Staging A Story That Must Be Seen: How Justin Rapaport’s dance piece, “Passing By”, Combats Homophobia in Dance By Emily Bosak
Staging A Story That Must Be Seen: How Justin Rapaport’s dance piece, “Passing By”, Combats Homophobia in Dance
We often see the arts as an area of progression however dance, specifically ballet, has held onto it’s problematic roots of homophobia and gender inequality. Melissa Klapper outlines how ballet originated in the 15 and 16th centuries from French and Italian courts in her article “You Shouldn’t Tell Boys They Can’t Dance: Boys and Ballet in America” and asserts that “ballet reflected political and national interests and thus reinforced male royalty and assertions of power” (Klapper, p.249). Even as ballet became more centered on the spectacle of the female body, “male dancers still presented, manipulated, and framed women’s bodies through choreographic conventions” (Klapper, p. 250). Ballet BC is a contemporary ballet company based in Vancouver,Canada that saw the issue of gender inequality in dance and has dedicated itself to combating it both in the structure of the company and in its performances. For example, the company currently features a balanced number of men and women in their roster. Additionally, the company has a history of employing both men and women in the high-power positions of artistic director and choreographer. However, Klapper acquiesces that gender inequality in ballet is decreasing and brings attention to an interesting paradox present in ballet; though male dancers have a greater chance of having a successful career in ballet, dancing men are a rarity. Author Doug Risner contributes this paradox to the hetero-centrism and homophobic attitudes present in ballet. Many dance companies, including Ballet BC, could be doing much more to combat homophobia. This is why we must give attention to choreographer Justin Rapaport’s piece “Passing By”. In this essay, I will review “Passing By” and argue that it was a successful piece not only because it was emotionally moving and aesthetically captivating, but because it combats homophobia in dance.
Justin Rapaport is a dance artist and choreographer with Ballet BC. His piece “Passing By” was featured in Ballet BC’s “Take Form”. “Take Form” was a virtual show that premiered online and was available to stream from home exclusively on February 25, 2021. The show was roughly 80 minutes long and featured nine different dance pieces by nine different artists from the Ballet BC company. The company’s ongoing interest in pushing back against gender inequities and stereotypes was amplified in this show by artists of Ballet BC who wish to explore the gender issues even further in their own works. However, Rapaport’s was the most successful piece featured in the show. My opinions about Justin Rapaport’s piece are informed by my viewing of the show, research, and by my own practice as a young dance artist studying at SFU.
Justin Rapaport perfectly captures the chance meeting of two strangers and explores the abstract concept of “what could have been” in “Passing By”. The piece is about ten minutes long and in that time, Rapaport uses dance to tell the multiple future stories that could result from the initial meeting of a same-sex couple. Justin Rapaport choreographed an extremely dynamic duet that kept viewers on the edge of their seats because of the unexpected changes in pacing and his decisions to frequently disrupt the flow of sequences. However, credit must be given to performers Evan Rapaport and Rae Srivastava because, without their energy and masterful execution of the choreography, the clarity of the story would be lost.
The show was filmed in the black box theater located at the Scotiabank Dance Center in Vancouver. The piece begins with the lights coming up and the duet walking towards one another on a diagonal. There is a corridor of warm light on the floor that stretches diagonally from the downstage left corner to the upstage right, illuminating the path of the dancers. The duet walk towards one another in a pedestrian fashion but with a great sense of urgency. Both men stare straight ahead, unaware of one another. At the center of the stage the duo “accidentally” bump into one another, knocking shoulders before continuing to rush on. The two dancers then turn around at the end of the corridor and repeat the same sequence. Everything about the sequence is the same except this time the dancers started walking from different corners. It’s as if history is repeating itself. The duet proceeds to repeat this clumsy meeting again and again except on the fourth repetition, time appears to slow and the density of the air looks thicker as the two men get stuck at the shoulder and barely squeeze past one another. On the fifth repetition, the duo gets stuck again and they squeeze past one another even slower before the tension is cut like a taunt cord and they continue walking. On the sixth time Evan, the light-haired man, is struck frozen by the contact of their shoulders. Rae, the dark-haired man, is launched into a whirling solo by the contact of their shoulders.
Justin Rapaport utilizes repetition to manipulate time which is significant because it adds complexity to the piece. The reconstruction of the first meeting of the duet in the form of a tableau becomes a motif that Rapaport repeatedly uses throughout the piece. This motif symbolizes the duet going back in time to their first meeting. Additionally, Rapaport’s use of repetition in the choreography functions in a very similar way to how a poet might use repetition to draw the attention of the reader and emphasize the importance of certain words or phrases. By repeating the first meeting of the dancers over and over again, viewers understand that what appears to just be the random brush of two strangers is actually a very significant moment. It also sets up viewers to better understand the unorthodox yet genius way Rapaport chooses to story-tell. Rather than storytelling in a linear way, Rapaport chooses to tell the story in a loop going forwards and then jumping backward in time. Despite its complexity, the audience clearly understands that Rapaport is playing out all the possible futures the couple could have. This makes it all the more powerful and heart wrenching when the piece ends with the duet repeating the beginning sequence; walking towards one another staring blankly ahead, bumping shoulders, and then, continuing to walk by as if nothing had happened. As if they weren’t missing out on what could have been the greatest romance, friendship or rivalry of their lives.
By also choosing to tell the story in a non-linear way, Rapaport further defies conventions. Many of the choreographers attempted to story-tell in abstract ways in “Take Form” however none attempted to manipulate time in the way that Rapaport did and none were as clear as Rapaport was. Despite the complexity of Rapaport’s storytelling, his piece was the one I understood the best (and enjoyed the most) out of the entire show. Considering that I have a robust dance education and still struggled to understand the themes and/or stories of other pieces in “Take Form” I can only assume that spectators who didn’t have an extensive background in dance would have struggled to grasp the themes of some pieces in “Take Form”. I find a lack of understanding often impedes my enjoyment of art because I am too caught up in trying to find meaning. So, I feel that “Passing By” was the most successful piece in “Take Form” because it was likely to be enjoyable for spectators regardless of whether or not they have a foothold in the world of dance. Rapaport told his story in an abstract way, but the story itself never got lost and so the themes he was exploring always remained clear and straightforward to the audience; this is the mark of a successful piece of art.
The story Rapaport chose to tell and the way he told it are significant contributing factors to why I consider “Passing By” to be a successful piece as well as supportive of my thesis that “Passing By” combats homophobia in dance. By choosing to tell the story of a same-sex couple, Rapaport is choosing to break away from how ballet has continually repeated staged the same tired story of the heterosexual romance. In “Rehearsing Heterosexuality: "Unspoken" Truths in Dance Education” Doug Risner points out that even though a great majority of male ballet dancers identify as gay, there is lack of representation and discourse around their contribution to ballet. Additionally, by exploring the multiple futures in which the couple are friends or hostile towards one another or wary of one another, the story is not only more complex but more human and relatable to the audience. In contrast, the whirlwind, “love-at-first-sight” romances typically presented in the ballet, are unrealistic and unsatisfying.
The costuming and score in “Passing By” played essential roles in communicating the story to the audience. Rae and Evan were costumed in dark suit jackets and matching pants, white dress shirts, and socks. However, the jacket and pants were severely distressed; their jackets were tattered and ripped in many places revealing their white dress shirts underneath. The costumes contributed greatly to the story of “Passing By” as the disheveled suits crafted an image of “the haggard businessman”. There were no set-pieces that could provide further images to set the scene but the costuming created such a strong association that my mind automatically filled in the blanks, encouraging me to imagine two busy strangers bumping into one another on a city street; a common occurrence. This contributes to the reality and profoundness of the piece as we so often see and experience chance meetings in our day-to-day lives. Rapaport prompts us to rethink our assumption that these chance meetings will be fleeting and meaningless. Additionally, the varied score helped provide cues as to when tonal shifts occurred in the piece. A beautiful example of this occurred when the score shifted from fast-paced and intense to warm, fluttering violins. The music shift combined with the tender movement quality of the dancers communicated that in this possible future, the performers fell in love.
The choreography in “Passing By”, further supports my thesis that Rapaport combats homophobia in dance. The dynamism of Rapaport’s choreography also contributes to why I consider his piece to be the most successful out of the nine pieces featured in “Take Form”. Partnering in ballet has traditionally, always been between men and women. The men usually take on the role of manipulating the woman; lifting her off the ground, spinning her, supporting her in static poses. Typically, the role of the woman in partnering is to be the spectacle whether that’s contorting her body into impossible shapes or completing virtuosic technical movements. In “Passing By”, Rapaport choreographed a male duet that features partnering. The partnering isn’t just unconventional because it’s two men; it’s unconventional because there is an obvious shared sense of responsibility. The duet catch, release, throw and manipulate one another’s bodies with a sense of calm and ease. Additionally, Rapaport’s choreography plays with flow and stillness. In some moments, Evan and Rae complete extremely athletic sequences in which they change levels, moving up and down from the floor with grace. They twist, turn, swoop and fly looking more like forces of nature rather than humans. In other moments, the duet moves slowly and deliberately or not at all, stuck frozen in tableaus. The sudden switches in pace and breaks in flow made for an extremely captivating performance. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.
In this essay, I discussed the complexities of Rapaport’s piece diving into the significance of the story he told as well as his method of storytelling. I also described, analyzed, interpreted and evaluated the costuming and choreography of “Passing By”. Overall, “Passing By” was a successful piece because it delivered an important, thought-provoking story with beautiful execution. Peter Stoneley notes in “A Queer History of Ballet” that despite all of ballet’s problematic shortcomings, it has also “provided images, legends, spaces, and institutions through which queer artists and institutions could achieve some degree of visibility” (Stoneley, p.2). Visibility is key to removing homophobia from dance and by choosing to present the story of “Passing By” on stage, Rapaport provided visibility and thus combated homophobia in the world of dance. Ballet BC is fostering a new generation of aware artists who will, hopefully, lead the dance world in a new progressive direction and hopefully, the rest of the world will follow in pursuit.
Citations:
Klapper, Melissa R. “‘You Shouldn’t Tell Boys They Can’t Dance’: Boys and Ballet in America.”Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, vol. 10, no. 2, 2017, pp. 248–267.
Perkins Deneault, Tessa. “Where Are All the Women?”. The Dance Current. March 30, 2018. https://www.thedancecurrent.com/feature/where-are-all-women
Risner, Doug. (2002). Rehearsing Heterosexuality: Unspoken Truths in Dance Education. Dance Research Journal, 34(2), 63–78. https://doi.org/10.2307/1478460
Stoneley, Peter. A Queer History of the Ballet. Taylor and Francis, 2006.
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