In a new program at Symphony Space     David Parker and Gina Gibney present an interwoven evening of works that show just how different and yet subtly reminiscent two very distinct contemporary works can be.  For the new series entitled “Short Form Weave,” Parker and Gibney are invited to make works to the music of composer, Ryan Lott that would, in presentation, vibe off the other’s kinesthetic energy.  The resulting dances are presented in delightful tandem, first a section of Parker’s Other Arrangements then a chunk of Gibney’s concrete mechanique and so on, four sections in total, with no intermission. The original sound score is performed live by Lott himself, sometimes appearing with a just a laptop, and sometimes with the music ensemble, yMusic, just behind an opaque scrim.

Watching dances in this format allows for a remarkable game of compare and contrast.  I am struck immediately by both choreographers’ attention to musicality.  Parker likes rhythm…  Like a concert with Bobby McFerrin, his dancers slap themselves and each other; they stamp the floor and interact accompanied by distorted voiceovers to create a mottled fabric of humanistic happenings.  On the other hand, Gibney works with the full ensemble of musicians playing cyclical and dramatic classical sounding music in which she wonderfully mimics each musical movement’s sensibility within her own choreographic structures.  When the ensemble plays arcs and rolling shifts, she gives us leaps and circling partner lifts in canon.  When the score shifts to staccato pulses, her dancers turn their heads sharply from side to side leaning forearms into the floor and flipping their bodies unison.

The resulting emotional life of each work are strikingly different in tone.  Parker has his dancers quickly come in and out of moods dancing wildly and hopping, flailing about but then walking slowly, pausing to look pointedly at one another.  Out of everyone in Parker’s more active section, my favorite is Amber Sloan; fully committed to every movement, Parker’s piece seems tailor-made for Sloan with her noticeably long limbs and perfectly awkward, perfectly weird quirks.  Love her….

In Parker’s final work of the evening, Parker is a delight.  He comes closest to theater when a duet, that begins as a slapping game, progresses into a fun vaudevillian rendition of “Tea for Two,” remarkably well sung by Jeffrey Kazin and Nic Petry.  Although the jokes here are predictable, I sincerely enjoy the rhythmic play in which each man tries to steal the other’s spotlight as well as enjoy the queer reading of the song.

In contrast, Gibney’s work gives emotionality as a starting point with tantalizing texture.  Her dancers, beautiful and very clean, have mastered the controlled, swooping feel of her movements (Joshua Palmer looks exceptionally “on” in his quick shifts between off balance turns and sharp, directed gestures).   At the very end of the second section of Gibney’s work, a long, angst-filled duet winds down into running and circular suspended lifts. The dancers twirl as the music plays elongated and slightly grating chords, and because here Gibney goes against the music’s overwhelming rhythm, the lights quickly fade on a gripping scene still fueled by a fiery disharmony.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Meghan Frederick
Performance:  Short Form Weave- The Bang Group and Gibney Dance
Choreography: David Parker and Gina Gibney
Venue:  Symphony Space
Show Date:  March 5, 2010
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Gina Gibney choreographs a gorgeous, organically flowing, 55 minute piece set to a memorable piece of music by Ryan Lott and atmospherically influenced by a brilliant live projection designed by Joshue Ott/superDraw. The set design and costumes by Lex Liang and lighting design by Kathy Kaufmann are just the right final ingredients to make this work a totally fierce piece of dance that I would love to see again and again!

View Partially Obstructed begins with some incredible dancing, moving set pieces, solos and duets in front and behind the set pieces and screens littered throughout the space, creating a mysterious and powerful effect.   It is clear that the process of creating this work is as just as important if not more important than the product of what we as an audience sees.  

Between the quintet of three female and two male dancers is a very strong connection that helps define the space as much as the moveable set pieces.  The relationships and choreography convey a beautiful message about the delicate balance between what we see in one another and what we don’t, and how we handle those realities.   It is a spectrum of creative movement vocabulary, and even the original light show, that starts and finishes the program, has such a powerful impact that it leaves the audience breathless.

If all views were this partially obstructed, theatre and dance would be something everyone would want to see.  In every show there are a lot of people who do a lot of work to put it together, but in this case, every aspect of design seems even stronger than the next without any one of them overpowering the other.  Gina Gibney’s work, View Partially Obstructed, is perfectly combined to create a really great piece that I hope gets a nice long life because it deserves it.
 

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Dante Puleio
Performance:  Gina Gibney Dance, View Partially Obstructed
Choreographer:  Gina Gibney
Venue: Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York City
Show Date:  October 13, 2009
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I will start with my least favorite.  Whisper Within by TAKE Dance choreographed by Takehiro Ueyama, Four Screaming Women from Jane Comfort and Company, and Exposition #2 from Mute choreographed by Luka Kito and Megan Boyd.  These 3 works stand out because they are what everyone hates about modern dance.  Pointless, under rehearsed, boring, and quintessential "downtownyness" with unfinished lines, typical, unoriginal, tired, old choreography.  If you have something to say and can’t find an original way to say it, then don’t create work. Modern Dance will never move to the forefront in the art world if we as a dance community don’t say "this is not good," "no one but your friends want to see this," and "stop masturbating on us."  There, I said it.  I don’t want work I saw in college, and I don’t want 4 people talking to me and making gestures and not even able to get the script or the gestures right.  If Cirque De Soleil can do the things they can do, I would like to hope that four people standing on stage saying the same 10 words over and over can actually get it right!

Let’s move on to some better stuff…  Homage to Mahler, by Hanya Holm performed by Betsy Fisher, Sacred Things (excerpt) by Wallie Wolfgruber & Co., an excerpt from View Partially Obstructed from Gina Gibney Dance, Riptide from Banana Peel Dance, a collaborative work between Aaron Draper and his dancers Kimberly Almquist and Nicole Mitchell and Becoming by Li Chaio-Ping.  These 5 pieces are more original than the previously mentioned works; they are better performed, more interesting, have a better use of space, and have an idea that keep me involved.  Sacred Things begins looking under-rehearsed and is looking a little too difficult for the dancers until Ryoko Kudo enters the stage and the piece really begins to take shape.  Her presence is startling, she is fearlessly being thrown and carried and has me on the edge of my seat waiting to see where she will go next.  She saves the first act for me. 

Li Chaio-Ping has some exceptional moments and is very exciting to watch her as she calmly dives into some exciting choreography.  Gibney’s excerpt is beautifully danced.  Her performers are exquisite and seamless, although I didn’t understand the sections that were put together, I totally enjoy watching them, they are completely intoxicating.  These works will keep me from wanting to leave and hang myself from some ballet barre down the street at ABT.

Last but not least, my totes favs of the evening…  Pray/Prey from the Stefanie Nelson Dance Group and Wooden Heart from the Julian Barnett Project.  Both of these pieces take chances and go to places and explore ideas in ways I haven’t really seen before.  Pray/Prey is a trio that explores the control men have over women and vice versa.  With the male literally miming the playing of music as the two girls dance and fall over each other to get to him, they find themselves fighting him, but can’t resist the attraction; it is at times humorous and at times creepy.  I love this piece and will be sure to catch their next performance.  I am totes intrigued!

The piece that closes the evening and for good reason is Barnett’s, Wooden Heart, with music by Portishead,  …so right there they already get 10 cool points because they use music, good music not random sounds from answering machines or whatever some of the the other groups use; it is actually music, with a pulse and a beat and a melody…. I am starving for it.   Anyway, it is a really cool duet where there is a microphone and  performers singing, dancing up against the wall, unison dancing that is creative and organic, AND an interval where Julian’s partner Jocelyn Tobias crawls across stage on her back for minutes…. I am gagging!  I love, love, love it!  It reveals the secrets that lie behind the motivation between the attraction of women and men.  A witty and cunning piece of dance!  Yay!

Friday Night’s Performance of DTW’s DanceNOW was exactly what I remember of my Halloween trick or treat pillowcase of candy from when I was little, some amazing pieces of delicious chocolate, and then some awful packages of old Tootsie Rolls, broken Sweet-Tarts, and rusty pennies.  I am thankful for the fun works I saw and terribly disappointed by what is allowed to be shown and accepted as "dance NOW". 

iDANZ Critix Corner Official Dance Review by Dante Puleio Performance:  2009 DanceNOW (NYC) Festival Venue:  Dance Theater Workshop (DTW), NYC Performance Date:  Friday, September 11, 2009 www.iDANZ.com

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