hyperallergic.com: George Balanchine once famously said, “Ballet is woman.” Brendan Fernandes, a Kenyan-born Indian-Canadian artist and choreographer whose work has been staged, of late, at the Whitney Biennial and the Guggenheim, would probably counter that ballet is work. Indeed, his Contract and Release, currently in performance at The Noguchi Museum, most closely aligns with his 2017 piece, Clean Labor, in which Fernandes turned the movements of hotel workers into choreography and staged the whole thing, cheekily, at the Wythe Hotel.
2 comments:
I agree with the choreographer. Ballet IS work. From the pictures of the performance, I can tell that the dancers have an extremely high level of endurance and control over their bodies. The idea of integrating the sculptures is quite peculiar. How does it add to the meaning of the art? The dance piece certainly stands out on its own with its meaning: “The suffering behind the beauty is the artist’s point.” I have always been a little suspicious of contemporary art because I have a hard time deciphering its meaning. But I respect it nonetheless because there are so many meaningful contemporary pieces like this being produced.
I am really intrigued by Fernandes’ 2017 piece (Clean Labor) where he choreographs a movement piece based on the movements of hotel workers. Who would’ve thought those kinds of mundane movements can be turned into a performance? I’m curious about how he translated those movements and possibly how he transformed them. Is the movement still recognizable?
This sounds like such a beautiful exhibition. I have always been a lover of dance, and danced ballet for years and it is HARD. It uses every muscle you never knew you possessed and it acts you to do grueling work while presenting complete ease and grace. Smiling through the sweat and sore feet and strained muscles, landing every leap and tour jeté without a sound. Ballet is the most physically challenging art form in our world, yet the hard work behind the finished product is not often completely visible to the audience. They see effortless performance of the extent of human capabilities, but they don't see how much it takes to get there. This exhibition that serves to emphasize that immense physical strain is so powerful and important. Artists are expected to put everything they have into their work, but the final product cannot show an audience those sleepless nights or the emotional toll some art can take, so exhibitions that glimpse into that process are important in improving audience awareness and appreciation.
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