Jennifer Muller/The Works @ The Joyce

 


Tuesday June 9, 2009 - The opening performance by Jennifer Muller/The Works at the Joyce. In Carol Rosegg photo above, with dancers shown are Elizabeth Disharoon, Pascal Rekoert and Seiko Fugita. The evening saluted Dancers Responding to AIDS and celebrated the 35th anniversary of Ms. Muller's group. It opened with a truly imaginative work of astonishing poetic beauty (TUB), centered on a new work which references the current global environmental crisis (BENCH), and ended with a joyful celebration of the human body in motion (MOMENTUM). Throughout the evening, the power and commitment of Jennifer's excellent troupe of twelve dancers made for an engrossing and highly satisfying experience, enhanced by ideal musical choices.

TUB was created in 1973.  It begins with a woman seated in a bathtub on a stage glowing in soft golden light. She rises and flings her long hair back, causing a cascade of jewel-like water drops to fly thru the air. This unforgettable image immediately draws the viewer into what follows. The original score by Burt Alcantara, music director for The Works in its early years, begins with a plaintive synthesized adagio in the minor key. Later the sound of waves is heard and the music then evolves into a chanted passage. Brightening rhythmic patterns develop as the mood becomes more buoyant.

In a ritualistic passage, the beautiful Japanese dancer Gen Hashimoto (above) steps into the tub to be bathed (or baptized?) by attendant priestesses. Gen's sculpted torso gleams in the light, his long hair flicking droplets into the air. This passage is both meditative and sensuous. TUB then moves from its opening seriousness of tone into more playful aspects with the entry of Duane Gosa. 

Carol Rosegg's photo of Duane Gosa, a very tall and long-limbed dancer who strolled about the stage in the later movements of TUB wearing a pair of snorkeling flippers. With unabashed cool, Duane set off his high extensions with the rubbery footwear giving it a comic flourish...yet he remained totally straight-faced. After a romping section with towels, the dancers depart leaving one couple to take a final joyous plunge into the bathtub.  

From the program note: "Inspired by Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, BENCH (World Premiere) is a dance about culpability and grace set to the music of Jocelyn Pook.  The piece traces the ecological destruction of the earth due to destructive human behaviors through two simultaneous arcs: video projections of the earth from its creation to its current state of devastation and movement portraying the negative human effects on nature.  A piece for twelve dancers, each dancer is caught in a downward spiral of destructive behavior - loosely based on the seven deadly sins.  The relationships between characters disintegrate, torn apart by jealousies, quarrels, power struggles and conflicting desires, leading to a series of catalytic events that disrupt the status quo.  The bench itself represents greed and power, inertia, and eventually, a prayer for salvation.  Bench asks for a transformation of disregard into responsibility, apathy into action and conflict into redemption".

Above: from BENCH, Gen Hashimoto and Mariana Cardena in Ben Hider's photo. Using filmed images of the beauty and squalor of our ravished planet overhead, BENCH has the full Works company all in white moving thru solos, duets and ensembles expressive of lamenting despair or edgy confrontations. In one harrowing reminder of Hurricane Katrina, all the dancers stand helplessly stranded on the long bench. Ms. Pook's score includes intriguing vocals and soulful chanted phrases. The work stands as a sobering reminder of the inconvenient truths with which we must deal; as a union of film and dance, it makes a strong impression.  

MOMENTUM (2005) is a high-energy finale with the dancers in colorful street togs moving at super-velocity to fantastic club music by Yello. Opening with a droll solo from Pascal Rekoert, the dynamic momentum of the movement keeps the eye constantly allured as each dancer has signature motifs that eventually blend into a brilliant swirl. Sample Yello's throbbing beat-driven music here. As a long-retired former club kid, this music - far from seeming alien to me - put me in mind of my numerous sweaty nights on the dance floor with Kenny or Alberto from the 1980s. Titillating both the eye and the ear, MOMENTUM provided a nice rush to end the evening and sends us out into the streets in a dancing mood.

Below: Ben Hider's photo of the Jennifer Muller/The Works dancers in BENCH.