Miranda July came to prominence after writing, directing and starring in the movie Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), recipient of the Camera d’Or at Cannes. In the most memorable of the film’s winningly weird exchanges a five-year-old boy woos a woman online with his vision of intimacy: pooping “back and forth” into each other’s butts forever, represented by the immortal eroticon, “))<>((.”
July’s debut book of stories depicts sixteen you’s and me’s in relationships just as odd. A daughter, for instance, inherits her dying father’s twelve “moves” for getting women off, and a small-town woman teaches octogenarians to swim on the floor of her apartment.
Other bizarre interactions play out entirely in the fertile imaginations July projects onto her speakers. Hopes and anxieties are elaborate but deeply felt, driving the characters to create superstitions to guide them in a world of overwhelming possibility: “People tend to stick to their own sized group because it’s easier on the neck.” That is, unless they’re romantically involved, in which case the height difference signals that, “I am willing to go the distance for you.”
Such earnestness is typical of July’s humour, which recalls that of fellow San Franciscan Dave Eggers and the journal he edits, McSweeney’s. Characters explicate the obvious, collapse similes and employ ridiculous superlatives. The small town woman casts herself as “the saddest swim coach in history.”
At their most generous, July’s characters instill quotidian acts with solace and salvation. In the book’s blacker moments, however, their optimism and ambition merely increase the height that they fall from: one concedes that people she thought were just her “starter friends” are all she has, and the sense of desert two young graduates share leads them to reject typical, mundane work, driving them to try prostitution.
Along with New Zealander Charlotte Grimshaw’s Opportunity, No One Belongs Here More Than You was recently shortlisted for the rich Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. It seems the book is finding the fame that its simple promotional website – snapshots of text written in marker on top of her kitchen appliances (noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com) – has already enjoyed.
One of July’s characters imagines a map of the solar system modified to depict, not stars and planets, but the relationships of everyone in the world. Miranda July, with her indefatigable attention to absurd but emotionally authentic moments of cruelty, miscommunication and great affection would make a fine interpersonal cartographer, discovering and drawing our attention to the most striking and unusual phenomena.
Starring Norah Jones, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, and David Strathairn. Directed by Wong Kar Wai. 111 minutes
When her boyfriend's affection for her falters, Elizabeth (Norah Jones) seeks guidance from café owner Jeremy (Jude Law). Over leftover pie and mutual nosebleeds – one of the film's nicer touches – Jeremy consoles her, falls for her and kiss rapes her while she sleeps. All this takes place just in time for Elizabeth to realize she needs to put physical distance between herself and her past relationship.
Wide-eyed Elizabeth abandons New York for nowhere in particular, finding herself first in Memphis, where she meets a host of one-dimensional characters. First up is alcoholic Arnie (David Strathairn) and the wife who left him, Sue Lynne (Rachel Weisz). A quick suicide, some tears, and it's off to a casino out west, where Elizabeth meets Leslie (Natalie Portman), a wily gambler incapable of trusting even her father. Elizabeth's journey of self-discovery turns to self-satisfaction as she congratulates herself on her unwavering trust in others, and heads home into Jeremy's open arms.
Road movies typically rely on the development of strong central characters who, like an unbroken stretch of tarmac, carry the plot forward and connect the disparate events on their journeys. Unfortunately, Elizabeth is such a bland creation that she seems to simply materialize in different locations, before quickly fading into the background. Her presence and the cliché-heavy postcards she writes to Jeremy (and narrates at us) fail to link the subplots, leaving events at each unwittingly Americana-kitsch location to stand on their own. Except they don't, collapsing instead under the emotional weight they are too underdeveloped to support.
My Blueberry Nights is further soured by the vast potential the film fails to realize. The cast is as star-studded as a Shanghai girl's jeans and, forgiving his overuse of a cheesy low frame-rate blur, Wong's shots create genuine intimacy. Unfortunately this just emphasizes dialogue that emerges stillborn, even from the lips of perfectly capable actors (Portman's exuberance, at least, emerges in tact).
As for the lead, Norah Jones the actor is a lot like Norah Jones the singer: her role is so lacking in range and intensity that it's hard to fault her. Instead, point fingers at a script that lacks cohesion and is devoid of genuine drama.
Jay Owenhouse is an irrepressibly cheerful American magician. His show is as pure as his snowy-white soul, designed to appeal to the whole family. He performs January 2 and 3 at the Shanghai Grand Stage.
SH: Your show is family oriented. What do you think about magicians alluding to gore and sex?
JO: Our show is very family friendly, but still has an edge. It’s designed to appeal to the intellect of the adult audience but there isn’t anything off color. Parents can feel comfortable about bringing their kids. Kids love it! I really like Penn and Teller, but I’m not a fan of any type of magic that is crude or lewd. I think it is very awkward.
SH: Magic sometimes has a reputation as being nerdy. Do you agree?
JO: Yes, I agree that magic has gotten a bad rap for being kind of nerdy! But it certainly doesn’t have to be that way! When a magic show is done right and executed well it can be the most incredible form of entertainment!
SH: Your show seems big on the history of magic. You do Houdini’s 1912 “Upside Down” trick (the Chinese Water Torture Cell) and also vanish an elephant, an old trick of his. What’s new about your show?
JO: It’s presented in a very modern, cutting edge style; most of the illusions we do, people have never seen before. However, I believe that some of the best illusions are also the oldest. My goal is to share with people what is nearly a lost art: the live magic show!
SH: Let’s talk danger. What’s the greatest injury you’ve sustained?
JO: Eight years ago I was performing in Nevada and during the Table of Death Escape, I didn’t get free from the leg chains in time. A two foot steel spike went through my knee. It was nearly fatal. I will attempt this in China for the first time since that accident. Fifteen years ago, I almost drowned during the Water Cell Escape. I damaged my esophagus and was hospitalized for a week.
SH: The stake in your impaling illusion looks remarkably like Shanghai’s OrientalPearlTower. Do you think you could do the trick atop the PearlTower?
JO: The Impaled Illusion was one of the hardest things I have ever had to learn! I worked on it everyday for six months and almost gave up on it! About three months later, I had a breakthrough! It is still very difficult and intense to perform, but is one of my favorite things to do in the show. Trying the impaled trick on top of the PearlTower would be intense! I think... I will pass on this trip!
SH: Do you use magic in the bedroom?
JO: Susan and I have been married for 20 years! I’m always teasing her that I hypnotized her into marrying me and that I keep her in a trance. But I’m just teasing. I wouldn’t do that... or would I ?
Miss Bikini International’s unabashed emphasis is on bodily beauty, and women from 40 countries recently competed for the title here in Shanghai. SH spoke to Miss Japan, Miss New Zealand, and the winner, Miss Venezuela.
SH: Are you tired of smiling? How are your cheeks? Miss Venezuela: When I get nervous sometimes I can’t maintain my smile – it starts to twitch. I have a pretty powerful wink to fall back on though, and I use it in my personal life too. In other ways I keep my profession separate. I try to forget I have a boyfriend when I’m performing.
SH: Aren’t bikini contests a bit, um, 20th century? Miss Japan: I’m the National Director of the Miss Japan organization, and I’d love to hold a different sort of international pageant, one without winners and prizes. This pageant sits on the border between playboy modeling and a pageant like Miss World.
SH: What tricks do you use backstage to get ready to perform? Miss New Zealand: Double-sided tape is a must for the top half of the bikini, and I use hairspray to hold the bikini bottom in place. Miss Japan: I bring my own gas-powered hair curler to pageants. Tonight there were only two electric power plugs for 40 girls!
SH: Could someone with an A cup could win a pageant like this? Miss Venezuela: No, I don’t think they could win. Well, perhaps, if they can make up for it with their personality. Miss New Zealand: I don’t see why they shouldn’t win. I’m a double D and I didn’t win anything!
SH: Would having cup sizes for the bottom half of bikinis make for better fits? Miss New Zealand: It took three separate fittings to get the top half sorted, so I think we should keep working on that. Miss Venezuela: Maybe! I think the Chinese like big asses – there is a powerful sensual appetite here.
SH: Charlie See, the organizer of Miss Bikini International, and the “Godfather of Pageantry” died last month, aged 97. Did you ever meet him? Miss Japan: I love him so much! I remember him falling asleep at another pageant – we all thought he had died back then! Charlie used to keep cookies in his pocket and offer them to girls when they became upset: “Oh, beautiful girl, you look so sad. You want a cookie?”
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater travels from New York to share its vision of African American culture with Shanghai, writes Sam Gaskin.
Alvin Ailey’s Artistic Director Judith Jamison sees connections between the nature of dance and great cities of the world. “Modern dance is ever-evolving, just like cities are,” she says. “Like our repertory, cities speak of the past, present and future.”
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) has certainly evolved a great deal itself, building a rich history along the way. Since its inception in 1958, the company has developed a catalogue that covers every era of modern dance, and includes styles such as Horton, Graham, and Dunham, named after the choreographers who developed them, mixed with more traditional and classical elements from jazz and ballet.
Alvin Ailey formed the company with the aim of creating a repository for modern dance classics, including signature pieces by other African American choreographers, as well as his own works. Undoubtedly, the most famous of Ailey’s dances is ‘Revelations.’ Set to spirituals and gospel music, the piece has its roots deep in African American culture, which the company champions and celebrates.
When the dance was first performed, all of the dancers in the AAADT were African American, a deliberate attempt to increase opportunities for African American dancers. Jamison herself first joined the AAADT after a failed dance audition in 1964. She says Ailey, watching from the side of the stage, “saw something” in her that day. That “something” would lead Jamison to a celebrated career dancing with the company and, when Ailey died in 1989, to take up the role of Artistic Director. While the majority of dancers in the company today remain African American, Jamison says her 30 touring performers are as “diverse as the country we represent.”
For the Shanghai program, one of the pieces is the Pas de Duke, written in 1976 as a collaboration between Ailey and jazz great Duke Ellington, and originally choreographed for Jamison and famed Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. Jamison describes the duet as “a challenge between a man and a woman full of technical virtuosity and humor.” Another Alvin-Ellington collaboration, The River, is also on the bill. Although the body of work AAADT is touring is steeped in such history, it will be given a new lease of life by contemporary performers, including 2007 Bessie Award winning dancer Clifton Brown.
Such re-interpretation is crucial to AAADT’s and modern dance’s continued evolution. You need only look at the how popular hip hop and street dancing have become in Shanghai to see how the adoption of other countries’ music can, as Jamison says, “transform the way people move,” and extend “the boundaries of the art.” Certainly, the company has always recognized the creative potential of cultural exchange. Ailey’s own mentor Lester Horton was creating works that drew on Native American and Japanese dance as early as the 1940s.
The AAADT engaged in just this kind of exchange when it last visited Shanghai in 2004, conducting workshops with Shanghai dance students, and will do so again this time around at the ShanghaiBalletSchool. The lessons three years ago were communicated non-verbally but Jamison remembers watching the students’ “realization of discovery when they experienced new movements for the first time. They felt fearless and had great courage in wanting to learn as much as possible, which is the pre-requisite for being a dancer.”
With the ever-evolving nature of dance Jamison suggests, these exchanges may well weave themselves into the company’s future works. But for the present, this is a chance for audiences to see some of the most vibrant contemporary dance performances from one of America’s most celebrated companies.
Who is Alvin Ailey?
1931
Alvin Ailey is born in the small town of Rogers, Texas. Life in the racially segregated South was tough for African Amercans, and made tougher for Ailey when his father abandons him and his 17-year-old mother, Lula.
1937
From age six, Ailey attends the TrueVineBaptistChurch and later discovers the Dew Drop Inn, a dance hall and bar. Both venues make a deep impression on the young Alvin, later serving as inspiration for his choreography.
1943
Having moved to Los Angeles, Ailey sees his first live dance performance during a junior high school field trip to watch the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Ailey’s interest in dance is lit.
1949
Ailey discovers the work of Lester Horton. When a friend shows him some some of Horton’s moves Ailey says he “nearly fainted.” Asking “Oh, my God, what is that?” his friend replied, “That’s modern dancing.”
1958
Ailey and six other dancers perform three works, including Ailey’s “Blues Suite,” in New York. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Company is born.
1960
Ailey choreographs ‘Revelations,’ which would become his most popular work and one of the most-performed ballets of the 20th century.
1962-1985
The Company Ailey founded embarks on historic tours to Australia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and Russia. In 1985 the company is the first to go on a US government-sponsored tour of China following the normalization of Sino-American relations.
1988
Alvin Ailey receives the Kennedy Center Honors from President Reagan, the highest official distinction for creative artists. The following year Ailey dies, passing on the role of Artistic Director to Judith Jamison.
Sam Gaskin's reviews and original writing have been published in The New Zealand Listener, The Sunday Star Times, Lumiere, SH Magazine and McSweeney's. *This blog is blocked by China's Great Fire Wall. Head over to http://shpit.blog.com for some as yet un-river-crabbed writing.
