Oberon's Grove: Dress Rehearsal: HOMME|ANIMAL @ BAC

Tuesday April 10, 2012 - As we were unable to attend a performance of Vendetta Mathea & Company's production of HOMME|ANIMAL at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Company graciously invited Kokyat and me to their dress rehearsal. We arrived a few minutes before scheduled start-time and met Ms. Mathea, a vibrant and fascinating woman. While her dancers warmed up, Vendetta sat with us on the floor and told us a bit about her life and her Company.

Born in Detroit, Vendetta Mathea came to New York City on a full scholarship from The Juilliard School. Over the next few years she trained there and at Alvin Ailey and Dance Theater of Harlem. She worked with many teachers and choreographers including Kazuko Hirabayoshi, Katherine Dunham, Louis Falco, Jennifer Muller, Paul Taylor, and Yuriko. In 1972 Vendetta had joined the Walter Nicks Dance Company on a tour to France; returning there on tour in 1981 she met her husband Laurent.

Eventually she settled in Aurillac, finding an old factory there which she converted into a dance academy. In this town, removed from the bustle and grind of urban life, her venue La Manufacture has become a center for choreographers, researchers and dancers.

Vendetta's luminous face and melodic speaking voice would tend to belie the fact that she is the mother of two extremely attractive adult children, both of whom dance with her Company.

While we were chatting, Vendetta's husband and the tech crew had gotten everything ready for the dress/run-thru. The lights went down and the 60-minute work began. The dancers remained in practice clothes as the theater was a bit on the cool side. They looked sexy and radiant nonetheless.

HOMME|ANIMAL becgins with a spoken prologue:

'I'm blind, living in the dark.
Darkness is my education.
Education of family. I'm blind.
Education of religion. I'm blind.
Education of culture. I'm blind.
How can I know who I am,
If I believe I am who and what they want me to be.
Sacrificing,
Sacrificing myself until I am no more,
Sacrificing myself to find harmony around me.
How can I find harmony,
Living in a small part of my person, my universe ?
Feeling energy, my heart, my mind, my body, my soul,
This is how I find harmony around me,
Myself,
And love.
I feel. I see. I am an animal.'

Vendetta (above, with the awakening dancers) read this poem in near darkness, then the music of Tchad stole quietly into the space. The stage was then taken over by the trio of dancers and Ms. Mathea stepped to the sidelines. But she remained an active participant in HOMME|ANIMAL with her astonishing and unorthadox vocalism, evoking sounds of birds, animals and an entire jungle with uncanny skill.

The dancers now begin moving with a kind of savage grace that straddled the world between animal and human movement. Elements of hip-hop, break-dancing, folk dance, even classical ballet may be grasped in this sensuous and visually alluring work. The dancers are beautiful, mysterious, predatory, isolated and tribal by turns. It's a very sexy work, though nothing sexual transpires.

Here are some of Kokyat's images from HOMME|ANIMAL; click on each panel to enhance.