21 AD Asia
Jump Rhythm Jazz Project
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Only one of these concerts made tradition its explicit topic, but all three wrestled with it. “21 AD Asia,” curated by Pranita Jain, explored the similarities of Asian dance traditions and blended them with non-Asian forms. Modern dancer-choreographer Nana Shineflug described her contribution to the evening, a solo, as honoring and expressing the idea that “we’re all everything,” and Jain included a piece using classical bharata natyam moves to interpret Navajo and Sanskrit religious chants. The evening, which featured five companies or individuals, celebrated fusion while showcasing disparate traditions.
That preservationist impulse clearly animates Billy Siegenfeld: his Jump Rhythm Jazz Project is tightly tethered to its historical roots. In a curtain-raising speech he described Jump Rhythm’s purpose as “keep[ing] alive the tradition of American vernacular dance,” though really he means that tradition as practiced in the middle years of the 20th century by Fred Astaire and company. The concert revealed the drawbacks as well as the value of Siegenfeld’s brand of purism: by limiting himself to a small vocabulary, the choreographer risks its becoming overfamiliar. It’s as though a cook decided to celebrate cinnamon by serving cinnamon pancakes, cinnamon toast, apple cider with cinnamon, and cinnamon chicken. Love the spice as you might, pretty soon you’d want to taste something else.
