Reveling in the possibilities
Mass. native choreographer Seán Curran premieres work at Jacob’s Pillow
by J.A. Lopata
BECKET, Mass. — Modern dance choreographer Seán Curran is
bringing his dance company to dance theater Jacobs Pillow, and
he says he “would love it” for the gay community to be there en
masse.
That might be empty, marketing rhetoric for other entertainers,
but for openly gay Curran, sexual identity plays heavily into
his work. He claims that virtually all of his works include “two
same-sex and one opposite-sex couples.”
In fact, one of the running jokes among his company members is
for dancers to query each other, “Are you the homo, hetero or
lesbo couple?”
In an era when same-sex coupling in modern choreography has
become de rigueur and almost passé, Curran has made it a
powerful central element in his work.
“I’m very interested in partnering,” he says. “It is very
important for me that we respect all of the variations.”
Same-sex partnering is not merely an artistic choice for Curran,
it is political. He is fond of quoting choreography mentors Bill
T. Jones and Arnie Zane, saying, “All art is political, even
what you choose to omit is political.”
Curran danced with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (BTJ/AZDC)
during the AIDS crisis, when many dancers, including Arnie Zane
were dying or already dead. The power of art to change society
was palpable at the time. Curran still adheres to the concept
that “artists are changers,” and that they do more than “hold a
mirror up to society,” even if he doesn’t “categorize” his work
as “fist-in-the-air political.”
When discussing how his gay identity fits into the picture of
being a political artist, Curran talks about Bill T. Jones
again, who Curran says, “fought long and hard against the label
of being a black dancer.” In contrast, Curran notes that he is
“very rarely labeled a gay artist, except in the gay press.
“Being a gay man, middle-aged, single and sober are important
parts of my life,” says Curran. “I don’t hide those things. I
talk about them when I’m asked to speak to audiences.”
Most of the time he finds audiences receptive, but sometimes he
has had to change dance programs to acquiesce to individual
concerns. He once had to change a dance that he was presenting
at a college because of apprehensiveness on the part of a
Christian student dancer who was unwilling to partner with
another dancer of the same sex.
Curran had a similar problem with one new member of his own
company. “I had a new dancer, who is straight, and I wanted to
put him in the gay couple, but he was uncomfortable with that.
We had a discussion about it. So I put him with the heterosexual
couple and asked another one of my straight dancers, who is
married, who has no problem with it, to dance in the gay couple.
I said to myself, this is the Seán Curran Company and I’m gay. I
had to ask myself, is this the kind of dancer that I want in my
company?”
Out of nine company members, says Curran, two are gay, two men
are straight and one woman is a lesbian. Curran is delighted, of
course, to have the diversity. “With dance there is always the
potential for sexual tension. But in the rehearsal hall,” he
explains, “we’re all equal.”
In fact, in rehearsal, it’s all about the art of dance, because
dance is Curran’s first love.
His first introduction to dance was traditional Irish step where
he was raised in Watertown, Mass. He went to high school in
Belmont, Mass., before attending New York University’s Tisch
School of the Arts. He performed as an original cast member for
the off-Broadway hit “STOMP!” danced with BTJ/AZDC and even on
children’s television for “Sesame Street.”
He started up his dance group the Seán Curran Company in 1997.
Seven years later, he boasts of a 25 week a year, full-time
professional company, which spends much of its time on the road.
The remainder of his time is spent choreographing and dancing
wherever and whatever he can. Lately, that’s meant many operas
and musical theater pieces, including creating movement for
Broadway’s “The Dead,” and for openly gay composer Ricky Ian
Gordon’s off-Broadway musical “My Life with Albertine.”
At Jacob’s Pillow, Curran will be performing a world premiere
called “Art/Song/Dance,” with music by Gordon, who will be
accompanying for the concert.
Also on the program will be a new solo work for Curran, which
was not his choice; at 43, Curran felt like he’d done enough
solo pieces. Though he’s glad Jacob’s Pillow pushed him to it,
his interests in partnering call him more.
Regarding his partnering interests, he speaks of one of his most
popular pieces, “Folk Dance for the Future,” which not only
featured his trademark three varied sexual-orientation parings,
but each of the couples was interracial.
He revels in the possibilities, “I want one of everything,” he
says with glee. s
Seán Curran Company performs at Jacob’s Pillow, 358 George
Carter Road, Becket, Mass., Aug. 26-29, Thursday–Saturday at
8:15 p.m., Saturday at 2:15 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. For more
information, call 413/243-0745 or connect to
www.jacobspillow.org.
Photo Credit:
This piece first appeared in "In Newsweekly: New England's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender newspaper."
July 22, 2004