The Many Roles of Melissa Toogood
Small, thoughtful circles of the wrists frame a strong body dancing with purpose. A quick turn of her head, and we know she knows we are watching her. Melissa Toogood is fully present. At another moment, she throws her arms and one leg forward, her pelvis retreating backwards as she just catches herself from falling off balance. She is a risk-taker who never loses her composure.
Pam Tanowitz’s Broken Story (wherein there is no ecstasy) was a turning point for Toogood, the former Merce Cunningham dancer-turned multi-genre performer and rehearsal director for Pam Tanowitz Dance. The Bessie Award winner embodies force and finesse, technique and humanity. She carries many movement languages with her, having studied jazz, voice, modern, and more at the New World School of the Arts in Miami after growing up in Sydney, Australia. Her keen perspective from both inside and outside of modern dance have accompanied the choreographic ascension of Tanowitz since 2006.
Broken Story was a revelation of vulnerability. “It was a lonely piece,” Toogood described of the 2015 commission created for Guggenheim Works & Process. “Everyone was on their own path in a space that was very open,” she said, “As time went along, you ended up on your own.” Such solitude was rare for Toogood, who, as rehearsal director, sees herself as one of many elements making up a whole organism.
An overarching coexistence persisted despite the disconnect among the four dancers and four composers. Mary Sharp Cronson, founder of Works and Process, described the dancers as seeming to have “always been designed” for the museum’s rotunda. Toogood’s attentive way of outlining the curvature of the walls amplified Tanowitz’s signature use of all aspects of each theater she works in.
Broken Story also laid bare newfound tenderness. “There was a new fragility to the movement that Pam and I developed together: gestures, broken wrists, subtle soft use of the hands,” Toogood described. The more postmodern use of hand gestures, largely known through the silky yet precise works of Trisha Brown, augmented Tanowitz’s dancing lexicon. “That space felt like the next change,” Toogood said, “It felt very emotional.”
Such emotionality was a continuation of a deeper exploration of nuanced expression. It moved beyond the pure formalism that had largely guided Tanowitz since graduate school at Sarah Lawrence College. Her mentor there was star Cunningham dancer Viola Farber Slayton, who is described as preferring “formal patterns and the combinations of steps” above all else (The New York Times).
The Spectators, while decidedly form-based, was one of Tanowitz’s earlier, more exposed dances. Created in 2013, it was Toogood’s first work rejoining Tanowitz after her five-year stint with the Cunningham company. Toogood’s newly acquired performance maturity illuminated the work in a striking way.
She began the dance like a saw cutting the New York Live Arts floor in half. Her straightforward gaze and fearless propulsions up and down the meridian of the stage exuded a strong confidence. “Pam used to tell me I was too much,” Toogood said of their initial works together in 2006. But upon her return, the relationship between the two had found new ground: Tanowitz now trusted Toogood’s own interpretation.
“It felt darker, more personal,” Toogood said of The Spectators. “I was a workhorse! I never left the stage.” The obsessive excavation of a singular location on stage echoed the tireless research inherent in dance making that both artists are familiar with.
Toogood and Tanowitz have worked diligently for years in the studio, together and separately. They are consistently engaged in dialogue around the history and future of dance. “No more walking,” Toogood remembers Tanowitz deciding during the creation of The Spectators. “It was an attempt to not be lazy. Every transition from then on was analyzed and purposeful.”
Within these formal boundaries, the closing duet between Toogood and fellow former Cunningham colleague Dylan Crossman reminded the audience of dance’s humanity. The once sharp, pattern-driven demarcation of space that began The Spectators was softened by the dancers’ gentle clasping of hands. Together, the two traveled the same line created by Toogood’s darting opening sequence. This time, their regard towards the audience felt like the intimate exchange of secrets. In a noticeable shift from formalized steps, Crossman carefully tucked a lost strand of hair behind Toogood’s ear.
Toogood has frequently supported the turning points in Tanowitz’s choreographic career. The 2017 Duke Performances commission, New Work for Goldberg Variations, showcased her behind-the-scenes contributions through the successful cohesion of the company.
As rehearsal director, Toogood is responsible for closing the gap between choreographer and dancer. She leads warm-ups and assures the rigorous technical training required to execute Tanowitz’s demanding dances. She serves as a soundboard for ideas and helps recall and reconstruct phrases dissected in the past. She identifies talent and poses necessary questions throughout the creative process.
Goldberg is a highly humanistic work of many individuals dancing in harmony. The exquisitely exacting choreography and unusual musicality is softened by the dancers’ gentle connections made on stage. Pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who plays the piano center stage, invited Tanowitz to make the work to Bach’s famous score together—a rare reversal of the usual dance-seeking-music direction of inspiration.
“They felt like a family,” said Joan Acocella (The New Yorker) of the highly praised premiere. The dancers, moving in conversation with each other and the music, gave “the experience of a family,” with the occasional disconnect and regrouping, “but always coming back to the true center, never leaving you behind.” Such honest connection is a testament to the bond created within the company.
It was with Goldberg that Tanowitz’s dance language emerged as idiosyncratically her own. The expressiveness of subtle gestures explored in Broken Story were taken further into playfully poetic arrangements. The excavation of space and rigor in movement established in The Spectators made the spirited dance feel infinite and tireless. More than observing people dancing, audiences began to witness snapshots into society through Tanowitz’s choreographic vision.
Toogood and Tanowitz continue to deepen their creative collaboration with a mindset towards experimentation and discovery. Now with the role of Artistic Associate, Toogood takes on even more responsibility offstage. Her longtime presence in the company has helped weave together an impressive body of work whose continued expansion is greater than any single project or performance. “There is no product,” Tanowitz says, “all we have is our progress.”