Karola Luttringhaus performs with the members of the dance school at Salem College. Photo by Bill Donovan
The opening dance solos of “BLOOD FEATHER,” one of the latest pieces conceived by Wilmington resident Karola Lüttringhaus, are instantly absorbing and provocative.
Performed last May in Winston-Salem as a work-in-progress with the Salem College Dance Department, the dance begins as, one by one, the dancers enter the light. Women in muted beiges and grays perform short soliloquies of various psychological archetypes – the confident, the anxious, the seeker, the nurturer, the broken – bound to the ground, eager to take flight.
The dancers twist and turn, fall and writhe, within a small box of light to accompanying music both serene and pensive. By the time the stage is lit with seven other spot boxes, and the dancers take their individual positions where they will tell their stories, the audience is transfixed.
Lüttringhaus, artistic and executive coordinator of the ALBAN ELVED Dance Company, was born in Berlin. There, she founded the modern dance company in 1997 before receiving her BFA in Modern Dance and Choreography at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 1999. Since then, she’s been virtually unstoppable, producing more than 50 original works through academic and artistic residencies, independent projects, film and television. She has curated interdisciplinary arts festivals and site-specific performances in Europe and the States. Check the “repertoire” and “schedule” sections of the dance company’s website, www.albanelved.com , and try to keep your head from exploding.
As if the sheer volume of creative output and constant trans-Atlantic leapfrogging isn’t heavy enough, the conceptual complexities involved in these works makes “The Matrix” look like the Muppets. This isn’t some jazz-hands-and-pinwheels dance recital. This is Serious Art.
“Art is something the mind does to explore intellectual concepts,” Karola explained via email from Prague, where she was in the midst of meetings and rehearsals for a performance in Jungmann Square. “We’re intellectual beings. Dance is physical but highly intellectual.”
Rather than simply entertain, Lüttringhaus presents audiences with ideas, prismatic metaphors under unifying concepts through the medium of motion. Describing her creative process, Lüttringhaus said that “first an image arises … I act on it, improvise or set movement based on this image. I give it to a dancer or dancers and we go into an analytical process where we dissect meaning from the movement to form seeds for further movement and story.”
As its title might suggest, “BLOOD FEATHER,” on its surface, is “inspired by” birds. But it encompasses more than just being about birds. As the dancers evolve through the piece they react individually to moods elicited by the music: drama, dissonance, dreaminess. At times they work together, reaffirming a sense of community among disparate souls of the same species.
There are several undercurrents present in much of Lüttringhaus’ work. Flight is one of them. The sarus crane, whose name Lüttringhaus gave to Wilmington’s SARUS dance festival, is the largest flying bird, standing almost six feet tall. To Lüttringhaus, the concept of flight represents the ultimate freedom. And while humans can only attain flight through mechanical means, the imagination is limitless.
Boldness is another recurring theme. Notice how her titles always appear in all-caps. It’s an immediate signifier of intensity, standing out like a splash of color along a gray wall.
Up until recently, a 14-foot-tall red chair lived along the Independence Boulevard side of the. Constructed and painted by the artist herself, it was used in several performances from 2008 through 2010, including at the second SARUS Festival. Featuring choreographers from around the world, SARUS happenings were staged at various site-specific locations around Wilmington, including the Cameron, WHQR, Johnny Mercer’s Pier at Wrightsville Beach and even the Burgaw train depot. Site-specific performances, Lüttringhaus said, allow the artist to be directly inspired by their surroundings.
“The idea is to use an existing location in a way that opens new viewpoints, changes the space. It also offers something unusual, something people don’t see every day,” Lüttringhaus said.
SARUS also included dance workshops and children’s activities to ensure that anybody with an interest in dance could be encouraged to express themselves.
“Karola is an imaginative and gifted choreographer,” said Daphne Holmes, curator of public events at the Cameron Art Museum. “Often using the simplest and most basic of materials for costumes and props, (she can) produce an interesting performance that also leaves audiences speaking about the work in a thoughtful, involved way.”
For the opening of the CAM’s “PuppetArt” exhibit last fall, ALBAN ELVED presented a trio of human marionettes bound by bungee cords from the roof of the museum’s entrance. The piece bridged ballet and interpretive dance, and used the unique tensions wrought by the bungee cords.
Holmes said Lüttringhaus’ drive to inspire isn’t limited to highbrow art seekers: “I believe Karola’s goals include being thought-provoking in a positive way while having adults, and children, activate their imaginations to the fullest.”
This echoes one of Lüttringhaus’ points about school presentations. (Full disclosure: The author of this piece has collaborated with Lüttringhaus for school performances.)
“Kids are exposed to pretty abstract and sophisticated works, deep topics, and they usually have an open mind for them,” she said. “I find that schools are the institutions that program us to listen and accept pre-formatted ways of thinking and acting: ‘Rolling on the ground is bad.’ ”
Although the school programs are a soft focus in the company’s framework, Lüttringhaus said she would like more young minds to connect to her work.
“I hope that dance will help us become more human, more open minded and more tolerant of each other,” she said.
Lüttringhaus often speaks of raising the bar, artistically and professionally, as well as socially. She also speaks of the need to be global in order to keep her company vital.
“In this field, you need to be international. It’s the name of the game. There is no work (in Wilmington) for me,” she said, unless she creates it.
Her residency with Cameron Art Museum lasted only a year. The arts-in-education programs can only happen through local nonprofit grants. The projects and festivals she produced were ambitious, yet tepidly received by the community at large. Hers is, naturally, a very European approach to art. Lüttringhaus said even the average European audience goes to the theater “to have their minds blown, not just to escape through entertainment.” She said she would like to see that same kind of commitment from local audiences, and not just from children or the adventurous art pilgrims.
“A people without art will perish intellectually,” Lüttringhaus said. “People need art to express themselves, to see their true selves, to be whole. Art is what sets us apart as humans. It is true civilization.”
Future productions of the ALBAN ELVED Dance Company include the full-length, 70-minute debut of “BLOOD FEATHER” at Salem College next January, and Lüttringhaus currently has a desk full of grant proposals for more productions both locally and abroad.
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