This evening’s performance features recurring themes of strength versus weakness, connectivity, distrust versus trust, overcoming struggle and limitations.  The diversity of the repertoire was brought together with the music by Nicholas Csicsko and Reinaldo Moya, blending one piece into the next.

The dancers made unique musical choices with the timing of their movements, the stilts sometimes adding a downbeat rhythm of their own.  In simple costumes, unitards with pants or skirt layered over, the dancer’s bodies are revealed for their diverse abilities.

To my eye, the stretchy quality of pants does little to disguise stilts underneath, which I personally find distracting from the dramatic magnificence of these height accentuated dancers.

Yet it was fun to see dancers roam about like ordinary people then whip out aerial maneuvers tangling and detangling in fabric.

Above and Beyond Dance brings more levels into dance physically from aerial acrobatics to stilts to the various levels of a leaping or crouching dancer.  Though vertically enhancing, the stilts pose movement challenges themselves, having a reputation of being intrinsically awkward with the ever present danger of falling.  The dancers of Above and Beyond Dance surprise the audience, eliciting gasps and murmurs with the difficult maneuvers they accomplish on stilts. With high kicks, the dancers send the stilts high into the air, then transition sliding dramatically into extra long splits, continuing to incorporate the stilts in modern dance floor movement combinations.  A thrilling moment occurs as one stilt dancer, and positioned far downstage directly in front of audience, fends off the other dancers charging towards her.  Her back muscles ripple, contoured by red lighting as she propels them backwards convulsing through the air.  Lost in an imaginary world, seemingly witnessing a mystical battle between a giant and little people, I almost forget my fright for the safety of the dancers.

The dancers show no fear of the apparatus, yet are able to convey fear and other emotions through their performance.  I am given the impression the dancers are stepping out into the unknown, peering over an abyss into the unknown.

Solid Dancers . . .

A beautiful duet between one stilt dancer and another dancer eloquently expresses tolerance and harmony between two very different beings.  In another work, attachment is explored between two people, connected by an umbilical like cord from the crown of each dancer’s head.  Is it the story of the growth and separation of Siamese twins?  Perhaps this is where such a metaphorical idea for the dance originated, but it lends itself well, opening the minds of the audience.

Imagery abounds in Above and Beyond dance, in one instance a dancer suspended in a silk hammock flails about like a fish caught in a net.  The lighting is beautiful, playing off the exposed walls of the one room box theater, casting silhouetted shapes that become flying dancers, otherworldly beings crawling up the walls.  The audience is left with one stunning image to finish the evening, women in billowing white skirts, soaring through space.  Breathtaking . . .

Above & Beyond Dance is a great starting point for dancers curious about aerial acrobatics and those looking to expand their modalities.

The company offers an intriguing glimpse at the creative possibilities of cross breeding movement genres.  Working in a collaborative style of choreographing and developing dance, several contributors create unique pieces fusing input from multiple sources, with artistic direction by Chriselle Tidrick.

Chriselle Tidrick describes the wonderful working relationship she has with her dancers: “One of the girls asked, ‘okay, what next?’  And I said, ‘Well, what I think it would be really cool if …and somehow, the dancers make it happen!”

Above and Beyond Dance is definitely worth keeping an eye on, as we all look forward to seeing what’s next!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance: “Ascendance” Above & Beyond Dance
Choreography: Chriselle Tidrick with collaboration from Madeline Hoak, Sharon LIvardo du Maine, Andrea Skurr, and Emily Smyth Vartanian
Composers: Nicholas Csicsko and Reinaldo Moya
Venue: The Flea Theater, Soho NYC
Performance Date: Thursday September 10, 2009 www.iDANZ.com

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The Flea Theater presents

Ascendance

an exhilarating evening of circus-infused dance by

Above and Beyond Dance

Thursday, September 10 – Saturday, September 12 at 7pm;
Sunday, September 13 at 3pm

Tickets $20/$15 students, available at The Flea Theater box office

Online:  www.theflea.org or call (212) 352-3101

September 10-13, New York City-based Above and Beyond Dance will premiere Ascendance, its second season of circus-infused dance. This innovative company melds modern dance with aerial, stilt, and acrobatic work, creating an exciting world onstage which challenges traditional spatial boundaries. The choreography is designed to heighten perceptions of power and weakness, connection and disconnection, and limitation and freedom, enabling exploration of the complexities of human interaction. The cast of Ascendance will move through intricate vocabulary in which they appear upright, inverted, impossibly tall, or free of the constraints of the earth altogether.

Ascendance is a journey into group dynamics and the nature of strength and weakness as revealed by a multi-talented cast of performing artists. Segments of choreography are ingeniously interwoven to form a unified work of dance-theater which is at once dynamic spectacle yet sensitive and subtle. Audience members will discover scenes ranging from playful to threatening, and will follow the performers through power struggles, chaos and fear until they ultimately reach a point of equilibrium and freedom. Original chamber music by Juilliard-trained composers Nicholas Csicsko and Reinaldo Moya will deepen the movement’s dramatic impetus and carry the audience through a fully integrated theatrical experience.

Artistic Director Chriselle Tidrick directs and performs with a cast of astonishing talent and versatility. The five accomplished female collaborators are professional dancers with additional training in circus arts disciplines. Cast members include dancer/aerialist Madeline Hoak, dancer/stilt performer Sharon Livardo du Maine, dancer/gymnast/aerialist Andrea Skurr, and dancer/aerialist Emily Smyth Vartanian.

For additional information about Above and Beyond Dance, please visit: www.AboveAndBeyondDance.com.

The Flea Theater is located at 41 White Street, between Church St. and Broadway in TriBeCa and is easily reached by subways A, C, E, N, Q, R, W, 6, J, M, Z to Canal Street, or the 1 to Franklin Street. White Street is located three blocks south of Canal St.

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