Dance Review: Intricate Time Passage of Tap, Savion Glover at The Joyce
March 10, 2009 by iDANZ Today
Filed under Concert Modern -Jazz-Contemporary, Hip Hop/Street/Commercial, iDANZ Critix Corner -Dance Reviews, Other Dance, Performance Art - Dance, Reviews, Theater Dance
Savion Glover has a reputation for defying laws of gravity in order to achieve the most dynamic sounds and fastest speeds possible with his tap shoes. His effortless mastery of executing lightening speed sounds justifies the lingering question, " Is he superhuman?" But, the true lesson that Solo in Time teaches is that Savion Glover is a chill, down to earth guy having fun with his friends, while doing what he clearly LOVES to do: superhuman tap dancing.
Watching Solo In Time is much like sitting in on a tech rehearsal. There is barely any recognition of the audience, only recognition of the artistry onstage, a recognition that is full of laughter and sporadic chit-chat. The conversations between musicians and dancers make it seem like they are experimenting with one another and trying all of this for the first time. Each artist expresses love for the process as every sound is seemingly newly discovered. At times, a musician or fellow dancer gestures to Mr. Glover that they are going to grab some water offstage, adding to the rehearsal-like-setting. There is much love on stage that is expressed through hugging and handshakes. This is the true magic that happens in a rehearsal room that not many people get to witness because of the presentation gloss that is coated onto many performances.
The lights start low and mysterious on Mr. Glover and his two partners in crime, Marshall Davis Jr. and Cartier Williams, the trio otherwise known as Bare Soundz. Joining this dynamic trio onstage is the La Conja & The Saintz, a flamenco band including a guitarist, an upright bassist, a percussionist and a singing and castanet playing Flamenco dancer, La Conja. Watching Savion and the boys riff back and forth with each instrument and with each other is jaw dropping to say the least.
Opening the show, "Cici" introduces the playful relationship between the band members and the tap dancers. Savion’s traditional "one tap-platform per dancer" set up exists throughout the show, one down-stage and two up-stage. The bassist sits up-center, the guitarist down-right and the percussionist down-left, a set up that is very conducive to interaction between the artists. Again, as expressed above, the barely audible chatter and laughter between dancers and musicians, creating that cool, rehearsal atmosphere, makes one wonders whether improvisation is driving the whole piece; yet when the dancers and musicians come together in unison, it couldn’t be cleaner if you scrubbed it two times over with bleach.
In the first act, La Conga & The Saintz wander on and offstage, allowing for some "just Bare Soundz" spotlight time. "Gigantic Steps" shows off Mr. Glover’s nimble and effortless soloing as the other two simply keep the beat with a shim sham upstage. The first time the dancers rotate positions on their platforms and Marshal Davis Jr. takes the downstage platform to riff on the beat, it becomes clear that Mr. Glover only works with prodigies. The beats are unique and the shading is ingenious. Michael Cartier doesn’t make his solo debut until the end of the first act in "Skip a Beat", but when finally does come to the downstage platform, one wonders how someone could have become so brilliant in just nineteen years (he is still in school getting his degree at Miami International School of Art and Design).
Black silhouettes against the signature open brick backdrop of the The Joyce Theater move in slow motion to their tap platforms before being blasted with lighting that reveals all three dancers smiling their biggest smiles as they dance in unison to the opening trombone in the jazzy "Skip a Beat". This blast of light is refreshing after spending most of the first act in a mysterious lighting that hides all facial expressions.
"Skip a Beat" brings to light how much fun these men are having as they tap their feet off with riffles and 64th note beats that send electrifying pulses from the toes to the fingertips, faces and even hair (Savion Glover’s dreads dance happily with him). As the music comes back to its theme, the trio comes back to its theme choreography, which starts with all three right legs coming up above ninety degrees á la second as the bottom feet hover off of the ground. These men are not only fierce tappers, but have some ballet technique that isn’t expected or required of such advanced tap dancers.
Especially notable in the first act is the duet between the bassist and Mr. Glover. Initially, the bassist strums two strings on the ‘and 1′ of the phrase, two notes that send Mr. Glover into several phrases of incendiary tap beats before the bassist gives him another ‘and 1′. Before this simple conversation gets too predictable, the bassist starts playing the bass like a hand drum. This conversation of rhythm sends tingles up the spine as its sounds speed like a roller coaster, instilling fear that someone is going to fall off, while also instilling intense joy that this duet takes the rhythms to such a risky place.
The second act revolves around the singer of the group, La Conja. In a piece entitled "La Conja", the statuesque flamenco dancer proudly walks on stage to take the coveted spot of the downstage tap platform. Mr. Glover and La Conja play back and forth as she holds the heartbeat with her flamenco shoes and a wailing voice that comes from a deep place. As the La Conja’s wail moves the audience to extraordinary places, Mr. Glover steps onto the upstage right platform and passionately responds to her emotion. The exchange is breathtaking.
"Starz and Stripes For the Saintz" closes the show and is a tribute to each member of the flamenco band as it truly accomplishes "exploring a montage of sounds through the intricate time passage of tap dance composition and the many ancestral forms of flamenco" as stated in the program notes. Each musician gets a chance to solo with ferocity, each solo igniting a duet with the tap master of ceremonies. Mr. Glover has a way of speaking to each musician in their instrument’s language. He has the ability to not only imitate an instrument’s rhythms, but also its timbre. When dueling with the classical guitar, the sounds that are produced are rhythms that the guitar is capable of making and does make. The same goes for the percussionist, who participates in the duel in which Mr. Glover really shines, as he is really at home when speaking with a percussionist.
The show ends in a Stevie Wonder style fade-out. The curtain gradually drops on Savion Glover and his flamenco friends as they continue to make brilliant music even after the curtain has dropped. This fade-out is an accurate metaphor for Mr. Glover’s theme of the entire evening and maybe the theme of his life as a dancer: continue to find new ways to speak to each other through sound and, most importantly, curtain up or curtain down, dance like no one is watching.
Photography by NiNA
iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Adrienne Jean Fisher
Performance: Solo in Time
Choreography: Savion Glover
Venue: The Joyce Theater
Date: March 5, 2009
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