DanceBrazil continues to blur the boundary between capoeira and modern dance with their latest season at The Joyce Theater

Formed by choreographer Jelon Vieira in 1977, DanceBrazil incorporates elements of Afro-Brazilian culture, especially the martial art of Capoeira, into their modern dance works. On Wednesday evening, the company presented two pieces at the Joyce Theater: Banguela and Memórias.

Banguela is a well-crafted celebration of Brazil’s unique capoeira culture, expressed through a striking balance of sincerity and physicality.  “Banguela,” as the program notes explain, is “a special rhythm played to calm down the capoeiristas when their play in the roda gets too heated.”  In the dance Banguela, Vieira draws the audience into the capoeirista’s meditative state. The dancers move with such strength and control that at times they appear to defy gravity, as if time is slowed and blurred by the Banguela rhythm.

The piece begins with the company dressed in white and dancing through a series of luscious motions with satisfying clarity, their arms carving through space in round gestures as if drawing the air into a large embrace.  When the music starts, the company forms a circle and dances inwards, referencing the capoeira “roda” formation.

The highlight of Banguela is a duet between Paulo Silva and Raphael Novaes.  The two men move through a continuous series of cartwheels, low leg sweeps and backbends with grace and flair.  For the most part they maintain eye contact, keeping with the original tradition of capoeira.  At certain points, however, the capoeiristas shift their movement toward the audience, running their hands in the air facing an invisible partner.  In capoeira, partners use these hand gestures as a means of familiarizing themselves with their partner and focusing on their partner’s movements.  By splicing the capoeira pair and turning the dancers towards us, Vieira makes the audience the partner, and invites us into the sacred and historically significant space of the capoeira circle.

While I am delighted by the craftsmanship and execution of Banguela, I am unfortunately disappointed by the second piece, Memórias, which unfolds through as a muddled series of vignettes.  In this topic-heavy work, a number of powerful ideas (such as Brazil’s modernization -referenced by honking car sound effects- and the country’s history of slavery and perseverance) are introduced but are not adequately developed.  DanceBrazil’s usual focus, energy and clarity are lost amid the wide-range of topics and sentiments.

Although not as apparent in this program, Vieira is known for utilizing his dancers’ athleticism and virtuosity to create powerful modern dances that draw upon the strength of Brazil’s own movement and music traditions.  The company’s past seasons are better examples of this, and I look forward to seeing the DanceBrazil’s next engagement at The Joyce.

Photography by Tom Pich

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Tze Chun
Performance: DanceBrazil
Choreography: Jelon Vieira
Venue: The Joyce Theater, New York City
Performance Date: April 1^st, 2010
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Lar Lubovitch Dance Company presents stunning pieces of repertory and exciting world premieres at the Joyce Theater February 23- March 7th. Program B’s works consist of Elemental Brubeck, Vita Nova, and two world premieres:  Coltrane’s Favorite Things and Dogs of War.  This season marks the Company’s 40^th anniversary and the program’s themes reflect nostalgia for the past as well as Lubovitch’s timeless style and sensibility.

In Coltrane’s Favorite Things, the dancers generate an exuberant visual realization of Coltrane’s 1963 audio recording, to which the dance is set.  A large reproduction of Jackson Pollack’s iconic Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) hangs as a backdrop while dancers channel the beatniks dressed in somber shades of black, grey and blue.  Lubovitch skillfully crafts a correlation between jazz and dance, rather than a straight literal translation of Coltrane’s melodies and rhythms into movement.  He utilizes quick lifts to accent where the musical notes hit their highs, and incorporates synchronized arm motions that ripple across the stage in cannon when the melody takes flight.  Like fingers above piano keys, these waves flutter left and right, all the while moving along a finite direction.  At one point, the repeating crash of drum symbols causes a commotion on stage as dancers swing each other in the air, their partners’ legs clicking together in mid-lift to accent the moment of contact between stick and symbol.

In the more theatrical parts of Coltrane’s Favorite Things, dancers are satisfyingly cool, with West Side Story flair.  They smile exuberantly and revel in the music, executing phrases excitedly as if taking a mean jazz solo and loving it.  As the music crescendos, the dancers bop their heads, shimmy their shoulders and shake it out as if releasing their bodies from The Man’s oppressive hand.   At the end of the recorded music, the last two dancers on stage drop to the floor in staggered motions, pausing with the breaks in the music and flailing with the last of the horn’s blows.  The party is over for those two dancers and the curtain closes, signaling Lubovitch’s reflection on the end of a chapter in American culture.

In Vita Nova, a stunningly strong and simple duet, Katarzyna Skarpetowska and Brian McGinnis move through a series of structural poses and lifts.  The dancers shift between suspended shapes with classical grace and flawless lines while maintaining Lubovitch’s modern sense of weight, which informs the grip, pull, and tension between their bodies.

Also a duet, Dogs of War, performed by Attila Joey Csiki and Christopher Vo, addresses the relationship between two soldiers and their individual struggles to maintain a sense of humanity during wartime.  Images of barbwire, barricades, and battle scenes are projected on three screens behind the two men. These screens run a symbolic red towards the end of the work.

Dogs of War begins with two soldiers dancing in a militaristic manner.  As the most narrative of the night’s pieces, the characters then take solos, each confronting their own fears and responsibilities, and eventually engage in a complex confrontation with each other. Although on opposite sides of a war, the two men share in moments of empathy for each other and, in a fleeting passage, care for and cradle each other.  A piece as political as Dogs of War would be heavy-handed if not for Lubovitch’s ability to craft theater rather than theatrics.  Although the work and the projected images hint at the Vietnam War, within the overarching program, Dogs of War seems less like a look back, and more like a look at how things have yet to change.

With Elemental Brubeck, Lubovitch travels a bit further back in time and weaves social dances from the 1950’s into a carefree and lighthearted exploration of Dave Brubeck’s music.  In the program notes, Lubovitch references jazz once again by differentiating the “Solo” from the “Combo.”  Throughout the piece, the soloist Attila Joey Csiki (dressed in red) acts as a counterpoint to the other dancers (dressed in pastels).  The piece ends with Attila Joey Csiki taking a stylized jitterbug-inspired solo while the Combo’s dancers clap and cheer him on.

For the Company’s anniversary program, Lubovitch clearly incorporates his favorite things. Although drawing heavily from the structure and context of the music he selects, Lubovitch re-imagines the possibilities for jazz rather than relying on their inspirations to carry the works.  He transports the audience to a different era and a different mindset, where Pollack’s splattered paint hangs in the air and instills abandon into dancers’ leaps and turns. Through the luscious full movement that is Lubovitch’s signature, the Company’s performances offer enjoyment, a sense of nostalgia, and reflection free of judgment.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Tze Chun
Performance: Lar Lubovitch Dance Company
Choreography: Lar Lubovitch
Venue: The Joyce Theater, New York City
Performance Date: March 2, 2010
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A refreshing variety of dances by emerging and experienced choreographers, Soaking WET brings downtown modern dance to the Upper West Side.

An ongoing series produced by David Parker and Jeffrey Kazin, Soaking WET presents shared-bill and single artist performances at the intimate West End Theater.  The current installment of Soaking WET showcases the work of Christopher Caines, Kelli Edwards, Marta Miller, Ainslinn Macmaster, Tiffany Mills, Kristi Spessard, and Katherine Longstreth, with special performances by Amber Sloan.

West End Theater, located on the second floor of the Church of St. Paul & St. Anthony, is the perfect size and space for the Soaking WET series.  The seating is limited to a few rows of raised pews, which offer a perfect view of formations and floor work.  Several columned archways serve as a dramatic backdrop to the curved stage area, and the walls extend a few stores high to a domed ceiling.  The program, curated by David Parker of David Parker and the Bang Group, reflects his company’s own sense of humor, musicality, and physicality.

Thursday night’s performance included the works Owe by Miller and MacMaster, LandFall by Mills, This is What We’re Doing Now by Edwards, and Suite from ARIAS by Caines.  The duet Owe, choreographed and performed by Marta Miller and Aislinn MacMaster, explores a complex and multi-faceted relationship between two women. Miller and MacMaster, who have been dancing together for over a decade, carefully craft vignettes that span a range of emotions and associations.  The dancers slow-dance, wrestle, embrace each other, and almost strangle each other, with precise movements and a strong sense of intent.

Tiffany Mills’ LandFall is a powerful solo performed by Petra van Noort, who balances small isolations of her torso and wrists with large sweeping motions.  LandFall is the least narrative of the works in the program, and Mills creates a psychological landscape in which van Noort searches for herself and possibly a way out.

Kelli Edwards’ This is What We’re Doing Now is a strikingly sincere modern dance piece in which a trio of dancers- Johan de Besche, Irene Lutts, and Edwards herself- travel along a clear and satisfying choreographic arc.  The piece, set to various Lieder by Schubert, opens with the dancers taking a moment to quickly prepare themselves in plain view of the audience.  As they briefly adjust their costumes and nod to each, they set the tone of the piece; the audience enters into the dancers’ world, experiences the movement empathetically, and feels involved in the dancers’ story.  The dancers then whisk through a whimsical and musically sophisticated series of phrases.  Edwards combines constantly changing formations and cannons fluently and with ease.  The piece then transitions into a number of duets, during which the third dancer sits to the side and observes.  These duets are intimate and grounded.  The dancers move each other’s limbs, use each other’s weight, and at times simply support each other.  Although the dynamics and relationships between the dancers in the duets change throughout these partnering sections, Edwards maintains gentleness and inquisitiveness in the task-based movements.

The evening concluded with Christopher Caines Dance Company performing Suites from ARIAS.  Set at a cocktail party, the piece opens with dancers greeting each other cordially and clinking champagne glasses.  Caines’ mixture of waltz steps and pedestrian gestures with darker elements (two dancers stepping over the sprawled body of a third dancer comes to mind) is a bit confusing.  The audience would be more inclined to journey into abstraction with Caines’ dancers if the piece returns to the cocktail party narrative throughout the work.  Nonetheless, dancer Wendy Joy Reinert’s stunning performance showcases Caines’ musical sensibility and graceful phrases.

Be sure to check out the next installment of Soaking WET, which returns to the West End Theater May 13-16^th with works by Deborah Lohse, Oan Spencer Bell, and Ben Munisteri. 

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Tze Chun
Performance:  Soaking WET
Venue:  West End Theater
Show Date:  January 21, 2010
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response to the Haiti/earthquake disaster. 
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and supplies to victims in this crisis?
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While many people bemoan the dawning of the quarter century marker, choreographer Tze Chun nails it in stride…or flight.  The twenty-five year old’s Tze Chun Dance Company shows a work in progress, new work and a rep piece this weekend at The Tank. Having presented at numerous venues in the city and prepping for a tour of China, TCDC reflects a choreographer with an unwavering vision.  Each piece drowns the audience in thoughtful details, effortless movement, and intriguing stories that leave me wanting more.

The lights come up on several dancers in champagne hued vests, shorts and other meticulously detailed garments by Hannah Shaw and Chun.  Reflecting upper middle class people of the 1800’s, TCDC dancers toy with the notion of play…often flirting or cultivating all things competitive.  This work in progress, Parlour Games, fancies oranges as baseballs and lives the philosophy, “if you have a prop on stage, use it!”  These "baseballs" become the Siamese between the notion of twins, permanent extensions of fingers, and finally like anything that’s close by when angst has reach its ultimate height – purely something to throw.  Things get interesting when two dancers engage in an intimate duet front to front, cheek to cheek.  This closeness rivals the music that modulates from carnival Prozac-pumped beats to melancholy piano chords.  This searching quality, that drapes the duet, feels like the valley between hiking two mountains marked by the quest to win.  Never taking her dancer’s physicality for granted, Chun manages to honor their personalities as well.  Her detail-oriented approach to dance is echoed by her dancer’s acute articulation of the body.

In Phase Vidcoder v2.0, Chun takes the stage with Daniel Iglesia at the foot utilizing ‘cutting-edge technology to create multi-media performances using live video feed.’  Without the benefit of a visual on this apt description, it takes Chun’s precise movements and manipulates them then and there onto a screen like a magical video game or something at the Apple Store.  As her second iteration of this piece, first created in 2008, Chun sticks to one side of the stage bursting with movement and then stops to let Iglesia work.  At times multiple Chuns are projected, tracing the same movements like interesting dominoes. These moments entice me most – seeing several projections enliven the movements separated by one second.  The possibilities here seem endless and could easily help generate choreography.  Instead of wondering what it would look like to have three dancers create a phrase, this projection could create that vision without any additional sweat necessary!

My concern for this piece lies in its ability to constantly engage viewers.  Like a shiny new toy, it has intense seductive power; but, after seeing the major modulations the machine offers, after the dance of seduction wanes, I am still in a theater hoping for something intriguing.  Chun’s physicality, however, the rise and fall of her breath and the noise it makes for her to travel the stage, soar far above the silent images created by Iglesia.  I am confident in Chun’s ability to work with this machine that may prove to be the "dance of the future" with its choreographic capabilities and her ability to continue to bring the "blood, sweat, and tears" that never cease to enliven an audience.

The evening closes with a piece that walks the line between everyone’s worst nightmare and a typical Friday night.  Out and About explores ‘modern-day limits of inebriation, inhibition, and privacy.’  Essentially, there is dancing, there is alcohol, and there is an intense amount of American Apparel cloaking the stage. The five dancers take actual shots of alcohol onstage as the 26 minute piece unfolds.  Chun says that they rehearsed with alcohol only at night, giving them shots and timing how long it took to effect them – this dictated how many they were to have during the piece.  The choreography is set, and clean, and as a credit to the dancers, it does not seem to grow unsteady as alcohol is consumed.  This brings about the most enigmatic quality of the piece – the alcohol does not bring the obvious stumbles, but a deep emotional change as clear as anything. Interactions between dancers grow cold, aggressive and vengeful.  Chun says that on Friday, “the piece has a playful tone and tonight it went to a place I had hoped it would go, to an uncomfortable place.”  Watching Out and About is like sitting at a bar where everyone’s a few deep, rife with dance skills, and you’re sipping on seltzer.

Go see Tze Chun Dance Company’s latest work at The Tank to watch work that honors its concepts wholeheartedly, flirts with the future, and chooses to stumble in order to chart new ground.  … And, as an inspiration for all young dance pros out there, it’s a delight to see how 25 could turn out to be just lovely… if you’ve half the ambition as Chun.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Eileen Elizabeth
Performance:  Tze Chun Dance Company
Venue: The Tank
Show Date: December 4, 2009
www.iDANZ.com
 

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