Choreographer Janie Taylor brought out a deck of cards with medieval images. She wanted to bring the dancers into the creation of “Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia,” so she let their imaginations fly with a group-made tale inspired by the images on each card. The illustrated cards had portraits of forests, witches, poets and magic. With one card, the story began. The next dancer pulled a card, and the story evolved.
“I’ve worked with the LA Dance Project dancers a lot and they’re all really interesting artists themselves, and I think they’re interested in a lot more than just being given a step — although I know they appreciate that in certain ways too — but I wanted to challenge myself to use them a little bit more in the process than what I usually do,” Taylor said.
Taylor didn’t intend for there to be a linear story, but rather mini-stories that are a kaleidoscope of the company’s creativity.
“The more I leaned into our little imagination world, the more things naturally came together,” she said.
L.A. Dance Project – “Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia” by Janie Taylor – Photo by Brian Hashimoto.
“Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia” is part of LADP’s upcoming triple-part bill at The Wallis. “Gatherings,” which also includes “Quartet for Five” by 2022-2024 LADP Artists-in-Residence Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber and “Triade” by LADP Artistic Director Benjamin Millepied, represents the company’s creative team over the past years. The program is a look back and an appreciation for what has been accomplished. The Wallis and L.A. Dance Project will present “Gatherings” on June 13 at 7:30 pm and on June 14 at 2:00 pm and again at 7:30 pm. Tickets are on sale now.
For Taylor, the program arrives at an interesting inflection point after completing a school year at the Colburn School as the Artistic Director of the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute. Despite moving on from LADP, she continues to find pathways back to the company, “Gatherings” included. In fact, “Anthem,” a site-specific work originally created by Taylor for the National Museum of Qatar, will be retrofitted to the outdoor space at The Wallis and feature dancers from the Colburn School alongside the LADP company. Much like the creation process of “Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia,” Taylor is finding new ways of collaboration in every facet.
An important element of “Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia” is a large painting by Benjamin Styer shown upstage. A friend introduced Taylor to Styer’s work. As she started to formulate the piece, she returned to Styer’s imagery. Much like her own work, Styer’s creations felt like a group of different stories, both related and unrelated, brought together for one big image.
LADC – Daphne Fernberger and Jeremy Coachman in Janie Taylor’s “Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia” – Photo by Brian Hashimoto.
“To me, it felt like a bunch of short stories next to each other that had some relationship to each other, but not as a narrative from beginning to end,” Taylor said. “His work seemed really great for that.”
She began creating “Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia” before Styer worked on the painting. She shared some of the imagery in the dance, and he created an expansive landscape out of it. The goal was to create sections that reflected some of the moments in the art piece, but didn’t represent the dance as a roadmap. It is meant to be a conversation.
What initially drew her toward his work were his swans — a symbol that represents childhood and her love for dance. As a young ballerina, swans represented transformation. On stage, she could let her imagination bloom as she evolved into any creature, including a swan. Styer’s swans, made with large, trumpet-like beaks, reminded her of this love for dance.
“He always makes symbols and certain things that are meaningful to me in my life,” Taylor said. “It feels interesting that someone knows what you’re thinking or knows what you dream about.”
“Quartet for Five” by Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber – Photo by Aymeric Guilluy and Eyrau Chalalet
The collaboration of “Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia” extends further into the music. The swan section is set to “Lay All Your Love On Me” by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion. The song is an Abba cover that is more intimate and bare, culminating in a slow, yearning call for love. Taylor, who considers herself musically driven when creating, chose the music that could inspire the movement.
“I love love, so that’s always a thing that I like to celebrate or enjoy,” Taylor said. “When I heard that song, I was like, ‘Oh, I really want to use this for something,’ and then I realized I had started collecting all these pieces that weren’t so related, but I felt fit into this collection.”
L.A. Dance Project – “Triade” by Benjamin Millepied – Photo courtesy of LADC.
Originally formatted for the LA Dance Project space in downtown LA, “Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia” will have a lot more space, exits and entrances to maneuver. Despite all these changes, the work will hold all the intimate details that make it what it is, from Shaw’s music to Styer’s artwork.
One of the most important parts of the work is a moment of stillness where the audience gets to sit with Styer’s work. In the stillness, people can identify all the details that inspired Taylor or discover new ones that inspire them. In the rehearsal process, Taylor and the LADP company spent time listening to the music while looking at the artwork. Together, they’d find new stories and pieces of inspiration.
Styer’s work often includes calligraphy letters, and the piece in Taylor’s work is no different. Across the artwork, the alphabet is scattered between the swans and Domino sugar boxes. Toward the beginning of the rehearsal process, one of the dancers couldn’t find the letter “N.”
Janie Taylor – Photo courtesy of the LA Dance Project.
“We spent weeks searching for the letter ‘N,’ and now I can’t remember if we found it or not,” Taylor said.
She has theories. Perhaps it was painted over between changes, or perhaps it was never there to begin with.
“It’s something you could stare at forever and still find new things,” Taylor said.
The same can be said for “Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia.”
The Wallis and L.A. Dance Project will present “Gatherings” on June 13 at 7:30 pm and on 14 at 2:00 pm and again at 7:30 pm. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit https://thewallis.org/show-details/gatherings.
For more information about L.A. Dance Project, please visit their website.
Written by Steven Vargas for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: L.A. Dance Project – Jeremy Coachman and Daphne Fernberger in “Sleepwalker’s Encyclopedia” by Janie Taylor – Photo by Brian Hashimoto.
