| . | 11/25/2009
For the Time that this Dream Endures: Collective Body Dance Lab and BodyStories/Teresa Fellion Dance
By: R. Pikser
photo: Yi-Chun Wu
When modern dance began, the choreographers wanted to overthrow what they saw as the empty formalism of ballet. They had theories of the origins of movement and they had ideas they wanted to communicate. Graham saw movement as arising mainly from contraction and release. Humphrey perceived movement as arising mainly from the fall and recovery of the breathing body. In Germany, Wigman perceived the performer’s relationship to space as the central focus of her work.
Each of these theories gave the resulting movement a particular style and profoundly affected the types of themes explored. For years, the younger modern dance choreographers have eschewed the work of finding a vocabulary particular to what they want to express, if anything. The resultant dances have suffered from lack of specificity in movement and intention and a lack of dynamic variation. All movements are performed with self-absorption and the energy is either full out at all times or not-quite-daring-to complete-a-movement. There has been no exploration of how one gets from one moment to another or the relationship between dancer and dancer, movement and movement, or movement to music. The effect has been to exclude the audience, leaving us watching helplessly as others seem to suffer, but never letting us in. The three choreographers seen on this evening offered a way out.
The guest choreographer on this evening of dances of Brian Carey Chung and Teresa Fellion, Jennifer McQuiston Lott, has used the pomo vocabulary to excellent effect in her interpretation of an old folk song about one sister who drowns the other, who then becomes strangely immortal: her body parts are used by the miller who fishes her out of the water to make items that call out her fate. Ms. Lott’s costuming was excellent and integral to her story, which was at once horrifying and funny. The dancers had a good time relating to each other, and the unrelenting softness of the pomo vocabulary worked wonderfully for the themes of wateriness and death.
Mr. Chung and Ms. Fellion, are attempting to break through the pomo style, each in a different way. Ms. Fellion still is limiting herself with the pomo vocabulary, but is exploring counterpoint in space: She has different groups performing different movements, and using different levels in counterpoint. Though Ms. Fellion’s dynamics do not vary much, her stage picture at least offers a structural interest not often seen these days. Structure offers a sense of control, which is one aspect of art. Ms. Fellion also creates different sculptural shapes using more than one dancer, and these, also, give form to her work, though it is hard to fix on any particular shapes or movements.
Mr. Chung uses fewer sculptural and choreographic counterpoint techniques, but his dancers are so highly trained in ballet that they can’t help but have clean lines and sharpness of attack. Even so, with all their technical facility, they tend to perform every movement with the same loose energy and dynamics, giving all things equal value. The audience is left with a sense of formlessness even when there is form. A notable exception to this rule is the thoughtful Marcos Vedoveto, who seems to be exploring his time on stage and his relationships to his partners rather than indulging himself.
Mr. Chung is in the process of searching. His integration of the excellent Alison Buchanan and Byron Sean, soprano and pianist, into the staging with the dancers, is promising. He is also searching for movement that will be expressive of what he wants to say. And he is trying to say something, often about the vagaries of love and lust, which he sees with much humor. Audience reaction to the pieces in which Mr. Chung is most successful in his attempt to communicate should tell him he is working in the right direction.
For the Time that this Dream Endures
November 20th and 21st 2009
Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 West 37th Street
New York, NY
Tickets: $20; $15 for students and seniors.
http://www.collectivebodydancelab.org .
http://www.bodystoriesfellion.org
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