guest contributor Tim DuRoche with a view to what’s been going on behind the scenes at Portland’s newest restaurant, as the preview nights in the space filled with soft gold light begin
If I told you that revolutionary, 1960s postmodern dance (Yvonne Rainer, Trisha Brown and the risk-taking Judson Church crowd) just heightened your engagement with a small-plate serving of Tajarin with truffle butter, you might tell me I was mad. But over at ten 01 (the new culinary venture from Tabla’s Adam Berger and Michael Rypkema opening at 1001 NW Couch), they are literally turning the tables on dance.
Last week, with a still unwieldy construction punch-list and a fast-approaching opening night staring down on them, ten 01 made a daring investment. In a quest for artful preparation, clarity, poise, and style, they sent their staff to finishing school. Understanding that style commingled with substance and the crafting of evenings rich in conversation, wit, sustenance, flavor and elegance were neither antediluvian ideas or extravagances of a certain Je-ne-say-what mentality, the boys and crew got their priorities straight.
Director of operations and marketing Erika Polmar and sommelier Erica Landon set up an innovative and rigorous training period that included sessions with a chiropractor and an etiquette coach—Susie Kanewske (author of Spit, polish & shine: Back to basics for kids, proper etiquette & good manners for all ages). Good ideas? Absolutely.
Then the curious part happened. The staff plunged headlong into an afternoon with choreographer-dancer Robyn Conroy (Conduit, Tere Mathern) that had wait-staff weaving grapevine figure-eights throughout the cozy earth-toned mezzanine level of ten 01—executing pirouetting hand-offs, accelerated pedestrian movement, stop-and-start freeze-tag commands (”on one foot!”), pivots and catch-steps where platter-carrying wait-folks carefully balanced wit, whim and wineglass. A wild cross between a Mack Sennett comedy and an avant-garde dance happening.
Now when I say DANCE, I’m not talking about a bunch of Busboy Berkeleys. This is not about a ritualized restaurant floorshow thick with unnerving hustle or bustle. Instead envision physically-aware, dynamic movement—corps of men and women sans strict rhythmic formation generating insistent momentum—set to a hidden pulse. This is “the universal human experience” that inspired a generation of dance-makers, rich in everyday social complexity, covert in any outward theatricality.
Choreographers in the workplace are not necessarily a new idea (Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in Napa Valley and his New York-based Per Se enlisted choreographers to work with staff). In this insance, let’s hail it as a reinvigoration of stepping-out, social capital. While it might be ironic to have to admit that the revolutionary spin of ‘60s postmodern dance, blurring boundaries between art and life, has landed smack dab back from whence it came in everyday movement, considering how many dancers have spent time working as waiters this sly insertion of postmodern reference-meets-service strategy seems cleverly apropos.
Let’s face it—inherent in “going out on the town” is a wish for “distinction”—an experience that accentuates and elevates the expanse between Bourdieu’s “quiet caress of beige carpets or the thin clamminess of tattered, garish linoleum.” I’d like to hope this innovative interplay of presentation, service, substance and style—bodies buoyant with grace and energy, generating a sub-seismic sense of purpose, where the engagement is subtle yet satisfyingly attentive—will find a deserved place alongside Portland’s robust appetite for innovative, locally-grown cuisine.
-–Tim DuRoche
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