Honest dialogue – or the lack thereof – is a time-honored theme in fine arts, but Robert Sher-Machherndl feels its importance has only grown with the polarizing politics of recent years.
“It’s like people don’t try to talk anymore,” lamented Sher-Machherndl, founder of Boulder’s Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet. “It’s all quick action but no humility.”
Inspired by this notion, Sher-Machherndl will premiere another world-class program at the Chautauqua Summer Series on Saturday with “Project Peace,” a ballet in four parts, with a solo intro piece from renowned choreographer Susan Jaffe.
“It’s a contemporary work with no storyline, with a pas de deux, then a solo, then three people together,” said Sher-Machherndl. “But with each short piece, I try to show the different ways in which people communicate, or don’t.”
The production will feature Sher-Machherndl’s typically diverse musical taste, including selections from Arvo Part, Bruce Springsteen and Thom Willems.
Minna Tervamäki, prima ballerina at the Finnish National Ballet, will join Lemon Sponge Cake regular Tessa Victoria and others in the execution.
“We totally match together,” Sher-Machherndl said of Tervamäki. “She’s been here for about three weeks and we’ve been taking notes on each other. She likes to be herself on stage so my choreography gives it to her.”
Sher-Machherndl created a variety of pieces for Tervamäki, from structured, on-pointe work to more dramatic modern pieces.
“She’s an excellent dancer and looks beautiful,” he said.
The experimental nature of Sher-Machherndl’s choreography lends itself to the theme of “Project Peace,” subverting classical pointe technique by throwing it off balance. Sher-Machherndl said he wants the audience to see the effort involved in each motion, drawing attention to the act instead of making it look natural.
“I like to strip it down and show the steps,” said Sher-Machherndl, an Austrian native and dancer of 25 years. “I get rid of all the little things in between.”
Susan Jaffe, former principal dancer with The American Ballet Theater, was invited by Sher-Machherndl to choreograph her intro piece, “Meditations Uncaged,” set to music by avant-garde godfather John Cage.
“I wanted to experiment with rhythm and angles,” Jaffe said. “There are all kinds of musical accents that you hear in John Cage’s music. It’s so rich and simple all at the same time, almost alarmingly simple.”
Like “Project Peace,” Jaffe’s work was not inspired by a single notion or event.
“I didn’t make the piece specifically with the theme (of ‘Project Peace’) in mind, but it’s not incompatible with it,” said Jaffe, who will return to New York on Monday to head her dance school. “Robert is very much in alignment with my work, so I’m having a ball here.”
Sher-Machherndl, who has choreographed 17 pieces for Lemon Sponge Cake, resists likening “Project Peace” to his other work. Granted, its musical diversity and social awareness are typical of Lemon Sponge Cake. In fact, a “Project Peace” ballet workshop will raise money for children in Iraq via a UNICEF fund.
But the way the dancers betray their effort, allowing their upper bodies to bend naturally, emphasizing the slightest movements in a leg lift, is an evolution of Sher-Machherndl’s ethos.
“I try to reach people and help them see ballet in a different way,” he said. “Not like the floating and effortless part. I want to show the more earthy grounding of it. It’s really cool when you see the work involved.”
Staff writer John Wenzel can be reached at 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com.
Lemon Sponge Cake’s “Project Peace”
CONTEMPORARY BALLET | Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Road in Boulder; 8 p.m., Saturday-Sunday | $25-$70 | 303-440-7666 or .
