38F AUGUST 1996
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Humor moves New Jersey choreographer
Choreographer Claire Porter is seen here in a scene from "Fitness Digest."
- A New Jersey choreographer will teach dance students the importance of mixing words and movement.
BY JAN BILES
JOURNAL-WORLD ARTS EDITOR
As a young woman, bytes and RAMS seemed more interesting to Claire Porter than sashays and pirouettes. But that was before the computer programmer saw a performance by New York City Ballet ballerina Maria Tallchief.
- Claire Porter, choreographer
"At first, I didn't know it was humorous. I didn't know until it was in front of an audience. It wasn't on purpose."
"I ended up in California and went back to college," Porter said during a recent phone interview from her New Jersey home. "I had a wonderful teacher and just slipped into it. I had never danced before."
Her teacher's style was athletic and aesthetically satisfying.
"I was working in the computer department part-time and they told me to come in to work whenever I felt like it. That was a dangerous thing to do," Porter said with a laugh.
Dance eventually took over her life. She went on to study with Merce Cunningham,
University Dance Company and Cohan/Suzaue Duet Company concert Nov. 21 and 22 in the Lied Center.
Also on the program are dances choreographed by KU faculty members Muriel Cohan, Jerel Hilding, Willie Lenoir, Patrick Suzeau and Joan Stone.
While she is in Lawrence, Porter also will teach master classes in dance improvisation and modern dance technique at KU.
Nina Weiner and Lester Horton, and eventually became certified in Laban movement analysis, a method of dance notation. She has received several National Endowment for the Arts and New Jersey State Council on the Arts choreography fellowships.
And Porter will bring her expertise to the Kansas University campus this fall when she performs her piece "Slipping into Weather" at a
"She forecasts humidity in language and then slips into humidity through movement," Porter said. "I've worked to translate principles into language and movement. I do humidity, high and low pressure, cool front and then build into a storm. She talks about weather and she gets caught up in it and becomes it."
The text is about a harried weather forecaster who "slips" into the weather herself.
Porter said "Slipping into Weather" is emotional, dynamic and lighthearted.
"It was made over a period of time when I got interested in the weather," she said, adding that she was doing research at a natural history museum and had even joined the New Jersey Weather Club.
Porter said she began formulating the text for "Slipping into Weather" in 1992.
Through the years, Porter has become known for what she calls "comic movement monologues," which combine words with steps.
"It quickly changes, just like the weather," she said
After the idea for the text was cooked up, Porter said she let it simmer a while before staging some readings. The next step was designing costumes.
Words and movement
"I wore a barometer and a rain hat for a while on the way to finding the character," she said. "Then I wore a white cloudy dress. Eventually I found a blue suit.
The costumes shape the characters."
"I started looking at humor seriously and researching what makes something funny," she said. "Sometimes, it's the performer and not the material."
Porter said she never intended her choreography to be funny.
"At first, I didn't know it was humorous," she said. "I didn't know until it was in front of an audience. It wasn't on purpose."
Once she discovered her knack for comedy, she started studying it.
Porter said humor is important to choreography, especially in programs featuring a number of dances.
"Heavy pieces need relief," she said, "and a lightness and softness seems to be the answer."
- Nov. 21-22: University Dance Company, with Cohan/Suzeau Duet Company, 8 p.m., Lied Center. Features "Slipping into Weather,"
- Oct. 19:Cohan/Suzeau Duet Company,8 p.m., Johnson County Community College,12345 College Blvd., Overland Park.
- May 2-3: University Dance Company, with Cohan/Suzeau Duet Company and KU Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m., Lied Center.
For more information, call the Dance Office at 864-4264.
- Oct. 5: Dance Day, master classes for secondary school students,10 a.m.-4 p.m., Robinson Center.
- April 8: Student Choreographers Concert, 7:30 p.m., Elizabeth Sherbon Dance Theatre, Robinson Center.
STEPPIN' OUT
Here's a list of University Dance events going on this year:
- Aug. 28; University Dance Company auditions, 7 p.m., Robinson Center.
choreographed by Claire Porter.
- jan. 22: University Dance Company auditions, 7 p.m., Robinson Center.
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