Steps forward

The Amercian Repertory Ballet will debut ‘Dancing Through the Ceiling’ at McCarter Theatre in Princeton March 15. The show includes three world premieres by women choreographers.

By: Susan Van Dongen

Elaine Kudo is a ballet mistress for the American Repertory Ballet.

   PRINCETON — High heels and construction boots have made cracks in the so-called "glass ceiling," but ballet slippers have barely made an impact.
   In the past 30 years, women have gained entrance into domains previously ruled by men, rising through the ranks and breaking this unspoken barrier. Surprisingly, though, a superficially feminine art form like ballet has a fairly rigid stratification system in place, especially for choreographers.
   "There isn’t outright discrimination in ballet," says Elaine Kudo, ballet mistress for New Brunswick’s American Repertory Ballet. "Yet, women have not made strides into choreography that the men have.
   "I think one of the reasons is because of the nature of what women are required to do in classical ballet," she says. "For example, in the corps de ballet, you have to be passive. You have to be molded and shaped. You are expected to be a perfectly unified group, and as a dancer you’re not given the opportunity to break out, explore and create movement."
   That’s why Ms. Kudo is pleased to be included in ARB’s innovative program, "Dancing Through the Ceiling," featuring world premieres by three women choreographers, including herself. The brainchild of ARB’s artistic director Graham Lustig, the program opens the company’s Spring 2001 season on March 15 at McCarter Theatre in Princeton.
   "It seems to me, that for far too long, the voices of women in the ballet have been silent in an art form that is appreciated and commonly performed by more women than men," Mr. Lustig says. "To get the essence of this inequality, the choreographers’ new works will reflect the viewpoints they personally hold as women working in the language of ballet."
   For example, Ms. Kudo’s piece, titled "Repercussion," is structured around 12 women working together as the corps de ballet.
   "You wouldn’t know anything is different until the entrance of five men, which bumps out one lady," she says. "Hence, the ‘repercussions,’ which continue throughout the piece."
   The other two women commissioned for the program are Susan Hadley, a former dancer with Mark Morris’s company and a faculty member at Ohio University, and freelance choreographer Dominique Dumais, formerly with the National Ballet of Canada.
   Ms. Kudo, who has been with ARB for 11 years as a dancer and choreographer, grew up in New York City. She also worked and studied with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School and the school of the American Ballet. She was a leading soloist with the American Ballet Theatre and the Twyla Tharp Company, and was Mikhail Baryshnikov’s partner in "Sinatra Suite," recently staged by ABT.
   She says that she’s bound to have been influenced by the acclaimed choreographers she’s worked with, including Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham and Jerome Robbins, but Twyla Tharp had the strongest effect.
   "I’m still staging her ballets, so I’m very close to them," she says. "Twyla was an enormous influence, although step-wise, my work is more classically based than hers. I feel I learned so much about structure and organization of a (dance) piece and the way to use music from her."
   Ms. Kudo reflects that women choreographers like Ms. Tharp have made breakthroughs in modern dance, yet not in classical ballet.
   "Modern dance is a more collaborative effort," Ms. Kudo says. "Even in the studio, the dancers have the experience of creating the movements themselves. But with ballet, even the principal women often inherit their roles from someone else. So you’re always trying to imitate or live up to the standards of someone else’s performance."
   On the other hand, men dancing principal roles in ballet are invited to alter the dance to suit their bodies better, according to Ms. Kudo. Then, there are the groups of dancers, which may number eight or ten for the men and as many as 24 or 34 for women in classical ballet.
   "The corps de ballet creates a different kind of mentality," she says. "That’s another way that it’s more rigid for women."
   Mr. Lustig, who joined ARB as artistic director in the spring of 2000, envisions "Dancing Through the Ceiling" as an annual event. He hopes to expand the program to include informal workshops for emerging women choreographers, providing an artistic stipend, rehearsal space and the ARB dancers, culminating in a videotaped performance for the choreographers’ portfolios.
   These three new works will become part of ARB’s repertory and will performed at New York’s Joyce Theatre in May.
   "I’m very fortunate to have Graham working with me, including me in this program, with these wonderful dancers and facilities," Ms. Kudo says. "This is only the fourth piece I’ve done as a professional choreographer. So often, when choreographers start off, they just have students to work with. But right away I was able to work with professionals.
   "Dancing Through the Ceiling" has also afforded her the chance to meet other women choreographers.
   "It’s been interesting just to sit down and share, compare ideas and talk," she says.
   Ms. Kudo hopes the future holds more choreography for her.
   "It’s different, it’s challenging and it’s a little piece of me that gets to stay behind," she says. "With performing arts, once the performance is over, it’s gone. But with choreography, you have something that will stick, something to look at later."
Dancing Through the Ceiling, featuring works by Elaine Kudo, Susan Hadley and Dominique Dumais, takes place at McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, Princeton, March 15 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $26-$38. For information, call (609) 258-2787. On the Web: www.arballet.org.
For directions to McCarter Theatre, click here.