Claire Porter
Encyclopedia
Claire Porter is an American
choreographer/comedienne known for blending comedic monologues with dance
movement. She is also an award-winning performer, author, and dance educator whose dance works, which she refers to as Portables, have been produced by various dance organizations, college theater programs and venues around the world.
, Connecticut
, where, as a child, she was a star athlete and danced in a local studio. After she earned her BA in Mathematics
from the College of New Rochelle in New York, she became a computer programmer for G.E. Analytical Engineering
in Schenectady, New York. Porter returned to her dancing roots after witnessing a performance by Maria Tallchief
. She then attended Sonoma State University
in California from 1969-1973. At Sonoma State, she studied dance, taught Family Dance, Exercise, and Children’s Dance, and directed a dance company of 12 members. Porter eventually moved from California
to Ohio
to study dance at Ohio State University
. It was there that Porter discovered Laban Movement Analysis
and began exploring gestures, acting, writing, and voice. She later received her certification for Laban Movement Analysis at the Laban/Bartenieff
Institute of Movement Studies NYC. She earned her MA in Dance from Ohio State and has continued the exploration of gestural movement as a teacher
, choreographer and performer.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
choreographer/comedienne known for blending comedic monologues with dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
movement. She is also an award-winning performer, author, and dance educator whose dance works, which she refers to as Portables, have been produced by various dance organizations, college theater programs and venues around the world.
Biography
Claire Porter was born in New BritainNew Britain
New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, where, as a child, she was a star athlete and danced in a local studio. After she earned her BA in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
from the College of New Rochelle in New York, she became a computer programmer for G.E. Analytical Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
in Schenectady, New York. Porter returned to her dancing roots after witnessing a performance by Maria Tallchief
Maria Tallchief
Maria Tallchief was the first native-American prima ballerina. From 1942 to 1947 she danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but she is best known for her time with the New York City Ballet from 1947 to 1965.-Early life:...
. She then attended Sonoma State University
Sonoma State University
Sonoma State University is a public, coeducational business and liberal arts college affiliated with the California State University system. The main campus is located in Rohnert Park, California, United States and lies approximately south of Santa Rosa and north of San Francisco...
in California from 1969-1973. At Sonoma State, she studied dance, taught Family Dance, Exercise, and Children’s Dance, and directed a dance company of 12 members. Porter eventually moved from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
to study dance at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
. It was there that Porter discovered Laban Movement Analysis
Laban Movement Analysis
Laban is a way and language for interpreting, describing, visualizing and notating all ways of human movement. Created by Rudolf Laban, LMA draws on his theories of effort and shape to describe, interpret and document human movement...
and began exploring gestures, acting, writing, and voice. She later received her certification for Laban Movement Analysis at the Laban/Bartenieff
Bartenieff Fundamentals
Bartenieff Fundamentals are an extension of Laban Movement Analysis developed by Irmgard Bartenieff, who trained with Laban before becoming a physiotherapist...
Institute of Movement Studies NYC. She earned her MA in Dance from Ohio State and has continued the exploration of gestural movement as a teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
, choreographer and performer.
Portables
Porter’s Portables are a number of comedic movement monologues and group theater dance pieces. Although these works have taken the comedic route, they were not initially created to be funny. The comedic interpretation was a result of how her audience viewed her works. She came up with the name Portables when she was leaving Ohio State University. It is a pun on Porter’s last name as well as a sentimental way of signifying that she planned to take her dance works with her when she graduated. She is also said to call her works Portables because they can be performed in both small and large spaces. Each Portable is about 12 minutes in length, so about 5 or 6 Portables are performed at each concert.Portables: solo works and some brief descriptions
- Namely, Muscles
- Piano – A pianist is ready to perform for an audience, but the piano hasn’t arrived
- Lost in the Modern – Contemplation of modern life and art
- Green Dress Circle
- Fund Raiser – A solicitor for funds has to deal with a hostile audience
- Fitness Digest – A physical fitness teacher conducts a class of imaginary pupils
- Homestretch
- Dining Out – A calm diner grows increasingly tipsy.
- Slipping into Weather
- Lecture
- Ordering Greens
- Mulch
- If My Words Wore Boots
- Planted Feet
Portables: group works and some brief descriptions
- It’s About Time
- Time Walking
- Walk Walk Walk
- Between the Lines
- Frieze Frame
- Boot Reports
- Too Much on My Plate – Waiters and waitresses struggle with more than just the specials of the day
- Sweeps
- Panel – Two men and two women make up the International Decisions Panel, which makes decisions about the possibility of making decisions.
Critical reviews
- “Panel, though often amusing, lacked a truly effective comic punchline. However, Laura Clayton's nervous score perfectly matched the nervous choreography.”
- “The solo was intermittently funny. But Ms. Porter is rather self-conscious about it all, and Piano becomes an unfulfilled one-joke piece.”
- “Ms. Porter made her points economically. She could have roamed nervously about, demonstrating outlandish exercises; she could have assigned other dancers the roles of timid or bumbling students. Instead, she kept her sketch a solo and sat on a stool. And by doing little - but by doing everything so that the slightest movement counted - she made Fitness Digest a satirical cartoon drawn in black ink with the sharpest of strokes.”
- “The effect of "Fitness Digest" was of wandering into an aerobics class conducted by a mild-mannered lunatic at breakneck speed.”
- “The setting was a little restaurant surrounded by trees festooned hauntingly with coats, designed by Power Boothe. A wistful blank-faced waiter, played by Ms. Porter, prepares the table then leaves, to be followed onstage by Ms. Porter as the diner. She looks at first like a beautiful, solitary young woman Jacques Tati might spot across the room in a seaside cafe. Her diner is pure Beatrice Lillie by the end, tipsy on pink wine but still tilting at the world. It is deft physical comedy of a high order, as poignant as it is funny.”
- “While Ms. Porter refers to her short, engaging works as “portables,” in other hands they could easily become trifles. But she doesn’t obscure her work with pretense; the first goal is to entertain, and in her best efforts she achieves even more.”
- "Porter's deliciously wild humor erupts through her studies like fire. Her subsequent gestural analysis is as rigorous as any anthropological kinesic study. Her work is smart, musical and skilled." - H. B. Kronen, The Morning Union, Springfield, MA
- "Droll and beautifully observed character studies." - Burt Supree, The Village Voice
Teaching experiences
- Wagner CollegeWagner CollegeWagner College is a private, co-educational, national liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,400 total students located atop Grymes Hill in New York City's borough of Staten Island...
- Grand Valley College where she worked on gestural pieces including a piece in American Sign LanguageAmerican Sign LanguageAmerican Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...
- Columbia Teachers College where she taught ChoreographyChoreographyChoreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
and Laban Movement AnalysisLaban Movement AnalysisLaban is a way and language for interpreting, describing, visualizing and notating all ways of human movement. Created by Rudolf Laban, LMA draws on his theories of effort and shape to describe, interpret and document human movement... - Hope CollegeHope CollegeHope College is a medium-sized , private, residential liberal arts college located in downtown Holland, Michigan, a few miles from Lake Michigan. It was opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled...
- Manhattanville CollegeManhattanville CollegeManhattanville College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering undergraduate and graduate degrees, located in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 it was known initially as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart...
- Purchase College
- Connecticut CollegeConnecticut CollegeConnecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...
- CASE Western Reserve University
Books by Claire Porter
- Dynamics in a Bag (self-published) – teaches about the range of dynamics in movement
- Namely, Muscles (self-published) – book of 37 poems on over 68 muscles
- Don’t Answer That (under construction) – bag of question cards to help choreographers create dance pieces
- Laban Bag – The Effort Qualities (under construction) – bag of theatre game cards for understanding Laban’s Effort Qualities
Nominations and awards/achievements
- Received numerous National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowships
- Received numerous New Jersey State Council on the Arts Choreography Fellowships
- Awarded the College of Arts and Sciences’ Creative Achievement Award at Ohio State University
- Awarded the Mather Professorship at CASE Western Reserve University
- Nominated for the CalArts/Alpert AwardAlpert Awards in the ArtsThe CalArts/Alpert Award in the Arts was established in the 1994 by The Herb Alpert Foundation in collaboration with the California Institute of the Arts . The foundation provides $50,000 annual fellowship to five artists in the field of film and video, visual arts, theatre, dance, and music....