GLASSY ESSENCE @ CEDAR LAKE

Wednesday April 23, 2008 - Tonight Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet invited local dance and performing arts bloggers to the final dress rehearsal of their new installation GLASSY ESSENCE. Cedar Lake's connection with the blog-community is a two-way street: they get written up with the speed and variety of viewpoints that the bloggers offer; and we get to see something before the general public does. And it's something that most likely I wouldn't have otherwise tried: I had read about Cedar Lake of course (at The Winger) but it wasn't until I received their invitation in January that I connected with this Company that I have now come to love.

From Shakespeare's MEASURE FOR MEASURE:

"But man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep."

Entering the darkened performance space of Cedar Lake's theatre on West 26th Street before most of the invited crowd arrived I noted the dimly lit screens which wrapped around the room, a dark wall at the far end with various boxes and steps jutting out, and a large table-like platform. As the area filled with spectators, the screens began to flicker with ghostly filmed images of the dancers wandering the streets of the City. Composer Stefano Zazzera's score pulsated from the speakers and we were enveloped in the world of GLASSY ESSENCE.

I cannot recall any dance, operatic or theatrical performance over the past four and a half decades that seemed - paradoxically - both so immediate and so illusionary. The standing audience shifts and yields to Cedar Lake's powerful, sexy dancers as they take over the space in a variety of movement ranging from running to complex duets and ensembles which materialize and vanish seemingly out of nowhere. As one pair or group of dancers 'fade' others appear in another part of the room. Meanwhile the screens sustain a dreamlike quality with still images of the dancers which shift and zoom to closeup. Tonya Plank has graciously loaned me this photo which illustrates the interesting juxtaposing of the dancers performing in front of large photographs of themselves projected on the screens.

The dancers scale The Wall and with incredible strength the men lift and 'partner' the women from perched positions; this holds the audience mesmerized. The dancers pass among us silently; the platform is illuminated for a stylized wrestling match. Later the boys on The Wall rise, writhe and float on trapeze-like suspended harnesses. Watch the flying Cedar Lakers here.

The heart of GLASSY ESSENCE is a gorgeous duet for Acacia Schachte (photo) and Jason Kittelberger which is both athletic and sensual; Stefano Zazzera's music here turns to a ravishing melody for cello as the dancers mesh and meld in complex partnering made more intense by the limited space. After a pause where we are distracted by other things happening around the room the duet resumes but now Mr. Kittelberger is in a 'flying' apparatus which gives the notion of ballet lifts a whole new dimension. This 'coda' to the duet is accompanied by the eerie sound of the wind rushing as in a vacuum.

Mr. Zazzera's score is fascinating in that he is able to meld  everything from Schumannesque solo piano music to industrial sounds without artifice or any hint of being merely clever; the music and the movement are organically intertwined and Mr. Zazzera's effortless transitions help lead the viewer to the next 'scene' of the work.

The only problem with GLASSY ESSENCE was the feeling that while you are watching one area of the room or focusing on particular dancers you feel you are missing something equally worthy of your attention elsewhere. When it was over, I wanted to see it again and see what had eluded me on the first run-thru. All the more reason, therefore, to love Matt Murphy's breath-taking photos at The Winger.

Meeting with bloggers in the 'upper room' after the performance, choreographer Benoit Swan-Pouffer said that the idea of multiple things happening at the same time and the audience's shifting center of attention was one of the things he was aiming for. He doesn't want us to be able to take it all in. He also said - incredibly - that he had put the piece together over a rehearsal period of approximately three weeks. I would have assumed they'd been working on it for months. (Photo/Jason Kittelberger & Swan).

We came back downstairs where Mr. Kittelberger was stretching and unwinding; I felt awestruck to be in same room with him and with Miki Orihara, Stephen Pier, Kristin Sloan, David Hallberg and Matthew Murphy (and Maya Collins who I didn't get a chance to meet) as well as my blogging mates Tonya, Evan, Allison, Doug and Tony. I realized too that I was by far the oldest person there.

GLASSY ESSENCE photos...thanks to Evan Namerow of DANCING PERFECTLY FREE.

Comments

[Taylor]

Ahh I'm so mad I had to miss the preview :( I love that you posted right away though, haha, so I know what I missed.
I'm seeing the installation Saturday night and definitely looking forward to it.

[Philip]

Hi Taylor, we really missed having you there...I hope you'll like it when you get to see it.

See you Saturday!