THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010


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C9 Solving life’s mysteries with Charlie Chan burgess from C1


There’s a distinctly Asian look and feel to his work, with its languid pacing, ev- ery move precisely sculpted and de- tailed. His pieces tend to be serious; “Island” is dark and violent. But “Charlie Chan and the Mystery of Love” is sophisti- cated and funny, just this side of camp — rather like the movies that inspired it. At a recent rehearsal at Georgetown Day High School in Northwest Washington, the studio is littered with quintessential Chan props: a crystal ball, a notebook, a martini glass. Scenes from Chan movies flicker on a vintage TV. At one point in the 30-minute piece, there’s a seance and a hypnotism. There’s even a murder. It’s Burgess’s most autobiographical work, a treatment of how he became en- grossed in Chan’s world of clues and mystery, and how Chan’s corny philoso- phy offered unexpected comfort. Often, the Burgess character, danced by Ricardo Alvarez, finds himself sur- rounded by glamour pusses in satiny 1930s-style gowns, like refugees from the set of “Charlie Chan in Paris” or “Charlie Chan’s Murder Cruise.” But in the midst of a swoony waltz, as Fred Astaire croons “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” in the background, Alvarez locks eyes with another woman’s partner and dances off with him. Cue the moon glow.


Charlie Chan comes to Santa Fe


Dream or reality? Burgess intermin- gles both in his new piece, but despite the affectionate spoofing of his boyhood hero and the pseudo-enlightened voice- over (“Man is clouded by mystery of love; Charlie Chan is guide”), he’s mak- ing a point beyond being an outsider, be- yond coming out. It’s about something exquisitely simple: belonging. “So much of my work is about finding


a place where . . . people can find a place of love and safety,” Burgess says in an in- terview after the rehearsal. “And so much of that has to do with how I grew up.”


Burgess’s parents are artists. His Ko- rean American mother is a textile de- signer; his father, of Scots-Irish descent, a painter. They moved from California to New Mexico to pursue their art. But it wasn’t an easy change for their son. “Santa Fe was such a different place than it is today,” Burgess says. He’s self- possessed, tall, with enviable posture, though he retired from dancing a few years ago with a back injury. With his fine features, dimpled smile and defer- ential manners, he could charm a repo man. But not his peers in school. “The ability to be out in that commu-


nity was just not there when I was com- ing of age,” he says. “... It’s taken me years to talk about it.”


Some families in his neighborhood had been in the region for hundreds of years. He didn’t speak the Spanglish. There were hardly any other Asians. And he wasn’t macho. Kids picked on him. Burgess found solace in weekend tele- vision. There were the kung fu movies, steeped in “a masculine perspective through physicality,” he says. Charlie Chan was a more appealing type of mas- culine: “This quiet detective, not doing


PHOTOS BY ASTRID RIECKEN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST REFLECTING: Dana Tai Soon Burgess found solace in Charlie Chan movies as a young, unmacho outsider in Santa Fe.


steps in for close examination. He wants a sense of weight in an outstretched arm. The elbow should be crooked just so. And focus, but don’t glare. “The kick to the work is that it has


that old-fashioned show look from the ’30s and ’40s,” he tells the dancers, “but if we can do a gradation on that, so it’s not cheesy . . . “It’s supposed to be on this funny edge of dark humor,” he murmurs, coming back to watch another run-through. “And that’s a hard place to coach.” “Dana is very keen about what the ges- tures convey,” says Alvarez, 30. “The sub- tleties of how is your head posed, and where is the contrapposto in your form. I hadn’t worked with a choreographer before who took such time and patience in where your focus goes to, or your hand position.” Burgess isn’t impressed by big move- ments; it’s the nuances, he says, that make you think. “To get the audience prepared for a deeper message, you need that quiet moment to contemplate something.”


Finding his footing


Burgess is the unusual artist who has not changed his painstaking style, even as bold moves, athleticism and splayed- out flexibility have become vogue in dance. Perhaps that’s because he started late, and before stumbling into dance he’d had a lot of time to think about who he was (more Chan-ish). And who he wasn’t (Bruce Lee). That was the posi- tive outcome of the turmoil in Santa Fe: It pushed him onto a successful path. To help Burgess cope with the bully-


SPELLBINDING:At Georgetown Day High School, dancers rehearse “Charlie Chan,” which includes a hypnotism, right. Charlie Chan was a man who “really looked at symbols, how


symbols or clues can lead to a larger understanding of a mystery.” — Dana Tai Soon Burgess


martial arts but studying his environ- ment. He was much more cerebral.” Burgess loved Chan because he was calm and watchful, not aggressive, with a delicacy that nowadays has been called effeminate. He was a man who “really looked at symbols, how symbols or clues can lead to a larger understanding of a mystery,” Burgess says. It’s a fascination he shared, and one he can indulge in his


ASK AMY


Gossip inflames a once-friendly neighbor


Dear Amy: I have an elderly neighbor with whom I have always had a good relationship. She was very helpful to me when my husband passed away. My present husband and I have always been helpful in return. I am a nurse and have helped her out on many occasions. My husband has been helpful around her yard.


She is a widow, and I think she is demonstrating early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. She is now angry with us because a “friend” related a conversation about her that we had with some other people in town. This friend completely twisted the


conversation around, and rather than consider our friendship and all the good deeds we have performed, she has chosen to yell at us across the driveway, etc. I am upset about this and worried about her.


It is unpleasant, to say the least, especially since my neighbor on the other side is my husband’s ex-wife (that’s a story for another letter). What can I do without making a difficult situation worse?


Monkey in the Middle Just because your neighbor is


behaving badly doesn’t necessarily mean that she has dementia. Maybe she’s just really angry with you and expressing it in an inappropriate way. Because you seem like a nice person, as well as a great neighbor, you should offer her an explanation and apology for your own behavior. You say a “friend” twisted your


conversation, not that your elderly neighbor twisted it. Based on what she believes to be true, her reaction might be more proportional. This gives you the opportunity to approach her to say, “I’m so sorry for what you heard, but I’d like to set the record straight and ask for your forgiveness.” This would go best if accompanied by some homemade coffeecake.


Your neighbor’s reaction should


dictate what you do next. If you continue to worry about her, you should consider trying to contact a family member to express your concern.


Dear Amy: I know readers gave you a hard time


over your answer to “Worried,” whose 68-year-old mother had stopped cooking. You suggested she might have physical or cognitive issues preventing her from navigating safely in the kitchen. This is exactly what we saw with my


mother. She wouldn’t cook and wouldn’t let anyone else cook in her kitchen. This was one of the first signs we noticed of what was later diagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease.


Sad Whenever there is an extreme


change, it’s best to try to explore every possibility — including that this mother was just sick of cooking.


Dear Amy: I’m responding to the letter from a


young woman who was whining because her boyfriend was an hour late for a home-cooked meal. He was inconsiderate, but the woman is no prize, either.


He had called at 7 to say he was running late. He finally got there at 8, and she had already eaten. How long did she wait before she


started to eat without him — a half-hour? He had called to say he was on his way! I think she pulled a cheap stunt.


A Reader


He was inconsiderate, and she was passive-aggressive. Not exactly a match made in heaven.


Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@tribune. com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.


© 2010 by the Chicago Tribune Distributed by Tribune Media Services


Printed using recycled fiber. CAROLYN HAX


Adapted from a recent online discussion:


Dear Carolyn: Is there anything wrong with a single, childless 50-year-old whose only goal in life is to coast to retirement, having saved enough to make retirement comfortable and carefree? I keep reading about having a grand purpose in life, working in a field that you love, being creative, etc., and it just sounds like too much work to me. I like to have good, clean fun. I don’t


like to be responsible for other people. I give to charity, but I don’t want to work in a soup kitchen or be hands-on with helping others. My job is not very fulfilling, sometimes boring, but it pays well enough, and I don’t feel overwhelmed or like I can’t produce what is required of me. I get along with the people at work, and I don’t find myself dreading going to work. Do I need to challenge myself? Do I need to set more goals? Is coasting such a bad thing?


Coasting The only thing that suggests there’s


anything wrong with the way you’re living is your asking me whether it’s wrong. If you think what you’ve described is the perfect life, then, congratulations, you’re living the perfect life.


If instead you have some nagging Uneasy about coasting through life


a good life. The details are up to you. Dear Carolyn:


My husband and I recently split, and


I’ve surprised myself by thinking about dating so soon after. On one hand, I am a bit fragile, but on the other, I haven’t had a caring, intimate relationship in years. I’ve been mourning my marriage for longer than it’s been officially over. I do feel renewed since the split, but it’s quick. Is there a standard period of waiting to make the best choices for myself?


Recent divorcee


I’ve been saying this for years: The emotional end of a relationship can long predate its official end. Since you’re feeling fragile, I would


NICK GALIFIANAKIS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST


doubts, then heed them. To answer the larger question —


whether a grand purpose in life is necessary for having a good life — I’d say that society benefits when there’s variety in what people see as their life purpose. People with small ambitions, quiet lives, or just a knack for fun bring needed balance to people with grand ambitions. Someone needs to tend the gardens and bake cookies with the kids. The world definitely needs people who tend to the world-changing details of raising a child well as badly as it needs global peacemakers. What matters, I think, is that you bring more to the world than you take away. That’s


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suggest caution. And, too, people whose hearts have been numb for a long time are really vulnerable to a wild jolt, which isn’t always the path to the kind of lasting intimacy you want. (That’s the rebound phenomenon in a nutshell, by the way — it’s not just the first relationship after a breakup, it’s the first relationship after a spell of deprivation.) That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t


date, though. It just means you should be mindful that, if you get such a jolt, it’s most likely time to enjoy the ride vs. time to book the church. Give any new love a lot of time to prove it’s for real.


Read the whole transcript or join the discussion live at noon Fridays


on www.washingtonpost.com/discussions.


Write to Tell Me About It, Style, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071, or tellme@ washpost.com.


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choreography. Dance, after all, thrives on metaphors, small details, abstrac- tion. Take the Virgin of Guadalupe, whose


unfathomable stone likeness stared down at Burgess every time he walked by the church down the street from his house. What kind of magic did she pos- sess? he wondered. So he put her in “Charlie Chan.” There’s a statue of her on


the TV that glows at a significant mo- ment, and one of the dancers embodies her as a kind of psychopomp, traveling between fantasy and reality, giving Alva- rez what he needs to navigate his life: the notebook, the crystal ball. Other dancers step in with magnifying glasses. A magnifying glass is a potent symbol for a man obsessed with detail. Chan- like, Burgess watches in silence, then


ing, his parents sent him to martial arts school, where he met other Asian kids and got hooked on controlled physical activity. Then, in his senior year of high school, he met a boy, a German exchange student, and fell miserably in love. “We had this strange romance, but it was very elusive and extremely secre- tive. I could never figure out what was going on,” he says. “That was a very diffi- cult year.” It was also the catalyst that pushed him out of Santa Fe — “Where do I go in order to be this? I needed to get to a larg- er city” — and into dance. At the Univer- sity of New Mexico in Albuquerque, he started taking dance classes. Finally he had found his tribe. He belonged! In the intimacy of the dance world, Burgess says, there is “an incredible safety net.” Mystery solved. And what do you know — it’s just as Chan once said: “Sor- row, like bad weather, in time will pass and be forgotten.” kaufmans@washpost.com


Charlie Chan and the Mystery of Love and Island


will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday at Dance Place, 3225 Eighth St. NE. Tickets $8 to $22. 202-269-1600 or www.danceplace.org.


MORE PHOTOS To see Burgess & Company dancers rehearsing for "Charlie Chan and the Mystery of Love," go to washingtonpost.com/style.


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