"RAINFOREST" A multi-media artistic collaboration Choreography: Original Musical Score: Visual Art: Special Effects: Lighting Design: David Taylor Jesse Manno George Peters Jill and Dan Neafus Scott Oliver
	When Artistic Director David Taylor is asked what gave him the original idea to create a multi-media production based on life in a tropical rain forest, he responds by telling the story of receiving a promotional postcard in the mail from light artists Jill and Daniel Neafus.

   On the cover of the postcard was a photograph of one of their recent gallery installations where they splashed green light from their own specially made lighting instruments on shredded paper sculpture. Mr. Taylor says that this particular image reminded him of foliage in a rain forest. As obscure as this impetus perhaps was, the result has been nothing less than a phenomenon for his Denver-based contemporary ballet company. "Rainforest" has gone on to become one of the David Taylor Dance Theatre's most popular productions, rivaling even "The Nutcracker".

    Since the premiere of "Rainforest" in 1995, the DTDT has presented the production almost every year in Denver since, and toured it to venues as far away as the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California. The full-length production has seen two major expansions, one in 1996 and most recently, in 2002, and now spans almost two hours, with intermission. Mr. Taylor also created a smaller-scale, one-hour children’s version. Entitled "A Children’s Rainforest Odyssey", it now averages 50 performances each year in Denver metro area elementary schools, and now accompanies the full-length version to cities throughout the United States. How did all of this happen?

    After getting the original idea, Mr. Taylor brought together some very special artists from very different artistic disciplines. He knew that his vision called for a totally new kind of dance/theatre experience if the audience were to get the full effect of the magic and mystery of life in a tropical rain forest, and for that to happen, he needed help.

    First, Mr. Taylor called his friend George Peters. David and George had worked together on a number of different projects before, and Mr. Taylor knew that George's incredible imagination, vision, and stellar abilities to create props, set pieces, and costumes out of very light, inexpensive materials were a rare gift. Mr. Peters was designated to provide much of the costume design for the dancers, including the amazing "creature" costumes, along with numerous hand-held props and the spectacular "Malaysian hummers".Next, Mr. Taylor asked Jill and Daniel Neafus to create some never-before-seen special effects. One of the first things we all think about when we hear the words rain forest is, of course, rainfall. However, to have real water on the stage was not possible due to electrical lighting instruments and the danger of dancers slipping on the stage. Instead, Jill and Daniel came up with the idea of "rain pods". These were comprised of clusters of small, hand-made pin spot lighting instruments installed above the stage. From these "pods", strings were extended from the lights straight down to the stage floor, where they were anchored. The whole light package was computer generated, and on cue with Jesse Manno's "monsoon" in the musical score, syncopated rainfall, created by light, appeared to the audience as the lights flashed quickly down the strings.

    Boulder, CO composer and musician Jesse Manno was called in to write the score. What kind of music would come to mind as he pondered the rain forests? Well, before we get into Jesse's process, it is important to understand exactly how the artists put the whole idea together.

   The "Rainforest" collaborating artists started with the seemingly simple idea of creating a work that would pay homage to the magic, mystery, and fragility of this incredible ecosystem. From the outset, it was clear that there were to be no political messages. The artists felt that if they were to be successful in capturing even part of this wonder and awe, that this would be in and of itself, message enough.

    The artists started with a "story board". Much like film makers, the collaborating team drew up a plan of the major components they felt important to include, then, once these components or areas of artistic representation were agreed upon, they would fill in the details. "Rainforest" was divided into two parts. It was decided that

Part I would include the sections:

   1. The Canopy
   2. Transition to the Rain Forest Floor, Floating Eyes and Insects, Monsoon
   3. Pods, Stamen, and Leafcutters
   4. A Walking Stick, Queen Leafcutter Ant, Turtle, Millipeed, Poison Arrow Frog,        Lemur, Boa Constrictor, Two Lizards
   5. Fruit Bats
   6. Birds, and
   7. Monkeys.

    The team started with the idea of we, as audience members, flying high above this mysterious rain forest, looking down below as if we were in a balloon. Things were murky at first – the audience, or we as viewers from above, could only make out the dense canopy that protects and hides most of the wonders beneath it. At the beginning of the production, therefore, we see Jill and Daniel Neafus’ incredible shifting patterns of light on top of the canopy as the sun rises.

    Speaking of the sun, the idea of a progression from morning to night played a part in the concept, as did our experience, as audience members, of journeying through the different levels of the rain forest. So, after this mysterious view of the canopy from above, the audience is gradually taken down to life on the rain forest floor.

    In this transition, the artists felt it was important to bring into play the sense of the multitudes of teeming life that we were about to discover. Thus, before the floor appears, Jill and Dan Neafus created from hand-held theatre lights "floating eyes", that peered out to the audience, and George Peters created a "black-lit" section filled with flying dragonflies and moths, and crawling beetles and a praying mantis.

    Note: "black lights" are special effect lights that appear to glow purple. Under them, white objects or day-glow painted objects appear to glow, while black objects disappear. In this case, dancers, dressed in black, hold the George Peters’ day-glow painted props.

   Now, let’s get back to composer Jesse Manno. As the story board developed and began to take shape, Jesse began to have a basis from which to work. His opening is a long, drawn out drone, as if we were flying high above the forest, looking down through the heat. As we transition down to the floor and begin to see strange eyes and flying and crawling creatures, we hear the buzzing of insects and the immediacy of a monsoon. Mr. Manno created this marvelous score by playing most of the instruments himself, by using his own voice, and by even recording natural sounds, like rain and thunder or the splashing of water. These he sometimes "sampled", or augmented and distorted them, through electronic recording devices. As this rain storm is heard, the audience first sees the syncopated rainfall, in light, created by the Neafus team.

    As we get finally to the rain forest floor, the audience first sees three huge pods and some very strange "leafcutter ants" crawling about in the early morning mist. From the pods arise the "stamen" of these plants as the early morning beams of sunlight hit the pods. Stamen are the central stalks of flowering plants. The David Taylor Dance Theatre’s "stamen" are female dancers in different colored unitards, designed by George Peters, that eventually are "partnered" by the leafcutters, the male dancers. Here, Jesse Manno’s music conjures up a pristine, early misty morning atmosphere.

    Next, we travel to the understory. This is one of the audiences favorite sections. The collaborating team thought this was the ideal part in the production to bring forth some of the amazing rainforest creatures. Here, George Peters outdid himself. In front of the audience’s eyes appear a poison arrow dart frog, a queen leafcutter ant, two large lizards, a huge "walking stick", a 30-foot boa constrictor, a lemur, a turtle, and a very large millipeed. Jesse Manno provided an abstract potpourri of splashing, grinding, and buzzing sounds as these creatures come forth, and later, throughout a very contemporary dance of exotic "Birds of Paradise" dancing flowers, Mr. Peters' creature costumes are truly brilliant and magical. They convey a charming, humorous character that audiences immediately fall in love with. For the dancers who inhabit them, however, they provide quite a challenge. Not only are they in some cases quite hot and are a little difficult to see out of, but the most difficult challenge is how the dancers move in them. It took quite a bit of study and practice for them to accurately create the movement quality of these magnificent insects, amphibians, and reptiles.

    Next, the team created a short section on fruit bats. With huge wings, three dancers create an eerie effect in the night as we hear their bat wings flutter against a rather spooky musical background.

    Higher up in the understory and now as we begin to go up into the canopy, the artistic team knew that they must include a section on the beautiful, exotic rain forest birds. For this section Jesse Manno composed perhaps his most beautiful musical section, a melancholy, plaintive string section with the echoing coos and caws of birds in the background. David Taylor choreographed three duets and three other birds in white unitards, along with an ensemble section of toucans. With their day-glow colored feathers and head pieces, these black-clad toucans are illuminated with strobe lights and black light. Also in black light are three sets of flying "toucan puppets". Created by Peters, these amazing props again are manipulated by dancers dressed all in black. At the end of twenty foot poles, these flying toucans create a mesmerizing effect as they soar high above the stage.

    At the end of Part I of "Rainforest", the lemur makes another grand entrance, this time swinging across the stage on a vine as he lands on a tree branch. From there, the lemur is attacked by a very funny group of "monkey puppets". Wielded again by dancers in black standing just out of the stagelight, these monkeys become quite frantic amid the "chac-a-chac-a" sounds of Jesse Manno’s almost Balinese-sounding percussive music.

    When the collaborating team reached the end of Part I, which explored the many different levels of natural rainforest life, they knew that they didn’t want to leave out another species that has also called the rainforest home for centuries. This of course, is the human species – the native Indian peoples who still inhabit rain forest environments around the world today. So Part II of "Rainforest" was devoted exclusively to these unique peoples. For our model, we chose the native Indians who inhabit the Amazon rain forest in Brazil.

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