TOP BILL Study Guide and

Program Information

NOVEMBER 2017

Artistic Statement by William/Bill Ev-ans: It is startling to realized that 471/2 years have passed since I created For Betty, the oldest work on this retrospective program. My memories of playing with the ideas that motivated that piece, on the stage of Kingsbury Hall and in the company studio in Building 509 are still vivid. When I close my eyes, I can con-jure up the sights and even the smells of those places and of the exhilaration I felt when discovering my unique expres-sive voice. I was recently asked to describe my choreography in three words. I chose somatic, heartfelt, and accessible; somatic because I have researched my bodily wisdom, anatomy and physiology to create a movement language and performance style that can communi-cate directly to the sensory apparatus of

the viewer; heartfelt, because each one of my works has been created to distill in time and space, something that I have cared about passionately; accessible, because I invite the viewer into my dances. I want my dancers to be human, and hope that people feel they could jump up on stage and join us. I believe that humans need dance to remind us that we can dig down deep inside and find the finest parts of ourselves. When I make, rehearse, and perform dances, I access the best parts of myself both as a unique individual and as a member of the human race. The kind of dance I learned to love during my seven years as a member of RDT, and have investigated ever since, is life-affirming and celebratory. That is not so say that all my work is light-hearted or joyful. We must recognize the dark side of human nature, I believe, to fully appreciate the fact that most people are basically good and are striving to make the world a better place.

About the Choreographer

WILLIAM/BILL EVANS was a dancer and major choreographer with RDT from 1967-1974. He has en-joyed an ongoing relationship with the company and has created 18 works for RDT, returned often as a teacher and guest performer, and served on the RDT National Advisory Board. Since 1974, Bill has become an internationally-known choreographer, performer, teacher, administrator, writer and movement analyst. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and numerous grants/fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and several state and regional arts agencies. Almost 300 of Evans’ works have been performed by professional and pre-professional ballet, modern dance and tap com-panies, including his own Bill Evans Dance Company (now in its 44th year), Ballet West, Ririe-Woodbury, Ruth Page Chicago Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, Chicago Tap Theatre, CODACO of Puebla Mexico and many others. His academic appointments include: assistant professor at the University of Utah; visiting professor at the University of Washington, associate professor and coordinator of the Contemporary Dance Program at Indi-ana University; distinguished emeritus professor at the University of New Mexico; emeritus professor at The College at Brockport, SUNY; and professor at Dean College. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Cor-nish College of the Arts in Seattle. He has received lifetime achievement awards from the National Dance Education Organization, the American Dance Guild and Dance Teacher Magazine and the New Mexico Governors Award for Acheivement in the Arts. He is a distinguished dance alumnus at the University of Utah and has received additional honors from the National Dance Association, National High School Dance Festival, New York State Dance Education Organization and the Rhode Island State Commission on the Arts. His major pursuits at this stage of his career include the Bill Evans Summer Institute of Dance, now in its 42nd year, and the associated Somatic Dance Conference and Performance Festival, now in its 6th year. 2018 sessions will be held at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY and at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, WA. He will celebrate his 78th birthday with April performances of the Evans Dance Company in Providence, RI and Cambridge, MA.

About the Choreography…

For Betty (1970) Choreography: William/Bill Evans Music: Antonio Vivaldi This joyful and exuberant piece was created for Dr. Elizabeth (Betty) Hayes, former Chair of the Modern Dance Department at the University of Utah, whose teaching career spanned 48 years. To honor his friend and advisor, Evans designed arcing and carv-ing circular trajectories in the dancer’s personal kinesphere, as well as the basketball player’s rapid and vigorous propulsions through general space. (Betty’s technique classes at the “U” fo-cused on planar arcs in space and her mentor, Margaret H’Dou-bler, had been a basketball player before becoming a pioneering dance educator.

Alternating Current (1982) Choreography: William/Bill Evans Music: David Sannella, Simon Jeffes In this work, which he performed for many years with another distinguished RDT Alumnus and founding member of the Bill Evans Dance Company, Gregg Lizenbery, Evans explored the fable of the moth and flame. He also investigat-ed the phenomenon in which opposite electric charges exert a force on each other that tends to pull them together. In human terms, we see people who are both attracted to and repulsed by the other. Each is vulnerable to a force that might immolate or extinguish him.

Tintal (1972) Choreography: William/Bill Evans Music: Mahapursh Misra The tintal is one of the primary forms of Hindustani music. We hear it played on the table, accompanied by the sarod and tambura. Evans drew on his studies of both Bharatanatyam (a classical dance form of southern India) and West African Dance to embody the expressive qualities he heard in this music, particularly the fusion of intensity and sereni-ty. This is RDT’s first reconstruction of this work since Evans left the company in 1974. He dedicates it with deep gratitude and admiration to Linda Smith, who inspired and originated the solo role.

Three Preludes (2009) Choreography: William/Bill Evans Music: George Gershwin This work is dedicated to the choreographer’s mother, Lila Snape Evans, who saw him perform it in the Rose Wagner Black Box in July, 2009, the last time she was to witness her son’s dancing. She mentioned the experience daily until she passed away six months later, at age 97. Evans fuses the language of rhythm tap dance with his uniquely person-al and lyric style of modern dance. Evans’ performance of these short dances reveals his belief that the human body is a musical instrument.

About the Choreography Continued... Suite Benny (1987/2017) Choreography: William/Bill Evans Music: Edgar Sampson and Louis Prima, arranged and recorded by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra. Evans was born in 1940 and grew up watching tap, jazz and ballroom dancing in Hollywood films and lis-tening to swing music on the radio, played by the wonderful big bands of the era, including that of Ben-ny Goodman. At age 17, Evans founded his own school of dance in Lehi, Draper and Sandy, Utah. Each week, he taught tap and ballet to more than 200 children, and ballroom dance to adults, to finance his BA studies in English, Ballet and Modern Dance at the University of Utah. In 1987, he returned to ball-room dance after a hiatus of 25 years to create this nostalgic work for RDT. This 2017 iteration of Suite Benny has been significantly rechoreographed. Crippled Up Blues and other tales of the Deseret. (2015) Choreography: William/Bill Evans Music: 3hattrio This panoramic work pairs Evans and Emmy Award Winning musician/folklorist Hal Cannon. Originally prem-iered in RDT’s 50th Anniversary season, this piece features “desert music” created by 3hattrio, which acknowledges the cultural traditions of generations who have worked and lived in the deserts of the Ameri-can Southwest. A native Utahn, Evans harnesses his artistic sensibility and love for the region to crystallize heartfelt and whimsical versions of stories of the unique peoples who lived and live here.

Why I dance by William/Bill Evans I grew up in a small Utah farming town in the 1940s. When I was 3, I saw a Fred Astaire film at the Mor-mon ward house. Immediately, I started inventing my own dance steps. My parents refused to buy me tap shoes, so I held my older brother’s marbles under my toes to make noise. They finally relented and let me put taps on my Sunday shoes. When I was 8, my father enrolled me in a combination tap/ballet class taught by Charles Purrington, a retired vaudevillian hoofer. I spent hours a week making up dances to rec-ord recordings by such artists as Glenn Miller and the Andrews Sisters and teaching them to my younger sister. We performed at church socials, weddings, every possible school function and on local television programs. The bullying I endured from redneck schoolmates was relentless and excruciating, but I knew that dance was my calling, and nothing could make me stop. My spirit soared when I danced. I developed a vivid imagination and a profound love of motion and rhythm. I had been a lost little boy who didn’t fit in, but I was transformed by the process of creating and sharing sounds and movement. I became a fledgling artist able to connect to the universe through the infectious rhythms on those records and the approval I received from imaginary audiences. I discovered my way of being fully alive. I started teaching my own classes at age 13, choreographed my first evening-length production at 14, and opened my own studio at age 17. I escaped to Salt Lake City (where I danced in many different capacities at the University of Utah), and then to New York, Chicago, Seattle, Albuquerque and the many other cities of the world where I have spent my life dancing. In my most recent physical, my doctor told me that I have the body of a 55-year old, even though I’ll turn 78 in April. I still dance every day and perform many times a year in solo con-certs, company concerts or in productions at The College at Brockport, where I am a permanent guest artist. Through a multi-faceted career, I have experienced a healthy, diverse, and full existence that has allowed me to travel through all 50 states and to 22 other countries to share my work with people from all walks of life. I still feel alive when performing to a degree I rarely experience at other times: I am fully present in body-mind and the moment; I feel vibrant in each cell of my body, every second of time; my senses of hearing and movement are exquisitely intense. I am transported to a compellingly harmonious world, and the endless and challenging work (teaching, directing, coaching, scheduling, selecting costumes, designing lights, coordinating with managers and technicians, marketing, raising money, watching my diet, staying in shape) seems well worth it. For me, dance is primarily an activity of the human spirit. My personal regeneration practice is centered in daily sessions of Laban/Bartenieff–inspired modern dance and rhythm tap improvisations. I am nearly al-ways in rehearsal for my next series of performances. Making dances and sharing them is a demanding but uplifting process. I find it wholly positive and life affirming. In these unsettling times, when media, cor-porations and politicians are manipulating us with appalling distortions of the truth, I value the absolute truth I find in the body moving more profoundly than ever. I do not regret a single day I spent dancing.

Writing Assignment: Why do you dance? How does dance inspire or in-fluence you in your daily life and in your creative life?

William/Bill Evans is a choreographer who has been inspired by many dif-ferent forms of dance including ballet, modern, tap, jazz, ethnic, folk, and ballroom dance. The following is a brief dance history lesson of the devel-opment of some of these dance forms. Social and Folk Dance Dances and singing games performed for play, recreation and purposes of courtship have very early origins. Each country has developed its own variations. Through social dances young people learn etiquette and about the roles their society has assigned to men and women. Peasant dances, courtship, and ballroom dances.

Court Dances: Etiquette and Elegance Historically, dance has played a vital role among the ruling aristocracy of many societies. Dancing at court was a way to display authority, to set standards of elegance and decorum and was a way to maintain the hierarchy.

During the Renaissance in Europe, fashion affected the way the nobles dressed. The nobility rejected the rustic danc-

es of the peasants. Such dances were not considered becoming to the ladies and gentlemen of the court. Lively, en-

ergetic peasant dances were replaced by more refined forms like the stately Pavane and vivacious Galliard from Italy

or the passionate Saraban from Spain. The liveliest dance of all was the Volte from southern France. This couple

dance was the favorite of England’s Queen Elizabeth I and was popular throughout Great Britain. Court dances like

the Minuet were concerned almost exclusively with showing off and with courtship and etiquette. The use of handker-

chiefs, fans, veils, long-trained skirts and cloaks, posturing and preening were fashionable. The dancing master came

into being to insure conformity and to enforce discipline. Dancing was created for its theatrical effect as well as its so-

cial value. These court dances eventually became the source of movement material for ballet.

Social Stepping: From Ballroom to the Boogaloo In 1789, revolution swept away the court of France and with it the courtly social dances. In their place, revolutionaries danced the Carmagnole around the grim guillotine. All over Europe, ideas of liberty were changing people’s ideas of life and music. The most popular of all the new dances was the Waltz, a dance associated with the new middle class. The dance could be learned without the aid of a dancing master and could be performed in any space. Paris could boast of almost 700 dance halls which were built to satisfy the new social dance craze. Shubert, Chopin, and Strauss helped to spread the fame of the Waltz tunes. First Europe, then America was swept by the dancing mania which lasted almost one hundred years until the 19th Century rival dances, the Polka, Tarantella, and Mazurka filled the ballrooms. Popular group dances like the Cotillion and the Quadrille were like English square dances and could be performed in the middle class parlors. These dances were altered when they got to America and soon became more lively and more democratic as square dances and the “hoe-downs” were enjoyed by pioneers on the western frontier.

American Dances: Changing Steps, Changing Times In America, dances of African origin were influencing styles. African slaves brought their tribal songs and dances to the new world, and work songs eased the toil of the workers in the cotton fields. European hymns were sung with na-tive rhythms and developed into Negro Spirituals. After the Civil War, black musicians bought old army instruments and improvised music to play on every occasion. In New Orleans, a new kind of music became popular. It was called Jazz, and the new music gave birth to new dances. After 1910, as life’s tempo speeded up, young dancers preferred the Bunny Hug, Grizzly Bear, and the Black Bottom to the Waltz and Polka. Exhibition ballroom dancing made the “new” dances popular as Vernon and Irene Castle introduced the Fox Trot, the Castle Walk and the South American Tango. As technology developed, fashions, music and social dances changed to satisfy the lifestyles of that lively and liberated generation. The Linday Hop of the 1930s became the Jitterbug of the 1940s, and the Western Swing of the 1990s. Tap and Jazz dance evolved in the United States. The contributions of African culture can be seen in vernacu-lar dances a well as concert and theatrical forms. The influence of African culture flowed from the American plantations to medicine shows and carnivals. It traveled through the dance halls and the ballrooms as people learned to dance the Charleston, the Twist, and the Jitterbug. The new American dance forms were eventually seen on the concert stage and in movies and television. Audiences were entertained by talented performers in vaudeville, the Ziegfeld Fol-lies, and talking pictures. These forms of theatrical entertainment gave people a chance to forget their troubles in pure fantasy. Music had a new sound, and movie musicals gave birth to brilliant stars…Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, John Bubbles, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made the floor boards sing with rhythm. Tap and jazz dancing were popu-lar new dance forms emerging through Broadway Musicals.

Lesson Plans: From For Betty: Create arcing, carving, circular patterns for the arms, legs, torso, head and place them in a sequence. Then create a circular floor pathway to place the sequence on. Notice how it feels to move in such a circular way. How does this make the body feel? What is it like to watch movement with these ideas as a basis? How does it make you feel as an audience member? From Suite Benny: Have your students watch some excerpts from the Hollywood firms of the 40’s and 50’s and show them the amazing dance numbers. Do they notice the influence of ballroom, tap and jazz? What do they notice about the danc-es and dancers? Do they notice the importance of rhythm? Have them take some of the steps or music as inspiration for a short composition study, using ballroom steps, rhythmic steps and music from the era as inspiration. From Three Preludes: Evans believes that the human body is a musical instrument. What do you think? How many different ways can the human body be used as an instrument? Think of as many as you can and then use these ideas to create sequences in which only the human body is used as the instrument.

Why Use Dance in the Classroom? Dance is the oldest language. Dance is a total experience involving the physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and

aesthetic dimensions of an individual which helps us perceive and communicate who we are and what we aspire to be-

come. Dance is a great resource for teaching and opening minds and imaginations. Dance is a form of non-verbal com-

munication, a powerful language that everyone can understand. Dance allows all children to explore their own physical

and creative potential in a non-competitive environment.

Standards for Arts Education: Utah Core Curriculum

Moving: Increasing strength, flexibility and endurance

Investigating: Discovering the elements of dance: time, space energy and the body

Creating: Exploring the creative process

Connecting: Appreciating dance, its historical, cultural and per-

The Elements of Dance There are four elements of dance: time, space, energy (force and

flow) and the body.

The body is the instrument of dance. It is the vehicle of communica-

tion, based upon the dancer’s kinesthetic sense.

Dance exists in both time and space. Time can be rhythmic and

based upon meter, or body rhythms and breath rhythms.

Space is concerned with the visual design of dance. It consists of

body shape, levels, floor patterns, group relationships and volume.

Energy relates to the force with which the movement is released. An-

other term for energy is dynamics and may be described by specific

qualities such as: percussive, staccato, sustained, swinging, sus-

pended, vibratory and collapse. A variety of energy levels make a

dance more interesting and create texture within the movement.

It is important to realize these elements are also those of everyday

How to Prepare for the Dance Performance Turn off and put away all cell phones, mp3 players and any other device which may cause distraction, and remove any

chewing gum. Clear your mind of other thoughts (general or personal). Open your mind and spirit to the moment; con-

centrate and raise your awareness to the immediate environment. As the lights lower and/or the music begins, take a

deep breath and relax in your seat. You are beginning to watch motion, movement, shape, line, rhythm, tempo, color,

space, time, energy...dance.

Allow yourself to release the notion that you already know what dance means, or has to mean, or that you have to figure

something out. Release the notion that you have to look at dance as if you were reading a book. Dance doesn’t neces-

sarily have a storyline. If you watch the dance with openness, you may experience an emotion, an image, or a feeling

that you may not be able to describe. You may not know why or where reactions come from, but don’t worry. That is a

part of the magic of theater.

Every piece of choreography has a reason for being. Dances may be celebrations, tell stories, define moods, interpret

poems, express emotions, carve designs or visualize music. As you watch a dance, a story may occur to you because of

your past experience. However, not all dances tell stories. The sequences do not have to make literal sense. Allow im-

ages and personal feelings to come to the surface of your consciousness.

After the performance, feel free to discuss your thoughts with others, but do not be disturbed if you find others have a

different reaction than yours. Think about your own personal images and thoughts. Was it fun to watch? Did the dance

remind you of any experiences in your own life? Did the choreography inspire you to express yourself, write a poem,

draw a picture, or make up your own dance?

Dance Criticism and Questions for Written Analysis and Discussion Criticism (writing or talking about dance) or evaluation of a dance performance is affected by past experience, sensitivity,

involvement, and personal judgment. Criticism involves three processes: description, interpretation, and judgment of a

particular piece being analyzed.

When you write or talk about a dance performance you should consider or analyze four different aspects of the dance.

The choreographic elements: the overall form, use of space, rhythmic and timing factors, use of dynamics, style, mu-

sic, and movement invention

The performance elements: the technical skill of the dancers, their projection, commitment, ability to communicate.

The production elements: the costumes, lighting, props, sets, and music

The general impact: the clarity of intent, concept, invention of the dance performance.

When answering the following questions, try to be multi-dimensional in your responses by describing visual and auditory

perceptions and feelings. Make sure you state your reasons for anything you liked or disliked.

1. What emotional reactions did you have? What moved you?

2. What was the most interesting feature of the performance?

3. What in particular do you most remember about the experience?

4. Was there an apparent motive for the dance? Was it dramatic, abstract, a mood piece, etc.?

5. Were there any social, political, or historical elements?

6. What did you notice about the form of the dance?

7. Were the performers skilled technically?

8. How well did they portray their characters or communicate with movement?

9. What kind of music was used?

10. What were your reactions to the technical or production elements, the staging, décor, props, lighting, costumes?

These questions may stimulate great discussions in the classroom, or may allow the students to delve deeper into their

performance experience.

RDT’s Goals for Arts-in-Education

Using dance as a way to help people become more:

Connected, Compassionate, Aware, Inspired, Original, Focused, Cou-

rageous, Passionate, Human

To provide alternative ways of learning in order to achieve basic

educational objectives such as concentrating, creative problem

solving, planning, visualizing and conceptualizing

To develop skills and insights needed for emotional maturity and

social effectiveness-sharing, cooperating, integrating, and inter-

acting.

To develop an individual’s physical and mental discipline at all

levels of ability.

To open participants’ minds and imaginations by developing

tools of communication

To develop feelings of self-worth, confidence, and achievement

by giving students and teachers opportunities to explore move-

ment, the art of improvisation and the creative process.

To develop an understanding and appreciation of American Mod-

ern Dance.

To deepen the understanding of the relationship between art

and life.

To develop Life Skills by encouraging good citizenship, by help-

ing students be responsible and understand their relationship to

the other members of their group, family, class or community.

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The following organizations and donors gener-

ously support Repertory Dance Theatre’s Arts-in-

Education Activities:

Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation

Salt Lake City Arts Council—Arts Learning Grant

Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts & Parks Program

George S and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation

Emma Eccles Jones Foundation

Utah State Board of Education—POPS Program

Ally Bank

Lawrence T & Janet T Dee Foundation

Utah Division of Arts & Museums and the National

Endowment for the Arts

HR Burton Foundation

BW Bastian Foundation

4Life

Deluxe Corporation Foundation

RDT and Arts Education

REPERTORY DANCE THEATRE founded in 1966,

is a professional modern dance company dedi-

cated to the creation, performance, perpetuation,

and appreciation of modern dance. RDT’s long

standing commitment to arts in education focus-

es on enriching young students lives and provid-

ing on opportunity for students to experience the

joy of living through dance. The company of out-

standing performers, teachers, and choreogra-

phers has created new pathways for audiences

to experience and value the art of dance. Resi-

dency activities that include demonstrations,

movement classes, and teacher in-service work-

shops encourage students to integrate move-

ment into their learning and teaching process.

RDT’s residency activities are specifically de-

signed to assist teachers and students in achiev-

ing the standards for arts education.

For more information about Repertory Dance Theatre, our upcoming

workshops, performances, residencies, etc. Please visit our website

at www.rdtutah.org or contact us at 801-534-1000.