Thursday October 20, 2011 - Having watched the dress rehearsal of this production the previous evening, Kokyat and I were pretty sure we'd taken it all in and that we could just kick back, relax and let the music and the dance flow by us tonight at the second Joyce SoHo showing of New Sounds, New Moves. Wrong. The atmosphere generated by playing to a packed house (with a waiting list) seemed to galvanize both dancers and musicians. Everything that had looked and sounded so very fine at the dress now went up to an altogether higher level. The audience seemed wonderfully alert and focused, responding enthusiastically to the four very different collaborative works being offered. Top photo: dancer Rebecca Stenn in her self-choreographed solo Zone A.
Above: dancer Elizabeth Brown and percussionist Matt Ward. For the evening's opening work, Michel Galante's Two Etudes, set by Miro Magloire for his dancework Little Bird, revealed layers of marvelous instrumental textures in its unusual setting for clarinet, viola, two marimbas, piano and an extra tantalizing dash of harpsichord. Against this darkly plush tapestry of sound, Miro created a petite drama of murder and revenge.
Elizabeth Brown (above) is the caged bird...
...brutally done in by the lovely but cruel Emily SoRelle Adams (above). Emily seems to be a magician or conjurer; the reasoning behind her murderous act is not clear...
...but after stabbing the little bird, she also breaks its neck, just to be on the safe side.
The bird's spirit lives on to dance an expressive solo (Elizabeth Brown, above) as the magician slumbers nearby. Then in a flash, the bird swoops in for revenge. Miro Magloire, as so often in his ballets, leaves the viewer to determine the details of the relationship between the two figures in Little Bird. He gives his two girls the steps and the detailed framework of the drama, all finely etched into this Hitchcockian score, which Elizabeth and Emily deliver with finesse and dramatic alertness.
In Zone A, the collaboration of Rebecca Stenn (above) and composer Konrad Kaczmarek created one of the most satisfying and memorable new danceworks I've seen in the past dozen years. Konrad's score has a mysteriously magical quality; his piano keyboard becomes a palette of unexpected shimmering colours as notes resonate and echo beyond the imagination. Music of the spheres? This is it!
Rebecca Stenn moved thru this aural dreamscape with a kind of weighted lyricism that was fascinating to watch. As Kokyat and I so delightedly observed at her studio rehearsal, Rebecca uses her hands with remarkably fluent clarity. Even her hair seems to be dancing in this slow, hypnotic solo. Rebecca and Konrad received sustained applause - deservedly - having held the audience enthralled.
Above, Eliot Gattegno playing soprano sax in David Fulmer's score for Spark, a film by choreographer Deborah Lohse. Mr. Fulmer's Oriental-flavoured score employs an enticing array of bells, chimes and gongs to support Mr. Gattegno's virtuoso playing. Matt Ward and Matthew Gold were the expert percussionists.
The striking of a match opens Deborah Lohse's film, in which dancers Tammi Shamblin and Candice Thompson seem to appear and vanish in flickering images. The camera sometimes explores one of the dancers at close range; near the end they appear together briefly. The work hints at a subtext of sensuous curiosity but remains provocative in its lyrical mystique.
Above: Andrea Jones and Eric Williams in Darcy Naganuma's seeds of twist, a work which has revealed more and more upon repeated viewings; at a run-thru earlier in the week and then at the dress rehearsal I was more focused on the work's implied narrative and on the dramatic nuances and facial expressions which made her dancers so intriguing to watch as individuals. Tonight at the performance I realized there's a lot of real dancing here as well. In this story of complex human relationships that seem fueled (or thwarted) by the effects of drinking, each dancer made a personal impression and gave the work the feeling of a play without words. Extra kudos to all for their vivid yet subtle hand gestures.
Here are Darcy's dancers in Kokyat's individual portraits:
Tracey Munn
Yuki Ishiguro
Kanako Yokota
Eric Williams
Andrea Jones
Michael Klingbeil's score for seeds of twist employs solo piano, played onstage by Joanna Chao, in two movements bookending a central section of wildly dynamic and sometimes explosive music entitled Beta Warp II. Darcy Naganuma used these contrasting modes of musical expression to underline the shifting relationships of her five dancers.
Pianist Joanna Chao for Darcy Naganuma's seeds of twist. The musicians taking part in this SONiC Festival presentation are members of Argento Chamber Ensemble.
More of Kokyat's images from this production will be found here.