Don't Miss Complexions Contemporary Ballet at Harbison Theatre!

One thing that anyone who knows anything about professional dance can agree on is that Columbia does not have enough contemporary ballet. Between the Tutu Wars and our dance scene being frozen in a time when full length fairytale ballets ruled the day, (read: the 1980s), we typically only get to see what the rest of the world of dance audiences sees when City Ballet does Body and Movement Explored (coming up soon!) or when the new Columbia Rep Dance Company performs.

Thankfully Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College, under the direction of Kristin Wood Cobb, has a place in its heart for progressive and cutting edge performing arts, including dance!

Coming up on Friday February 19th and for one night only, Complexions Contemporary Dance Company will perform “Stardust: From Bach to Bowie” at Harbison’s state-of-the-art theatre, just off the highway in Irmo.

Rescheduled from the 2019-2020 season, Complexions presents Stardust From Bach to Bowie as a tribute to two fantastic artists who each founded his own musical hemisphere. The show includes "Star Dust," dedicated to the one and only David Bowie, plus an additional repertory set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. This world-renowned company has been featured on So You Think You Can Dance in the U.S. and Australia.

Complexions was founded in 1994 by Master Choreographer Dwight Rhoden and the legendary Desmond Richardson with a singular approach to reinventing dance through a groundbreaking mix of methods, styles and cultures. Today, Complexions represents one of the most recognized, diverse, inclusive and respected performing arts brands in the World.  Having presented an entirely new and exciting vision of human movement on 5-continents, over 20-countries, to over 20-million television viewers and to well over 300,000 people in live audiences, Complexions is poised to continue its mission to bring unity to the world one dance at a time. 

Complexions has received numerous awards including The New York Times Critics’ Choice Award. It has appeared throughout the US, including the Joyce Theater/NY, Lincoln Center/NY, Brooklyn Academy of Music/NY, Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts/New Orleans, Paramount Theatre/Seattle, The Music Center/Los Angeles, Winspear Opera House/Dallas, Cutler Majestic Theater/Boston, New Victory Theater/NY, and Music Hall/Detroit, The Bolshoi Theater, The Kremlin, The Mikhailovsky Theater, Melbourne Arts Center, and will make it's debut at the Kennedy Center in 2017, as a part of Ballet Across America.​

The Company has appeared at major European dance festivals including Italy’s Festival of Dance ,the Isle De Dance Festival in Paris, the Maison De La Dance Festival in Lyon, the Holland Dance Festival, Steps International Dance Festival in Switzerland, Łódź Biennale, Warsaw Ballet Festival, Kraków Spring Ballet Festival, the Dance Festival of Canary Islands/Spain, and the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur/Canada. 

In addition, Complexions has toured extensively throughout the Baltic Regions, Korea, Brazil, Japan, Egypt, Israel, Russia, New Zealand, Bermuda, Serbia, Jamaica, and Australia. 

The company’s foremost innovation is that dance should be about removing boundaries, not reinforcing them. Whether it be the limiting traditions of a single style, period, venue, or culture, Complexions transcends them all, creating an open, continually evolving form of dance that reflects the movement of our world—and all its constituent cultures—as an interrelated whole. 

In 2006, Complexions held their first Summer Intensive program, serving 80 students in its first year. The program has grown to multiple cities and serves over up to 600 students annually. Since 2009, a Winter Intensive was added to the roster, serving an additional 400 students, and CCB added its Pre- Professional Program in 2016.  Complexions’ artistic directors and company members teach master classes throughout the world, sharing the Complexions technique with dancers of all levels.  

Together, Rhoden and Richardson have created in Complexions an institution that embodies its historical moment, a sanctuary where those passionate about dance can celebrate its past while simultaneously building its future. In the 27 years since its inception, the company has born witness to a world that is becoming more fluid, more changeable, and more culturally interconnected than ever before—in other words, a world that is becoming more and more like Complexions itself.

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Before they take the stage at Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College on February 18, the phenomenal dancers of Complexions Contemporary Ballet (CCB) will be in residence!
 
Dancers from the internationally renowned company will teach two 90-minute advanced master classes for advanced dancers from 1:30pm - 3pm. HT@MTC has partnered with the University of South Carolina to host the classes at the UofSC dance studios. The two classes will run concurrently and will be taught by Jillian Davis and Simon Plant of CCB. In addition, a workshop relating to Complexions' repertory and performance style, as well as topics such as improvisation and composition will be offered. Classes are open to University of South Carolina dance students.  For more information, please contact the dance program at dance@sc.edu. 

Dancers from CCB will also teach two 90-minute community/intermediate classes for dance school and some high school students from 3:30pm - 5pm. These classes will also take place at the UofSC dance studios. The two classes will run concurrently and will be taught by Timothy Stickney and Larissa Gerszke of Complexions. In addition, a workshop relating to CCB repertory and performance style, as well as topics such as improvisation and composition will be offered. Please sign up using the form below for more information about this class. There is no charge for the classes; however, dancers will need to sign waivers and wear a mask while in class.

Master Class: 1:30pm to 3pm | Friday, February 18

Community/Intermediate Class: 3:30pm to 5pm |  Friday, February 18 (register here)

THE BEAT - Turbo Gatto: Purr-fectly Good Mewsic

By Emily Moffitt

Kevin Jennings and Gina Ercolini are Turbo Gatto - photo by The Wolf

Ever heard of “Cat Rock”? The creativity of guitarist Kevin Jennings and drummer Gina Ercolini, under the band name Turbo Gatto, originally invented the genre to adapt the lyrics of Motorhead songs to be about cats. 

“It was a blast and a lot of laughs for a second, but it led us to discover our own idea,” she adds, “Original garage rock/punk music with lyrics about anything related to cats.”

It has been an entertaining formula, and with musical inspiration from the Cramps on the two-person band’s new album “Bad Mewsic For Bad Cats” they have built upon the original foundation of Stooges power, AC/DC riffs, and Ramones frenzy that have informed the project from the start. It’s all about the riff, Ercolini admits. “A good riff is almost always our starting point; we trust each other to follow where the music takes us from there.” 

They are fully invested in the genre they’ve pioneered, utilizing the self-proclaimed “cat life and love of rock and roll” to not only build their sound, but engage audiences. Their most devoted fans can be seen at shows sporting their best sets of cat ears, willing to play along with the feline frenzy happening on stage. Playing for the fun of it is one of the guiding principles of Turbo Gatto, and it offers Jennings and Ercolini a respite from their other bands, which include MNRVA, and a way to spend more time together making music–they’ve also been a married couple since 2016.  

“We met at karaoke at Art Bar and somehow decided that we had all we needed to start a band,” Ercolini recalls. “We held our first practice three days later and have been inseparable ever since.” 

Turbo Gatto purrs loudest in a live setting, and Jennings and Ercolini are both happy to be back in that environment. 

“Our live shows are always a bit chaotic and teetering on the brink,” Ercolini says. “It takes a certain kind of energy and focus in the moment to hold everything together–it’s both exciting and terrifying.” 

Over the pandemic months, the bandmates used the down time from live shows to write as much new music as they could, and experiment with different influences, but they found that their basic methods of working, and recording, didn’t change much. When it came time to record the new material for a proper album, they also chose not to change anything there. 

“We record everything with Jay Matheson at the Jam Room Recording Studio,” Ercolini says. “He’s spectacular in guiding us to produce the best record we can in a matter of only two days spent in the studio.” The results, she adds, are meant to be fun, no matter how good the playing or the recording process makes them sound.

“One thing you cannot do when playing in a cat rock band is take yourself too seriously,” she concludes. “This is the kind of record you can listen to while driving around town or jumping up and down on the bed eating pizza.”            

The album release for “Bad Mewsic for Bad Cats” will be held at Art Bar on Saturday, February 12th at 7 PM. Also, on the bill in addition to Turbo Gatto are The Transonics, The Buzzards of Fuzz, Warfare Check, and the Black Stare of Soledad Miranda.

THE BEAT is a rotating lineup of music coverage under the direction of Jasper Magazine music editor, Kevin Oliver, that includes local album reviews, in-depth artist interviews and profiles, live show reviews, and all things related to local music in the greater SC midlands area arts community. If you have story ideas, or you’re a local musician, band, or involved with a local project that you think deserves some attention, drop Kevin a line at kevingoliver@gmail.com. 

Jasper Chats with Beethoven & Blue Jeans Special Guest Violinist - Rachel Lee Priday

The South Carolina Philharmonic presents Beethoven & Blue Jeans January 15, 2022 at 7:30 PM at the Koger Center for the Arts. This annual event is often the highest-attended concert for the orchestra each season, and this year’s installment features a blockbuster lineup of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Barber’s Violin Concerto, op. 14 and Carlos Simon’s contemporary composition Fate Now Conquers. The Barber will feature critically-acclaimed and internationally-known guest soloist Rachel Lee Priday on violin. All concerts this season are presented in person and livestreamed.

Barber’s Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 were originally slated to be performed in January of 2021, but due to the orchestra’s need to pivot programming due to the pandemic, these pieces were postponed and programmed for this season’s Beethoven & Blue Jeans. Music Director Morihiko Nakahara was drawn to the exuberance and excitement of the Beethoven symphony paired with the lyricism and melancholy of the first two movements of the Barber concerto.

Guest violinist Rachel Lee Priday will be performing the Barber concerto with the SC Phil. As an artist who has toured internationally, she has been profiled in The New Yorker, The Strad, Los Angeles Times and Family Circle. Priday previously performed the Barber concerto with the SC Phil during the organization’s music director search which began in 2007. When Nakahara met Priday in Maine last season, he was enthusiastic to bring her back to Columbia for this season’s Beethoven & Blue Jeans.

The concert will open with Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers. Commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2020, Simon composed this piece as a direct response to Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, utilizing Beethoven's harmonic gestures in the 2nd movement of the symphony. The title, a quotation from Iliad, was found in one of Beethoven's journal entries. “Simon's piece is brief - around 5 minutes,” said Nakahara, “yet it packs so much power and drama. It is going to provide a perfect opener for this program.”

Jasper had the opportunity to chat with Priday about her upcoming show, which will be the third time the musician has performed with the SC Philharmonic. The first time was in 2005 when she performed the Bach Concerto with Nicholas Smith. In 2008 Priday performed the same piece she will be bringing back to SC for Beethoven and Blue Jeans on the 15th: the Barber violin concerto. Priday says that she is excited to be working with SC Philharmonic music director, Morihiko Nakahara, for the first time.

Priday studied with world famous violinist Itzhtak Perlman as a child and young adult, and continues a relationship with the conductor today. “He is an amazing human being,” she says of Perlman. “He is my favorite violinist, a huge mentor to me, and part of my life.”

Priday attended Perlman’s summer camp at Shelter Island on Long Island from age 13 to 18, and has continued to work and meet with artist as often as possible since her youth. “He has had a huge impact on my life,” she says.

Now the mother of a 4-year-old and a 10-month-old, Priday moved to Seattle in 2019 where she frequently performs locally , as well as traveling to perform in non-pandemic times.

She is looking forward to performing Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in C minor, op. 35 because it is “such a poetic work – the 3rd movement is a bit crazy – the orchestral part is quite challenging as well, both musically and artistically. The challenge is in capturing the beauty and color of this work. Every phrase is shaped in a really subtle nuanced fashion.”

“When I’m playing my mind and heart are all about showcasing the musical quality of this piece.”

The concert is Saturday, January 15th at 7:30 pm at the Koger Center for the Arts

Tickets are available from the SC Philharmonic.

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More About Samuel Barber

from the SC Phil

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14                                              Samuel Barber                                                                                                                            1910-1981 

In early 1939, Samuel Fels, a wealthy Philadelphia soap manufacturer, commissioned Samuel Barber to write a violin concerto for his protégé, the young violinist Isaak (changed to Iso) Briselli. Barber’s commission was a hefty $1000 and he received half of it in advance.

This was Barber’s first major commission, and he immediately set out to fulfill it. But commissions, while usually sought after by composers, clearly carry their own conditions and risks. Things did not go according to plan, and what actually happened became a Cause célèbre. Since all the protagonists have died, it remained for a paper trail to ascertain whose version was the true one. In the process, a lot of egos got nicked.

According to Barber’s biographer Nathan Broder, by the end of the summer of 1939 the composer sent Briselli the first two movements, written in a conservative lyrical and romantic style. Briselli, however, considered them “too simple and not brilliant enough” and refused to accept them. Barber supposedly took his revenge by making the third movement fiendishly difficult. When he resubmitted it, Briselli declared it unplayable, and Fels wanted his advance commission back. At that point in the story, Barber summoned Herbert Baumel, a young violin student from the Curtis Institute of Music and an excellent sight-reader, and gave him the manuscript and two hours to prepare. Accompanied by a piano, the student supposedly demonstrated that the movement was indeed playable. The unanimous verdict was that Fels had to pay the rest of the commission. Barber, however, forfeited the second half and, in exchange, Briselli relinquished his right to the first public performance and never performed the concert in public.

Briselli, some 40 years later, told a different story, and a paper trail collected by his friends and supporters has essentially corroborated his account. According to Briselli, he was enthusiastic about the first two movements but his violin coach, Albert Mieff, was not and even wanted to rewrite the violin part so that it would be more in keeping with the technical expectations for a concerto, citing Brahms collaboration with Joachim as a precedent. Moreover, Briselli found the third movement too lightweight – rather than too difficult – and suggested that Barber expand it. The composer refused and he and Briselli mutually decided to abandon the project with no hard feelings on either side. For a while there was even talk of Briselli suing Barber for defamation of character over the composer's version of the controversy. (A full account of Briselli's side can be found on his website www.Iso Briselli.com.) 

The Concerto was finally premiered by Albert Spaulding with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1941 and was a popular success from the start. The first movement, Allegro, opens with an expansive, lyrical theme on the violin alone. The second theme, introduced by the woodwinds, continues the romantic mood although it is syncopated and more rhythmic. The whole tone of the movement is that of a quiet discussion, with only occasionally raised voices in the middle, and ending in a tranquil whisper.

An extended cantabile oboe solo over muted strings opens the aria-like second movement. The violin eventually enters with a second theme that develops the mood introduced by the oboe. The violin then returns to the opening melody, rising to a climax, after which the quiet mood of the beginning returns.

The terse and fiery rondo Finale, Presto in moto perpetuo, creates a stunning contrast, placing tremendous demands on the soloist, who has to play at a breathless tempo for 110 measures without interruption. Throughout the perpetual motion, Barber subtly changes the meter and every so often inserts a jazzy syncopated refrain.

Rhodes Bailey and the Frosty Four bring you Columbia's newest Christmas song

“Climate Change don’t take my Christmas away”

We were delighted when Columbia attorney, musician, and former SC house of representatives candidate Rhodes Bailey shared one of his new projects with us – a powerful, yet fun new Christmas song – and could hardly wait to share it with you. We asked Bailey a few questions about the project, and he graciously shared how and why “Climate Change is Killing Christmas” came to be: 

Jasper: What was the impetus or inspiration for this song?  

Bailey: My good friend Jake Erwin (whom I gig with from time to time) texted me not long before Thanksgiving and said we should record a Christmas song. I thought to myself "what if someone did a Christmas song about how it's too hot at Christmastime now because of climate change? No snow, no crisp air, etc., and the singer is pining for cold weather."  The more I thought about Christmas imagery, the more I thought about how 80-degree weather spoils the  mood. I sat down and banged this out in about 30 minutes. I sent an acoustic demo to Jake who laughed and said, "Oh man, I just meant we should cover 'Jingle Bell Rock' or something. I didn't know you were going to write a song."   

Jasper:  Are there more like it -- is this part of a collection or a solo piece? 

Bailey:  This is a solo piece for now. There's a pretty small window for holiday songs (between Thanksgiving and Christmas), so I had to record it, shoot the goofy video, and get it out fast. I'm at an age now where I only write lyrics when I have something original to say. I make up instrumental music all the time, but only spend time on lyrics if an idea strikes me as particularly interesting and I want to share it.

Jasper: Who are the Frosty Five? 

Bailey:  Spencer Collins (drums and backup vocals) 2) Jake Erwin (keyboards and jingle bells) 3) Evan Simmons (bass) 4) Zac Thomas (expert producer and sound engineer at the Jam Room in Columbia, SC) and 5) Me (12 string Rickenbacker guitar* and vocals). It should really be "Rhodes Bailey and the Frosty FOUR", but FIVE sounded better. We worked hard with Zac to get a vintage Christmas studio sound, like the ‘60s girl groups from the album "A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector" (which everyone should check out by the way) or the Mariah Carey classic. 

(editor’s note — we hear these words when we read them in the late great Tom Petty’s voice. If you know, you know.)

Jasper:  Was this just for fun or is there a serious motive involved? 

Bailey: This is for fun, but obviously climate change is serious and it's on our minds. I try not to be heavy-handed with lyrics. People respond better to humor than preachiness. An unseasonably warm Christmas is a bummer for everyone - even for folks like us in South Carolina that don't see much snow. It didn't snow a ton when I was a kid, but I remember having a white Christmas when I was in the fourth grade and that was "peak Christmas" for me. No subsequent Christmas could match it. As I grew up, my standards lowered to a "chilly Christmas."  Now we have to settle for "Not-hot Christmas."  We've seen 80-degree Decembers and they are a total buzz kill. The character in this song is lamenting the loss of a wintery holiday season but is still an optimist. He/she is holding out hope that snow and cold weather will return just like Darlene Love does for her baby in "Christmas  (Baby Please Come Home)".