Friday November 12, 2010 - At the 92nd Street Y, Robin Becker Dance gave us an intimate first glimpse of her work-in-progress INTO SUNLIGHT. Above: dancers Nicole Sclafani and Paul Monaghan rehearsing a duet from the piece. Photo: Kokyat.
Robin Becker and I share a sense of bewilderment at the fact that mankind still resorts to war as a way of solving problems. Inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss's THEY MARCHED INTO SUNLIGHT, Robin felt compelled to start working on a piece that would not only reflect her own views on war but that would also set people thinking about the state we are in. The result - at least from what she has created to date - is a beautiful and moving work that is being danced by a group of young people of an age that societies like to ship off to the war zone to die in some dispute rooted in religion and racism.
Above photo: Robin Becker in a studio portrait. Greeting a large crowd which filled the studio at the Y to the bursting point, the choreographer spoke of the day when creating INTO SUNLIGHT first entered her thoughts: the day the Iraq war started. She simply felt the helpless frustration that so many of us felt at that time and knew that only thru dance could she express her feelings. The work has evolved slowly since that point.
Author David Maraniss spoke briefly and then Robin introduced her dancers and also a group of Hofstra dance division students who are taking part in the creative process. Segments of the work, none of them set in stone at this point, were viewed in awed silence by the large crowd. One keenly felt a depth of interest in the dance that is not always present at studio presentations.
Around the perimiter of the dancing space, students were seated on mats and were thoroughly absorbed in the proceedings. Photo: Kokyat.
The opening passage of INTO SUNLIGHT was presented as the Company dancers moved in a slowly shifting sculptural formation across an unstable landscape, depicted in movement by the Hofstra students. We also saw the two segments of the work which Robin had shown us at her studio last week: a men's trio and the duet danced by Nicole Sclafani and Paul Monaghan (top photo); Robin spoke of the influences of the story of the Annunciation which she absorbed while on a trip to Florence. In the duet, these images blend with the story of a young woman who dreamed of her brother's death of a catastrophic abdominal wound in Vietnam which came to pass.
Chazz Fenner-McBride performed a solo based on the true story of a college footballer who rushed onto the battlefield following a horrific skirmish only to be gunned down. In a deeply moving duet, Yoko Sugimoto-Ikezawa appeared as young widow mourning at the grave of her soldier-husband, performed with stoic stillness by Hofstra's Joseph Jehle.
The Hofstra students (including our friend Matt Tiberi) performed an improvisational passage based on a movement fragment that Robin had given them. This was accompanied by a spontaneous improv from cellist Eric Edberg. And Robin herself danced a quietly radiant improv to the unusual, plaintive vocalism of Bisan Toron.
Composer Chris Lastovicka will be providing the score for INTO SUNLIGHT. The work will premiere at the University of Wisconsin in the Spring of 2011 with later performances at Hofstra University. Kokyat and I hope to continue to closely follow and document the development of this timely and compelling work.
Robin Becker and the performers thank the audience at the 92nd Street Y. Click image to enlarge.
Me with Robin after the preview...there's a connection of souls here.
I would like to express my gratitude to the dancer Paul Monaghan told me about this project and who first put me in touch with Robin Becker. The above pictures from after the event are by Kokyat.
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