Excerpts from an interview with Trey McIntyre about his newly premiered work: Ten Pin Episodes
Pins and People
For me some of the most interesting ideas come from when two elements come together that don't fit. Figuring out why they fit, or why they don't fit, and what's the friction between them, or what's the commonality. For me it's a really great path toward trying to achieve art.
Going into the studio I immediately realized that you don't ever have a physical relationship with a bowling pin. They're always down at the other end of the alley. Few people even know what one feels like or how large they are. In relationship to the human body they're much bigger than you think.
So the exploration started with this question: physically how does a human being relate to this object? Through that interaction a human element develops that physically reminds us of certain things like falling over or trying to find your balance. My approach with the dancers was never oh hey lets find a way for you to fall over like a bowling pin. It was more playing with the idea of falling, watching a bowling pin do it, getting it in your body in that way, and seeing what develops.
Music and Soundscape
I was pretty hesitant to use music for this piece. I have a little bit of a disability related to music, it unnerves me. I think that's why music is both really important to me and really maddening to me. Background music will drive me to insanity. I chose the Chopin preludes for their clear simplicity. The ones I chose for this piece are so uncomplicated, so straight forward.
In equal part there's a soundscape that sounds...I'll tell you where the soundscape actually came from was the restroom in a movie theater. There was one water pipe right behind the wall and the water was rushing through, and it just sounded like when you're in New York and you can hear the train coming from really far away and there's a little bit of anxiety and anticipation of something big coming.
Knowledge and Power
Bowling pins exist in a state of precarious balance, there's really only one perfect place for them to sit and they topple easily. There's an apparent violence behind them, they get knocked over and smacked by a bowling ball. They are sensual objects, the shape of the curve and the way it relates to the human body.
Ten Pin Episodes is about a lot of different things, sometimes it is really form and shape. There is a very strong emotional content to it. I get sad when I watch it. I like that experience a lot. The dancers are generous in sharing that part of themselves. No matter how abstract the work is, there is still some sort of narrative, it's unavoidable when the human body relates with space. At this point I feel like I really went someplace new. I've grown and hopefully contributed something.
