The evening opens, as it always does with this company, with Fagan’s opus Prelude.  The piece begins with Pennewell leaping onto the stage in complete silence and hanging still with one leg extended behind him in an almost balletic attitude.  He balances for an amazingly long period of time, then, with a flurry of arms, a turn and a somersault, he finds himself casually balancing his leg aloft again.  Thus begins our lesson on Garth Fagan’s technique.  The number is intended to introduce Fagan’s unique style, and for anyone who’s ever been in a dance class, it reads like…  well,…  like you’re watching a dance class.  Not the most exciting piece of theatre.  For those who haven’t been in a dance class, apparently it’s fascinating, at least judging from the rambunctious applause at Prelude’s conclusion.  But to me, it is plodding and pedantic.  I appreciate the technique of Pennewell and the others, but then I want them to let go of it.  Dancers go to class to focus on technique, but when we go to see dance performed, we want to see dancers in whom technique is so ingrained that they are able to soar. Unfortunately, in Wednesday’s program, I rarely saw that happen.

Prelude is followed by an sensual duet from the company classic Griot.  This intricate, slowing-moving duet between the leggy, muscular Pennewell and the equally leggy and muscular Nicolette Depass is one of the highlights of the evening.  As disappointed as I had been with the first piece, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the dancers in this slow, inventive duet of shifting shapes set to a luscious soundtrack by Wynton Marsalis. Here, in the capable hands (and arms and legs and even chins) of two of Fagan’s senior dancers, you see an intensity that overrides the pedantic of the first piece.

Pennewell’s choreographic debut, Hylozoic, once again hits you over the head with the Fagan technique. But Pennewell has proved himself to be an excellent at jumps, and this piece gets off its feet– literally– in a more exciting manner than Prelude.  Set against a backdrop of a single curtain, the dancers defy gravity as they twist, leap and twirl through the space. Nicolette Depasse shines once again on a stage full of lithe, athletic dancers.

After those two highlights and a brief intermission, the program once again descends into a very formal, repetitive exploration of the Garth Fagan technique. Thanks, Forty seeks to honor the company’s anniversary, but it isn’t until the fourth movement, entitled Fete-Joys, that you get to see the heart and soul of the company.  When the three original dancers come out and dance without restraint, you begin to see how this might have been an explosive company twenty years ago.

Still, Garth Fagan is a must-see for any enthusiast of modern dance. Their historic ascent of the New York City dance ladder has become legendary and inspiring for dancers of all ages.  The newest members of the company show great promise, while the older ones amaze us with their dedication to and mastery of Fagan technique.  Each year they return to The Joyce Theater to make their indelible mark on the dance scene.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Molly Sorohan
Performance:  Garth Fagan Dance
Choreographer: Garth Fagan, Norwood Pennewell
Venue:  The Joyce Theater, New York
Performance Date:  November 10, 2010, 7:30 pm
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Sunday, Again, which premiered in Oslo in 2008, explores the combative nature of relationships using the slightly random metaphor of badminton. (Who among us doesn’t relate to badminton?) However, quite a few of us can relate to dysfunctional relationships and the emotional life of each couple is earnestly expressed with fluent, graceful lines and breathtaking partnering.  The opening duet between Jason Kittelberger and Acacia Schachte is particularly elegant.  Likewise, Harumi Terayama’s playful interlude with partner Jubal Battisti showcases her lightning feet and youthful vitality.  But while themes of loneliness and ostracism weave in and out, the piece never really comes together.  For all the exacting technique and effortless duets, one is left thinking, "But why should I care?"

The world of the second piece, Hofesh Shechter’s The Fools, contrasts sharply with Stromgen’s world of badminton and refined aggression.  Shechter’s darkly lit set creates a menacing atmosphere, and the opening sequence immediately catches your interest, with eight dancers, or Shadows, clothed in what appear to be black straitjackets, dancing wildly to a series of drumbeats.  Then the Fools enter:  seven characters in their underwear, hunched over, stepping deliberately in riveting slow motion.  By part two, the Fools are fully dressed in clone-like office wear, and the choreography becomes more stilted and mechanical to reflect their inner life.  Schechter’s choreography retains a sense of the unexpected, with breakouts by the Shadows interwoven with the Fool’s choreography, which, as the piece progresses, becomes more desperate and absurd.  Soloist Manuel Vignoulle steals the show with his gut-wrenching, athletic solo.

In the third and final piece, Didy Veldman’s frame of view, nine lithe, sinewy dancers glide between a series of three rather flimsy doors, designed by Miriam Buether. The doorways are meant both literally and figuratively as passageways to happiness and tragedy.  Though enjoyable overall, the ballet leans towards the latter half of the term "artsy-fartsy," due mostly to Veldman’s tendency to incorporate spoken word into the soundtrack, which in this case was distracting and annoying.  Still, several vignettes resonated deeply: the lonely, sexy ballerina dancing a duet with a faceless figure through a rubber-paneled door, a slow-motion fight where Terayama’s features and technique are used to maximum comic effect, and two lonely souls sharing a turtleneck in a lovely, pitiful duet.   frame of view had the most personality of the evening and offered the most humor, insight and catharsis.

Does Cedar Lake live up to the hype?  Not with this program, no.  But they certainly proved to be a risk-taking company full of beautiful, powerful dancers.  I am curious to see what their next steps will be.

 iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Molly Sorohan
Performance:  Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet
Venue:  The Joyce Theater, New York City
Show Date:  November 2, 2010
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Scandalous People: A Sizzling Jazzical

The show has a decent premise:  black entertainers in late ’20s Harlem get a chance at the big leagues.  Of course, that chance comes with strings attached.  Plot line sound familiar?  In this version, however, Effie isn’t pushed off to the sidelines.  Her name is Dez, and she’s married to the big cheese, although he still has a thing for her sister.  But the love triangle isn’t really the main plot.  Dez and her husband Dewey run a show at a Harlem speakeasy, and a gangster wants to put it on Broadway.  There are all sorts of issues that naturally arise when a gangster wants to put a show on Broadway.  For example, Mae West wants to be in the show, and there’s a drag queen called Trixie.  Sound confusing?  It is.  The structural problems are complicated by the fact that the microphones cut out at least once a scene.  Given that I saw the show on the second to last night, I can only assume that the sound department never did and never will get it together, and the disjointed, chemistry-free scenes heighten the chaos, instead of any dramatic tension.  Take, for example, the scene where the love triangle is introduced.  (And I’m paraphrasing shamelessly here):

SISTER: I want to be in your show, Mr. Dewey.

DEWEY: Mwah mffff wlll. (They do a single time step. She impresses him by doing– oh my God!– a triple time step.) You can dance, mmfffflll.

DEZ’ SISTER: Mwah hdllmrff. (She throws her leg up on his shoulder.)

Mwah, mwah, mwah?  You’d think you were watching a Charlie Brown’s Christmas special and the muffled mouth teacher just entered the room!   Anywho, we can only assume that he drags her awkwardly off stage to do "the nasty".

In the next scene Dez comes in to audition for the show as well, and for no reason whatsoever Dewey seems to fall for Dez without mentioning that he just did her sister.  The sister, in a completely unrealistic turn of events, decides not to tell her sister that they are "in love," (ie, doing the nasty in the wings) and sings the worst song in the music theatre lexicon almost completely off-pitch.  It is at this point that my sister leans over to remind me of our little sister’s 7th grade vocal recital. "At least when they butchered Honey Bun, you had Charles deBarber dancing around in a coconut bra," she whispered.

Nirine S. Brown as the sister is truly a lovely dancer, but she needs to work on her song, to say the least.  The rest of the cast try hard, but polishing turds makes for a long and thankless work. Jennifer Swirderski does a lovely Mae West impression and is terrific in the show’s title number.  I find Mae West impressions overdone and predictable, which is ironic given that West herself was completely unpredictable.  However, Swirderski’s West does inject the script with some much-needed wit: the lines I could hear are well-played and funny.  Obediah Wright’s choreography is smart and enjoyable and boosts the show with some much-needed dynamics.  Eugene Fleming anchors the show as Dewey with his smooth singing voice and easy, yet commanding stage presence.

But despite the show’s best intentions: despite its intriguing historical premise and and jazz score, despite the pedigree creative team, including Broadway’s own Fredi Walker-Browne directing, who created the role of Joanne in the original Rent, the show never comes together.  It is an agonizing evening of theatre.  If it’s between seeing this and seeing your sister’s grade school music recital, I would recommend the recital, with or without the coconut bra.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Molly Sorohan
Performance:  Scandalous People
Director/Choreographer:  Fredi Walker-Browne, Director/ Obediah Wright, Choreographer
Venue: Minetta Lane Theatre, New York International Fringe Festival
Performance Date:  Friday, September 28,  2009
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