Caution: Children Watching. How Far Do You Push the Envelope?

The New York Times
By CLAUDIA LA ROCCO
Published: November 9, 2007

When Ann Liv Young participated in Dance Theater Workshop’s Family Matters series several years ago, she was asked to make an adjustment in her piece, which involved performers’ doing upside-down splits with their heads in toilet bowls: Have them don a second pair of underpants.

Ms. Young, a charismatic artist who creates provocative dance-theater spectacles examining issues of power and performance, complied then but said she probably wouldn’t now. “Have children never seen people in underwear before?” she asked. “It’s crazy.”

People who program series like Family Matters and the New Victory Theater on 42nd Street pride themselves on pushing the envelope through challenging shows for families. But they walk a fine line to do it. Often, societal concerns over language and nudity are in direct conflict with artistic prerogatives. This can lead to heavily sugarcoated entertainment for kids, and afternoons of agony for the parents who suffer through these shows.

“You have to be sensitive to people’s responsibilities,” said Mary Rose Lloyd, director of programming at the New Victory, referring to teachers who take their classes to performances. Sometimes artists were asked to make adjustments to ease adults’ concerns. “What we’re trying to do is find that balance,” she said, “and push as much as we can, being respectful of what we think American audiences can handle.”

While many theater works are created for kids, dance, with its movement-based logic, is not often separated into adult and child categories, leaving adults with more choices, but also more homework to do to determine what they’re comfortable taking children to.

Of course some shows are sure bets, like the Devine Dance Company of Ireland, led by James Devine, which opens a two-week run at the New Victory tonight. His show, “Tapeire,” marries an older, less flashy version of Irish dancing than the “Riverdance” variety with rhythm tap, live music and a contemporary sensibility. It’s serious work, with an undeniable selling point: Mr. Devine, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the fastest dancer in the world, and he hopes to surpass his previous speed in New York.

The New Victory deems “Tapeire” suitable for ages 6 to adult. (Some shows are marketed just to teenagers.) Mr. Devine said that while child audiences had a much different energy, he would never “water down” the show to accommodate children.

The tap dancer Ayodele Casel echoed this sentiment. Next month she and Sarah Savelli will present “Tappy Holidays,” featuring some of today’s best tappers riffing on traditional songs.

“When you have a trio and musicians who are sophisticated, the dancing is going to be a more sophisticated interpretation, not the nursery-rhyme style of a basic holiday song,” Ms. Casel said, adding that she purposely avoids selling the show as a “fun-filled family event.” (Symphony Space, where the show is happening, used exactly that phrase.)

“Sometimes the choices that parents make to take their kids to kid shows has more to do with this ideal of a family matinee, or family afternoon,” she said. “It seems like ‘Let’s just go have a nice time and see little puppets.’ ”

Of course neither “Tappy Holidays” nor “Tapeire” is intended to tackle divisive social issues. Not all dance is so palatable; sex, violence and coarse language may be staples on screen, but delicacy and paranoia kick in when it comes to taking kids to live performances.

The United States has “the greatest amounts of gun violence,” Ms. Lloyd said. Yet when a children’s show has “any sort of gun issues onstage, or a prop, it’s immediately a problem” she added. “We’re protecting against what we have become.”

She contrasted this hypersensitivity with the challenging work embraced in countries like the Netherlands and Denmark. While government support allows European companies to take more risks, “it goes a lot deeper than the funding,” she said. “They just go from a place of respecting the child as an individual and not being so protective, or being protective in a good way, protecting their intelligence and their imagination.”

David Neumann’s “feedforward” was shown at Dance Theater Workshop last week as a matinee for about 40 high school students. A funny, thoughtful meditation on sports and American culture, the piece seems an ideal candidate to expose teenagers to the diverse pleasures of contemporary dance. Watching demanding art and talking about it in supplementary educational programs builds an appetite for serious live work, an appetite that many contemporary artists find lacking in adult Americans.

Audiences need to develop “the stamina it takes to actually watch theater, and dance in particular, which unfolds slowly in its mysterious, odd way,” said the choreographer Keely Garfield, a curator of Family Matters.

Still, even the most progressive theaters have concerns.

Dance Theater Workshop “was a little squeamish about it,” said Mr. Neumann, who considered, but ultimately rejected, softening the language. “I think it’s alarmist, and I don’t want to kowtow to that.”

“It smacks right in the face of what art is for,” he continued. “I wasn’t going to replace Neil’s dialogue with ‘darn it, shucks,’” he said, referring to Neil Medlyn’s script for the dance piece. “They’re going to see right through that. That’s worse in a way, to lie to them.”

Ms. Young, who had her first child in September, similarly described her horror at the sorts of things, from clothing to television shows to live performances, that are marketed to children.

“Really, what they’re doing is selling it to the parents,” she said. “I think kids are a lot smarter than adults.”

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Young Minds, Fast Feet

“Tapeire” runs tonight through Nov. 25. There will be post-show talks tomorrow at 7 p.m. and Nov. 23 at 2 p.m.; a “Tappin’ Feet Workshop” on Nov. 17 at 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.; and a “VicTeens Behind the Curtain” program on Nov. 18 at noon. The New Victory Theater, 229 West 42nd Street. (646) 223-3010, newvictory.org. $12.50, 25, 35 ($15, $17.50 and $24.50 for members).

The next Family Matters event, “The Global Glide, Rhythm & Ride,” features a diverse group of performers. Dec. 1 at 2 p.m. On Jan. 19 at 2 and 5 p.m. the series presents “Dances by Very Young Choreographers,” a program of original works by children ages 8 to 18. Dance Theater Workshop, 219 West 19th Street. (212) 924-0077, dancetheaterworkshop.org. $20 for adults, $12 for students; $10 for 13 and under.

“Tappy Holidays,” with live music by the Jackie Warren Trio, will be performed Dec. 14, at 8 p.m. The Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th Street. (212) 864-5400, symphonyspace.org. $31