Narayan Mahon
Rachel Krinsky performs Li Chiao-Ping’s ‘Grafting’ in Armature: Bodies of Hope.
Looking refined even in red Badger sweatpants, UW-Madison dance department professor Li Chiao-Ping coaches dancer Emilie Rabbitt through a solo in a rehearsal at Lathrop Hall. Three other company dancers, Rachel Krinsky, Janelle Bentley and Liz Sexe, count through movement phrases loaded with challenging jumps. Li explains to Rabbitt, "The turns are just to get you there sooner; don't make it about the turns." Later, when Rabbitt repeatedly pokes at her chest with her hands, Li talks about the emotions that might be behind the gesture: "Nagging...maybe blame."
They are rehearsing "Venous Flow: States of Grace," the first full-length work that Li, in collaboration with her husband Douglas Rosenberg, a video artist/director, created after the two were involved in a near-fatal accident on their way to campus in January 1999. Li's recovery from the accident has taken on mythical proportions in Madison's arts history. After doctors considered amputating her foot, the dancer and choreographer underwent numerous surgeries and a rigorous rehabilitation program. "Venous Flow" refers to the test measuring blood flow to her damaged appendage.
"Venous Flow" is being revived for Armature: Bodies of Hope, a celebration of Li Chiao-Ping's Dance's 20th anniversary of performing in Madison, at Memorial Union's Fredric March Play Circle Theater March 26-28.
Armature opens with "Venous Flow" and the solo "Grafting," which Li created soon after the accident; Krinsky will perform it. Newer works will follow: "Bonesetting" with UW dance majors; "Tendrils," created for the Overture Center's 10th anniversary; and "Bodies of Hope," which features company members and community dancers.
At 51, Li is in impressive form, able to pop up into a shoulder stand, hold precarious balances and seamlessly handle the demanding floor work that is a hallmark of her choreography. Without the striated scars that wrap around her foot, there are few outward signs of the struggle she faced to return to mobility, dexterity and artistry.
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Li grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and was a gymnast in her youth. Aside from one year teaching at Mills College in 2006, she has lived and worked in Madison since 1993. "Madison is a great community for my work," says Li. "A lot of people really appreciate and understand what I'm doing. That keeps the work alive and keeps me working."
Li says she felt the 1999 accident propelled her into "old age" ahead of schedule. "As part of my own recovery I was doing rehab with people that were recovering from heart surgery and other issues," says Li. "We were all together doing our own exercises and had this kinship." She began teaching dance at the Madison Senior Center in 2001 and began inviting seniors and other "community dancers" to dance in her productions.
Company dancer Sexe, who teaches ballet in the UW dance department, praises Li's approach with the community dancers: "She really understands who they are and what skills they bring."
Janelle Bentley, who graduated with a BFA in dance from UW in 2012, is back in Madison performing with Li's company after dancing professionally in Israel. She values what she learned from Li. "I think I took her skills for granted," says Bentley. "I thought everybody in other dance departments knew how to do handstands and other athletic feats, but I realized what she gave us is pretty unique."
Bentley says she also appreciates the way Li infuses art into in all aspects of her life. She recalls sitting in a departmental meeting where individuals were given items to play with as stress relievers. She looked over at Li, who had created a "ridiculously complex thing out of pipe cleaners...she is always artful, always thinking about things."
The dancers involved in "Bodies of Hope" all reference Li's high expectations, using words like perfectionist, clear, decisive and strong to describe her. The piece is about change and transformation among women, and the performers share their own stories.
In the end, says Bentley, much of Armature is about surviving. "I really appreciate [Li's] resilience, and that's something we've been exploring in the new work and in restaging 'Venous Flow.' I think even from the beginning, she knew she would dance again. That's so beautiful and so telling about her personality and her strength."
"Armature" can refer to protection armor or naturally occurring structures like shells or horns, or as it's used in sculpture -- an underlying skeletal framework that supports the work. "It's about our core, our fortitude," Li says. In fact, many years ago she tucked away an ad for a plastic surgeon she clipped from The New York Times depicting scaffolding supporting parts of women's bodies -- this was long before her injury required an external fixator, screwed into her tibia and foot, to help her heal.
On this artist's anniversary, her work will not be a requiem for what was or could have been, but rather a celebration of what is -- performed for and with the people of Madison.
