It is difficult, with the news filled with pictures of tsumani waves reaching from Japan to California, not to be aware of the connections along the West Coast with the other Pacific Rim cultures. But Mark Morris' Pacific (1995) was created as a celebration of all those cultures bring to life here as well as a reflection of Morris' roots growing up in Seattle, said Tina Fehlandt.
"I grew up on the East Coast and I remember coming here for the first time in 1981 with Mark," said Fehlandt, who danced with his company for twenty years, creating such characters as Louise in Hard Nut. "It ws the first time that I'd ever eaten with chopsticks."
Besides an awareness of the many Pacific cultures influence the West Coast, the piece reflects the power of the ocean as well. "When I listen to the music, and watch the dancers, I feel the natural influences profoundly," said Fehlandt. "The unpredictability of ocean."
Yet, at the same time, Fehlandt works to keep her emotional reactions and interpretations out of the piece. It's that fine line between stager and choreographer: keeping a work true to the creator's vision. "You don't want it to turn into a museum piece, you want it to be living, breathing art," she explained, but, at the same time, "I am not a director, it is not like a play or an opera," where the person staging the production can profoundly change the way that an audience sees a piece.
One thing Fehlandt tries to avoid is teaching a dance through videotapes of past performances. "I don't like the dancers to see the video. I don't want them to copy that one performance -- because it is only one performance of that work and the dance shouldn't be frozen that way. I've looked at tapes of myself and thought 'there's a mistake there, something I didn't do in other performances,'" she said.
Pacific Northwest Ballet presents Pacific as part of Contemporary 4, March 18-27.
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