This Isn't The End (1991)
The second work I commissioned from James Kudelka had a decidedly kooky edge to it. James writes:
”When Peggy asked me to help oversee an evening at the PDT (now the Fleck Theatre at Harbourfront) that would include Romeo and Juliet Before Parting I thought it was important that the program include something with whimsy. For me, contemporary dance programs always had a tendency to take themselves very seriously. Creating something lighter and whimsical would be a challenge for us both.
The score of This Isn’t the End was created by John Oswald who wrote three pieces based on re-edits of readings of Agatha Christie mystery novel talking books - a garbled recreation of a few murder scenarios. And I asked Peggy to play the role of an old fashioned nurse, in white lab coat and striped hat. Peggy collected some wonderful props to go with that, and Marc Parent lit the stage with exposed fluorescent institutional lighting. The dance was unusual and surprising and answered the call for some lightness, and mystery - and accessibility - but it was also a little insane.” JK
Thinking back on This Isn’t the End, what really stands out is the joy of the rehearsals, all of the laughter James and I shared. I was wearing the costume with all of its many pieces early on in rehearsals — lingerie, white stockings, zip-front nurse’s uniform, snap-closure lab coat, lace-up shoes, fold-and-button nurse’s cap — and we laughed over the comparison to Jean-Pierre Perrault’s dancers, wearing their suits and ties, overcoats, hats and boots in rehearsal for JOE. We were the ridiculous to their sublime!
In addition to the elaborate costume there were props galore, each used in a multitude of ways — a watch, a pen, latex gloves, a surgical mask, a stethoscope, a huge syringe, a condom I inflated and sent aloft… and in a nod to Mark Morris’s Ten Suggestions, (which also had many props to manipulate) James once referred to This Isn’t the End as One Hundred and Ten Suggestions.
James also made one of these Agatha Christie mystery dances for Patricia Fraser, and though our solos were never danced on the same program, she does leave her shoes behind her when she exits the stage at the end of her solo, and there is a (mysterious) pair of shoes onstage when my solo begins. PB
photography
As credited.
credits
choreography:
James Kudelka
original soundtrack:
John Oswald
lighting design:
Marc Parent
dancer:
Peggy Baker
premiere
New York City
October 10 - 13, 1991
St Mark’s Church
Danspace Project
subsequent presentations
Peterborough ON
January 18, 1992
Artspace
Toronto ON
January 24 & 25, 1992
Premiere Dance Theatre
CIBC Dance 91 - 92
Montreal QC
February 22 & 23, 1992
Centre Saidye Bronfman
DanseDance!92
media links
See 1992 and 1991 in the media and awards archive