Artist plays many roles

By Sharon Christensen , On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, October 1, 1998

Claire Porter cannot sit still.

During the 30-minute interview, the pixie-ish dancer, choreographer, writer, performance artist and former computer programmer reclined in her seat almost horizontally, stretching her legs out and claiming to be working on a tan. She continually fidgeted with the strap on her bag, looping it under her chin and occasionally throwing a leg up on the chair next to her.

As warm and welcoming as she is kinetic, Porter combines monologue and dance in her comedic solo creations, called "Portables," which are part character sketch, part movement analysis, with sometimes sobering commentary at the heart.

Her characters range from a concert pianist awaiting the arrival of her instrument to an aerobics instructor leading exercises to tone the entire digestive tract.

Porter began dancing as a child in Connecticut, with ballet, jazz and tap lessons from the local studio. After earning a bachelor's in math, she worked as a computer programmer until viewing a performance by Maria Tallchief inspired her to resume weekly ballet classes.

"The whole evening was so stunning, the next day I signed up for ballet," Porter said. "I did like programming, but to dance was so whole."

While in her late 20s, Porter moved to California and began studying dance at Sonoma State.

"I had saved enough money to go back to school and study and pretty soon I admitted I was dancing," Porter said. Eventually she received her master's in dance from Ohio State University.

Porter began integrating monologue into her work while creating the character for "Lecture," a piece based on a frustrated, burned-out lecturer.

"I went around watching people giving lectures and I thought, 'this character needs to speak,'" Porter said.

The young artist says her use of text seemed to break down the imaginary barrier between performer and artist.

"It was more direct and they [the audience] related more easily," Porter said.

Having performed "Portables" internationally in Holland, Germany and South Korea, Porter said that the non-English speaking audiences easily understood her works without translation.

"I tried translating the word chicken in German and I was afraid they wouldn't understand me, so I changed it back," Porter said.

The artist performed "Fund raiser" for a Korean audience, portraying a desperate charity fund raiser going to any lengths to squeeze a little more from her audience.

"The character looks very American," Porter said.

In performing for an international audience, Porter altered her characterization only by expanding her motions.

"You can play with which reads stronger, the text or the movement," Porter said.

She also performed "Fund raiser" for the Women's Fund Raising Coalition of America.

"I walked in and they all looked like me, they were totally embarrassed," Porter said.

Her comedy, she says, seems to come from the creation of her pieces.

"Usually I am exploring something and the study of it, the chewing on it is funny," Porter said. Now her focus is on the humor.

"When I first made things people perceived them as funny. Now what delights me is funny."

She is currently working on a piece called "Ordering Greens" in which she will portray two characters for the first time, a waitress and the patron trying to order a salad.

"The patron wants something simple and the waitress is complicating it," Porter said. This piece will use herbs as a metaphor for the appreciation of life, like "taking thyme."

Porter is at Cal State Long Beach for a week-long residency, working with an acting, choreographical and a nonverbal communication class.

She will perform six of her pieces, "Green Dress Circle," "Piano," "Fitness Digest," "Fund raiser," "Lost in the Modern" and "Dining Out" this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theatre.