really real
Like many a hog-nosed alcoholic
I am at once hyperbolic and melancholic
I am sanctimonious because it’s only us remaining
And we promptly turn to dust after entertaining
Why don’t we have another drink
We can clink to the icebergs shrinking
We can toast to the distinction
Between my extinction and your extinction
Words by Corey Dargel © Automatic Heartbreak (ASCAP)
Used with permission
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