| . | 01/12/2010
13th Annual Contemporary Dance Showcase – Japan and East Asia
By: R. Pikser
This year’s dance showcase featured five companies. The choreographers were trained in different disciplines and their training was reflected in their pieces. Many of the performers were strong dancers, but LPD, (Laboratory Dance Project), seven men from South Korea, was the strongest in terms of integration of excellent movement technique with interesting choreography. They consider themselves hip-hop based, but choreographer Shin Chang Ho managed, in this piece, No Comment, to invest the abstract movements with emotional content, much as Rennie Harris has done. Slapping of the chest had a concomitant body reaction which suggested the beating of the heart. Movement which seemed to be all flailing body parts was, in fact, well controlled and specific in line and energy. Over the ©Waits course of the piece, the men take off their suit jackets, then open their shirts, rushing to the edge of the stage and even into the audience to confront the public, but controlling themselves just a t the last moment – so the piece has the same control, disguised as frenzy, as the movements.
WCdance was unable to present its intended piece for five dancers because US Citizenship and Immigration Service denied performance visas to the company members who were to come from Taiwan. Fortunately, choreographer WenChung Lin and his partner Ruping Wang have valid visas and performed a duet based on the original. The excerpts formed a loose tracing of a relationship with gentle comings together and partings. Though the choreography was similar to that of much other contemporary work, the dancers were beautiful to watch. Ms. Wang is one of those few breathtaking dancers who is so well focused that she comes across the footlights by pulling us in to her.
Mime-trained choreographer Shuji Onodera of Company Derashninera used common items such as a table, its cloth, chairs, and dishes not only to show off the considerable skills of the performers but to present the violence dwelling just under the surface of social relations, especially those between men and women. Mr. Onodera’s humor, exhilarating imagination, and seeming innocence disarmed the audience, leaving us opens to the cutting edge of his observations.
The U.S. debut of the all-female KIKIKIKIKIKI was a butoh-based piece also using a table, though the performers only circled it and leaned on it, but did not exploit it. The choreography, as butoh is wont to do, used the body in unusual ways, but with more repetition than deep exploration. The most interesting section of the piece was also the stillest; the five women standing quietly, facing the audience, with their mouths opened as far as possible, slowly lowering their heads from looking overhead to a position in which they were looking at us. These moments and the ensuing physical reactions to them were the most striking of the entire piece and the most memorable.
Masako Yasumoto’s U.S. debut used a male and female, and in a way traced a relationship between them. They tried to awaken each other from a slumber that might have been symbolic. Though playful, the piece lacked the deadly seriousness of children’s play, nor did the moments of tension have the seriousness that would have made them poignant.
The purpose of a showcase is to introduce audiences to what is taking place in a given world. Limits on artistic interchange are detrimental both to performers and audiences. The presence of these different choreographers was a welcome addition to the cultural life of New York.
13th Annual Contemporary Dance Showcase – Japan and East Asia
8 and 9 January 2010
Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY
Tickets $ 22 general, $18 Japan Society members
212 832 1155
www.japanscoiety.org
|
|