At 26, Ann Liv Young is one of the most subversive choreographers of her generation, so while you may not love her work, I promise one thing: you won’t be bored. Her latest show, Snow White transforms a fairytale wonderland into a nightmare of depravity.
A graduate of Hollins University, Young plays with notions of dominance and control, sex and submissiveness in seemingly reckless ways. She has presented different incarnations of Snow White throughout Europe over the summer; this time, it’s a trio for Liz Santoro, Michael Guerrero and Young (as the lead).
Read the interview in this week’s Time Out New York. Broaden those horizons. It’s kind of like going to a rock show.
The Kitchen, 512 West 19th St; Mar. 14–17, 21–24 at 8pm. $12
tonya
I LOVED your interview with her — you asked great questions. She hadn’t always fully thought out some answers (ie: the last one), but I love how honest and open she was to discussing other things. I guess there is sometimes a big disconnect between what you’re doing onstage and what certain audience members think of it, and you can’t worry about, sometimes even think about what they are thinking… Anyway, sounds very intriguing!
Mar 09, 2007 @ 18:04
Chris
It’s so funny, I went to the St. Patrick’s Day show and people actually WALKED OUT in the middle of the show, like a good quarter of the audience. If people read your interview beforehand, (and maybe if they saw Michael at Dance Theatre Workshop in ‘05) they’d know what they were getting into.
Yeah, I think it is a feminist piece, and as always Ann’s just saying “fuck you, I’ll do whatever”. Go on with your bad self girl.
Mar 18, 2007 @ 14:09
Swan Lake Samba Girl » Blog Archive » “The Virgin is a Lovely Number” | Tonya Plank | Writer, Dancer and Public Interest Lawyer
[...] On Thursday night, I went to see Ann Liv Young’s “Snow White” after seeing it posted on The Winger, by Gia Kourlas, who also has a good interview with the young iconoclastic choreographer in TONY. Very in-your-face, very rawly unabashedly unerotically naked, very hilariously WTF??, very post-post-post-feminist, and I LOVED it! This was my first time seeing anything by her, and I had to do some research, both on her work and the classic fairytale, to make a bit of sense (but I love that sort of thing — and I had no idea reinvention of the fairytale was so popular — in addition to Anne Sexton and Gregory Maguire, Angela Carter and A.S. Byatt have had their take). Young said it was based on the Grimm Brothers version and not Disney, which was pretty obvious, but I don’t think she needed to say that anyway: it’s really just her own thing entirely. [...]
Mar 18, 2007 @ 19:15
tonya
Well, I just posted about it on my blog. I went Thursday night, and there were a few people who walked out, one of whom was my friend (though she didn’t leave until almost the very end). I LOVED it and felt badly that my friend didn’t. I think she was even a little mad at me, which really upset me, partly because she was mad and partly because I didn’t understand why she didn’t “get” it. This is a woman with whom I’d taken a pole-dancing class to celebrate her 30th birthday. I had some issues with it, (as everyone on poor Matt Murphy’s ‘Ranting Details’ blog knows — HAHAHA) — am just not into that when it’s aimed at male titilation and all — but I did it for her sake. Then, I invited her to the Burlesque Festival to see Delirium Tremens after Kristin posted on that, and she totally loved that. So, it confused me that she hated this so much. She said the pole dancing and burlesque were “beautiful” and this was just yukky and horrible and completely nonsensical. I might expect a man to not get it, but I was so upset about my friend! Ugh. Anyway… This was my first time seeing Young’s work, and I read up on her other things, and I saw reviews of “Michael” and totally wished I would have seen it now!
Mar 18, 2007 @ 20:09
jennifer
I actually went to the Thurs. show at the Kitchen and I did know what I was getting into. I’m definately not offended by nudity, not even when she mounted that dildo….but I was kind of bored. I honestly wasn’t engaged enough to even begin to read into the work. It just seemed like flippant nonsense, a temper tantrum plus dildo’s. I see work like this all the time and I find it kind of cynical and uninteresting. I was actually one of the people that walked out not because I was offended but I really thought it was over. She kept singing the same song over and over again and I thought that was the end and she would do this until there was no one left in the crowd , and I thought that was interesting, but it wasn’t the case. I guess than that would be what I took from the piece, conventional boundaries and structure between what was and wasn’t part of the performance were obscured. Also subverting the role of women in art but I think these issues are more interesting when they are one of many dimensions in the performance.
Mar 19, 2007 @ 17:38
tonya
I think I saw you Jennifer! I remember when you guys walked out because it made me also wonder whether it was over. That I think was the only real problem I had — there’s some good dialog after that and if people thought it was ending like that and they were supposed to leave, then they missed what came after. So I guess maybe she could shorten that song a bit… I saw the same themes you did. I just liked the in-your-face-ness of it all and the image it women acting in ways they’re not supposed to, the raw, lewd ‘nakedness’ as opposed to ‘artful nudity,’ subversion of stereotypes and fairytales, etc. She’s also very young — it will be interesting to see what she comes up with as she continues in her career…
Mar 19, 2007 @ 21:28
Lynn
BTW I just found this site, and am very impressed at the range of topics, the different points of view, and the passion that is revealed here. Bravo.
I find myself in an unfamiliar place. Usually, I’m a radical champion of artists and work that challenges and provokes. Not this time. I felt really cheated by the work when I attended on Friday night. Ms. Young seemed so busy negating the story, herself, the audience, the experience, her collaborators, that no matter how much artspeak you throw at it (post Feminism, deconstruction, subversion of stereotypes, the nature of audience performer transactions and their contextualizing effect on perception and meaning) it still falls short. The utter completeness of her “subversions” rob them of all power. It reads to me as merely the self absorbed and immature rantings of a not very thoughtful screed. I feel cheaper, dumber and altogether lessened by my encounter with the work. After this performance , I trust neither the impulses that drive the work, their execution, their veracity or their meaning. I found it immature and very needy work that was so focused on distancing itself from everything that it had no affective resonance for me at all. In reading the posts, I agree that if they had just repeated that Help Me Rhonda thing about a dozen more times (or until she drove us from the theater) that would have been worth double the price of admission. But she doesn’t. My experience is that she fails to REALLY subvert anything. Its like the Monty Python sketch when the guy walks into a room looking for an argument and only gets contradiction. Well, I walked in looking for challenge , and only got “OUTRAGEOUS” choices. Very status quo. She very publicly PLAYED at subverting, and I’m not buying it. I imagine that she can do alot better, and hope that she does in the future.
Mar 20, 2007 @ 17:03
J.
I saw the show on March 24. It started strong and devolved into silly post-modern rehashing with the “Help Me Rhonda” business. I’m glad I saw it, and nobody walked out. People got tired and restless and started fidgeting and talking during the radio show segment, but that is the goal of silly post-modern rehashing, I guess. Like others posting here, I hope she can move past doing stuff that’s been done before by others; I think Young really has potential to challenge and bring new work to audiences.
The interview is interesting but she really shows her youth in her answers. If she wants to be taken seriously as an artist with long-term potential, she should avoid bad-mouthing people who have worked with her. It made me lose respect for her as a thinker.
Mar 25, 2007 @ 18:10
candy
i saw the show and am actually ann liv’s mother. she is crazy. i know for sure. i raised her. she is pregnant and her judgment is a little off. just be patient with her please!
Mar 26, 2007 @ 18:00
tonya
Candy — she is crazy in a good way though
Well, as I’ve said before, I liked the show, and my friend who went this past Friday and whom I’d recommended it to told me she liked it and her boyfriend loved it. Anyway, I think this thread is great! Gia, you have to post more often!
Mar 26, 2007 @ 18:57
candy
i’m just kiddin. i’m not her mother.
i don’t know who her mother is.
but i think it’s great you support her.
i actually didn’t even see the show
but i did do some research on her
and she seems pretty interesting!
go to my site. nudecandyland
Mar 26, 2007 @ 23:58
thewinger.com » Becky, Jodi and John
[...] John Jasperse is a name you should know: his cerebral dances, acclaimed in New York and throughout Europe (William Forsythe is a fan) transformed contemporary dance beginning with 1995’s Excessories. He returns to Dance Theater Workshop this week with a trio, Becky, Jodi and John, featuring himself and two of downtown dance’s most riveting performers: Becky Hilton and Jodi Melnick. I recommend this for the opportunity to witness extremely high-quality performers. There’s live music by Hawn Rowe (he’s a genius). But the main reason is that this dance is about dancers (the three met in New York in the mid-’80s). There’s nudity, but it’s not like Ann Liv. I won’t say anything else. Just go. [...]
Apr 04, 2007 @ 16:24