With the filming of Ma Maison, memory is paramount. Caty Solace, Chief Strategy Officer at TMP, has put her memories of this collaboration into words: "There was my first feeling—when the jazz unrolled and the shadows folded into light that exposed skulls and spandex on the stage at Sun Valley Pavilion in August of 2009. I had no idea of the faces and lives that were grasping for air behind the masks, and I had only a vague conception of the tall genius behind the movement; but, it set off a chemical release—something both joyous and mournful unraveled and re-connected inside, and though I was still interviewing for a job at Trey McIntyre Project somehow I knew I had found my home, Ma Maison. In 2011, the year Trey made The Sweeter End, we’d had some staff turnover, and I had absorbed several positions. Though I loved the work, it was ceaseless, and I found myself yearning to re-fuel by being in the studio during creation. Several days, during this time, Trey allowed me to sit on the floor with my back against the cold brick wall in our warehouse studio and watch him create. I remember the spray paint flying orange from can in hand—to form an x on John Michael’s back—while the excess dissipated like dust in light—and in some way I felt myself there in that moment, in that paint. I knew, though I hadn’t admitted it to anyone, I was running on fumes—and the question on the back of Chanel’s jean jacket vest what now affixed itself to my being. It was in the wings at the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans watching the dress rehearsal—as Chanel writhed atop the shoulders of the male dancers that I realized the visceral connection between anguish—exhaustion—and passion. I realized that sometimes you have to make your mark even if some particles of you are lost forever to the stage lights. Over the past four years I’ve seen these two works evolve. The faces behind the masks, or in the spray-painted denim have changed, grown, or moved on—and though I know I’ve had no influence on what’s on the stage—what’s on the stage now, last year, or four years ago has had an enormous influence on me. Because of that—because I have all of these connection points between my life, my work, my passion, and these two pieces I can hardly wait to see some version of this shared experience be brought to life via film, imagination, and re-creation—and to be a part of it—even if my part is just watching from the wings."
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 16:26:36 +0000
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