New Dances 2003
Rituals can be stifling, to be sure–choreographer Liz Lerman says the best way to decide whether something needs changing is to substitute the word “convention” for “tradition” and see if you’re still interested in its preservation. But these choreographers managed to maintain their artistic vitality as they rang changes on the traditions in which they chose to work.
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Paul Christiano, whose piece addresses rituals most explicitly, was the evening’s MVP. The two sections he presented from the five-movement First Love; Second Sight so brilliantly embody coming-of-age and fertility rites that they seem not quaint customs but essential vehicles for human connection. “Eclipse: Natalia at Sixteen” is an ambitious piece for ten dancers who leap and reach to Dulce Pontes music, which sounds derived from central European folk harmonies. The rich music permits a rich tapestry of movement; though occasionally overbusy, it has a thrilling complexity and clear emotional tenor–a compound of celebration and danger. Tarah Brown was superb as Natalia, whether dancing with Christiano in “White Night: Natalia at Twenty-Five,” an erotic pas de deux, or holding her own against four Village Men/Brawlers liable to tear her to pieces with their desire.
Altin Naska’s Petite D goes even further in drawing the circle of life, albeit comically. Six dancers begin silhouetted behind a screen, wriggling around the shadow of a circle while a voice-over cheers “We’re goin’ in!” Conquest of the ovum apparently successful, they appear onstage in diapers and then fast-forward through childhood, with appearances by Barbie, Big Bird, and Superman. By the time the protagonist is an adolescent, she’s dreaming of a Prince Charming in white and a Wild One in black (both played by Christiano). The dancing becomes ever more erotic until he lowers himself on top of her, and we’re back to the fucking start–literally. Despite a narrative glitch–the protagonist is slow to emerge from the crowd of other dancers–the piece is charming.
“New Dances 2003” coincided with the summer solstice, for which some ritual is certainly appropriate. But if the only passage celebrated had been the emergence of a flock of full-fledged choreographers, that would have been enough. Or, as is said in a ritual with which I’m familiar, “dayenu.”
