Barnard Project: From Postmodern to Funky Fusions

Barnard Project presents a spectrum of Contemporary dance from the purely Postmodern to funky House fusion.  What sets Barnard apart from some of the other schools I have seen this season is that Barnard is not a conservatory, but a liberal arts college.  They seem freed from the trappings of ‘high culture/virtuosic performance’.  The dancers have varying ranges of technical abilities yet throw themselves fully into interesting and new premieres.  With pure joy, they bless the stage with their blended energies.  The packed house at DTW, (mostly friends and family) erupts in appreciation after each work. 

Taking from their mission, the Barnard Project “encourages a duel approach to the art of dance, promoting the development of artistry and personal style through the performance of historical and contemporary dance texts. … It is the department’s belief that future artist and dance scholars pursuing their studies within an undergraduate liberal arts program must understand the language, composition, history, and criticism of the art form.”

This mission is close to my heart.  I believe that dancers, whether conservatory trained or destined to research and write, need to move.  Without a kinetic understanding of the body, the  critical reflection on dance is shallow and these criticisms can smack of ‘sour grapes’.

Morgan Thorson is a choreographer who believes improvisation can lead to “some very physically intense places.” (1)  Monuments and Other Points of Interest: A Revisionist Construction of Closeness opens with dancers in blue bonnets with two cafeteria style tables also dressed in blue.  The dance, clearly postmodern in construction, maintains its improvisational feel throughout.  The four women and one man are set to tasks that take them throughout the space and into connections with each other.  Two dancers become locked forehead to forehead and hold this position while others stare blankly.  Then, the bonnets fall off, and they start a subtle head banging session with their hair.  The women, hanging forward, just let their hair fall forward and back as they stand in a wide fourth position.  

Monuments comments on ‘closeness’ by moving aimlessly through the vast space and incorporating the randomly placed tables.  The dancers punctuate the work with task-laden gestural phrases that repeat and form loose cannons of movement.  To finish, a rather thrashy solo leaves a burning image of the emotion that has been creeping just beneath the surface.

bismillah, from Nora Chipaumire, explores religious devotion through the simplicity of stance and prayer.  A native of Mutare, Zimbabwe, she is a “self-exiled artist … [and]… investigates the collaborative process within cultural, political, economic, and technological identities of African contemporary life.” (2) Twelve women enter with white hoodied tunics.  They dwell in profile and low light while their communal exhalations of breath establish the first rhythms.  They turn upstage, lower their hoods and busily fix their hair for a moment or two. 

The piece, mostly in silence, is painstakingly slow.   It is beautiful to watch Chipaumire’s slow repetitive pacing on these American bodies of varying ethnicities.  The dancers grow into a very culturally specific pace as the piece progresses.  The movement is made up of stances that are held for a while and then changed slowly.  Legs raise before bending and moving into extension.  The proselytes/converts sway, double clap and make rhythms with their heels and bodies.  The shuffling movement is grounded in the African Diasporic tradition.  Falling forward, they exhale.  The movements/scenes repeat in variation with a catcall whistle punctuating the silence.  In another scene, an Islamic ‘call to prayer’ is heard.  The Barnard dancers are transformed by the strange singing that slowly and stalwartly directs their limbs.  At times, their bodies change from tense and uncertain early on to more sure and embodied towards the end.  The dance gradually slows, refusing to build to a structural climax.  Instead, the dancers express their aspirations on God/Allah’s time. 

Hover, a new work by Susan Rethorst, is structured with minimalist and postmodern forms.  The work is mildly humorous using minimalist repetition and sequencing to incorporate random, pedestrian, and deadpan elements. Rethorst has the gift of imagery and creates a range of scenes from poignant and sad to the hilariously funny and just plain bizarre! 

The piece opens with six dancers lying supine in a Busby Berkley style circle. Their feet point into the center, and their arms are out to their sides.  They form a circle and are manipulated as another dancer slowly pulls one arm over the next until they are all lying on their sides.  The heavy hand plops to the ground each time with the last hand caught by a seated dancer, who is simply observing. Rethorst’s work is well paced.  The catching of the hand signals that all things about Hover are thoughtfully constructed in their own time. 

The dancers enjoy the chuckles from the audience, and they start to react from their own deadpan humor.  One dancer cannot contain her smile during a moment in which her face breaks for a second.  The dance incorporates skips, cartwheels, paddle spins and other more post-modern elements.  At times, the dancers perform intricate time sequences with gestural phrases.  The minimalist repetition and spray of arms gives the illusion of being inside a kaleidoscope.

A former member of the Limón Company, Nicholas Leichter, who has also worked with choreographic greats such as Ron K. Brown and Gus Solomons Jr., takes the audience to that next level of dance.  Waltzes, Wonder and First Choice throws down with popular music, full-bodied movement, theatrics and at least one big ‘no they didn’t’ incorporated into a very solid dance work.  The piece is flawlessly performed.  Oh, and he brings out some ‘menz’ too!  (Banard is traditionally an all women’s college.) 

It is all I can do to stay in my chair as this kindred-soul works the ‘children’ with Kenny Lattimore’s “With You I’m Born Again”, Alicia Keys’ “Falling”, Lauryn Hill’s “I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer” and THE ALL TIME GREATEST HOUSE CLASSIC by First Choice, “It’s not over”. 

Yes, the music is important when describing an artist that straddles the club and contemporary dance scenes.  The last group steps up the game and brings out the jazz/Afro/house/theatrical dance fusion that epitomizes Leichter’s style.  The work starts with a ‘stardusty’ fantasy scene.  The women are decked out in bedazzling lycra  blue dresses.  The men wear dress pants, white dress shirts and ties. The ‘cutties’ strut and sway their hips.  Initially, all the ‘butt shaking and lower back poppin’ confuse the audience.  But, confusion soon gives way to foot tapping, and the little boy to my left, who has been busily shifting in his seat the whole concert, leans forward and smiles.

During a transitional scene, two men partner each other, and their movement is electric with a more masculine ‘bro-mance’.  Toward the end, the duet becomes charged with homo-erotic attraction.  In what is now clear to be more of a lover’s spat, they tussle about before one slaps the other and storms off.  (If you haven’t seen “Mad TV – Gay Fight” on YouTube, please hit that up after finishing my review to gain insight into the intensity/attraction/sensitivity that is guy on guy love.)  This type of love is revered in House anthems and dance tracks for its ‘do or die’ nature.

Scene Change Red!  The ladies reenter in red dresses, which are just as stunning as the scene change.  The dancers work the final numbers well as an ensemble cast.  The dancers are alive in Leichter’s movement style and use of pop music.  They spin, partner, rock hips, jump onto the floor and literally slap each other in and out of grooves.  Overall, the work flows well from scene to scene with no dull moments.  Leichter’s work is tight as he closes out the Barnard Project, adding to this evening’s wide variety of dance. 

All photos courtesy of www.barnard.columbia.edu.com

iDANZ Critix Corner

Official Dance Review by Sasha Deveaux

Performance: The Barnard Project

Choreographer: Morgan Thorson, Nora Chipaumire, Susan Rethorst, Nicholas Leichter

Venue: Dance Theater Workshop

Performance Date: April 24, 2009 at 7:30pm

www.iDANZOnline.com

(1) http://mattpeiken.com/Journalism/Dance-Theater/morganthorson.htm

(2) http://www.pentacle.org/Artist_Roster_Nora_Chipaumire.htm

Share on Facebook