Says O'Day: "To do this show I've had to put myself on a strict regime of diet and exercise. I jog 5 kilometres a day, and have given up cow, pig and pasta. While it's a gift to perform "Full Bloom", it's also going to be a relief to drink beer again when it's over.
"Full Bloom" has taken on a life of its own. It's two studio showings in Mannheim in October were sold out as are the upcoming shows in the larger Tanzhaus in Jan./Feb. The German press went gaga over the show, praising its honesty and wisdom. Baryshnikov is interested in presenting "Full Bloom: at his centre in New York, as is Eric Gauthier for his Theaterhaus Stuttgart. The Toronto run follows a performance at the Banff Centre.
Perhaps the most poignant thought is impending mortality. Says Huddleston: "When I was 20, I felt a had 100 years ahead of me. When you hit middle age, you fervently hope that it won't be down hill, and that you will keep finding the motivation to make life worth living."
And from Kevin O'Day: "I've come to believe that the moment you are in, is the best year of your life. That's who you are and that's the self you should enjoy. It should never be about who you were or who you want to be. I also think that age gives you a certain kind of fearlessness to attempt new things."
Luches Huddleston Jr. thinks the zeitgeist of men over 40 is finding respect for self and others. "Life is now about give and take," he says. "You have to analyze and process the outside world with more care. I'm into anger management rather than flying off the handle."
For Robert Glumbek, manhood in maturity means confronting the problems you put off when you were younger. "We know we're attached to our balls, but we're supposed to be wise, so we have to start using that wisdom. We have to put on our long pants and deal with things."
"Your mojo is gone," says Roberto Campanella. "The level of testosterone is winding down and you find a softer side of yourself emerging. There is also the realization that we never left our teens and we have to keep the child inside us in check. Society expects us to behave as men of responsibility."
By creating and performing "The Three Man Project: Full Bloom" about dance and ageing, what conclusions have the men come to on the general subject of manhood?
The dance built itself through discussions and improvisations. "Full Bloom" begins with the performers in suits and ties being the grown ups they are supposed to be. The dance then touches on topics such as virility, fatherhood, rejection and resignation, not to mention the mundane such as shaving and peeing. In all, 13 pieces of classical and popular music underlie the emotional centre of each themed segment.
The creation of "Full Bloom" began with pieces of music that meant something to each of the men. O'Day brought in Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" to address men's softer side, particularly their love and affection towards each other. Glumbek's choice was Henryk Gorecki's "Sonata for Two Violins", which anchored him to his Polish homeland and led to reflections on living in a new country. Huddleston's choice was "Sex" by the Bucovina Club, a fusion of German hip hop and Balkan gypsy music. "I wanted us to explore if we are still sexy men at our age," he says.
Kevin OвІ Day, Luches Huddleston Jr, Robert Glumbek
And that is what "Full Bloom" is all about. In a series of solos, duets and trios, three ageing men open their souls to the audience. O'Day describes the piece as a cosmic experience. "It comes from the heart and not from the intellect," he says. For Huddleston: "It expresses our feelings about what it means to be older men, both emotionally and physically." For Glumbek: "It shows the real us Гa who we are today." And from Campanella, the outsider looking in: "The piece has humour, poignancy, sophistication and artistry. It is all about communication on a very human level."
I spoke on the phone with O'Day and Huddleston in Germany, and met with Glumbek and Campanella at a Toronto coffee house. Campanella was recuperating from his rehearsal of Glumbek's role in the gruelling 7-minute trio finale of "Full Bloom" which he describes as non-stop running and lifting. Says Glumbek: "We deliberately planned the ending to push ourselves to the limit. The audience is going to be wondering if we can finish the show. They'll be able to see the struggle in our eyes, but that struggle is what life is all about."
What is fascinating is that O'Day, Glumbek and Campanella share similar personal lives. They are straight men with two daughters each who have all suffered through a marriage breakdown. O'Day invited Huddleston into the project because as a gay black American living in Germany, he would bring a different experience to the mix. "We also needed his energy," laughs O'Day. "Call it survival. A third person means less dancing for the other two."
The point of intersection for the creators is Ballett Mannheim. Huddleston is a former company dancer under O'Day, while Glumbek spent two years there (2002-04) as a dancer/ballet master. It was Glumbek who suggested that he and O'Day work on something together which meant bringing O'Day out of a 9-year retirement.
As proof of the frailty of a dancer's body, Glumbek will not be performing when "Full Bloom" plays Toronto's Young Centre Jan. 12 to 16. He suffered a devastating hamstring injury on the opening night of his show "Displacement" at Harbourfront Centre in November that will keep him out of action for six months. Ironically, of the three "Full Bloom" creators, Glumbek is the only one who still has an active dance career. Glumbek's role is being performed by his good friend Italian-Canadian Roberto Campanella, 41, artistic director of ProArteDanza, formerly of Danza Aterballetto and the National Ballet of Canada.
The three men in question are American-born O'Day, 48, artistic director of Kevin O'Day-Ballett Mannheim, fellow American Luches Huddleston, Jr., 40, director of movement for the Mannheim Opera Chorus, and Polish-born Canadian Robert Glumbek, 45, artistic associate of Toronto's ProArteDanza. Collectively their dancing years include a starry array of companies such as Twyla Tharp, American Ballet Theatre, Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Project (O'Day), Bill T. Jones-Arnie Zane, Elisa Monte, Joyce Trisler (Huddleston), and Warsaw Ballet and Robert Desrosiers (Glumbek). All are seasoned choreographers.
"The Three Man Project: Full Bloom" is a show about ageing male dancers inspired by the famous Bette Davis quote: "Getting old is not for sissies." "We chose the title "Full Bloom" to be sarcastic," says co-creator Kevin O'Day. "The performance career for most men in dance is over by their forties, yet here we are, three old guys putting ourselves on stage for an hour and ten minutes."
Kevin OвІ Day, Luches Huddleston Jr, Robert Glumbek
EintrГTge von Paula Citron - tanz-de-ca
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