Artsource The Music Center’s Study Guide to the Performing Arts
TRANSFORMATION
ENDURING VALUES
Title of Work: Impressions #1 (Henry Moore)
Creators: Company: Lewitzky Dance Company Choreographer: Bella Lewitzky (1916 - 2004) Composer: Larry Attaway b. 1949 Decor & Light Design: Darlene Neel (1941 - 1999)
Background Information: Bella Lewitzky is an artist of international stature. For over fifty years she has been a performer, choreographer and dance educator. Born to Russian immigrants, she spent her early childhood in the Mojave desert growing up amidst artists, intellectuals and others striving for an ideal society. Although she made up dances as a girl and acquired some dance fundamentals, she did not begin formal modern dance training until she met Lester Horton at age 17. She says that “His approach to movement and his capacity for invention were his most important gifts to me.” She has taken these gifts and used them to evolve her own approach to dance. The establishment of the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company in 1966 made it possible for her to choreograph her inventions and share them with audiences internationally. Her technique, rooted in the modern dance style, stresses alignment and strength. Ms. Lewitzky strives constantly to discover new movement
DANCE ®
ARTISTIC PROCESSES
TRADITIONAL CLASSICAL
1. CREATING (Cr)
CONTEMPORARY
2. PERFORMING, PRESENTING, PRODUCING (Pr)
EXPERIMENTAL
3. RESPONDING (Re)
MULTI-MEDIA
4. CONNECTING (Cn)
FREEDOM & OPPRESSION
THE POWER OF NATURE
off place for kinetic explorations. However, instead of beginning with the work of van Gogh, she surprised herself by starting with Henry Moore. Since it was impossible to bring his sculptures into her studio, she and her dancers worked from images found in books. She describes his figures as elongated and grounded with extended limbs, and states that they look perfectly symmetrical, but are not. He uses asymmetry to create an illusion of classical, curvaceous symmetry. She observed that his sculptures have lots of weight and mass, always touching the floor at two or three points, while the heads are small. There are also holes or negative spaces which entice the viewer to look through at different places, altering the perspective and showing that there are many views possible within one object.
Creative Process of the Artist or Culture: Bella guided her company in experiencing the different aspects of Moore’s work. They explored how the pieces rested on the ground and took off from the resting place, how the feet, hands and arms were carried, and the upright position of the back. They worked with interlocking shapes and eventually developed a ‘Moore movement vocabulary.’ She has labeled her work in the same way Moore did, resulting in such titles as: Upright Figure and Knife Edge; Touching Points; Interlocking Shapes; Two Figure Forms and Three Rings.
and challenges her audience to bring something of themselves to the viewing and interpretation of her work.
About the Artwork: Ms. Lewitzky has been a ‘visual collector’ of Henry Moore's work for many years. While she was viewing an exhibit of van Gogh’s work in Holland, she realized that paintings and other forms of art can be a jumping
THE HUMAN FAMILY
Photo: Erica Davidson
“I’ve relished Moore’s sculpture for years, especially his female images. They’re voluptuous, yet they look like they can work, bear children.” Bella Lewitzky California