Wednesday November 10, 2010 - After seeing a sampling of Eryc Taylor's newest creations in the studio, I was really keen to attend the performance. My week was heavily booked but I rearranged things and also I was allowed to watch the dress rehearsal which was held earlier in the day. With Kokyat preparing for a vacation, I made arrangements with Brian Krontz to meet me and photograph the dress rehearsal. Above: Brian's image of dancer Dillon Honiker in TERMINUS.
Eryc's programme is well-constructed and dramatically lit. His dancers are committed and their individual personalities come thru in Eryc's works which this year all tend toward darkness with undercurrents of despair and loss but ending on a hopeful note. Perfect for our gloomy times: I do not really want to see a lot of perky, upbeat dance at this point. Each of the five pieces presented tonight became part of a whole and Eryc wisely does not belabour his point: with each short work you don't find yourself saying "Will this never end?" but rather thinking each piece could be even longer.
The programme played to a full house. With six dancers, Eryc set up his evening so that there were only brief breaks between pieces, the opening and closing works were the largest in terms of dancers participating and in the central segment two duets and a very impressive solo allowed the dancers time to change costumes and catch their breath without keeping the audience waiting.
Above: Carly Mayer in DROWNTOWN, the opening work, which does have some very subtle humorous nuances. In these vignettes of people meeting, flirting and parting one boy mistakenly makes a pass at a straight guy and is rebuffed: it's only a momentary thing but it was just one of several details in the 'narrative' that kept things interesting. Commencing with the dancers stepping into squares of light - each in his/her own world - the piece revolves around attempts at making connections. The music is overlaid with conversation in French and the eerie sounds of an organ adds to the aural mix. Dancers try each other out in a series of duets but the matchups don't seem to work. In the end, sirens wail and the cacophony of noise rises to a weltering cloud which engulfs the lone figure of Gierre Godley, the last man standing. In this work, the women danced on pointe.
WRAITH follows: in red dresses, Michelle Pellizzon and Danielle Schulz (above) seem to be recalling a relationship that was never consumated, or perhaps it is a wishful dream. They meet and dance in sync and in mirror image but in the end one leaves the other alone with the inevitable pondering of what might of been.
For a second duet, THE POLARITY, Dilllon Honiker and Gierre Godley (above) appear barefooted in dark suits, shirts and ties. In silence they eye one another warily. With a snap of their fingers, their female 'seconds' in stiletto pumps appear and remove the men's jackets. Then the guys go at it in a swirling, combative duel. Each gets the upper-hand in turn and it seems to end in a draw. The women bring their jackets back and the men seem about to withdraw from the dueling field but then suddenly fly at one another again as the lights go out.
THE POLARITY (above) is bathed in the lurid green of jealousy.
Louise Bourgeois's Arch of Hysteria (above) was the inspitration for the solo THE MISSING which was danced to a grimly poetic piano score by Daniel Tobias.
Michelle Pellizzon (above) gives a strikingly daring and risky performance of the piece in which her body becomes a tortured instrument of expression. Flinging herself to the floor and arching her back into impossible angles, the dancers's arms and hands and even her hair became tremulous indicators of her inner torment. Michelle's impressive performance was a high point of the evening.
In the closing TERMINUS Isabel Fernandez (above, with Danielle Schulz) awakens from an apocalyptic dream to find her vision has come true. She is alone. The music of Hans Zimmer and James Newton evokes a world plunged into the depths of kozmic darkness. As the dancer struggles to comprehend the loneliness and despair of her new existence, she scans the horizon. Out of the gloom, a mere handful of other survivors stagger into view. They warily test one another and in the end meld into a communal pose as a strange new dawn arises.
Eryc Taylor (center) with his dancers at the end of the peformance. All photos by Brian Krontz; you will find more of Brian's images from this venue here.
I have know Eryc Taylor for well over 10 years and he has been hitting it hard to reach this point. (and I assure you he is not done) Eryc has a deep appreciation for all aspects of what it takes to put together a great dance program. I am very excited to travel to NYC this friday with nine friends to see his work. If you have not seen his dance company in the past please do yourself a favor and make the time to catch his show at the Joyce SOHO. One to keep your eye on.
Posted by: Fredrick | November 11, 2010 at 06:45 PM