Choreography, turkey lurkey time, Angelo Badalamenti.
Choreography, turkey lurkey time, Angelo Badalamenti.

MediaApril 7, 2019

My YouTube Party of Five: Laura Vincent

Guest writer
Choreography, turkey lurkey time, Angelo Badalamenti.
Choreography, turkey lurkey time, Angelo Badalamenti.

Obscure Tony awards performances, Twin Peaks and choreography videos – Laura Vincent’s YouTube Party of Five runs the full weird YouTube gamut.

From ANTM to ASMR, YouTube has been crucial to my wellbeing, something I tell you with neither hesitation nor exaggeration for comic effect. In 2007 my flatmates and I would bond over slow-buffering episodes of Top Model in ten minute bursts; now I soften my anxiety or drift off to sleep to ASMR and other similarly soothing videos literally daily, including right now as I write this.

These videos that I’ve chosen to share with you are listed in order of least to most well-received by my audiences. It was hard narrowing it down to just five – I was like, “Does this 14 minute supercut compilation of the final riff in ‘Defying Gravity’ from the musical Wicked have broad appeal?” Does anything that I’m into have broad appeal?” Who knows, but we’re about to find out.

‘Turkey Lurkey Time’ (from the musical Promises, Promises) performed at the 1969 Tony Awards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkBZ0-r_M-8

This video is very very stupid and I cannot express how emotional I get over it. The song itself is entirely throwaway but Michael Bennett’s choreography is unreal and iconic. Behold triple threat Donna McKechnie in the red dress! Watch how her neck appears boneless as she pops it at 1:36! See how she kicks and flings her limbs as though she’s made of rubber, like she’s somehow above having a spinal cord! While singing the whole time! Every time I see the end part when they’re running diagonally across the stage and then suddenly they’re in sync again I get chills. In fact sometimes I get tearful.

On your second rewatch look out for Baayork Lee in the green dress. She’s so dynamic and would later star with McKechnie again in A Chorus Line, choreographed and directed by none other than old mate Michael Bennett. Due to its seasonal nature I have a personal annual tradition where I watch this video on December 1st – no sooner – to herald the coming Christmas. Please…invite me to your parties.

Idina Menzel singing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ on Comedy Central in 1996

You know that meme with text laid over clasped hands about a thing shared by two separate groups of people? Well that’s me and your four year old child, we are a Venn diagram, united in Idina “Elsa from Frozen” Menzel’s enormous influence upon our lives. I’ve been a fan of Menzel’s work on Broadway since about 2005 – like, I swear I nearly blacked out the first time I heard her voice. As you can imagine, it’s a real treat for my alarmingly sincere self to see her achieve mainstream success of late.

Anyway, this video, from a comedy show in 1996, is so weird. The host Jeff Ross does a bit about how he can’t sing, and Idina Menzel – debuting in the smash musical RENT at the time – is planted in the audience to heckle him, and to show everyone how a real singer does it. And the song is ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’! And the host is so baffled and half-assed about the whole thing! And Idina is hilariously game, throwing down intense riffs while she’s singing this nursery rhyme to a confused audience! And absolutely no one seems to know what to do with themselves!

I love the shambles of it all, and it’s a wonderful showcase for Idina’s voice as it was in the 90s, so much more gravelly and raspy than the cleaner instrument it has evolved into. If you’re still reading, you may also get a kick out of this (audio only) recording of Kristin Chenoweth singing ‘For Good’ from Wicked with Alanis Morrisette – yes truly – in the Elphaba part. This is what it’s like when worlds collide!

Angelo Badalamenti explaining how he wrote ‘Laura Palmer’s Theme’ from Twin Peaks

Angelo Badalamenti shows us on his keyboard how he interpreted the ideas that David Lynch was pressing upon him in order to compose, on the spot, this intensely poignant piece of music. Badalamenti’s thickly emotional voice sounds like an old-timey storybook narrator, like he was born to speak about mysterious sycamore-filled woods. I’m transfixed by the part where he recalls Lynch instructing him that this moment is when Laura Palmer appears, and so in turn the music opens wide up – it feels like anything is possible, the sound of sunshine breaking through grey clouds – and then when Lynch tells him to make her retreat in fear, it’s suddenly unbearably melancholic. It feels like you’d do anything to convince Laura to stay.

We’re at a time when, from a child’s fifth birthday to a silver wedding anniversary, someone in attendance will probably try to talk to you about Twin Peaks, so this video will at least be likely to have relevance to your party guests. I (a person with no relevance to your party guests) cry every time I watch this. Hell, I’m crying right now.

Tricia Miranda choreography to ‘Trini Dem Girls‘

Tricia Miranda is an exceptional, influential choreographer who has worked with Beyonce and Missy Elliot, and this video from her studio has group after group of dancers interpreting her choreography to Nicki Minaj’s song. Everyone has their own spin on the complicated moves and you can really see who’s merely technical and who’s got innate charisma. The particularly skilled dancers somehow create space in the milliseconds between moves, effortlessly hitting their mark with crispness yet total insouciance. If it looks easy, try it yourself. My favourite dancers are in red shorts and DOPE t-shirts – you’ll know when you see them.

(I also recommend the 1 MILLION dance videos from Korea, I’m obsessed with Mina Myoung’s choreography to Beyonce’s 7/11 and May J Lee’s choreography to Boom Clap by Charli XCX.)

Bob Ducca’s lists of things he’s allergic to

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It’s audio only but I nevertheless urge you to click through! This is very simple: comedian Seth Morris has this character called Bob Ducca who, with solemn indefatigability, lists his various ailments for the hosts of a comedy show. As well as being immensely silly and massively funny it’s also useful: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told people quite genuinely that I have “a hyper-tolerance to lactose” forgetting entirely that I was quoting this video.

You can read Laura Vincent’s other writing at her blog ‘Hungry and Frozen‘.

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vai feat

ĀteaApril 5, 2019

Across the Pacific: Vai and the beauty in a chorus of voices

vai feat

In cinemas now, Vai tells the story of one woman’s life through eight ten-minute shorts, directed by nine Pacific women.

At the Auckland premiere of Vai at Sylvia Park, dozens of attendees line up at the candy bar to buy a drink for the film. After paying, they then continued into the theatre where they discovered that, like all premieres, snacks and drinks were provided free of charge.

It’s a small misunderstanding that represents a much larger reality: Pasifika don’t often get invited to premieres, and Pasifika don’t often make movies to premiere.

As if making up for lost time, Vai has nine Pacific women writer-directors. Produced by Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton, and a sequel of sorts to the critically acclaimed Waru (2017), Vai consists of eight ten-minute vignettes, directed by nine women. Each vignette is largely one shot and set, in order of appearance, in Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, (Sāmoan in) Aotearoa, Cook Islands, Sāmoa, Niue, and Aotearoa.

The directors, clockwise from top left: Amberley Jo Aumua, Dianna Fuemana, Becs Arahanga, Marina Alofagia, ‘Ofa-Ki-Levuka Gettenbiel-Likiliki, Miria George, Nicole Whippy, Matasila Freshwater, Sharon Whippy (Images: Supplied)

Vai follows the character Vai from age seven to age eighty. Though her body and location changes with each time jump, her story is consistent. It’s a plot device that works especially well given the shared experiences of women from all Pacific Islands. Niue Vai and Sāmoan Vai really aren’t that different.

For Warkia, the decision to keep each vignette as one shot, like Waru, was easy to make. “Obviously if Waru hadn’t worked we wouldn’t be here,” she said, speaking before the Auckland premiere. “We loved the idea of a single shot and what you can do with that. And how the audience really sits with the actor the entire time, going through everything with them and they can’t escape it.”

The directors all had a cultural connection to their island setting, but there was no system in place to divy up the timeline. “Kiel and I lay awake some nights going ‘oh my god what if they all fight over what part of Vai’s life they want to tell’. One of the directors came in thinking to herself ‘I’m quite happy to fit in where I’m needed to fit in’ so that was incredibly generous. Other people said ‘I actually don’t feel like I have the experience to write to this but I feel really comfortable here in this [other] space.’”

It’s a unique project, sharing a director credit with eight others. Dianna Fuemana (Niue vignette) knew going in that directing on this film wouldn’t include the same overarching control as an orthodox shoot. “We accepted on the first day that they [Warkia and McNaughton] were the ‘Kapeteni’ of our Vaka. We would ‘ama’ and take turns at steering but they would lead us.”

Leading nine Pasifika women directors meant adapting the schedule and budgets to cater to unique needs. Something Warkia believes is long overdue industry-wide. “There’s a real holistic view you have to take with it and I really enjoy that way of working. I really do want to know if you’re a single mother and you’re struggling with your daughter and you actually need her to travel with you and be on set with you. We can do that. We can make that happen. And that’s what we did.

“What do those women need to achieve their full potential because that’s what we need to put in place. Those things have to go into our budgets and we have to understand what that means because they deserve it.”

Fiona Collins with director Marina McCartney and her daughter, rehearsing in Samoa (Image: Supplied)

In film, as in most industries, those most deserving rarely receive the opportunity to excel. Watching Vai, it’s hard to believe that the majority of people seen on screen had never acted before. Eight girls and women play Vai in the film and only one, Fiona Collins in the Sāmoa vignette, had acted previously to this project. It leaves you wondering if you’ll be seeing any of them again.

As Warkia knows all too well, the first response to any call for more diversity in the entertainment industry is simply that the numbers aren’t there. And it pisses her off. “One of the things that drives me crazy is I sat in a drama hui and one of these bloody guys said ‘where are these people that you talk about? Where are the Māori directors?’ He said, “we’ve got diversity in catering, we’ve got diversity in the gaffer team…”

“I literally had just gotten off the plane that morning from Toronto where Waru had its international premiere to go to this meeting to listen to this fucking white guy talk about ‘where are they?’ It’s super insulting and it’s ridiculous. The door has been shut for so long for women and even longer for women of colour. You need to open that goddamned door and you need to go out and you need to find them. Because they’re making shit happen in their communities and families.”

From the families and communities to the world. Vai’s screenings at SXSW and the Berlin International Film Festival were all sold out. It received widespread positive reviews despite showing to audiences about as far removed from a Solomon Islands lagoon as you could get. For ‘Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki (Tonga vignette) it’s no surprise but a welcome vindication.

“Our stories told our way is perfectly fine and it doesn’t need to be tweaked or refined to suit an ‘international audience’. We often try to conform or fit a particular way of storytelling with the fear that if we tell it like it is, only a Pacific or indigenous audience will be interested. The world is ready for our stories and this is just the beginning.”