note: this review can also be found at
THE CURRENT SESSIONS: Sunday July 15th, 7:30 pm
a review
Andrea
Miller, choreographer and Artistic Director of the well-known contemporary
dance company Gallim Dance was in the audience during Sunday night’s The CURRENT SESSIONS. Even
though Miller was most likely there to support dancers and co-workers who were
featured throughout the night, it was not hard to imagine that some of the
dancers were using this performance as an informal audition for Gallim, which
has its first female audition in three years soon (dancers, go ahead and search
on dancenyc now, just finish reading this when you’re done).
In line
with Gallim’s penchant for the physically improbable, many dances presented in The CURRENT SESSIONS were comfortable
playing with extremes. The use of the instep as a viable support for body
weight. The thighs splayed wide in fourth position, teasing the floor with the
crotch. This is pure Gallim. Or, Gallim reflects a contemporary dance scene
that is rapidly turning the new into the normal. But in spite of a
sometimes-similar movement vocabulary, The
CURRENT SESSIONS’ Sunday
night performance (one of three separate compilations of choreographers that
weekend) at The Wild Project was a showcase of “today’s best emerging
contemporary choreographers.” One could feel their deep desire to differentiate
themselves from their peers through different, bold choices.
One Side of
the Story opens the
show with a pawing, licking grace. It is sensual like a sleek cat is sensual,
stretching nonchalantly then darting across the floor. The five female dancers
performing for Yin Yue Dance (including Yin Yue) are alternately cool, relaxed
and then in a moment they are muscular and taut. This is the most choreographed
piece of the night, with clean unison displaying well-rehearsed movement.
Although
still well rehearsed, the other pieces rely more on the dancers to create a
sense of union within the choreography. Circumstantial
Amy, choreographed by Brendan
Duggan, transitions between sections with undirected stumbling. The dancers have
to navigate around one another in the moment. The stumbling (which sometimes
progresses into tripping…oops) seems vague and somewhat arbitrary. When there is specific movement to work with –
a bird-like flapping, a simple phrase— the dancers are finally able to respond
to one another with intention.
Jonathan
Royse Windham’s Two duets,
some awkward moments, a long silence and a slow dance doesn’t even try to transition
through the choreography: it stops the music and starts again. The playful
structure of the piece, complete with hilarious, adolescent performances by
decidedly mature performers, thrives when the eight dancers’ animated
personalities react to external events according to their distinct characters.
The overblown characters necessitate confident performers and Francesca Romo
(with her silly side sneer) and the seven other dancers are satisfying to
watch.
SHAPESHIFT, choreographed by Betheny
Merola, uses two bodies as
propellers. The dark-haired duo is a forceful instigator of coolly understated
movement that often works its way towards a lift or roll. Mallory Rosenthal’s
duet, As Our Buttons Are Cast in
Bone needs less force and
more space. The dance is a rippling extenuation of the two dancers’ first
moment onstage and if it is the simplest piece, it is also the most
kinesthetically conscious one in the show. Performers Emily Terndrup and
TJ Spaur, with their slightly rounded, thinking bodies, are self-aware to the
point of excluding all else. The best and often repeated moment is when
Terndrup opens her arms and her collarbone finally seeks something above. Even
though it lasts only for a second, it seems forever that she dangles, her
weight seeping off of suspended bones.
The seconds
of beauty last longer in The Wild Project’s intimate theater than they might
have in a larger venue. For this group of emerging choreographers, close up is
good. It lets you see the beauty of dance that often comes in the form of
distorted extremes. But they are distortions that are enticing and interesting
and to watch. The physical courage of the dancers makes it clear that beauty is
brave and uncontrollable and sometimes a little bit dirty.
Also
included in this performance: Discontinue:
Part II choreographed by
Sarah Mettin/ Mettin Movement Collective and Lonely
Woman choreographed by
Theodora Boguszewski.
