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    The Arthropologist

    Dancing the alphabet: Two art exhibits influenced by movement of the human body

    Nancy Wozny
    Nov 25, 2011 | 12:00 pm
    • Hugo Boettinger, Studie aktu Milci Mayerove (Nude Study of Milca Mayerova),1925, graphite on paper, gift of Eva Matĕjková-Willenbrinková, 1998
      Photo by Paul Hester
    • Katja Loher, Videostill from RGB Planet, 2010, 5-minute, 40-second loop
    • Katja Loher, Videostill from Timebubble, 2011, 3-minute loop
    • Vitězslav Nezval, Abeceda, (Alphabet), 1926; cover and typography: Karel Teige;choreography: Milča Mayerová; Photography: Karel Paspa; Prague: J. Otto;Collection of Roy and Mary Cullen
    • Katja Loher, Videostill from Sculpting in Air, 2010, 3-minute, 10-second loop
    • Katja Loher, Multiverse Installation and Supper for Two, 2011
    • Hugo Boettinger, Studie aktu Milci Mayerove (Nude Study of Milca Mayerova),1929, graphite on paper, gift of Eva Matĕjková-Willenbrinková, 1998
      Photo by Paul Hester

    They don't call me the dancehunter for nothing. I'm a walking motion detector with a first class antenna for dance. Whether it's spotting a dance version of duck, duck, goose, or a senior line dancing class, my radar for dance is always in the "on" position.

    So my ears perked when Cinema Arts Festival Houston artistic director Richard Herskowitz told me, "You have to see this show," referring to Katja Loher: Multiverse at Anya Tish Gallery, through Dec. 2.

    And, he was right, I had to see this show.

    Imagine looking down at a dinner plate and seeing a mini Busby Berkeley movie, which is exactly what happens in Loher's Supper for Two. In Multiverse, Loher projects intricate kaleidoscopic choreography on gigantic, white weather balloons, with delicious dance patterns wrapping around the surface of the spheres. The big show happens at the bottom of a hand blown, glass jar sculpture in Toybubble.

    I've always suspected that dance looked good in places beyond the stage, and I'm not alone in this thought.

    Filmed from above, giving a bird's eye view, the movement sequences create vibrant geometric patterns. Think June Taylor, but way more surreal.

    Loher collaborated with choreographer Saori Tsukada for Multiverse. "I direct and she translates my ideas into movement, so she is between me and the dancers," says Loher, via email on her way to Sao Paulo, Brazil for a solo show at Museu Brasilerio da Escultura.

    The NewYork-based Swiss artist has a theatrical flair, to say the least. These are full out production numbers, with engaging choreography, lights and costumes, which allow the body's contours to construct elaborate designs.

    Filmed from above, giving a bird's eye view, the movement sequences create vibrant geometric patterns. Think June Taylor, but way more surreal. It's a marvel that something that feels so large can become so tightly contained. Her pieces feel like worlds captured and put on view in an alterior realm existing between performance and the visual arts.

    Dance is an ephemeral art form. It's there, and it's gone. Not so much under Loher's hand, as she attempts to contain dance in these delicate and whimsical structures. I plan on going back over and over, because I can revisit it. Perhaps the most striking piece is Supper for Two, where the dancers mold themselves into the letters of the alphabet forming words using a process the artist calls a "videoalphabet." It's as if they are trying to send a message. I like art that talks back, in this case, dinner talks back.

    Dancing the alphabet

    Several decades earlier in 1926, Czech dancer Milča Mayerová danced the alphabet, too. Teige and the poet Vítězslav Nezval collaborated with Mayerová to create Abecedo (Alphabet), considered a masterful example of Poetism in book form, which is included the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston exhibit New Formations: Czech Avant-Garde Modern Glass and Art from the Roy and Mary Cullen Collection, through Feb. 5.

    Nezval wrote this collection of poems as a response to Arthur Rimbaud's reflections on the colors of vowels. Mayerová created a pose for each letter of the alphabet, but if you look closely (and you can because the book has been digitized and is hanging on the wall of the MFAH), you can see that her interpretations of the letters go way beyond the expected.

    "G" has a cowboy touch. "T" suggests the crucifixion. "Y adds drama, "W" goes Eygptian, while "U" feels submissive. Her "C" takes my breath away; Mayerová sits in repose, letting her spine gently curve. "C" takes on a pensive quality, unlike "V" which explodes on the page.

    Linking dance, typography, photography, conceptual art and design, Nezval's book is a beauty, and back in print. In 1926, Abecdeo was performed by Mayerová while Jarmila Horokova recited the poems. It would have been amazing to see her alphabet in action.

    After paging through the book, I was left with one question. Why have I never heard of Mayerová? A student of movement theorist Rodolf Laban, she may have been left out of dance history books because she never left Czechoslovakia. We know that she started a school. And it's clear from these images that she understood the power of the body to communicate from the page, and did so with great expression.

    Both Loher and Mayerová dwell in the paradox of motion, as they suggest the body as object, archetypal form and kinetic language, while maintaining an expressive human quality, be it held captive in a sculpture or a book.

    There you have it, dance in unlikely places, separated by decades, yet on view for you to see right now, less than a mile from each other. Just another day's work for the dancehunter.

    Watch the alphabet transformed into dance by Milca Mayerova.

    Katja Loher's Multiverse

    Multiverse, Solo Show at Anya Tish, 2011 from Katja Loher on Vimeo.

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    Movie Review

    Houston native Wes Anderson shows off comedic side in The Phoenician Scheme

    Alex Bentley
    Jun 6, 2025 | 4:00 pm
    Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme
    Photo courtesy of TPS Productions/Focus Features
    Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme.

    If you were to do a poll of the best comedy filmmakers of the 21st century, writer/director Wes Anderson is not the obvious choice to come out on top, but there’s an argument to be made for him. His quirky style doesn’t yield the guffaws that more broad comedies do, but the absurd situations he creates in his films are often more consistently funny than anything else.

    Anderson’s inimitable approach is once again on full display in The Phoenician Scheme. At its center is Zsa-Zsa Gorda (Benicio Del Toro), a much-hated businessman who’s looking to complete a number of big projects in the fictional country of Phoenicia. As he seems to be the target of multiple assassination attempts, he appoints his daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), as his heir to try to ensure his legacy.

    Both she and his new assistant, Bjorn (Michael Cera), accompany him around the country as he tries to enact a scheme to have others cover the bulk of the cost for the various projects. Those he attempts to convince include Phoenician Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), brothers Leland (Tom Hanks) and Reagan (Bryan Cranston), fellow businessman Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), ship captain Marty (Jeffrey Wright), his Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), and Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch).

    Put in Andersonian terms, the film is a mix between the madcap antics from The Grand Budapest Hotel and the impenetrable storytelling of Asteroid City. If you were to try to understand every detail of what’s going on in the story of The Phoenician Scheme, it might take three or more viewings to do so. But the film is still highly entertaining because Anderson fills its frames with his typical visual delights, great wordplay, and his particular version of slapstick.

    Much of the comedy of the film derives from Anderson inserting moments that initially come as a surprise and then utilizing them as running jokes. The film features more blood than usual for the filmmaker, but each time a character gets wounded (or worse), it gets funnier. The assassination attempts get broader as the film goes along, and the matter-of-fact way in which they’re treated by Gorda and others is also hilarious.

    Of course, Anderson is the cinephile’s comedy director, so the film is also full of high-brow things like allusions to paintings, tributes to other filmmakers, and classical music. Each time Gorda has an attempt on his life, he briefly finds himself in a version of limbo, depicted in black-and-white by Anderson. The cast of characters Gorda finds there - including Bill Murray as God - could come straight out of a 1950s Ingmar Bergman movie.

    Del Toro has delivered some great performances over the years, but this one is near the top for him. This is his second Anderson film (following The French Dispatch) and he nails the deadpan method. Also great is Cera, who uses a ridiculous accent to make a big impression. Threapleton, the daughter of Kate Winslet, makes the most of her first big film role. The list of supporting actors is too deep to properly laud everyone, but they all fit in seamlessly.

    Opinions will differ, but for this critic’s money, Anderson is at his best when he fully leans into the comedy of his films. He does just that in The Phoenician Scheme, to the point that it doesn’t matter that the story is overly complex. The combination of his eye for visual detail, a witty script, and committed performances make it a success.

    ---

    The Phoenician Scheme is now playing in theaters.

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