Interview: Rosanna Gamson Resuming Construction On Her SUGAR HOUSES

The interrupted 2020 world premiere of Rosanna Gamson's SUGAR HOUSES will re-open the REDCAT July 8, 2021 for four live performances. SUGAR HOUSES, RGWW's re-imagining of Hansel & Gretel, will also live stream July 11th.

We had the chance to update my interview with Rosanna after all these pandemic months.

Thank you for taking the time for this interview again, Rosanna. We started, and completed, this interview back in February 2020 for your scheduled March 25, 2020 world premiere. And then the whole world stopped. So how have you been keeping SUGAR HOUSES alive all these past months? Zoom rehearsals? Zoom potlucks?

No, we were shut down good and proper. We were planning a prelude to SUGAR HOUSES with two performers live streaming, but REDCAT came forward with the offer to remount the show and we jumped at it. It's an honor to re-open the theater with our performance. I think we've all been very hungry for the community and catharsis that the experience of live performance provides. After spending a year plus creating video and livestream stuff, it's both scary and wonderful to return to theatrical work. I've been very challenged by reentering the pre-show whirlwind that I used to be able to handle more gracefully. I'm pretty much a nervous wreck - Tech schedule? Fight calls? Vocal warm-ups? WHAAAT? Of course, this piece is pretty complicated as the performers have to function as dancers, actors, singers, stage hands, and scenic artists. There's a lot to juggle.

When did you resume in-person rehearsals?

We had four weeks of rehearsal prior to the premiere.

Will all six performers be reprising their roles?

Four out of six performers are reprising their roles: Clementine (Gamson Levy), Kearian (Giertz), Kayla (Johnson), and Mallory (Fabian). Kearian and Kayla were the original inspiration for the piece, and have been with the development for the entire ride. I was first reminded of Hansel and Gretel by their relationship, and that's what started SUGAR HOUSES in the first place. I've actually been working with these performers since they were 18 years old, so eight years? And Clementine is my daughter, so I've been putting her on stage since she was 16, but only because she's terrific.
This will be the first time working with Terry Wayne, Jr. and Emara Neymour-Jackson, and they've been great. Terry is totally different than the previous actor, but that's working out in an interesting way, and I've wanted to work with Emara for some time.

Tell us about your added element - sonic artist Simon Greenberg.

Simon is creating a sound design from things we created in the room - voices, keys jangling, breathing etc. and then manipulating the elements through his computer to make sound effects, textures, etc. We wanted it to remain very human and organic, but we did add one element this time, which is train sounds. I think trains are so evocative of WW2, and I couldn't help throwing them into the mix.

What has been the gestation period of SUGAR HOUSES to its world premiere form?
I've been working on SUGAR HOUSES for over four years. REDCAT and the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project production grant provided a technical residency and financial support that has been instrumental to finishing the project,

Which came first - wanting to adapt the story of Hansel and Gretel to what's now transformed into SUGAR HOUSES? Or being empowered by messages you wanted to communicate concerning white privilege, scapegoating, anti-Semitism, among other hot-button issues; and then finding Hansel and Gretel as the perfect fit?

SUGAR HOUSES was inspired by a bunch of different ideas that found confluence in the fairy tale. I have been working in Poland with Grotowski-legacy theater companies since 2007, mostly in partnership with Chorea Theater Association in Lodz. Grotowski's "Poor Theater" ideas have influenced the form of the piece - the performers light themselves and each other, make all the music, create the set out of chalk drawings and erasures.
It felt appropriate to use this language in telling this story as Hansel and Gretel keep saving themselves and each other with whatever they find - a stick, pebbles, breadcrumbs, their wits. The troubling current global rise of anti-Semitism and overt white supremacy was another push - the Nazis used the Grimm's fairy tales, Hansel and Gretel in particular, to dehumanize Jews, make it ok to shove "witches" in ovens, etc. It seems to be in the current zeitgeist-- Hunters and Watchmen on streaming platforms, Gretel and Hansel horror movie, Jojo Rabbit, etc. Probably those projects were brewing for some time as well, but it does seem more and more critical to question what's going on in our own backyards and our own complicity.

You're created eleven full-length dance theatre works since moving to Los Angeles. How much improv, how much dancer's input do you allow/expect in developing a piece?
A whole lot. I have to say that most of my initial inspiration for SUGAR HOUSES came from my experience with the actor/dancer/singers I work with, both Kayla Johnson and Kearian Giertz have been with the piece since we started it over four years ago, joined more recently by Mallory Fabian, Clementine Gamson Levy, Ricco Ross and Dion Pratt (and for this 2021 version, with Terry Wayne, Jr. and Emara Neymour-Jackson). When we started workshopping SUGAR HOUSES, the dancers would just kind of roll around with each other like puppies. Something about it was evocative of childhood, the way siblings rough-house, compete, and play hard. Seeing that physicality and comfort sustained into adulthood was compelling and moving. What I discovered during the creation is that there is a lot of autobiographical resonance in the story, too. I am very close with my brother, and that relationship, during my turbulent childhood and adolescence was what "saved" me in a totally different way. I think we all feel a bit abandoned by unreliable and selfish parental figures right now, by the people who are supposed to be taking care of things and aren't.

What inspired you to establish your dance company Rosanna Gamson/World Wide?
I moved to Los Angeles from New York City in 1997, and founded RG/WW in 1998. I had really never lived anywhere else as an adult, I had to learn how to drive in my late 30's, which was not fun. I didn't know anyone except one great dancer I'd gone to school with at NYU. I started making work with the people willing to work with me - an opera singer, a flamenco dancer, some actors, some people who didn't otherwise get on stage, but who were super interesting. It was easier to make big work here in many ways, less density, different kinds of resources. I think at that time, I was a bit of a novelty. Someone told me that Los Angeles celebrates arrival. I got a lot of attention in the first few years I was here. I'd been struggling to get my work out in New York, so that was very nice.

You earned your MFA in Dance from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. What different styles of dance did you dabble in? Which dance methodologies did you concentrate on?
I never dabbled. My mother was a dancer, my father was an opera conductor, my brother is also a musician, my daughter is performing in SUGAR HOUSES, my other daughter is a dancer/choreographer; so this is the family business, and it was always taken seriously, maybe too seriously. I always wanted to be a choreographer, and I concentrated on trying to make dances. Then I concentrated on trying to make BETTER dances.

Does RG/WW hold auditions for new members?
Very rarely! I hold workshops about twice a year, go see as much theater and dance as I can (a lot - like two or three shows a week) and invite performers I admire to come into the studio with me. The bigger projects take so long to develop that it's not what people expect when they go to an audition. It's not six weeks and then a show. I'm looking for collaborators.

What do you look for in inviting performers to your studio?
They need to be comfortable with themselves, and able to reveal who they are quickly.

As both a choreographer and a teacher, what audition advice would you give to novice dancers?
Do research. It amazes me when people don't have any idea what the work is about, or who the artist is. You are trying to fit into someone else's imagination. Find out what that artist's world looks like and identify why you are interested in it.

Also, follow instructions. Do exactly what is asked. I see a lot of times people get nervous and don't really listen. They add a lot of drama, or show off. Be yourself. You might not be right for whatever is going on, in which case it's better not to be in that particular project (see above regarding research). Warm up, be on time (i.e. early), and go to class all the time so you can trust your training when you need it.

Are your pieces set at its premiere performance? Or do you encourage/discourage additional tweaks?
I do my best. Sometimes you don't find out something important until the curtain goes up. I try to do a lot of showings along the way, and I swear I work as hard as I can to communicate eloquently. If something doesn't work, I'll try to fix it next time. It's always to get closer to the heart of the piece - to be clearer, or more powerful, or simpler, as needed.

How would you describe your Terra Nova Choreographic Residency program to entice eager choreographers?
Terra Nova is a choreographic residency opportunity in which we offer a rigorous yet constructive setting in which to progress work-in-progress. Participants meet for four sessions, bi-weekly to develop original body-based work with mentorship from myself. We also bring in notable arts professionals who attend specific sessions and provide additional insight and feedback. The Terra Nova choreographers are then invited to participate in a culminating performance and conversation with the public, including key community dance stakeholders. All works are professionally documented during the performance.

You also teach your game system GO. Is GO an acronym for a lengthy dance phrase? Or just a positive command?
Yeah, it means go, actually, it means GO!!!! Like the opposite of stop.

You and RG/WW have won many awards and grants. Any one recognition still stand out in your mind? (your very first one, maybe?)
Not really, maybe the next one? Awards and grants are beautiful because it means I can keep working. The NDP is a great honor, and is an amazing opportunity that supports digging in deeper. It also means SUGAR HOUSES can have a life on tour after its premiere.

You've toured internationally with RG/WW. Do you find that different countries have different responses to your universal language of dance?
Other countries seem to value culture and the arts more highly than the United States. Even in countries where they struggle politically or economically, the arts are supported and respected in a different way.

Where do you plan to take SUGAR HOUSES next?
I hope everywhere! I can't say right now officially, before the premiere, but there is tour-funding through this current grant, and we are in conversation with several venues.

Do you have to transport your own dance flooring? Or do your dancers have to adapt to the available venue floors?
No, we have a tech rider that specifies what we need to do a show.

What feelings would you like the audience to leave REDCAT with after your curtain call?

So far, we've had extreme reactions to the work-in-progress; some folks loved it, some were offended. We are wrestling with complexity, so if people say, "Nice show, where are we going for dinner?" - I'd be a little disappointed. As the author, I'd like people to question their own complicity. How are you participating? What are you perpetuating? On the other hand, the piece is entertaining and there are songs and dances and jokes. So I'm really curious what the response will be. And, of course, I want SUGAR HOUSES to be a blazing success! Toi toi toi! Fingers crossed!

P.S. In SUGAR HOUSES, the entire world is created by the performers. The entire production, set, lights, cable fits in two suitcases. The show starts at 8:30 (at 3pm on Saturday), but if you want to see us make all the music tracks, set up, warm up, etc., come early, the house will be open.

Thank you again, Rosanna! I look forward to experiencing your work in person.
Thank you for this opportunity. I hope you will come to the show. I think the show will be really special.

For tickets for SUGAR HOUSES' four live performances through July 10, 2021; as well as, the live streaming July 11th; log onto www.redcat.org

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