monday, november 7, 1977
page 8
daily nebraskan
aits & mifi
Raymond Johnson sees future for modern dance
Modem dance is less than a century old but Raymond
Johnson anticipates a long life for the new art form.
"There's a future of modern dance in finding different
ways of using the dance- company not only through per
formance," he said. "It should try to be in residency for
longer periods, to get really involved in teaching."
. Dance has occupied the majority of Johnson's 30
years of life. At age 12 he started studying tap, then he
moved to modern dance. He studied at the Henry Street
Playhouse in lower Manhattan, the place where he began
choreographing and teaching as a teen.
He studied and toured with contemporary masters of
u-
Photo by Bob Pearson
Raymond Johnson said he feels social attitudes are more positive toward male dancers and dance in general.
modern dance: Alwin Nikolais, Murray Louis, Rudy
Perez. But that wasn't enough. In 1974 Johnson decided
it was time to create his own company, the Raymond
Johnson Dance Company.
Johnson and the other five members of his company
tour the U.S. extensively. He said it's too expensive for
the company to remain in New York City all year long
and that touring, like his string of Nebraska residencies in
Valentine, Neligh, Dunning and ending in Lincoln, is an
important part of the company's job: educating people to
what dance is all about.
Touring towns
"Touring is just basically a town, and any type of
deviation from that is greatly accepted by the company,"
he said. "There's no distinction between audiences in large
and small towns, but in small towns people are more
warm than in large cities.
"They value basic human needs like food and friend
iip. We respond to that and it really affects us."
But Johnson affects the public, too. Dunning has a
population of only about 200 people but attendance at.
the company's performance in the town drew over 1 ,000
persons.
"It's not a surprise for me to have people in small
towns be open to modern dance. But it was amazing how
many people came to Dunning and how excited and
responsive they were," he said.
"I hope people will at least be able to say, 4 1 under
stood some of it, not all of it, but I enjoyed it' when they
come to a performance."
Dance bias
Johnson acknowledged the bias that sometimes exists
against dance because his own father "didn't think it was
a practical vocation for a man" and he wanted Raymond
to be an architect.
"I knew that bias existed but I didn't want to stick
my neck out and tell my friends about it. Later on, when
there was a performance I'd invite some of my friends to
watch and then they were more open and receptive to
it."
It also didn't bother Johnson being the only male in
his dance class for four years. Because of it, he got all the
starring male roles, he said.
Johnson said social attitudes now are more positive
toward dance because "there's more exposure, publicity,
knowledge and awareness all over the country." He also
said anyone who gets Involved in modern dance can be
very influential because of its highly individualistic nature.
Johnson must be right. He's come a long way in 18
years and when he says he's inspired by "the energy I get
from life," you can feel the power that has made him so,
dedicated.
Disney cartoons in rut,
animation lost to ads?
By J. Marc Mushkin
American commercial animation is in
a sad state these days. Walt Disney's fea
tures are in such a rut that only new
waves of children can stomach them.
And television cartoons are simply
atrocious. At least The Jetsons used to
be funny; now who can sit through even
one Saturday morning program?
With this condition, most Americans
treat animation lightly. Once in a while
a major work comes along showing the
nearly unlimited possibilities of ani
mated art.
The Fantastic Animation Festival
does this not with a single feature, but
with a collection of the world's finest
new examples of sophisticated anima
tion. It is unfortunate that the Walt Dis
ney studio has to be indicted for contri
buting to the delinquency of an art
form, because modem animation has its
roots in Disney's work. His 1941 classic,
Fantasia, (now playing at the Cooper
Lincoln) was the first taste the general
public had for innovative, artful use of
.the medium.
Animation suffered through years of
doldrums until 1968 when the Beatles'
Yellow Submarine brought tremendous
attention to the possibilities of avant
garde cartooning. Critical acclaim made
Yellow 'Submarine a hit, but more
importantly, it breathed fresh life into
the animation workshops and schools
around the world.
So now, nearly ten years later, the
Fantastic Animation Festival brings us
the choice descendents of the Yellow
Submarine. The format of the collec
tion is plcasincly direct -there is no
narrator to "explain anything. The ti
films run one after another.
Some of the films seem to take them
selves too seriously as titles like Light
and Cosmic Cartoon indicate.
The music in all the films was good.
It ranged from Pink Floyd to Hoist's
"The Planets" and was superbly inte
grated with the animation.
The Last Cartoon Man, by Jeffrey
Hale ,and Derek Lamb, is a hilarious
short film of a comic who performs by
detaching his limbs. His finale is to pop
off his head, but he drops it and clum
sily kicks it around while trying to find
it.
By far the finest film was the last,
Closed Mondays, by Will Vinton and
Bob Gardiner. A serious comment on
the relationship between art and society
is made using expressive and detailed
clay figures.
One disturbing note that the fes
tival brings out is the aspect of money
in film production. A section of the
show displays two examples of televi
sion commercials' animation (for Levi's
and 7-up). On the big screen it is clear
that the tremendous production of
these works is miles ahead of indepen-
, dent studios. One has to ask if it's
always going to be true that an animator
needs a giant company's money to fully
use the potential of his medium.
If this is true, maybe my optimism
from this festival about the future of
animation is ill-founded. The Levi's
ad is technically incredible, but the
content is some ad man's gibberish. If
this is the only place where the money
is, there always will be a severe restric
tion on the advancement of indepen
dent animation, and we may all have to
settle for Vie A rchics.
Old-time fiddliri lives on
By Jim Williams
Music coming up out of basements
that's the grassroots of American musical
culture. Whether it's shaggy 16-year-olds
thumping through "Mister Speed" or old
ladies playing piano duets, the peoples'
music rises out of the ground.
Sunday was the 13th anniversary cele
bration of the Nebraska Old Time Fiddlers
Association. Fiddle music came up out of
the basement at 4141 N. 62 St., with the
smell of meatloaf from the potluck dinner.
Women moved around a table in the
cramped dining room, setting out sand
wiches and cake. In the living room, dark,
brown and dingy, eight musicians were
playing polka tunes.
An old man plunked cadences on an
upright piano crowned with Panasonic
cassette recorders, while another squeezed
out the tune on an accordion. Around the
small room other musicians were tenta
tively picking out melodies on violins and
guitars.
. George Chapman of Lincoln isn't a paid
up member of the association, but he was
there to play. He said he began fiddling at
age 1 1 , 56 years ago.
"It's to keep the old-time fiddlers
intact-to keep them from dying," he said
'of the group's purpose.
"We get together and play about twice a
month, someplace or other."
Delores DeRyke is the piesident of the
Nebraska Old Time Fiddlers Association.
She said she started the group in 1964 to
prepare for the state's centennial. She said
other centennial states had exploited their
fiddlers, with things like contests with big ,
entry fees and small prizes.
"From January of u5 to the end of
67 there were three Sundays that we
didn't have a meeting or performance
somewhere in the state," DeRyke said.
"Chapters then took other names and
parted company because this business of
local politics is unbelievable."
DeRyke said she'd been fiddling 40
years and researching the subject for -21.
From her research grew the American Old
Time Fiddlers Association, and the Ameri
can Fiddlers News, of which she is editor.
"I started hunting for a tune my great
uncle used to play, and the organizations
devloped out of that," DeRyke said. "Last
year I finally found the tune."
Why does she do it? "Just the satisfac
tion," DeRyke said. "Because of what I
have done, I have started fiddling groups all
over the country,"
"There's a kind of therapy or peaceful
ness that comes from fiddling," she said.
"There have been so many hundreds and
thousands of people who've enjoyed
fiddling-this is the stuff you don't get on
radio and records. There's something about
it that everybody understands."
DeRyke said more young people are
showing an interest in old time fiddling
now than ever. She said she thought they
were interested in musical heritage.
George Chapman had another expla
nation. "I suppose they like that kind of
music," he said.
Playhouse plans
'Mr. Roberts'
auditions today
Auditions for the next Lincoln Com
munity Playhouse production. Mister
Roberts, will be at 7:30 p.m. today and
Wednesday at the Playhouse, 2500 S.
56th St.
There are 20 male roles and one female
role available. Scripts may be checked out
from the Playhouse office with a $1
refundable deposit.