Review Fix Exclusive: Andrew Harper Talks ‘Song & Dance’

Review Fix chats with Andrew Harper, who discusses the vision and creative process behind his new production, “Song & Dance,” which is set for a May 5-8 run at 13th Street Repertory in New York City.

About Song & Dance:

Combining theatre, dance, and history, Song & Dance follows a dysfunctional band of vaudeville performers as they attempt to put on a show in a world that is all too short on time, money, and interest. Choreographer, Andrew Harper takes creative cues from these limitations to build a unique and richly detailed world stocked with contemporary reincarnations of classic vaudevillian acts: a cut-throat sister act, a soulful troubadour, a child star on the verge of womanhood, a magician running out of tricks, and a lonely ventriloquist with his absent dummy. Harper peppers his works with ideas culled from his international journey as a dance and his recent success as a choreographer at venues like Lincoln center and The Cirkus Theatre Project.

About Andrew Harper:

Andrew Harper is a freelance dancer and choreographer based in NYC. Most recently, he has danced with Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, Oui Danse, the Glimmerglass Festival, Hawaii Opera Theatre, and Exit 12 Dance Company and was a recipient of the 2013-2014 Kenan Fellowship at Lincoln Center Education. He has been commissioned to create work for the Columbia Ballet Collaborative and his work has also been seen at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, the Glimmerglass Festival, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, and The Cirkus Theatre Project (a UNCSA/Cirque du Soleil partnership). Harper holds a BFA in ballet performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. In 2016, Harper will have residencies at UNCSA and University of Saint Joseph, produce an evening-length version of his 2014 work Song and Dance in NYC, and travel to the south of France to perform in Francesca Zambello’s Candide at Opera Bordeaux and Theatre du Capitole.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this project?

Andrew Harper: The project started when I was committed to making a dance solo for a friend’s show back in 2012. I was in a weird place personally and I didn’t really feel like I could make something brilliant or live up to the expectations I had set for myself as a choreographer. At the time I was reading, Anton Chekov’s On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco. In the one-act monologue, the protagonist who has been tasked with giving a speech about how smoking is bad for you (even though he is a smoker) ends up talking offhand about his personal life, his difficult relationship with his wife, and pretty much whatever crosses his mind. He never talks about smoking. As a performer, there is an expectation that you will check your feelings and your personal problems at the door and deliver a killer performance every time. In creating the solo (at the last minute), I chose to let go of the expectation of a perfect and impersonal show, take all of the things I was feeling and processing, and pack them into the solo. All of the things I was trying to set aside and suppress before taking the stage became the very content of the dance. This is the foundation that Song & Dance is built upon. The characters have a lot of issues and baggage that ultimately become the “show.”

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Harper: My process fluctuates depending on what I’m working on, but it has been especially different for this piece because it has gone through so many iterations and spanned such a long creation period (four years). I have gone back and forth between periods of listening to music, sketching, building costumes, laying out broad character ideas, sharing those ideas with various cast members, creating movement on my own and with dancers, and finding happy surprises in the studio. I almost never generate ideas out of thin air. Each piece is a sort of collage of cultural references, dance styles, historical inspirations, and memories. Much of the movement in Song & Dance is derived from body language and a physical manifestation of a character’s thoughts. The movement has to feel unique and natural to the artists performing it and build on their individual sense of humor and points of vulnerability. So the performers play a huge role in the process as well.

Review Fix: What makes this different or special?

Harper: This piece has become a pretty special hybrid of dance and theatre. I was trained primarily in ballet and modern dance, but I have always had an affinity for theatricality in my work. This is the furthest I have indulged my sense of theatricality to the point where I’m not really sure how to categorize the piece – dance or theatre. I think the directness of theatre offers specificity of character and intention and the abstraction and ambiguity of dance offer a space for the audience to draw personal meaning from the show.

Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself through this process?

Harper: This process has drawn my attention to how much of a control freak I can be. I’m learning that although high standards are important to maintain, there is an inherent “liveness” to this work that creates room for mistakes and outbursts and general messiness. I’m learning how to find a balance between holding to my vision and allowing for creative sparks to fly within the process.

Review Fix: How does it feel to be a part of something like this?

Harper: I feel stressed! I feel proud. I feel supported by family, friends, and donors. I feel honored by in the room with such an incredible group of artists. Art has been my way of working through things, sometimes difficult things. Deep set thoughts and feelings are best addressed by communication and an avenue to feeling heard, understood, and validated even. If I take a feeling and find a way to share it by making something tangible, I can let it go and move on. I feel like I’m ready to put it out there, let go, and move on to the next.

Review Fix: What are your ultimate goals for this production and for the future?

Harper: My primary goal for every piece is to make something that feels honest and smart and engaging and share it with as many people as possible. Song & Dance is no different. It is hard to know what happens with the show after this run at 13th St Rep. The piece is finally being realized in a complete way, so I would love to see it mounted again. But there is a sense impermanence in the show that makes its future seem inherently open-ended. My future goals are also a bit open ended. I just know that I want to continue to be a part of artistic creations that are entertaining and mindful and involve passionate and skillful artists.

Review Fix: What do you think your audiences will enjoy the most?

Harper: I heard someone say once that in order to engage contemporary audiences and compete with on-demand television and social media, live performances need to either be legitimately entertaining or give the audience an experience they just can’t get anywhere else. With Song & Dance, I think I am offering a bit of both. There is enough comedy, and costuming, and dynamic dancing to capture an audience at a basic entertainment level. As for an experience…I think live theatre and dance are all about creating an energy in the room. Whether that means witnessing an intense physical feat or watching two people hold hands for the first time or seeing someone cry uncontrollably, being in the room and feeling the energy of life happening in real time is irreplaceable. You just can’t get that anywhere else. I’m doing what I can to open up the channels for those kinds of moments to happen in Song & Dance.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Harper: This Winter/Spring has been about fulfilling older ideas, first with an extended version Odyssey which premieres on Exit 12 Dance Company onApril 16 (after being commissioned in a shorter form for Columbia Ballet Collaborative in 2014) and then with Song & Dance. I am hoping to spend this time this summer starting at the ground level of a new work. It can be overwhelming to go back to the beginning of the process, but it is so liberating since there are fewer rules and less focus on a comprehensive performance. New work also allows me to create in response to my freshest experiences and points of study. Spring offered me a few encounters with online dating and emotionless, totally abstract modern dance. There is an interesting correlation there that I am ready to explore.